Of all the summer purchases I made, these white linen trousers together with the blue and white linen top from Lintico are the best. Especially because it turned out to be such a hot summer.

When I ordered the set, I saw the word ‘China’ in my track-and-trace. I am an older woman and my association with China was ‘cheap, ugly, bad quality, child labour and so on’. Which made me question my decision to buy it. It took about 7 to 9 days to arrive and when it did, the quality finish pleasantly surprised me.

Then Lintico got in touch with me for a collaboration and an offer for my readers of 15% off. Sorry, dear readers, I declined that offer, telling them that I never do anything commercial on my blog. I also told them about my China thoughts and the long time it took to arrive. I got a perfect answer back from them explaining all points. My China thoughts are biased and old; they use skilled Chinese textile artisans. Furthermore, Lintico has a zero tolerance policy for child labour, forced labour or unsafe working hours etc etc. An answer that made me feel safe to tell you about the brand. And no, they do not pay me and I do not get anything for free. They don’t have my usual arty and edgy clothes; they are more elegant, but there are things in their collection that I really like. See for yourself.

Below: I combined the white linen trousers in this post with a black linen shirt from my own wardrobe and to brighten things up, I added the white and green Angela Caputi necklace with matching green earrings. The tote just happened to match the necklace.

Marjolein and I had chosen Delft again as our background spot.

Below: We started in an area a little bit away from the centre. I had never been here before and it is so picturesque.

Below: We started on the left bank of the canal. The big painted sign on the house is selling potatoes. I love the painted Van Gogh’s Potato Eaters at the bottom right. They painted it to look like the window next to it, as if the potato eating people are behind the window. Fabulous.

Below: There was an old-fashioned haberdashery shop there and I so love these stores. They are hard to find these days.

Below: I don’t sew anymore but I adore buttons. And I had bought a boring raincoat in an outlet a few months back (although Marjolein says it is really good).
It had golden buttons with ‘Michael Kors’ on them, yuck, but I didn’t want any too flashy buttons either.

Below: Then I got inspired by the haberdashery shop as they used turquoise thread to fasten an example of the button I chose on the tube. I bought rather simple brownish buttons and turquoise thread. Voilà.

Below: The sitting-down pose with flowers in front of a house packed with Delft blue.

Below: They even had this cute Delft blue diorama in their window. We couldn’t work out whether they were starting a shop or whether they were just big Delft blue fans.

Below: It was time to cross the bridge to the other side. The sign says: “Please boat slowly. Thank you ever so much.”

Below: All residents had a bench in front of their house and lots of plants. It was very quiet and sweet.

Below: We had a chat with the owner of this house who was sweeping the old leaves. They all really love their house.

Below: The sweeping gentleman told us that the plant in front of his neighbours’ house is a Phytolacca asinosa, or Indian Pokeweed. Not your ideal plant as the berries look delicious but are toxic.

Below: We spotted the swan boat which we had seen from the other side of the canal. Funny.

Below: Close-up of the jewellery. The earrings are wood. Marcella gave me those as plain wood and I painted them in the exact colour of the necklace. We have a terrific shop in Haarlem with everything creative.
I wanted colour near my face and earrings to match the necklace but not something that would compete with it. The necklace is an Etsy find.

We crossed a big street and walked into the centre of Delft. Time for lunch.

Below: I took this photo through the door of our restaurant. Good view.

Below: Lunch menu. Being stupid, I asked Marjolein what ‘arugula’ was. It rang a bell but I couldn’t place it. Yep, it is one of the English translations for the Dutch word rucola. The other word is rocket. It made Marjolein laugh quite a bit.

Below: Further into town we loved this building for so many reasons. The shape of the roof, the decorations, the windows and especially the curved windows of the ground floor. The building could do with a clean-up though.

Below: Look at Marjolein, isn’t she lovely? Great accessories with the top. She is a dancer as you can see by the way she stands.

Below: Going past the gate with the name Antony van Leeuwenhoek. He was the discoverer of microscopic creatures.

Below: At the end of the afternoon, we sat on a terrace with a view of the main square and town hall. We were surprised that there were so few people. Everybody was clearly on holiday and people from abroad and apparently people from abroad hadn’t chosen the Netherlands as their holiday destination.

Below: We had the most delicious iced coffee with real creamy ice cream at Affogato. Stupid as I am (told you), I pushed the ice down with the spoon, causing the coffee to overflow and drip through the slits of the table and on my lovely white linen trousers. I dabbed the stains in the WC with paper and cold water and as soon as I got home put the trousers to soak in Oxy Vanish. The trousers are as new. Phew.

By the way, this is the first and only photo where my necklace is sitting correctly underneath my collar.

Below: We could also have chosen this terrace on a boat, but then we would have missed the best iced coffee.

Below: This girl is reading a book in a restaurant or she could be studying as Delft is very much a student city.

Below: Two more picture perfect buildings/houses before leaving Delft.

Glorious day.

What happened in my life this week

Sylvia of 40Plustyle called me for lunch on a Saturday. Below a photo of her, in her usual arty style.

Below: She took my photo too. I am wearing another pair of white trousers, cotton this time with a black silk top (brand Theory and very old). Because I had bought this second-hand belt a few days before, I decided to add my orange bag and orange earrings (Lara Design of course).

On my way to Sylvia and lunch, I popped into an optician to have my sunglasses adjusted. Now I know why all opticians do this for free even if you haven’t purchased the glasses at their shop. Because, while you are waiting, you start looking around and you try a few pairs of sunglasses and I am a sucker.
Below: My new sunglasses haha. The brand is Face a Face. The glasses look incredibly dark but you can see very clearly through them.

Below: We met Marita as we walked through town. She immediately received many compliments from Sylvia about her monochrome outfit with lots of different textures. This is her doing the weekend shopping at the market; every inch a lady.

Below: One of my outfits this week. Perfect for hot weather. (Link to the original post.)

Ron and I went out the day I wore the red and white co-ord to walk dog Watson. I didn’t think it would be wise to wear my white slippers in a sandy park and switched to my black platform sandals.

Below: The soles of platform shoes don’t give and as I tread on a tree root, the leather front strap of my sandal tore off. It was impossible to continue walking, so I tried barefoot for 1 metre; in pain with all those little stones and twigs. Then Ron, my knight in shining armour, gave me his old dog walking trainers and continued barefoot himself. I so love the guy.

Below: Just to show you how cute Marcella’s shop is, a picture of her Lara Design shop against the church in Haarlem.

Below: My outfit with a pink skirt on a day with normal summer temperatures. I like it better with the yellow pumps or the Daisy Duck shoes, but I had to walk a lot. At first I chose my ancient but quirky brown flat shoes but then decided to go for my cowboy boots. I got a lot of compliments in Amsterdam, even from men.
You have seen this skirt styled three times last year; here, here and here.

Below: Going to Amsterdam again had a reason. There is a large button shop at Herengracht 389, called ‘De Knopenwinkel‘ and I needed better buttons for my thrifted yellow jeans jacket (you’ll see it in the autumn). Thea, the owner, is running this button shop for 40 years; now that she is 74 she is looking for a successor, only the rent is high and buttons aren’t the most expensive things. Which is why Thea also sells paintings. It will be such a shame when another beautiful shop bites the dust. And good buttons instead of cheap plastic ones can make your outfit.

Below: A postcard after one of the paintings you can buy at the Knopenwinkel. This is (part of) a painting of the shop’s front.

The afternoon in Amsterdam was wonderful; I talked and laughed with so many people, all strangers. Had the best cappuccino at Kaldi which I enjoyed tremendously.

Below: Beautiful ornament and railing on an Amsterdam house.

Below: Yet another canal; this time not in Delft but in Amsterdam. It never loses its attraction.

Walking through the city like that, I was near an outlet shop in which I had seen a great sweater the Friday before. I was in a great mood so why not try it again? It was still at the back of my mind.
On my way over there I had been talking to an Amsterdam woman who encouraged me to buy the sweater by saying “You have to treat yourself”. (As if I never do haha.)
When we arrived at the outlet shop, it was closed which made her laugh. I said: “Don’t worry, I know a way how to open this shop”.
Across the road from the outlet is the main shop and I talked a sales assistant into opening the outlet shop, let me grab the sweater and try it on. I bought it. My savings account is hurting.

On Thursday morning we took poor Watson to the beach again. The poor dog hadn’t been allowed to go into the water for 10 days and he loves that so much, especially with the heat. The antibiotics didn’t work (enough) and he is now on prednisone till the end of August which makes him drink more (no problem) and makes him hungry all the time. We are feeding him more times a day but add cooked beans to his meat as not to make him fat. My heart breaks so many times for the poor guy. By the beginning of next week he should get better.

A week later than usual due to holidays, I had my hairdresser appointment on Friday. By my request she had left it a bit longer than usual the last time but with an extra week it was beginning to look pretty shabby.

Below: After the visit to the hairdresser (link to original post with this dress).

That’s it for this week. More than enough, I think.

Greetje