never leave home without

bag > The Kipling FrugM nightblue. A practical A4 bag. For my daily stuff and sometimes a littlebit more.

mobile > A basic, simple nokia. After years of fancy telephones I went back to basic. I can call and sms. Nothing more, nothing less.

purse > Also Kipling, red, with enough space for all the bank- and other cards.

readingglasses in a chinese, very pink holder.

foam button > my working button that I wear in the museum

calligraphy pen > I'm lost without my call. pen. Any compliment about my handwriting I have to share with my pen.

uniball gel pen > For many years now I make my notes with uniball pens from Japan. Only uniball, no imitation, can do the job.

sunglasses > I'm the type that has several cheap pairs of sunglasses instead of one proper quality pair. Simply because I want to see my glasses in whatever direction I'm looking for them

I love all Moleskine items. My red agenda for this year and the two plain notebooks.

Sweeties for my coffees at the Coffee Company and Blistex lip relief for possible dry lips.

My passport and very handy Xtra bright bicyclelights from the HEMA.

And last but not least my dear and special keyholder that is with me for twenty years now. I bought it in 1989 as a souvenir in the year Paris celebrated the revolution from twohundred years ago.

oh joy

Exploring this blog is a joy!

calligraphy

Wish I could write like this

weddingbells

Really gorgeous and unusual weddingphotography by featherlove

hard graft

Beautiful bags, made of leather, canvas and felt.

FW>> Tuin de Lage Oorsprong

On the 14th of april this year I reported a visit to "Tuin De Lage Oorsprong". Today, six weeks later, the garden looks fantastic , more colourful and greener then the last time.

visiting the ship

the new hermitage

thinking of my father

Every year, during my childhood, my father and I used to sow little seeds of Capucine in a long row to border the garden. We made little holes in the soil with our fingers and put three seeds in every hole. Then we followed the growingproces of these bright coloured, favourite flowers of my dad. Last week I found this plant on the market. It is full of promissing little buds.

When your heart is in the country

Although I love my Amsterdam citylife, my heart is definitely in the country. Dreaming away in a magazine helps.

FW>> saterdaymarketflowers

Chelsea Flowershow

This week the famous Chelsea Flowershow.

Everyday on BBC TV.

Britain at it's best.

marketday

My favourite day of the week. Today it was hard to choose my weekly flowers. I loved them all

Diane Arbus

In 2012, FOAM Amsterdam celebrates it's tenth year with a retrospective of the work of Diane Arbus.

Mrs. T. Charlton Henry in her Chestnut Hill home,

Philadelphia, PA.,

1965 Diane Arbus (American, 1923–1971)

Gelatin silver print
8 1/2 x 8 7/16 in. (21.6 x 21.5 cm)Purchase, Alfred Stieglitz Society Gifts, 2001 (2001.399)© 1965 The Estate of Diane Arbus, LLC.

When this portrait of a society lady was published in Harper's Bazaar, the feature writer's text for the image noted: "Mrs. T. Charlton Henry … weighs a fragile, feminine ninety pounds, but moves through life like Trojan." Although Mrs. Henry—with her jeweled dress and formidable helmet of hair—may have been an atypical Arbus subject, the photographer employed her trademark classical style to capture the power and poignancy of this wealthy upper class woman in the elegant confines of her milieu.

Bye bye Dovima

Today is the last day of the Richard Avedon Exhibition in FOAM Amsterdam. For three months I've been working between his portraits and his fashionphotos. Sure I'm going to miss them.

Fluitekruid

There are thousands of pictures of my beloved fluitekruid to be found on the web. This one comes close to the feeling I have about this mayflower

VILLA AUGUSTUS

recycled bouquets

fresh, windy but beautiful

Morning sun on the Prinsengracht

bamboo

I adore these bamboo chairs. They were made in Japan and for sale in a really great shop called Zenza in the Utrechtsestraat.

gardenmarket Amstelveld

A visual impression of the monday gardenmarket at

Het Amstelveld in Amsterdam.

A few more weeks on this location and then this market will move to

De Nieuwmarkt untill October due to renovation of the pavement.

hofjes

Hofje is a Dutch word for a courtyard with almshouses around it. They have existed since the Middle Ages.
A hofje provided housing for elderly people (mostly women). They were privately funded, and served as a form of social security. In the Netherlands there are still a number of hofjes in use.

wisteria lane

tulips from Fransje

Our dinnerguest, Fransje, brought these gorgeous orange tulips. Together with the greeny white snowballs a perfect bunch.

getting better all the time

At the market this morning a happy explosion of springflowers. Yesterday I took the ferry to pick some wild flowers in Amsterdam North.