After a period of cold mornings and evenings, we suddenly had warm days. It was on one of those warm days that I arranged to do a photo shoot with Loes, whom you loyal readers, already know. The high temperature meant I had to change my selected outfit and come up with a new combination. Not my forte.

Fortunately, I still had a never worn summer top from the sale in my wardrobe. By the time I had planned to wear it, it got cold. So I styled my wide blue trousers with a cream top, just as I imagined when I bought the top.

Below: Me in the morning, checking this combination in the mirror.
(I really need such a mirror with me all the time when I do a photo shoot as the top is wide and kept blousing over at the sides. I probably will have it taken in.)

Our destination was a tiny almshouse courtyard, called Bruiningshofje, just off Botermarkt (Butter market).

Below: Botermarkt. A lively place with a small vintage stuff market on a Wednesday and many terraces.

I had been to Botermarkt a thousand times and never noticed the little alley to the almshouses. It was Marjolein who discovered it while roaming through Haarlem on ‘Open Monument Day’.

Below: Bruiningshofje. Read about these almshouses and their courtyard on Wikipedia.

Below: It is really small, only 4 houses, but very well kept. Isn’t it cute?

Below: Plenty of opportunities to shoot the outfit.

Below: Old water pump. What do you mean by ‘That is a very posed photo’??
With this top my arms are exposed and the wrinkly old skin is visible. I am not sure whether I will really go ahead with such exposure; still on the fence.

Below: They had little benches and chairs, so I was happy.
I hesitated about the bag; shall I take the orange one or the silver one? I chose the silver one.

Below: Nice photo of Loes, looking at the sun.

Below: Loes’ necklace.

Below: A close-up of my earrings (Lara Design, of course). I secured the collar and scarf-like flap at the back with a safety pin, but still the flap kept falling forward to the front.

Below: The little statue in the middle of the garden.

Below: Loes took a photo of me, bending to take the above photo. Luckily the flowers took centre stage.

Below: Those shutters are so lovely. Everything was painted well.

Below: No doorbells but door knockers.

Below: The Duck shoes. The real colour of the shoes is in between the colours of these two photos.

Below: We continued at the Botermarkt and had coffee on the left terrace.

Below: Concentrate on the vintage stuff. The camera focused on the sales lady instead of me.

Below: We have enough vintage items in our house (being one myself haha), so just looking, not buying.

Below: One of the sellers was throwing coins from this jar on the ground. He said “I get bored and then I throw a few coins just to see who is picking them up; people even get up from their chair at the opposite café.” Sure enough a German lady started picking up the coins and handing them back at the seller. The things you do when you are bored.

The photo shoot with Loes was short but sweet.

What happened in my life this week

Some miscellaneous banter.

On Saturday, I met Marita for coffee and a quick photo shoot, so I now have plenty of photos in stock. It was a gorgeous day. That evening, Ron and I went to the theatre in Amsterdam to see a cabaret show, preceded by dinner at a fun café.

On Sunday, our street and many others in the area were closed for a marathon. Ron left early with Watson, before the race began, and had to spend the whole day at his allotment. I went for a walk, but it was no fun.

Ron spent a lot of time at his allotment last week, sometimes accompanied by our friend and neighbour Froukje. One day, he left his keys in our front door and I was sweet enough to bring them to him at the allotment, earning bonus points with the man.

Below: The outfit I wore on Tuesday, the 29th of September, for Women’s Health Day. Every woman ought to wear red that day. Marjolein warned me about it otherwise I would have forgotten.

On Thursday, after seeing the granddaughters, we ate at Froukje and Petro’s home. Half the food was from her little space at Ron’s allotment, like the fleshy green beans. The previous day Froukje had delivered an apple pie to our house. I am struggling to keep my weight even.

It is dangerous to watch the little Instagram videos Karlijn, of the clothes shop kpa.haarlem, posts. I had already bought a leather waistcoat from her, and now I have bought another pair of jeans. Do I need another pair of barrel jeans? Nope. But these are really good and might become my go-to pair. So it is not just my weight I am struggling with; my finances are in ruins too.

At his son-in-law’s request, Ron is putting together a little book for his granddaughters, filled with stories about where his curious mind has led him, for them to read when they are older.
He is a real smart cookie and very curious. During his advertising career, he won many awards for the clever ideas he created for clients. Dutch awards but also European and Worldwide awards. He is now writing those stories down, along with tales of his allotment experiments.
Ron has friends who help him with the booklet, like Georg who created the illustrations (bloody brilliant ones) and Arine who is making everything print ready (typesetting). I am the typist and editor haha. We are like a little advertising agency as in the good old days.

Well, that is it for this week.

Greetje