When I returned a jumper to the store because it just did not do anything for me, Ron accompanied me. He saw these ice blue linen trousers with a long jacket in the window of The Lab Women’s Clothing and urged me to try it on. If he particularly likes something and I like it too, I will buy it. Which made it a far more expensive day than I had envisioned. (And no, I don’t want him to pay for it. Sometimes he does, but I wouldn’t accept it all the time.)
We took the photos in the picturesque old town of Zwolle, just before visiting my brother and SIL who live there.
Below: Scenic photo by Ron.
Below: This house gives you the impression you are in southern Europe instead of Zwolle. Very mediterranean, impeccably maintained.
Nevertheless, Zwolle is an old town which dates to the Middle Ages. The first mention of Zwolle was in 1040. (You can read more about the history of Zwolle if you click the link.)
Below: This house was built in 1449 and was renovated in 1977. But the focus was on my outfit, so you don’t see much of it (sorry). I was checking the belt, which didn’t always stay up. It is a strange belt and it is supposed to be askew. I added it to create a connection with the black shoes. The cuff bracelet followed logically. Ron chose the Dries van Noten bag to go with the outfit. It is rapidly becoming my go-to bag.
Below: I particularly like this photo. Didn’t even think twice about sitting on an old wall with my pastel-coloured jacket. The vintage Jil Sander shoes, bought in Antwerp, proved to be great. No blisters.
Below: We headed further into town through a bit of a sleazy alley.
Below: Even though this is a chain of cheese stores, they kept their quality. As you might know, the Dutch are called ‘kaaskoppen’ (cheese heads).
Below: Entering a square with terraces and trees. My kind of place.
Below: We chose the terrace with the fountain, with a lot of shade as temperatures were rising to 30⁰ C (86⁰ F).
Below: We had the view of the trees and it was nice and quiet.
Below: The cappuccino was excellent.
Below: Ron liked this image with my reading glasses. I sometimes find them a bit harsh, but OK, at least they are not frumpy.
Below: The market square of Zwolle.
Below: At city hall we saw this mosaic sofa. The letters say: City, I am home!
By that time I found my outfit a lot more comfortable than I had expected it to be. OK, it is a bit tricky on a bike but it is breezy and lightweight.
Below: A 3D-printed blue heart, symbolic for caring for the city and each other.
Below: Zwolle is a neat city and they care for their history, as these two impeccable buildings below show.
Below: It is a city by a river, called IJssel. That figures because all old places thrived through trading across water.
Below: Ahhh…being all lovely and sweet with the roses. It was the last photo of the shoot and we were off to my brother’s house.
Below: Knowing it would become hot in the afternoon, I had taken my new shorts with me. I like my vintage shoes with the shorts too. Forgot my little yellow belt.
What happened in my life this week
Saturday we had an early start as Ron, once again, was selling old stuff at the Antique Market in town.
Below: here he is behind his stand. A pity he didn’t sell the tea maker (bottom right). He did OK but decided this was the last time as it is too much hard work for too little money.
Below: He had coffee and tea with him and cold drinks to sell. Last time he sold a lot of coffee, not this time. His sign says ICECOLD € 2.50.
Sunday he had to clear everything away. I helped him bringing stuff to and from the market on Saturday, and unloading the car on Sunday, but he did 95% of the work.
In the afternoon Anja (living in Spain now) and I had a Facetime conversation. Wonderful that you can keep in touch on a regular basis this way. Below: Anja.
Tuesday was fitness day and I tried out my new blouse from Toosh in Milan to see what the ‘snags’ were. One snag was that my bosom was prominently visible when I sat down. Not a little bit but full on. I don’t want that because people will get embarrassed. The second snag was that I have to tie the knot at the front a certain way to prevent the image of a big, fat belly. This time I know this before the photo shoot instead of during or after. You live and learn.
We always write the groceries we have run out of, on a piece of paper on the kitchen counter. I know, very old-fashioned.
As we were out of small matches, I wrote that down (“kleine lucifers” in Dutch). The next day I came downstairs to this (see photo below).
If you didn’t get it (you had to have been there…), Ron placed a box with long matches on the paper, took one match out and broke it into a small match).
Wednesday the sun decided to disappear which was fine by me as I had to iron. Ron took my car for a professional cleaning and got rid of the dirt from transporting his stuff to the antique market. That was part of his Saturday profit gone down the drain 😂.
We were invited for dinner by Froukje and Petro, our friends and neighbours and I wore this outfit below. (Link to original post with a yellow top and with a black linen batwing shirt.)
Wednesday was a wonderful day with my friend Katrien, who now lives in South Africa. She was over for a couple of weeks and took the time in her busy schedule to see me.
We went to a museum in Amsterdam with nothing but great big murals. It was fantastic. You will see it next week (loads of photos).
Ron had dropped me off at the train station in the morning. When he also picked me up in the afternoon, he drove on to the centre of the city for a drink on a terrace. He knows that is my favourite pastime. Below: view from our terrace on a cloudy day but with a nice temperature.
Thursday was visiting granddaughters’ day.
For the country it was a day of looking back at the NATO top, held in The Hague. What was said (as far as we know and believe…) you can read in the papers.
As my blog is all about outfits, I want to share a few outfit photos, like this photo (below) of Princess Amalia (on the left) in a Ralph Lauren dress, together with her mum and dad.
Boy, does she look good.
Then our King Willem-Alexander and especially our Queen Maxima with Trump and other world leaders.
What a total knock-out this woman is! And that neon lime jumpsuit by Natan…gorgeous.
To bring Trump in a good mood for the difficult NATO decisions that had to be made, some major sucking up was done. One of the things was, that he got to stay with the king and queen in their palace (that was a first).
Below: Killed myself laughing over this cartoon by Hein de Kort in our paper.
Friday was a quiet day with some errands I had to run. Marcella (below) came over for coffee. We created a number of videos for her website and I took some earring photos as below.
In the evening the neighbours from across the street were visiting to have a drink with us.
Greetje
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