There is a lot of chunkiness going on around my throat, really high up, drawing the eye to my wrinkly neck. The wrinkly neck isn’t the worst thing for me, it is more about proportions. I yet have to find the right top to be able to wear this gorgeous necklace. What was clever though, was to also order simple earrings in the same material and the colour red as the padlocks. I need colour near my face.

Below: Close-up of the Angela Caputi padlock necklace with matching (clip) earrings, bought at Antioch Sieraden in Maastricht (great service).

I still think it is a gorgeous necklace and a real conversation starter. I tried it with this cream summer dress and decided to bookend it with equally chunky sandals. Probably a good move but I am still a woman who prefers more elegant shoes. Sigh.
(You have seen the dress before in this post, with high heeled espadrilles and a dainty necklace.)

Anyway, I wore this to Sabine’s 50th birthday celebration. Her husband organised a birthday lunch with family and close friends as a surprise. Anke and I were among those lucky ones.

Below: The lunch was at restaurant Slangevegt, a former country estate, built in 1700 and now a restaurant with delicious food and a great ambiance.

Below: Part of our group, just before the starters were served. How picturesque is this?

Below: Anke on the left and birthday girl Sabine on the right.

Below: Sabine’s husband created a WhatsApp group for her friends and I organised a little whip-round for a present. These are the earrings we gave her. They go ever so well with that gorgeous dress. She looks radiant.

Below: Dessert with candles to blow out. Not many women get to look this good at 50.

Below: Views from the terrace.

Below: I wasn’t feeling very pretty. I thought the dress gave me a fat stomach, my hair had given up on me and the shoes, as I said, are not really what I like with a dress. Please don’t comment that I shouldn’t complain because I look lovely. I know everything is relative. At least I am smiling.

Below: I took a head-to-toe shot of Anke. Can you believe she found those gorgeous sandals in a charity shop?

Below: Anke was kind enough to take my blog photos and of course I wanted one sitting down.

It was so nice to celebrate Sabine’s birthday like this.

What happened in my life this week

Saw mum on Saturday. As it was too hot to go outside so we stayed in and she beat me at Rummikub, three times out of three.

The dentist

Fortunately the dentist had good news. He took a photo of the pivot tooth and its surroundings and compared it to the photos of two years ago and four years ago. Nothing has changed, so I need not worry. He did advise me though to use a particular floss for the back of the molar. Keeping it clean to prevent an infection is the best I can do to make sure it isn’t getting any worse. I am happy.

As my dentist isn’t too far from Marianne’s house, I popped over to see her.
Below: Marianne, looking good as always.

Below: I was wearing this that day. It wasn’t until two days later that I realised I wore another green top with these trousers. Oh well, who cares.

Loes took outfit photos for next Sunday’s post. It was a bright day, although a bit foggy. Ideal weather for photography.

Below: Loes with a beautiful set of necklace and bracelet.

Jolanda, the designer behind EIJK shoes and boots, asked me to do a Zoom meeting with her as she was researching her target market, what the customer is looking for. That was fun.

I met Janneke for a cappuccino. We were supposed to go to the beach and have iced coffee but the machine had broken down. Darn. Luckily Ron and I walked dog Watson at the beach the afternoon before and found out about it. (Although I was very disappointed, not getting an iced coffee after doing all the walking.)

Below: A still from a video Janneke’s son secretly recorded. (Link to original post with this outfit.)

Another pleasant coffee date was with Fennemiek whom I had not seen for at least three or four years. A lot had happened in our lives in that period, so we had some catching up to do. Fennemiek is ever so intelligent and a real feminist without being pushy about it. And of course a very pleasant person.

Below: Fennemiek, comfortably sitting in her roof top garden.

Below: I had to photograph the top of the church which you see behind Fennemiek in the photo above. What a view.

Below: And the other side of her roof top garden.

Below: I was wearing my sleeveless suit. Ron warned me that I really did not look good in it haha. I must admit that I hadn’t buttoned up the vest and I was wearing house slippers when he said that. (Link to original post with this outfit.)

Which concludes this week.

Greetje

Het bericht Angela Caputi padlock necklace and a birthday lunch verscheen eerst op No Fear of Fashion.

I didn’t have any summer outfits left as I am already focused on autumn and winter. Which makes sense if you think of all the rain we’ve had in August. The outfit I did have lined up, were these flared jeans with a yellow top. The colour of the top is at least sunny and summery, the jeans are more autumnal. The jeans are new and by Vanessa Bruno. I bought them in May at Studio LM in Haarlem. (Useless information for anybody not living in the Netherlands.)

Below: The cake shop behind me (Huize Van Wely) is excellent.
I think the jeans look ever so good when I stand, but they ride up when I sit down. It will probably bother me less in winter, when I can wear boots. This short length is good as I needed jeans to wear with flat shoes. I have another pair of flared jeans (8 years old) which require higher heels.

Below: These ever so comfortable shoes by EIJK Amsterdam have been in my wardrobe for years. I didn’t wear them much as I didn’t like them with skinny jeans. With wide or flared trousers they are the bee’s knees. Hmmm…they could do with a bit of shoe polish.

Now over to my photographer Helena.

Below: A head-to-toe shot of Helena as we were in a shop where she wanted to try on a coat she had seen.
The outfit she is wearing below is what she was wearing that day.

Below: Here she is in the winter coat she is considering.

Below: With the coat closed. I took these photos so she could see what it looked like on her. A photo gives you a different perspective than a view in the mirror.

Below: We were on the big market square of Haarlem with the town hall in front of us. It is partly hidden by the big terrace on the square.

Below: A closer look at the tower of the town hall. I love it when they put white flowers in the windowsills.

Below: On the other side of the town hall we decided to take another outfit photo. I know from another shoot that holding a ‘prop’ makes quite a difference. The photo will be far more relaxed. I was looking for one, but there was no ‘prop’ so I grabbed the arm of a man standing around and asked whether he wanted to be in the photo with me haha. He didn’t mind at all. So here I am with a total stranger. Love it.

Note: props are physical elements added to a setting with the subject (me in this case) for stylistic or emotional effect.

We wandered behind the town hall where I have had a great photo shoot with Kitty, featuring my cream trousers with houndstooth blazer. If you want to see more, click the link.
Below: Ron never allows me to hold on to something when he takes photos. Helena doesn’t mind. She took another photo with me holding the sundial, but Ron said I looked like a drunk in that photo.

Below: The earrings I chose with this outfit are burgundy/brown and they are by Lara Design. Belt is by Loewe.

Below: We walked across the marketplace with another big terrace. As the name says, the market is held here on a Saturday and it is a pretty good one, lots of great food.

Below: Our church called Saint Bavo. It was really quiet that day.

Below: The back of the church. Well, one side of it, as it is a big church. At the foot of the church there are a few small shops.

Below: It was time for some cappuccino. The terrace of Metzo had enough shade for us. Metzo is a good restaurant for coffee, drinks, lunch and dinner.

Below: After we sat down and had ordered our coffee, we saw the sign outside another restaurant across the small street, called Pieck. The sign said “Our garden at the back is open“. Rats…that might have been really nice. Oh well, some other time.

Below: Portrait of Helena. We were comfortably seated here.

And that was the end of the day for us. It was great seeing her again.

What happened in my life this week

We had a street party and the weather co-operated again. We have organised this annual street party for many years now and only once it rained. And that became a giggly event underneath a big parasol.
About 30 to 40 people attended. As usual there was so much delicious food. Ron also made four different dishes. And he didn’t present them on plates or in bowls, but in very long and large courgettes, which he scooped out first. Why didn’t I take a photo?

Below: I am the one in the blue and white striped shirt, killing myself laughing. For privacy reasons I pixelated my neighbours’ faces.

Sunday I visited mum and took her around the village in a wheelchair. We had an ice cream on the village square and coffee on a nice terrace overlooking the harbour. Lovely day.

Monday and Wednesday Ron and I went to the beach. Dog Watson loves to run through the water. And I love the iced coffee (prepared with cream). Grainy selfie below.

Below: The continuing story of the parrot. Ron sent me this photo with the text:
“You don’t think I am staying indoors with this gorgeous weather, now do you?”

Below: He brought his friend Watson along.

Thursday I geared myself up to do some fitness. Gosh, I hate it, but it is so necessary. It is a good thing that I am so disciplined. Visited the physiotherapist for my knee and the rest of the leg. Also very necessary. I did a lot of chores and continued to do so on Friday morning.

Friday morning I ran late visiting the dental hygienist. I really must use my glasses when I open my agenda. She was proud of the way I brush my teeth, only I have a bit of nastiness bottom left. Not to my fault, but something is eating away my jaw. Monday I will see the dentist and consult him what to do. I fear horrible operations, costing a lot of money. I am insured for dental cost, but it is limited.
In the afternoon the hairdresser (a new lady this time) cut my hair and she did a good job. It was one and a half week overdue and it really showed.

Busy weekend ahead. Wishing you all a lovely week.

Greetje

Het bericht Flared jeans with a yellow top verscheen eerst op No Fear of Fashion.

I chose an area in Haarlem where I photographed another outfit in January 2021, an outfit which happened to be blue and orange outfit as well. Talk about coincidence. That time the trees had no leaves as it was winter.
Loes was my photographer. We left early as rain was predicted around 11 a.m.

Below: The first thing we saw after parking the car was this bench. “Here you go”, Loes said.

Below: There are beautiful houses in this part of town. I love the way they let all the greenery grow. It is so much work to maintain.

Below: Loes with a gorgeous colourful shirt. Her neutral toned trousers drew the focus to the shirt.

Below: Beautiful little park.

Below: We used this magnificent front door as a background.

Below: And the door opening of the house next to it. The company that uses the premises had the door open, which we saw as a photo opportunity.

Below: Gates are also photo opportunities. By this time the owner of the company came to check us out. What were we doing there? I explained and all was well.

For more beautiful buildings, click the link to the old blog post, with photos of this area in winter.

Below: Close-up of the pearl with yellow gold bracelet. A vintage find and in perfect condition. The pearl necklace you have seen before, a gift from my mum.

Below: Gold ring with pearls, a gift from my friend Marianne. It isn’t easy photographing a ring on old hands but I think I did well.

Rather a short main story this week. You have to take it as it comes dear readers.

What happened in my life this week

Many lunches and cappuccinos with friends.

Cappuccinos and tea with Marcella (below):

Below: Lunch and some shopping with my old boss Tanja. Lovely woman. It started to get a bit windy on the terrace so we moved into the cafe.

Below: And a day with Helena who was kind enough to take photos for next week’s blog post. Our date was postponed twice (by me) and on this day mum had to go to the ear doctor. Ron took mum instead of me, so I could have my day with my friend. He is such a sweetheart.

Below: I love to have many fresh flowers in our house. These white roses are a week old, so they will be replaced, but they were dead cheap (€6 for 30 roses) and lasted a week. August is the month to buy roses.
Although my mum’s birthday is in August, my dad used to buy her chrysanthemums…”because they last such a long time…”. My dad was more practical than romantic haha.

Below: I also bought these cute flowers, €5.50 for 30. We Dutch love to get a lot for little LOL.
I had the three vases in different places in the living room but later decided that it was nicer to put them together as a group.

Ron and I had a lot of administrative business to tackle which I won’t go into any further, but it was worrying and stressful. Not everything is solved yet, but we are getting there. Kept us busy all week.

We both have also been going through our wardrobe and put a lot in the give-away pile. Room for new stuff.

Greetje

Het bericht Blue monochrome outfit with an orange scarf verscheen eerst op No Fear of Fashion.

Below: The solution, of course, is to wear it with trousers and trainers. Only, I bought the darned thing to show off my legs, which are my best feature. Still, I think it is a nice garment, even with trousers. The brand of the trainers is AMA, season 2020 or so.

Below: I chose a posh area of The Hague to do the photo shoot as I knew there were a lot of pretty buildings here. This is the ‘Groot Hertoginnelaan’ (translated: Grand Dutchess Lane).

Below: I particularly like these ones. I would call this ‘elaborate’.

Below: The houses had a little park in their midst. (Yes, the dress has pockets.)

Below: Marjolein was my photographer. She had on a really nice outfit herself. She always dresses so well, bless her.

Below: She found this shirt in a thrift shop and immediately thought of her pink trousers. I love the combination. By the way, Marjolein is very much a cat lover.

Below: Close-up of bag, trousers and shoes. Great styling.

Below: And let’s not forget her earrings.

Below: I tried wearing the dress open like a jacket. Not bad, but I prefer it buttoned up.

Below: Because I still crave high heels, I brought along a pair. I am wearing them in the first photo of this post and below. They are about 15 years old and made with eel skin. They are far more comfortable than they look.

Below: OK, this photo is one too many. Indulge me.

Below: 4 more magnificent buildings. If you are not into them, scroll further down.

Below: When I was putting the outfit together, I liked this combination best, with my All Stars trainers but my trousers weren’t fastened, so the legs seemed longer than they actually were.
Perhaps I can find some second-hand white trousers with a straight leg and this length. I like it cuffed like this.

What happened in my life this week

I picked up the pearl necklace my mum gave me, from the jewellers. They had repaired it beautifully and I am wearing it now as much as I can to stretch it a bit as it is strung rather tightly (a necessity). On my way back I found myself a new bra at department store The Bijenkorf (=bee hive). The strangest thing was however, that after wearing it one day, it felt too tight and I had red marks on my body. It is the same size as I always have. This happened to me once before so I knew I had to buy a little extension piece for the back. Still, it is a weird thing.

Of course I visited mum again and beat her 2 to 1 with Rummikub.

I took Kitty for a coffee with cake as a present for her birthday a couple of weeks ago. She has a new way of taking selfies with an iPhone. She put the phone against her bag in the middle of the street, camera at the bottom, put the timer on 10 seconds and GO.

Below: This is the result. Not the most flattering photo of me, but who cares. This was already the fourth shot. Every time Kitty had the camera set, a car would be driving into the street. We just let the people wait until we had taken the photo LOL. (Link to original post with this green dress.)

We had a handyman coming in to fix the curtain rails at the front of the living room. A couple of grips had come undone in the middle and the rails were sagging. Ron had fixed it before but clearly there was something wrong which we didn’t know about. I was glad I called in professional help. He knew exactly what the trouble was and fixed it. Yay. These little things really bug me.

I had a day with mum, taking her to the eye doctor and after that straight through to the hearing aid professional. Mum’s hearing aids were bugging her. Turned out that a lovely woman who cleaned the soft bits of the aids, swoped left for right haha. Also mum’s left ear is partly blocked so I made an appointment with the ear doctor next week.
We then had a lovely time on a terrace, having coffee and watching the world go by. There was still time left for some shopping. (She can still walk but not long distances, so we used a wheelchair.) Let there be a good bra shop! We immediately went in and mum now has a good fitting bra. As she dropped quite some weight (don’t worry, we are monitoring it), her bra size changed considerably and I didn’t want her use her two-sizes-too-big ones any longer. It was a shop with old-fashioned service and a vast stock. Where do you find them these days? All in all, a very fruitful and enjoyable day.

Thursday the weather changed to more rain and a bit lower in temperatures but it was still lovely. You just have to plan around the showers. Which Loes and I did on Thursday morning. We started bright and early to do a photo shoot before the rain started. And some coffee and cake afterwards.
You must think by now, that this is the only thing I do all week, drink coffee and eat cake. Well…you are not far off LOL.
Thursday was the day my mum turned 95. I had arranged cake for the entire nursing home (sounds more expensive than it was). And they all had coffee and cake in the morning together. Early afternoon mum’s hairdresser picked her up and they (and some other ladies at the hairdresser’s) had cake and coffee. They gave her a lovely white orchid as a birthday present.
Below: Mum coming back from the hairdresser. (Now and then I will post photos of mum, just not every week.)

We arranged to have lunch with mum on the Friday (she hates missing her hairdresser’s appointment haha). Below you see sister and brother next to each other and our spouses on the other side. And of course the birthday girl.

See you next week.

Greetje

Het bericht Max Mara cherry print dress with white trousers verscheen eerst op No Fear of Fashion.

I wore this combination when I met Janna at the Beurs van Berlage (the old building of the stock exchange) in Amsterdam.
I posted a photo of Janna (@Timelessstyle.nl on Instagram) last week, wearing a lilac outfit.

The story of this building is quite interesting. The architect Berlage was a convinced socialist. Designing a stock exchange building was totally against his beliefs. But he was sure the stock exchange wouldn’t last long so he solved his dilemma by designing it like a grand community house (read the story here).

Below: Janna and me having a delicious lunch in this beautiful building.

Below: We wanted to do a photo shoot in the building but it was far too dark for proper photos. We took a few iPhone photos.

Below: Janna, wearing a casual business suit with trainers. Very modern.

Below: Outside we had better light and the building provided a lovely background as the two photos below show.

Below: This is what the building looks like seen from the square.

Below: Why this lady was feeding the pigeons, beats me. They get enough food and are quite a nuisance.

Below: A closer look at the building. The building is now used for big events and, as I mentioned, there is a restaurant in it as well. Because of the lovely weather, they had opened the terrace on the square.

Below: We had fun with the bull on the square. The bull was placed there one night in 2012 by artist Arturo Di Modica. He wanted the statue to be a positive sign in bad economic times. It represents a ‘bull market’, a market moving upwards. He didn’t have a permit for that and it got moved once but put back again.
The artist did the same in 1987 with an even bigger bull at the stock exchange of New York.
The photo shows the slit at the bottom of the trousers very well.

Below: The entire bull.

The colour of the top is difficult to show with a photo. I wore it before with white jeans in this post where the colour is just right.

Below: Janna was pretending to call a taxi in front of the new stock exchange. We both are into new poses. Remember the workshop in catwalk and poses we did together in February?

Below: Catching the drops of the fountain.

Below: Demonstrating the batwing sleeves.

Below: Black earrings made from polymer clay. The artist (Baublehaus) ceased her jewellery design work, so I cannot link to her anymore. The belt is by Loewe.

Below: We thought the display of Chanel lipstick at the department store Bijenkorf was the same colour as my top. NOT.

Below: Across the road of the Bijenkorf is a new shop by Christian Dior. Janna wanted a peek inside and the doorman let us in. The staff was very nice and helpful, although they must have sussed out we weren’t going to buy anything. The shock on my face when I heard that a belt was €680 and the disbelief when we saw the price of the jeans below (€1,380), gave away we weren’t buying customers. But still, they were very nice to us.

Below: I really liked this coat which was around €3,500. Totally out of my league. Besides, you need a car and a driver to drop you off with this coat, as it doesn’t even have buttons. Clearly not meant to be worn on a bike in the Dutch rain LOL. I declined an offer by a staff member to try it on. My motto: “Don’t touch what you can’t afford.”

Below: Outside again, we spotted this beautiful lady and I asked whether I could take her photo and put it on my blog. She was a good sport and posed for me. A striking and clearly confident woman.

We came to the underground (subway) and I said goodbye to Janna and went to see the jeweller to have my pearl necklace repaired.

Below: On Rokin (a large street in the centre of Amsterdam) you will find this majestic statue.

Below: This is the whole statue, photographed from the side. It is a fountain with water running in the middle. The tree isn’t growing from the statue, it is on the other side of the street.

Below: Beautiful buildings in one of the little streets behind Rokin.

Below: This is what I mean with little streets. What I love about them, is the number of green plants.

Below: The above street is called ‘Gebed zonder end’ which means ‘never-ending story’. It is a saying in Dutch, literally translated ‘prayer with no end’. I think it is funny that they named a street after it. There used to be many convents in this area, perhaps that has got something to do with it. The sign with this street name is very popular and gets stolen a lot. One solution in the past, was painting the name of the street on the stones.

Below: One last pretty picture to finish this part of the post.

What happened in my life this week

It was a lovely week. I didn’t visit mum last weekend as my niece and her family visited her.

The story of mum’s old landlords continues as they sent her a registered letter summoning her (us) to do the work on the floors (removing the glue) as they have demanded many times before. And our arguments for not doing so, haven’t changed, so mum will write a letter back saying we will not comply. They might pay a company to do the job and charge us for it but we won’t pay. Then the next step for them is to take us to court. We’ll see.

What I find unbelievable, is that after all this nastiness, one of the landlords visited mum last Wednesday at the nursing home. Just for a friendly chat. You could have knocked me over with a feather when I heard that.

Below: On a lighter note, Marcella and I went out for a cappuccino and ended up on the same terrace I was with Marita three days before. (Why do they have these ugly nets hanging from the buildings when I take a photo? I know, I know, they have got to do work to the buildings, but this seems to be going on everywhere, all the time.)

Below: Marcella had created another cute earring for her business Lara Design. It is not on her website yet.

Below: We had dinner with (bonus) daughter and her husband at a really nice restaurant. It was a late birthday present from them to us. We couldn’t celebrate our birthdays because I was still recuperating from my operation. We had totally forgotten about this present. (Link to original post with this dress.)

Below: Wore this outfit one day, visiting an orthopaedist as it gives easy access to my knee. (Link to original post with this outfit, only with different earrings.) An X-ray was taken and I am still in phase 3 (operation is in phase 4). The orthopaedist explained that 70% of people with a new knee are very happy. But 30% are not! With complaints varying from still in pain to not being able to walk. Which is why everyone recommends waiting until walking is really impossible and you are in a lot of pain, because if you are in the 30% bit then, you won’t feel so sorry.
I am going to try a Hyaluronic acid injection. According to the orthopaedist I have a 50% chance it will work with me. Another motto of me: “Nothing ventured, nothing gained.”

Below: Another joke from Ron with the parrot. He put the parrot in our jasmine hedge, sitting on a ‘nest’.

Below: And put eggs in the ‘nest’ haha.

Ron and I went to the beach a couple of times as the sun has found the Netherlands again. Dog Watson loves the beach.

Below: And I had dinner with Aafke. She is such a ray of sunshine. We laughed all evening. It was already late when I thought of having our photo taken, which explains the grainy picture. (Link to original post with this outfit.)

Which concludes this week.

Greetje

Het bericht Pebble coloured trousers with a neon pink top verscheen eerst op No Fear of Fashion.

Luckily Marcella came to tea on the Saturday. I put on this monochrome white outfit with a colourful scarf and hoped that a) the rain would stop and b) she would be so kind to take a few photos. As you can see, it was yes to both.

Below: Marcella had just been to the hairdresser and her hair looked lovely. I forgot to tell her to take her scrunchie out when I photographed her outside. Shame.

So there isn’t a lot of variation in the photos and there are no pretty buildings. But at least you get to see a new blog post with a ‘new’ outfit.

The wide white trousers, the white top and the white boots aren’t new. You have seen them in this blog post with my green vest. The orange bag you have seen a few times as well. That was a good purchase. Recently I found a belt in the sale, in exactly the same colour. You will see it soon.

Now we come to the scarf. If it looks familiar, it is because it is the same fabric as my orange and cream kaftan dress. When I bought the dress, the shop owner suggested to use the scarf as a belt on the dress. I tried that in the shop but didn’t like it. As I was wearing this same white monochrome outfit that day, it was easy to see the effect of the scarf on its own. I love the pattern of the fabric and it made me decide to buy the dress and the scarf but wear them separately.

It is such easy styling. You take a monochrome outfit in whatever colour suits you best and add an amazing scarf. And you’re done.

Below: I am leaning against a tree, something that Ron hates. Me trying to hold on to something because I don’t know what to do with my hands. He always refuses to take my picture when I do that. Marcella didn’t mind.

Below: I tried two other poses near the tree. This is my ‘I am a bit shy’ pose.

Below: This pose is called ‘Look at me, my arm creates an angle’.

As I said, very little variation. My trusted ‘sitting on a bench’ pose was off limits as it had been raining and the benches were soaking wet.

Below: For variation here is a head-to-toe photo of Marcella.

Below: A close-up with brown Lara Design earrings. There are brown branches in the scarf.

Below: This is a photo which I don’t like. I have included it anyway to show you the difference in hair. My hair in the photo above is the way that I like it. My hair in the photo below is how it, unfortunately, usually is.
Which is why I always say “Never trust a photo, it is only a moment in time and doesn’t necessarily tells the truth”.

That’s it for this week’s outfit.

What happened in my life this week

Apart from visiting mum nothing much happened in the weekend. Mum and I played Rummikub and as we started the last, decisive game, I said “This is going to be a very short game as I got 5 Joker tiles to begin with”.
I put my first set of 30 points on the table but didn’t want to put everything down at once. It then was mum’s turn and she said “I didn’t do so badly myself”, laid down all her tiles and won the game. That was indeed a very short game but with a totally different outcome than I’d expected. We had a really good laugh.

Below: I wore this to mum. Layering for hot and chilly weather, trainers for easy walking. You have seen this long jacket a couple of times before. In this post, in this one (scroll down) and in this one (with a sleeveless dress – scroll down).

Monday and Tuesday were quiet days. Monday I took out a lot of tops from my wardrobe to style with my new trousers (3 pairs of jeans and the pebble coloured trousers). Not my hobby. (Does this surprise you or did you already know?) Nevertheless I was quite pleased with the result. And I found three pairs of summer shoes which I hardly ever wore as I didn’t like them with my skinnies. But they look very good with wide trousers. You won’t be seeing many dresses in the near future, I am afraid.

Below: Remember the parrot from last week’s post? Tuesday morning I found this on the breakfast table. Ron has a very good sense of humour.

Wednesday I visited mum again as she wanted me to have access to her bank account. Her writing is getting worse and I am afraid that one day the bank won’t accept her signature anymore. My brother totally agrees. After the paperwork was done, we went out for a coffee with cake.

Thursday I met Janna of @Timelessstyle.nl (on Instagram) and we caught up with each other during lunch in Amsterdam and had a little photo shoot.
Below: A photo from her Instagram account.

As she went on her way, I brought my pearl necklace (the one that I got from mum) to the jewellers (Lyppens) to have them strung again as I broke it. They are ‘my’ jewellers for 40 years now and I love them. I kept my eyes deliberately shut while I was waiting. Such a dangerous place, so much temptation.

Although I didn’t really do much walking that day, my left leg hurt like hell during the night. I couldn’t get to sleep because of the pain. Stupid knee. I am going to consult an orthopaedist to see what he or she can do to ease that pain. Perhaps an injection with hyaluronic acid? We’ll see.

Friday my physiotherapist treated my leg and in the afternoon I met Marita for cappuccino (below). It is lovely weather again in the Netherlands (hurray). The blue tunic I am wearing with white jeans is in fact a Kenzo dress. But too short at the front for my taste. Here is a link to the Kenzo dress worn as a dress and a link to the Kenzo dress worn over blue jeans.

I am really going to enjoy the lovely weather.

Greetje

Het bericht White monochrome outfit with a colourful scarf verscheen eerst op No Fear of Fashion.

Below: Wearing my wide cobalt blue trousers (also see the post when I wore it with my green and white Angela Caputi necklace), a white top, a yellow bag and a blue/white/lime scarf (I am finally bringing out a scarf). The silver of the shoes is repeated in the brooch and the belt. The brooch keeps the scarf in place. Unfortunately there was too much fabric for the pin to manage, which broke the brooch. Good old Ron fixed it again.

Below: Marijke and Claudia being totally relaxed. We were giggling over Claudia’s low-cut dress. She changed into it on arrival at my house but hadn’t worn it for a while. She was surprised it revealed so much. We told her to be proud of such a beautiful bosom.

Below: As I started taking photos Marijke decided to ‘cover’ the cleavage. Always goofing.

Being the host means starting with cakes and coffee at 11 o’clock, followed by lunch. Around half past one we all go into town to do some (clothes) shopping and we return when the shops close. In the Netherlands that is at 17.00 hours on a Saturday. Time for drinks and snacks at my place which is followed by dinner. I was lucky as Ron cooked for us ‘Spanish chicken’, a recipe he found on the internet. For dessert he made a strawberry trifle with mascarpone, whipped cream and sponge fingers. On top of that, he also cleared everything away and ran the dishwasher twice. I love this man.

Below: Marianne was dressed in a top and trousers of black broderie anglaise (English embroidery), with silver trainers and a silver bag.

Below: Arriving downtown, Jilske was the goofing one. Claudia had changed into trainers and shorts.

Below: Marijke took this sitting down photo in front of a nice shop because the bench was turquoise which went well with my trousers.

Below: Jilske is pretending to take a bite out of Claudia’s leg. The man arrived on his bike and saw us laughing and taking photos and he wanted to join. Why not?

Below: I like this photo. It gives you a good view of the scarf. While it looks stained, it’s actually the effect of the little specks of lime.

Below: When I took this photo I thought to myself it is such a shame people don’t dress up anymore. I get it, it is far more comfortable than a dress with a crinoline, but it doesn’t make for a pleasing picture. Imagine people being dressed for a wedding with these old buildings as background. Luckily this is the town hall. Lovely dressed people will be on the stairs regularly.

Below: Time for some shopping. Of course we visited kpa.haarlem. Regular readers of my blog know I buy a lot at this place. Marijke was interested.

Below: Jilske and Claudia were interested as well. But they all came out empty-handed. I started to talk to customers in the shop and by the time I was ready to try on the dress I had picked, they had all moved on to the next shop.

Below: Marijke bought this dress plus a blue one with sleeves. She was talking again as I took the photo…sigh.

Below: Jilske also found a few things but decided against it. Claudia bought a dress. This shop offered a big discount, especially when you bought more than one or two items.

Below: In another shop I had bought this little cardigan for 1/3 of the price. I thought it went well with this outfit, not that it needed an addition. The cardie will come in handy, I’m sure.

Below: The sweet little earrings are by Djills jewels, a company owned by Jilske, who created the earrings. I know some of you will say they have a golden hook and I am wearing a silver brooch. I wear gold and silver together.

Below: We went past my hairdresser having this vase with artificial flowers on their counter. Pretty.

Below: Close-up of the yellow Coach bag. I never used it much but lately it is coming out of hiding.

Below: On our way home I took a photo of a group of almshouses.

Below: Through the gate on the right I got a glimpse of the courtyard. This is one of the prettiest almshouse courtyards.

As usual it was a great day with a lot of laughter, loud talking, interrupting each other, telling stories and again laughter. Ron decided to hide upstairs and in the garden haha.

What happened in my life this week

After that busy Saturday with my BVA girlfriends, I slept in and visited mum on Sunday.
Below: I fancied something nice to wear for a change and opted for this orange dress (link to original post). I thought I didn’t have to walk far that day, so out came the high heels. It was a mistake. Doing some shopping for mum did the muscles of my calves in.

Of course the following Monday we had to deliver the keys of mum’s old house to the landlords. Although perhaps quite unnecessary I hoovered the place one last time and cleaned some spots. We hired a bailiff to do a survey of the house. He will send us a report and he took photos of the house. Just in case the landlords decide to send us a bill for things they reckon, should have been removed.

I found myself being very emotional which is so totally NOT me. The main landlord was being himself again. When I said to their real estate agent that the relationship between us had gone sour, he said that he had only pointed out what the responsibilities on both sides were and that, as far as he was concerned, we were still friendly with each other. By that time I feared I would burst into tears. Again, that is so not me. Making remarks dipped in vitriol would be far more my style.
I was not going to let him have the satisfaction of seeing me in tears, so I backed away and let my husband follow them on their tour through the house. Ron was recording the whole conversation on his iPhone (genius idea). The main landlord didn’t like that but Ron replied that he did. “In that case I won’t say anything anymore” the landlord replied. Strange.

As they arrived upstairs the landlord mentioned that we did not remove the glue from the floor and his real estate agent said: “That is no problem; you can easily put another floor on top of it’. Whahaha. We have that on record.

Below: Wearing my green suit (link to the original blog post) to meet the landlords.
When I was hoovering and cleaning I was dressed in “work clothes”. I didn’t want to be dressed like that meeting them, as I knew they would be in suits. Never underestimate the power of dressing or the influence on your state of mind being underdressed.
I combined the outfit with my new shiny silver bag.

Tuesday and Wednesday were quiet days with a lot of rain. Where is the sun??

Thursday I picked up my new wide jeans by Samsoe and Samsoe from the seamstress. She managed to elongate the one leg which was just an inch too short. I saw those perfect jeans in spring at kpa.haarlem in size 29-32 and I needed 29-34, so slightly longer. I went to the brand’s website but they didn’t have them in the longer size anymore. The rest of the year size 29-32 didn’t sell at kpa.haarlem. It kept calling me.
My seamstress solved my dilemma (I hate trousers which are too short, even if it is in fashion, childhood trauma), so I bought them after all. I am very pleased with them.

In the afternoon I went to see the film Barbie with my friend and neighbour Monique. Just to see what all the fuss was about. I am not sure what to think of the film. The actors gave a very good performance and I liked the end message (the way I understood it, but someone else might have another idea). I thought that the message was ‘You shouldn’t be judged for how you look, which also includes being pretty. You should be judged by who you are as a person”. Although I like that message, I cannot help thinking the whole film had only one purpose and that is to excuse Mattel and to stop the accusations that Barbie causes unrealistic expectations with little girls who want to look like her.

As the booth was there anyway, we also took our photo. Childish, I know.

Below: Monique as Barbie in her box.

Below: Me as Barbie in a box. (Link to original post wearing this Dries van Noten sweater.)

Finally I want to show you the parrot Claudia gave me last Saturday. It took some persuasion to get Ron to agree and leave it in our plant (below). I think it is a funny joke.

Greetje

Het bericht Wide cobalt blue trousers and the BVA girls verscheen eerst op No Fear of Fashion.

The top is the one I bought in the sale when I was with Marjolein in Leiden. I like the shape and the colour and thought it would look cute with these trousers.
Because the proportions from my upper body part to my lower body part was a bit odd, I added a belt. A brown one, to counteract the lightness of this outfit. Subsequently I also chose a brown bag.

As I looked in the mirror in the bedroom I was pleased with the styling. But after I saw the photos, I wasn’t so keen on the outfit anymore. And that has nothing to do with Kitty’s photography skills, not at all. I just got another good look. I like the front of the outfit, but sometimes the part around the belly, hips and bum looks off. It isn’t too bad so I will probably wear this outfit again, but it isn’t in my top 10.

Below: When Kitty suggested this flower garden, I hadn’t realised that there wouldn’t be neat, paved paths. Walking around in espadrilles (= fabric shoes) on wet grass, stepping on molehills, trying to avoid stinging thistles and nettles is something I dislike. On top of that, I had been to the hairdresser two days before and I hate the way my hair looks those first days. To my shame I have to admit, these things make me grumpy. So a lot of the photos couldn’t be used because I was pulling a grumpy face, not because poor Kitty didn’t do a good job. Other photographers like Marjolein, Anja and my husband know about my foul moods and it really won’t do. They are going out of their way to do me a favour and I spoil both the atmosphere and the photos. Sigh. I am such a whingey bitch. I promise, I will try and control myself better in future (have I promised this before?).

The system of the garden is built on trust. You pay for the flowers you pluck by either transferring money into the bank account written on the sign, or you put coins through a hole in the wall. The word ‘Betaalopties’ on the sign means ‘payment options’. But first you take a basket plus a pair of scissors and choose your flowers.

Below: My orange earrings would have been a bit much with all the orange already going on in the outfit. I chose these long ones with a glass pendant (Lara Design).

Below: It looked like a lovely way to create a bunch of wildflowers.

Below: Bees love this garden.

Below: Cute shed.

Below: The flowers in this vase were already withering but they made a nice ‘prop’.

Below: I am cutting away, following the instructions.

Below: After three flowers I couldn’t see many more that I liked, so I stopped. But I did pay for the three. Never mind, the garden served its purpose as background for the photo shoot.

Below: We have these flowers in our garden as well.

Below: Kitty, my skilled photographer, wearing a pair of Dries van Noten trousers. She looks beautiful.

I might not have been in the right mood to like anything, whatever it was. Do you recognise moods/days like that?

What happened in my life this week

Saturday was a day filled with a visit to the seamstress, having a chat and a cup of coffee with her, some sale shopping and a visit to the market. We have an outstanding market on Saturday with high quality food. I needed to bring home snacks to go with drinks before dinner as our friends and neighbours Froukje and Petro came to taste Ron’s excellent mussels. He prepares them well. It was an evening filled with laughter.

On Sunday we got a visit from our friends Anne-Hiske and Jan Daniël who had to pick up something in Haarlem and combined it with looking us up. Always so nice to see them. They are great people. The rest of the day was relaxed.

The rest of the week was filled with visits to physiotherapists and a blood test (hurray for old age stuff pffff), seeing the seamstress and finishing the work of clearing my mum’s old, rented house. Good old Ron turned out to be a mountain of muscles.
Monday we will give the keys back to the landlords and I hope that will be the end of it.

As I said before, we are not complying with all the demands of the landlords and they have turned nasty. We are going to leave the house in a tidy way but I take my conscience as my guideline, not their demands. For instance, the stairs were in a right state (see below) with nasty glue on them after my brother removed the carpet (1 day’s work).

Below: This is how it looks after Ron slaved away for 2 days to remove the glue. Still not perfect, I will admit that, but perfect is a bit too much if you realize that nothing in the house has been updated in 63 years. The landlords never provided maintenance of the house. Until he died in 2006, my father did everything himself.

Below: For example, this is the state of the kitchen door.

Below: And this is the state of the French doors.

The person who buys the house (as the landlords are selling it), will have to knock down everything and execute a pretty expensive renovation.

You can tell I am frustrated about this.

Friday was another quiet day. I haven’t got much planned for next week either. I am just not in the right frame of mind. It will come back.

Greetje

Het bericht Orange and cream top verscheen eerst op No Fear of Fashion.

Below: When I tried different tops with the skirt, I soon figured out that it is not an easy skirt for me. It gives me a short upper body and a big belly.
I first tried it with high heeled sandals, which I still think is nice but also a little bit old fashioned.

Below: I sent the above photo to Marjolein and she replied: “Might also work well with trainers.” Of course it would. More modern and more comfortable. Especially because we were going to do a photo shoot in Leiden, which means a lot of walking.

As you can see above, I had elongated my short upper body by tying the belt of the dress around my waist. I thought it looked fine, ready to do the shoot.

We wandered through Leiden, which is a lovely old town with no shortage of picturesque backgrounds. I have done more photo shoots here (see this post and this post).

Below: A red door is too good to pass up. It took a while to get a decent photo though as the light kept hitting my belly and when the wind blew against my skirt, that belly became even more pronounced.

Below: Marjolein, my friend and photographer of the day. She looked very stylish, as always, I might add.

Below: Just walking around, you’ll pass many buildings like this. Old and well maintained. See how the top is supported by an iron bar at the back? And the black lines on the building are bars to fortify the structure.

Below: As we turned around we saw a row of old ships, which are monuments. People actually live in them and the same rules apply as for a monument house.

Below: The weather was beautiful and many people were on the canals with their boats. Barges are used to expand café terraces.

Below: Lovely to sit on one of those terraces and watch the boats go by.

Below: We went shopping (we always do and there are so many shops in Leiden…). Marjolein did not buy these trousers but was tempted. I bought a top (in the sale) which you will see next week.

Below: Leiden’s magnificent buildings. I am showing a few in one go, as there will be people who are bored with watching photos of old buildings. They can skip them.

Below: The above building was too good a background opportunity to pass up.

Below: I took this photo with my iPhone on Panorama mode. Worked out well. It is the old Town Hall, built in the 16th century. In 1929 the whole building burned to the ground except the facade. They preserved the facade and built a whole new building behind it. Several Pilgrims were married here, like William Bradford and Dorothy May.

Below: Cute corner at the top.

Below: Little alleys and terraces everywhere. Across the road was a lovely vintage store.

Below: At the vintage store, Marjolein found these silver sandals by AGL, a pretty expensive brand. You can tell the quality when you look at the inside of the straps across the toes. So cleverly done. Although vintage they weren’t cheap, but they fitted her so well, the heel is a good heel to walk in and they were never worn. What a find.

Below: The sitting pose.

Below: Against an ancient door with the wind billowing the skirt.

Below: “Now, where did I leave my marbles???”

Below: Sun damage on my skin is clearly visible in this close-up. But it is what it is. The earrings are corrugated cardboard by Dorisse of Paper Statement. She has a shop on Etsy. Marcella of Lara Design changed the upper part of the earrings for me.

Below: And this is Marjolein’s earring.

At the end of the day we sat down on a terrace of an Italian restaurant called City Hall or Trattoria Italiana City Hall. Fantastic cappuccinos and they weren’t funny about serving it in the afternoon. The tiramisu cake was delicious. The service was personal, very friendly and impeccable. I wouldn’t mind eating there one evening.

Below: At the side of the terrace is the main entrance of the City Hall. This is the newly built part behind the old facade (see photo Town Hall above).

Below: Our view from the terrace. The only thing marring the view are those bicycles.

Marjolein and I had a wonderful time. We know each other so well, that it happened more than once that she said something which I was thinking exactly the same at the same moment. Like when we saw this fountain below. She said: “We have our very own Trevi Fountain.” I was thinking the same sentence at the same time she said it. Spooky.
Pretty as this fountain may be, it is a far cry from the Trevi Fountain in Rome but still.

We laughed so much that day, that one moment I even wet my pants a little. I am not finished with the pelvic floor exercises yet haha. Never mind that, it is sooo nice to laugh together so loudly.

Below: As we walked back to the station, we saw this sign on a shop window saying “Closed today for a photo shoot.”. Very fitting.

What happened in my life this week

Again, like last week, shenanigans around mum’s rented house and some hard work to clear this house. Ron got help from my brother last Sunday. They were both shattered. Anke and I helped as well but we mostly reorganised mum’s clothes in her new place as she got an additional wardrobe.

Below: One day I decided to dress up nicely again, but it was only for two hours. Then I had to change again into something more sensible for doing chores. When you have to bring a carload of wood and iron to the waste disposal site, you dress differently.

I had a nice evening, dining out with Helga (below). Good food, great company.

Below: And I wore this that night (link to original post). It was clean when I took it out of my wardrobe, but not for long. I stained the vest during dinner. I am hopeless.

The rest of the week was quiet.

Below: Relaxed Friday outfit. Link to original post.

Note
Due to various reasons I have taken the decision not to feature mum on my blog anymore, I am sorry.

Greetje

Het bericht Baby blue midi skirt verscheen eerst op No Fear of Fashion.

Marita was my photographer. We met for coffee and I twisted her arm to take some blog photos. It was hot that day.

Below: Marita. Great dress, great legs.

Below: Close-up of her earrings.

Below: We arranged to meet in the afternoon at espressobar Native. I forgot that the terrace would be in the sun in the afternoon. It was too hot to sit there, even underneath the parasol.

Below: Luckily for us, across the road, in the shade, is a flower shop called Klavertje Vijf (five-leaved clover). They had a large bench outside their shop and allowed the espressobar to serve their guests there.

Below: The bench with trees and flowers of the shop around us made it quite idyllic. Rugs and cushions for comfort.

Below: Yellow and silver earring from Lara Design. I try not to be too matchy matchy, but the silver of the earrings does resonate with the bag and with the silver on the shoes.
The top is kept in place with a bit of fashion tape on each shoulder. Otherwise it keeps shifting and revealing my bra straps.

Below: Paul, the owner of the flower shop is a nice guy. We chatted with him and he helped us with the photo shoot, like with arranging ‘props’, as they are called.

Below: It resulted in this photo. The beauty of props is that the pose is more relaxed and you know what to do with your hands. There was an added bonus to it, as the basket hides the grease from my bike on the front of my new trousers. Sigh. There was grease on one of the sleeves too. I had to take both items to the dry cleaners straight away.

Below: One last pose with a strategically placed arm. The shoes are a few seasons old and the leather is soft as butter. Wide legged trousers are perfect with these shoes.

I am very happy with this outfit. You don’t feel you are wearing anything. Ever so comfortable, just not on a bike.

What happened in my life this week

Not much, just the usual. A photo shoot with Marjolein (you will see the result next week). A few things I cannot talk about because it could harm other people. And of course the shenanigans around emptying mum’s rented house. We are now “at war” with the landlords. Their demands are ludicrous and we will not comply. Might become a court case. Not funny.
Ron is doing a lot of work, knocking things down my father added to the house and to the shed over the years. Like shelves and cupboards on the wall. I didn’t take a photo of mum when I was there as my nephew came to visit her and I totally forgot. But below is a photo of my mum when she was 20 years old together with my brother. She was such a beauty. She told me that the curl on top of her head was kept in place with sugar water.

Below: And here is my father, who was a dashing fellow in his days and an excellent dancer. I am a total mix of both my father and mother in the way I look but I think that character wise I am very much like my father.

Apart from the photo shoots with Marita and Marjolein, I drank cappuccinos with Kitty. A terrible selfie below.

Below: I wore the lime coloured patterned jacket which you saw previously on the blog with leather jogging trousers. I styled it white monochrome this time; white t-shirt and white cropped jeans.

That’s all for the part of “What happened in my life this week”. Too busy with mum’s house.

Greetje

Het bericht Wide linen trousers verscheen eerst op No Fear of Fashion.