The next item from my Paris purchases is a white bomber jacket with a grey marble effect pattern. It is well made, is exactly the right length and is wider than a normal bomber jacket (which looks stupid on me).

As I think this long denim skirt needs a modern top, I was pleased that the jacket went so well with it. The first reveal of this skirt was with a white and black jumper (sweater) and also yellow accessories, even the same earrings. Still, I see it as a different outfit. I even dared breaking out the yellow Coach bag. I often think it is too ladylike for my regular denim outfits.

Ron was my photographer.

Below: Finding a spot in Haarlem that hasn’t been on the blog a thousand times, is a challenge. We walked around and Ron saw this coach house. Coach houses were at the back of fabulous big old houses.
He explained that the coaches would go through these doors and the hay was hauled in through the three openings above the doors. I was missing the hook to hoist things up but later I realised that the hay was probably stacked up high on a cart and was swung in with a pitchfork.

Below: OK, good background for an outfit photo.

Below: Next to the coach house was this. According to Ron, the horses would go in through these doors.

Below: Two doors down was a sign, stating Stalhouderij which means livery stable.

Below: The little street proved to have more hidden gems, like these icons set in the brickwork.

Below: Close-up of the three icons although a bit blurry. The text underneath the middle one says “De Liefde” (The Love).

Below: The residents of the house next to the house with the icons kept the old sign of a business that used to be in their building. It used to be a liquor store, selling drinks and beer.

Below: A side street looked picturesque.

Below: Just goes to show, there are still areas and streets I haven’t plundered for a background.

Below: With more old houses. The one below is from 1909.

Below: The house next door is a little wonky, partly because of my camera lens but mainly because it is tilting. As it is between two other houses, it cannot tilt any further.

Below: A mural created by James Jetlag. Such a shame that they put that stupid grey electricity box in front of it. And to add insult to injury, there is ugly graffiti on it.

Below: We turned a corner and took some photos on a bridge.

Below: Sexy leggy to paraphrase the term LOL.

Below: Now this is a stunner of a photo, don’t you think? I am not the main thing, the sculptures are. This building had a couple more of such columns.

Below: Not wanting to wear my long black coat again, I took this workman’s jacket which we found at the vintage market Chatou near Paris. I should have left it open or button it up higher. Now it looks funny.

Below: We had enough photos of the outfit and went for a cappuccino in café De Volkslust. Ron spotted a colourful man with his colourful basket on the bike. Or he had borrowed his wife’s bike.

Below: Being in the photo mood, Ron took this ‘Rembrandt photo’ of me.

Below: It didn’t really work when he took a photo outside. The reflection was too much.

Below: Another styling with the white bomber jacket. If it is OK with the jeans skirt, it is also good for wearing it with jeans. I am wearing my mum’s hematite jewellery set (necklace, ring and earrings).

Below: View from the side wearing heeled ankle boots this time.

What happened in my life this week

Saturday happened to be the day we celebrated King’s Day in the Netherlands. It should have been on the 27th (Sunday) but King’s Day is never celebrated on a Sunday. I was unaware of this; that’s what you get when you are blissfully retired.
Traditionally everybody wears orange, red, white and blue clothes. I published a new post last week with orange trousers on that day. Just a happy coincidence. On the actual day I wore this (below):

Unlike other years we didn’t go into town to celebrate. At my age (71) I have been to so many King’s Day (and before that…Queen’s Day) celebrations that I know how it is. These days it is too packed with tourists and really crowded, no fun anymore. If you want to get an idea of what the day is like, click through to these posts: King’s Day 2014 and King’s Day 2018. I personally find the 2014 one the best; such a great day and I was 11 years younger (sigh).

We were invited for dinner by Froukje and Petro who had forgotten King’s Day celebration too but rushed out to get Indonesian food. They also had a delicious cake for dessert. Happy evening.

Sunday was left to do the laundry, do my fitness exercises (I hate them so much) and to dye my roots. Boring day with lots of sunshine.
Our friends Georg and Marla came to dinner which ended the day with an up.

Below: the Sunday outfit. As it was warm, I thought I could put on my yellow summer trousers and combine it with the blue and white pleated ‘cardigan’. That was a mistake. It is still cold in the evening which made me change into jeans. Plus, the cardigan is warm and the trousers are ‘cold’. I never understood how women can wear a tank top in summer combined with trousers and boots.  I cannot do that. I would either be too hot or too cold.

Monday was another quiet day but also exciting because my tech guy (who fixes the technical stuff of my blog) created a new blog look. I chose to let it look like the old one as I was fine with that. I won’t bore you with details why I had it re-done but it was necessary. The transfer from old to new of all the posts, photos, comments etc.  took many hours. And of course, all the hours my tech guy needed to create the new “shell”. It’s my hobby and hobbies cost money. No big deal. I am glad everything works again.

Tuesday I got to know the new way of creating blog posts. It isn’t that different once you know where to look but I really needed the help of my tech guy.
I also started preparing for my trip to Milan. The weather forecast says ‘rain all day for four days’, which makes packing clothes a challenge, especially the shoes. Who has rain resistant summer shoes? I don’t, I hardly ever go out when it rains.

Below: Wore this on Tuesday. (Link to original post with green high heels.)

Wednesday I did another shoot with Marjolein in The Hague. Because it was heavenly weather and I had a summer dress to photograph and also because I had to return socks to a shop in The Hague (long boring story). Like always, it was a great day.

Thursday, as often, we spent with Nicky and the granddaughters. It was a hot day, unusually hot for the 1st of May and we spent the afternoon splashing around with Zoë. Well…Ron and Zoë did. Ron amused Zoë by throwing buckets of water over his head. We had good laughs.

Friday my friend since secondary school, Jeanne and I (photo below) roamed through Leiden. The usual: chatting, laughing, lunch and coffee. It is such a blessing to have friends.

We had a fun day and I photographed two beautiful buildings for you. Cause you like them so much. Leiden is an old university town.

Greetje