What a wonderful day it was with my Shopping Saturday friends Anke and Sabine in the fab old town of Den Bosch or, as they are officially called, ‘s-Hertogenbosch. Although it started out terribly.
As Anke and I were only six minutes away from her house, Sabine called to say her father had suddenly taken ill and she was rushing over there. We had to go without her.
Thank God, everything turned out all right and by lunchtime she was heading back home. I love it that she then took the train to meet us in ‘s-Hertogenbosch at half past three. As they say…better late than never.

My outfit of the day was my brown vegan leather trousers with a brown swing jacket which I bought at LAB, Women’s Clothing, a shop in Haarlem which I frequent. Together with kpa.haarlem, they are my favourite shops.
The brown trousers turned out to be very versatile. You saw them three weeks ago, combined with a yellow striped shirt.

Brown is not my colour, but I can make it work by adding colours that do suit me, like chartreuse, lime, yellow, orange, cream, red, bright pink. All depending on the shade, the shine and the saturation of each colour. As you can see, I chose chartreuse this time for my top. Comfortable walking called for my combat boots which gave the outfit a modern vibe. I was also able to combine many different textures, which (so I am told) creates more interest. Usually, I suck at that.

Little warning: you will see soooo many photos in this post.

Anke and I started with cappuccino and ‘Bosschebollen’. The latter is a cake, specific for ‘s-Hertogenbosch. It is a puffy pastry, covered with dark chocolate and filled with freshly whipped cream. That shut me up for a few minutes.

Below: The cute restaurant where they served the Bosschebollen.

Below: Having had coffee and cake and a wee (oh…old age and weeing…), we started the photo shoot.

Below: You can find street art everywhere so why not on this thing.

Below: This is a terrible photo of a small part of the St. John’s Cathedral, a magnificent building. Read more about the cathedral and see the lovely interior on this Wikipedia page (in English). I read for instance: “During the restoration 25 new angel statues were created by sculptor Ton Mooy, including one with a modern twist. The last angel in the series holds a mobile phone and wears jeans. “The phone has just one button,” the sculptor said. “It dials directly to God.”

Below: I copied one of the photos on the Wikipedia page (taken by Satrughna) because…when will you ever see this (buttresses)?

Below: Searching for green doors for a background. We found quite a few.

Below: We also found a big old building with steps leading up to a balcony, the recently renovated town hall of ‘s-Hertogenbosch. It dates from 1670 and apparently, that sage green colour was what they used in those days.

Below: This is the top photo on repeat because Anke did such a good job of capturing me with an arch above me.

Below: I was trying to climb up the banister but decided against it. The chance of me falling backwards was too great a risk to take.

Below: I remember what was going on here. No, I did not pee my pants. Lifting my leg against the banister, pulled my hamstring.

Below: Of course, it had me in stitches. Getting older ain’t for sissies, right?

Below: Looking down from it was far better.

Below: The door was too good not to use it again. Here is Anke.

Below: I made her take off her coat as well. I have no mercy when it comes to blog photos.

Below: On the steps with a sleeveless cardigan over her top. She is looking good.

As ‘s-Hertogenbosch is a fabulous shopping town, that is what we did.

Below: Anke tried on two different black ankle boots. She bought the one you see on the left (well…a pair) because they are easier to wear than the decorative pair.

Below: Passing an incredible cake and pastry shop, called Momade Baking. We resisted the temptation.

Below: On our way to lunch we ran into a choir, performing on a square. It is then that I got the idea to try out with a choir as I told you last week.

Below: Lunchtime at a lovely restaurant.

Below: We sneaked in at the back of the restaurant’s terrace and got ourselves a table, avoiding the queue at the front. The earrings are by Lara Design. When you love a colour, you usually have more than one item in it.

Below: Beautiful building.

Below: Newly built but quirky.

Below: Sabine arriving at the end of the afternoon. Great to be together, the three of us, so we extended our stay at ‘s-Hertogenbosch.

Below: Sabine is telling how they got on with her dad and how it ended well. Thinking she was at the end of her story, I butted in, asking her to pose for a photo. Got told off by Anke. A matter of not reading the room? Bad me.

Below: Sabine posing for me, colourful as so often.

There was still time to do a bit of shopping for Sabine. Which turned into a purchase for me.

Below: This is Simone, the owner of the shop behind her, called BYS (By Simone). I was struck by her jeans outfit, which I loved. She modelled for me and of course, I had to take a look inside the shop. Well, you will see the shirt I bought next week.
It is a good thing ‘s-Hertogenbosch is quite far away from where I live, as I could be a regular customer of her shop. Not cheap but so good. And Simone gives excellent styling advice.

Her Instagram account is bysdenbosch.

Below: I let the girls look around the Essentiel Antwerp shop. As this is one of my favourite shops, I lounged on their stairs (I am such a lady…NOT). No more purchases for me.

Below: Oh sweet, an old-fashioned street organ.

Below: We stopped at a terrace overlooking the market square which was now empty. Remember I showed you this photo of Anke and Sabine last week?

I had forgotten to take Anke’s picture as she was trying on these trousers and the shirt in the next photo. Not doing my job properly. While having a drink, Anke showed her purchases to Sabine by my request.

Below: Burgundy trousers.

Below: And a great white shirt with burgundy embroidery. It looked great on Anke.

Below: I had ordered an Espresso Martini which was filled to the brim. As not to spill anything I bent over to the glass instead of raising the glass to my mouth. Very classy…I know.

Below: Speaking of classy, here is another butt photo of me. The handle of this lady’s bag got caught between the cobble stones and I was trying to help. To no avail. Fortunately, someone found a screwdriver and lifted one of the stones.
It is not really my fault that I bend over like this; my arthrosis knee doesn’t give me the option to do it elegantly anymore. I hope you had a laugh.

Below: One last photo. This is me with Misja at her exhibition a few weeks ago. I wore the same trousers and jacket, but with a different top, different boots and earrings and with an orange belt and bag. I couldn’t show the photo with me in it at the time as I would have given away too much of the outfit.

Driving back went smoothly.

What happened in my life this week

Not a lot as it rained or drizzled all the time.

Ron and I got our Covid vaccination again; the arm was a bit sensitive for two days, but that was all.

I met Janna (Timelessstyle.nl on Instagram) for a museum visit in Amsterdam. The Art Zoo Museum was our goal; it opened only 3 months ago and it is GORGEOUS.

You will see all of it in two weeks. Janna and I had such a good time. It is a small museum but we spent 4 hours in there. OK, we also had coffee and lunch in that time.
Below: Not the best photo of me and Janna, but the waitress had to take it against the light.

Photo Assignment: Freedom and Joy

This assignment is so broad; I can take any photo I want, as long as it brings me joy and I want to share it. I work better with a frame haha. But I decided to start with what Freedom and Joy literally is for me. It is the photo above, having fun with friends and not a care in the world, no war, no threats, only joy and laughter. It doesn’t get much better than that.

Below: This retired ballot box, now a plant stand, reminds of the privilege of being able to vote. Even though the government isn’t always doing what they should do, I treasure the fact that I live in a democracy. (Stembus = ballot box.)

Below: Amsterdam is where I feel freedom as soon as I get off the train. So many different people living together in peace. OK, I know that bad things happen there as well, but the majority lives happily side by side. This rainbow zebra crossing is a symbol of that. Mind you, the colours could (should?) have been a bit brighter.

Below: OK…I am learning. That is the whole idea of these photo assignments. I was too late in realising that these women made for a fab photo. They came from a wedding or so and both took off their high heeled pumps to walk further barefoot. I had a giggle with them when I approached them. Had I been quick enough, this photo would also have been sharp. It brought me joy.

Below: Even though I have seen it many times on Instagram, when I saw this guy right in front of me, dressed as a dino, it still had me laughing. I laughed even more when he realised, he could not go on his bike in this suit. He was quite peeved and in a hurry. Not in the mood to pose for me, I thought and thus…another photo which is funny but not sharp.

Let’s leave it at this, shall we? Enough photos.

Greetje