Get comfortable as you are about to see many murals…so many, it will make your eyes dazzle. A lot of them function as background for my golden yellow blouse as a jacket.
My friend Katrien was over from South Africa where she lives nowadays. When she is in the Netherlands, she has many friends and family to visit, so I am chuffed that she wants to see me too.
Katrien is a terrific photographer, she really has ‘The Eye’. We agreed to go to Straat Museum (Street Museum) in Amsterdam. With fabulous murals as background, she took my outfit photos. It was a fabulous day.
I had been in the area of Straat Museum before. There are murals outside of the museum as well, but I had never been inside the museum. It pleasantly surprised me.
Below: From Amsterdam Central Station we took the (free) ferry across the water to the industrial area where the museum is located.
Below: As we were a bit early, we headed to a nearby restaurant (IJver) first. Great building, great cappuccino.
Below: What a quirky building. Loved the atmosphere. We were off to a good start.
Below: First outfit photo in the restaurant. This linen blouse is the one I ordered in Milan and it can be worn several ways. This time as a jacket but you will see it again in different ways.
Below: Walking to the museum there was art on the outside as well.
Below: Katrien has an eye for details.
Below: The left hall of Straat Museum. Impressive.
Below: And the right hall. So much to see.
Below: The first mural I saw entering the left hall, was by artist Pichi Avo. This time I made sure I knew which artist created what mural.
Below: As a colour lover, I adored this mural. Had it been a bit smaller, I would have liked it on our wall in the living room. The artist is Okuda San Miguel.
Below: Part (1/3) of a mural by Artist Said Dokins.
I could have stood a bit straighter…still working on that.
Below: Time to introduce Katrien, such a kind woman, bright and talented. The mural is by Nase Pop.
Below: The truck hanging from the ceiling is by Carl Kenz. We spoke with the artist who was at work outside the museum.
Below: Artist Fin DAC. On the left of the mural Katrien is taking photos.
Below: Artist Irene Lopez. Loved this one. It is colourful again.
Below: We couldn’t resist this pose. The mural is a lot bigger and by artist Joren Joshua.
Below: Artist Miss Van.
Below: Artist Mohamed L’Ghacham. Guides from the Straat Museum were explaining the art to groups of children. You can never start too early learning about art.
Have your eyes turned square yet? Or is it becoming too much 😄?
Below: I thought this was a rather special one, presumably Medusa. The 3D effect is amazing. Artist Odeith.
Below: The artwork below by Wild Drawing is photographed from two sides. Again, what a special effect. (By the way, three crosses under each other are the sign of Amsterdam.)
Below: Mural by YorkOne, again colourful.
My jeans are mid-rise and by COS, the shoes are ancient. Found them as I was switching winter shoes for summer shoes.
Below: Close-up of the shoes. They are not tattered because they are old, they started their life like this. As often with me…it’s an acquired taste. Took them to the cobbler anyway as the elastic band around my heel, which he added for me, began to fall apart. With the elastic they are very comfortable, without the elastic I used to lose them.
Below: Artist of the left mural is Tymon de Laat, artist of the right mural is Danielle See Walker.
Below: I was taking photos too. Katrien was able to take this one of me after warning me twice to sit up straight. Able or not, I am afraid I am still not doing too well on this.
The bag is from 2012.
Below: A grainy photo of the green bag from Rome in 2012 where I went with my friend Lia. The bag was apparently a little stiffer in 2012. Me, still with brown hair.
Below: Katrien in front of a mural by artist Millo.
Below: Bottom mural by Elle, obviously a take on Vermeer’s Girl with the pearl earring, top mural by Guido van Helten.
Below: My golden yellow blouse blends in with the mural by Faith47.
The bow done at the back would normally drop lower due to the weight. I fastened it on the inside with a pin.
Below: Sculpture by artist Dulk.
After we had lunch at the museum restaurant, it was time for Katrien to go to her next meeting with a friend. Thoroughly enjoyable day.
Next week I’ll try and restrain myself with the number of photos. I don’t want to wear you out.
What happened in my life this week
Saturday Ron and I walked dog Watson at the beach in gorgeous weather. Behind the beach restaurant we saw this bike ‘parked’ and Ron commented on it. It turned out to be the bike of a girl sitting behind us, against the restaurant wall, who said she had forgotten it the night before. We thought she was high as a kite but could be mistaken.
In the afternoon I visited Marianne again and on my way to her, dropped the above shoes off at the cobbler. Below: Marianne in a summer dress, coping with the high temperatures we were experiencing last week. Her hair is a bit of a mess as she had been swimming that morning.
Below: Sunday morning Ron asked me to take some photos and a video of his Renault 4 car, done up for a wedding as he has had several requests for that. He is now busy with a website, bought a chauffeur’s cap, the lot. He’s got a new project.
In the afternoon we had cake across the street, with Ina, whose birthday it was the day before. Below: It was hot, so I wore this old silk blouse. Because of the length and the shape of the blouse, I had to wear trousers with it that were narrow. I should have checked the photo better. Now it looks as if I am bow-legged. And you already had that impression because of my barrel jeans. 🤭
Monday was too hot to do anything apart from some blogging and a few short walks. Below: Wore my RIXO London dress which is great for hot weather. Of course, I like it better with my red high heels, but that is no longer possible.
Tuesday the temperatures rose to 38° Celsius (100.4 Fahrenheit) and it was also humid which meant sultry. Everybody in their right mind stayed at home with ways to cool themselves. Marjolein and I, however, did a photo shoot for next week. We would have loved to do it another day but our agendas didn’t allow it. I am very grateful to her. We managed to stay out of the sun most of the time. Alas, the sweet cottage restaurant in the park where we took the photos, was closed with a big For Sale sign on the window. Bummer.
We settled for lunch at the beach boulevard (below). We were shielded from the sun, we could see the sea, the lunch was good and so was the iced coffee. I am trying to lose a little bit of weight but cannot find the necessary switch in my brain.
Wednesday the heat cooled down a little and with the air-conditioning on, I could do my fitness and wash/blow-dry my hair. No sweat (pun intended). Just a quiet day.
Below: Wore this outfit. Not that striking but comfortable.
At the end of the day came the rain everybody was desperate for. YAY.
Below: I was looking at a rain app to see how many showers were still to come. When I showed this chart to Ron he said: “This looks like the beating of my heart, every time I look at you.” Ahhh…sweet! After nearly 37 years.
Thursday was a joyful day again. We didn’t see our granddaughters due to traffic chaos and dog Watson was with his dog sitter (because Wil loves him so much).
Ron and I decided to go to Alkmaar and check out lamps. Our lamp above the dining table is old (from 1988 or so) and not functioning well. We checked two stores and found what we were looking for but…long story which is for another time. The rest of the day we wandered through Alkmaar, a great old town. I even dare to say, nicer than Haarlem. If you want a preview of the city, click through to these posts: one with Sylvia in 2017, one with Marcella in 2023 and another one with Sylvia in 2020.
Ron offered to do a photo shoot with me as the backgrounds in Alkmaar would be good. Fantastic. Getting dressed was easy as I always have photos of ‘Outfits still to do’.
Friday was quiet, nothing to report.
Greetje
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