Rockanje Beach Day

On a rather chilly Sunday we went down to Rockanje to blow away the cobwebs.  It was probably around 17 degrees so too cold for swimming.  We had a nice lunch down there looking out over the sea and the kids had fun running and collecting "Crab Things".  Rockanje is a beach with no waves and shallow water so quite nice for smaller kids to safely play.  I prefer Domburg as it is more beach-like, but Rockanje is a good one to know - it is a bit closer to Tilburg and I really like the restuarants on the beach where you can drink coffee or whatever and the kids can carry on playing down the beach in your line of sight.

This was our haul.  The kids wanted to collect and keep these bits and pieces, but the smell - wow the smell.  

Walking Group

I have started a walking group with my friends on a morning when the kids are at school.  It has been so much fun.  The last two have been hilarious as we firstly had to contend with a steer running towards us down a narrow path with solid trees on either side - cue us diving into undergrowth and climbing under low lying branches to get out it's way.  Secondly we came across a whole herd thundering down the path.  Much hilarity.  I am not scared of these gorgeous highland steers unlike the others and now they have decided it is because I grew up in Africa -funny.

The first photos below are at a walk from Seterse Hoeve in Oosterhout.  Seterse Hoeve is a lovely place to have coffee and lemon cake.  The restuarant is great for lunch or dinner too.

We also walked down to Zeven Geitjes to have coffee there one Thursday...and sat in the autumn sun...just heavenly.

Another day we saw beautiful heather - this walk was in the Loonse en Drunense Duinen.

These walks are so good for the soul and we are also discovering beautiful places never seen before.  I am now regularly seeing friends and it is gezellig as we try choose a place with a coffee place so that we can chat after.

Vegetable Garden

I have wanted an allotment for some time and after finally adding myself to the waiting list, my husband decided to get some vegetable boxes (6 to be exact) so we could try it out in the garden.  It has been fun to do and yielded quite a bit.  Next year though I will plant differently as I now realise there are some crops that need a longer summer and more heat than the Netherlands provides, eg. peppers and aubergines.  My salads however, did really well and through the summer we had fresh picked butter lettuce straight from the garden.  My tomatoes also did well, but only because I started planting inside in about February.  Eventually they were too big to keep indoors and I had to put them out and luckily the cold weather did not kill them.  Other crops that did well was cabbage, potatoes and beans. 

Pond Dipping

The weather is warm and after buying some long fishing nets for the kids, we tried them out one bored afternoon after school in the Reeshof Park in Tilburg, which is just around the corner from home. 

In the picture of the net, if you look closely there are a number of translucent tiny fish inside.  Not much else was to be found unfortunately.  Seeing as though I could just sit in the sun and relax, not a bad way to spend the afternoon.

Collecting Frog Spawn

A Polish friend, whose kids are at school with Tiger and Cricket, suggested a trip to T' Zand in Alphen where there is a large swimming lake - just for a run around as far too cold for swimming.  The children were on a free school day.  What a gorgeous area to go walking and of course to swim in the summer.  We found some frog spawn and collected it so that we could watch the frogs develope.  Husband has never been less impressed.

Easter Egg Hunting and Get Together

Every year the IWC (International Woman's Club) hold an easter egg hunt for the children.  We hunt for eggs in the Liesbos ...hundreds were hidden by a few ladies and within minutes the woods are picked clean - wow these kids are fast - like tiny vultures.

After all eggs are collected, we have a picnic tea with hot cross buns and flasks of tea and coffee.  So much fun and good to catch up with everyone.

More Easter Egg dyeing

We love easter egg dyeing...we can't help ourselves.  Thought I would add the photos for this year. We used natural dyes from vegetables/fruit like onions, beetroot and blueberries and also things like teabags and tumeric.  Last year we used the tablets you can buy in the shop for egg dyeing so it was fun to see how the natural dye turned out.  The colours were quite pale which was fine because the kids ended up dipping eggs all day long and in the end we mixed some of the dyes together to make some nice results.

Fish Tank

We have a fish tank, but no fish.  This is not very exciting news, but the fish should follow shortly and make it exciting.  Unfortunately one should wait until the water is ready for the fish - this is according to the pet shop and is called fishless cycling of the tank.  I have been to two shops and one says wait one week and another says two.  The kids are going insane looking at this empty tank.  It is eating them up that their first family pet or pets are so close and yet so far away.

Never mind...here is our gorgeous tank and pictures of tiny "Ros" fish should hopefully follow shortly.  Aren't you lucky.

Planting Salads for the Windowsill

Yay, we have planted salads on our windowsill.  A buttery lettuce, rocket and tomatoes.  I am starting early this year as last year the salads were just getting to eating size and we went away for the summer holiday and they all died.  Such a waste.  I know the lettuce and rockets will be fine as I have grown them before - curious to see how the tomatoes will do growing indoors.

We have hundreds of little sprouts appearing already and the kids are enjoying watching them grow.

I have sent off an application for an allotment and am waiting to hear if there is a waiting list.  Holding thumbs albeit not very green ones....

and a while later ...

Kringloopwinkel finds

For a couple of days I have been having a look in all the local kringloopwinkels where they sell second hand stuff really cheaply.  Anything to avoid doing the housework.  I was hoping for some lovely vintage finds, but there wasn't that much.  Here is what I did find though and it was so much fun doing it:

an old tin storage box - perfect for boys to store treasures in...

A printers tray - have already filled it with little bits and pieces, which we have a lot of.  Next to get it on the wall.

A really old soap dish with lid.

A gorgeous milk jug.

Two glass cool drink jugs - very useful

and some salad servers just because I need some.