Marjolein and I decided to see the Flowers Forever Exhibition in Kunsthal Rotterdam. To quote them: “For the first time in the Netherlands, the exhibition offers a comprehensive cultural-historical overview of the flower, with over two hundred objects from the fields of art, design, fashion, and science.”
We went to see it on the last day.

Expecting plenty of colour, I wore my multicoloured shirt to match the exhibition. I fell in love with the shirt at first sight, although white near my face isn’t my most flattering colour and the cut made my hips look too narrow. I fixed both issues with a lime top, orange earrings and the bottom two buttons left undone. I especially love the waist detail, metal eyelets and fabric belt loops.

Below: This was quite an entrance. I photographed all the artist explanations for you. I am a good girl. Sometimes you’ll see the explanation only in English, sometimes in Dutch and below it in English.

Below (2x): We liked the effect of the flowers’ shadow on the wall.

Below: Marjolein. The indoor photos are slightly blurred because there wasn’t much light at the exhibition.

Below: This was the best of the exhibition for me. The installation called Meadow, looked so good.

Below: The organisation put big cushions on the floor for the public to experience the installation from below. Good thinking.

Below: Took a little video of the opening and closing of the flowers.

Below: There was a whole room with art that addresses how we ruin the planet. It made me so sad and I decided to only post one example. After all, I want my blog to be a happy place, a place to get away from all the bad news in the papers.

Below: An enlargement (100%), a science project. The explanation is underneath the image, as with all of them.

Below: I love this bouquet of spoons, forks, nails etc. So creative and so well executed.

Below: Close-up of the bouquet.

Below: There was also art from the old days. This is the flower market in The Hague.

Below: What a cute diorama.

Below: This is the diorama from the side. At first, I thought “Why are there stairs at the side? Nobody can see them from the front”. But when I read the explanation, I got it. It is a decor design model.

Below: Back to the modern stuff. This installation is called Reflecting diverseness.

Below: This ‘field’ holds a surprise.

Below: Here is the surprise…the other side of the flowers is in colour.

It was a well curated exhibition and we enjoyed it. Time to take some photos outside where there is more light.

Below: As we were walking back to the car, we discovered a little square with beautiful houses.

Below: Details of one of the houses.

Below: Details of another house. Ah…in those days labour was cheap and the money was even more unevenly distributed as it is now. Many filthy rich people and masses of poor labourers. That’s why we don’t build like this anymore. Plus, more people wanted decent houses.

Below: Marjolein on the steps of one of the houses. In hindsight, she wasn’t that pleased with her outfit, but I think she looks good.

Below: Go on then, me on those stairs too. Different door.

Below: Marjolein also took this photo in the little park underneath the trees. But while creating this post, I decided I am more important than those trees. (I am getting arrogant, I know😂). By this time the shirt started creasing. That’s what you get with cotton.

Below: We walked along and asked a lady who was busy opening a wine bar, where we could get a really good cappuccino. She gave us directions to restaurant Loos.
Where you see the white awnings on the ground floor, is restaurant Loos. Boy, was that lady right. Excellent coffee, excellent service, great terrace.

Below: And to our surprise we found this little marina across from the restaurant. By no means is this the big Rotterdam harbour, just a little marina.

Below: The harbour office. How cute.

Such a good day. I am a very lucky woman to be able to enjoy myself like this. Marjolein and I were in full agreement about our luck.

What happened in my life this week

Lots of doggy walks and I am utterly grateful for our neighbours Wouter and Aeila, who have taken Watson for a walk in the morning all week. Ron is allowed to drive again, so my shift is now limited to the first 15 minutes’ morning walk.

The parquet floor in our living room is at its end. So, we went floor shopping on Saturday. Although we prefer a real wooden parquet floor a hundred times over a PVC floor, we will get a PVC floor. With our cat and dog, the floor gets dirty quickly and when you have to sand the floor etc, you have no access to your living room for a week. And you have to move all your furniture out and back in. Apart from the pets, we are also getting too old for this, so a PVC floor it will be. We are holding our breath for the quote.

Below: I also wore the shirt with white trousers this week. Why not?

Sunday we had tickets for a cabaret performance in an open air theatre. We just didn’t feel like it and gave the tickets to Wouter and Aeila. Fortunately for them, it didn’t rain during the performance, which was a little miracle.

Tuesday Marjolein and I cruised through The Hague for another photo shoot which you will see next week.

Wednesday I had to go to the hospital for my half year check-up. Glad to say that everything was fine. No sign of the cancer (the tumour in my urethra) returning. As it is now three years ago, the check-ups will be every year instead of every half year. Yay.

Below: Wore my pink trousers with black shirt again. (Link to original post.)

Friday I visited my friend Maurits for lunch at his house and we had some good laughs. Forgot to take a photo.

Greetje