Second honeymoon: Netherlands Part 1

Wilhemina park

I finally got round to start writing a very belated series of posts documenting our December vacation in the Netherlands. It partly took so long because of my hectic schedule, but mostly because I find it impossible to write down my impressions immediately after returning home. It's too fresh, too raw and  it refuses to be packed neatly into a rounded post. I have to let the memories, experiences and feelings mature.

As for the title: Second honeymoon. While we were on vacation Mr. C jokingly remarked that the secret recipe for a successful marriage consists of a few simple ingredients:
- listen to what she says
- never forget an anniversary or birthday
- buy her some nice jewellery
- take yearly vacations together

Out of this list an idea was born. Since we love to get away during the December holiday season,  and it was what motivated us to plan our honeymoon for the last week of December, we're going to try and make a tradition of it and go on "honeymoons" every year.

Silver maple planted in 1898

Netherlands was beautiful and what I'll remember most is the feeling of calm, relaxed atmosphere where everything was neat, organized and beautiful in a very distinct humble and understated manner. People were kind and eager to assist us but not extremely outgoing or pushy.

Silver maple planted in 1898

We stayed in Tilburg  for most of our vacation - our base camp and we made daily excursions to the outskirts of Tilburg, Breda and Amsterdam. Netherlands is relatively small, very similar to Slovenia. So in that regard it felt very familiar to the daily road trips we're used to.
The distance between Tilburg and Amsterdam is only about 120 km by car. Similarly Rotterdam and Hague are only about 150 km from Tilburg, yet we chose not to go since I felt that we would exhaust ourselves trying to see everything.

Art sculpture in the middle of Tilburg's canal

The Textile Museum is housed in a converted AaBe Factory that manufactured wool blankets. It was a must see for me!

Textile Museum

Textile Museum

Textile Museum

Wool before processing

The video shows an original mechanism that distributed power to the machines used to process the wool. The power was derived from a huge machine housed in a separate room.

Spools of wool yarn

Old poster for AaBe blankets

St. Dionysos Church

St. Dionysos Church

 

Appartment building complex positioned over the street

King William II

St. Joseph's Church

St. Joseph's Church is situated right next to the city centre also known as the Heuvel. The Heuvel was a central meeting point in the middle ages and the only source of fresh water for the citizens of Tilburg until 1898.

A replica of the water pump

Tilburg's walk of fame

Interestingly Tilburg also has its own walk of fame. I love that they've chosen to fill it it footprints and signatures of prominent citizens: mayors, artists, writers,...

Tilburg's walk of fame

Happines comes in a box: A gift from Japan

A dear friend who recently returned from his travels from Japan brought me a very special gift from the Tokyo National Museum. A traditional Japanese hand towel also known as tenugui.

Tenugui has raw unhemmed edges and comes with a leaflet showing numerous wrapping and folding techniques to create book covers, bread baskets etc.

It can also be turned into a neat little handbag using the enclosed faux leather handle.

Needless to say, that was by far my favourite folding technique :-)

For now I'm enjoying trying out the various different folding and wrapping ideas but I'm thinking of using the tenugui and the handle to sew a permanent bag.

Happiness comes in a box: Artisan beads

We all know them: the little trinkets that cost next to nothing but they make us incredibly happy. Whether it's because they fulfill a certain purpose in our household or are there simply for their intrinsic beauty.

The newest addition to my bead stash: two gorgeous pendants from Claire Maunsell from stillpointworks. I discovered Claire's work a couple of years ago while participating in my first Bead soup event and was drawn into the unique and incredibly complex and detailed beads she makes.

I saw the house pendant in her Etsy shop and had to have it. I rarely become so enamoured, so drawn to something that I've almost forgotten the accompanying compulsion of hitting that Buy! Buy! Buy! button and the frenzy of filling out the on - line shopping form.

I confess that at one point I had this paranoid thought that somewhere across the globe there was another person buying the pendant at that exact moment and trying to beat me at completing the purchase.

Claire was way too generous and sent along the extra tubular bead humbly suggesting I pass it forward if I didn't like it. Well... I don't see that happening any time soon ;-) Since I fell in love with the extra bead on the spot and I'm already plotting on how I'm going to use it.

 As for the pendant featuring the house, I already have a pretty clear idea: I'm going to make a long wire wrapped necklace incorporating faceted clear quartz. I'm also thinking of incorporating lampwork beads and maybe even some dyed fresh water pearls.

Lesson learned!

It's one of those ironies in life that this post follows the previous one I wrote mere two weeks ago lamenting about spring like whether in the middle of the winter. Yes, I've definitely learned my lesson! During this past weekend we've experienced a nation wide power outage due to sleet that caused a number of trees to fall disrupting power supply. The trees have also wreaked havoc on many of the roads and railways. As ice rain and snow continued to fall many people were completely cut off.

I spent part of Saturday without running water and electricity and let me tell you it's no fun to have less than half a litre of drinking water and a single (scented) candle which reads Happy Christmas. Yet another one of those ironies that when I will look back on this weekend someday it will no doubt make me laugh very hard. But on Saturday? Not so funny :-(

Water returned the next day and so did electricity, before it was cut again. The power shortage lasted for 18 hours, the longest power shortage in Slovenia in decades and something I've never experienced before.
The whole town went dark after five, there were no traffic lights, no street lamps, nothing. Just little flickering of candle lights from the windows across the street. Yet remarkably people stayed calm.

I consider myself extremely lucky: after the water returned I had access to both hot and cold water, due to the fact that our apartment building is well insulated the temperature in my flat never went below 21 C and I had access to the Internet via my smart phone. And thanks to Mr. C being extra prudent I had ample supplies of batteries, emergency lights and a car phone charger.
Sure it was annoying sitting in my car for an hour doing nothing, but at least I was able to chat with people, stay connected and informed about the situation around the country.

Things are slowly returning to normal. The fire brigade, police, winter service personnel and civil protection services are working around the clock to clear up the debris and restore power. Despite the fact that whining and complaining about all the things that are wrong in our country is our nation's favourite past time people are really taking notice of  the women and men providing these services (some of them are volunteering) and are gratefull and humbled by it.
I for one am grateful for my wonderful neighbours who've been kind and generous as well as the support I've received from my friends and family who've phoned to check up on me.
Rufus and I are looking forward to a relaxing evening at home. We've been arned to stay indoors seince the ice covered trees will continue to break and fall so going for a long walk in the forest or park isn't really an option.

Skipping seasons

 We've been having an unusual warm winter and last weekend in between drizzle and rain I managed to go for a walk to Močilnik, the source of river Lljubljanica. The waters were high and almost everything was in bloom.

 On my way home I picked a few snowdrops. They added a bit of colour and life to my kitchen table.

 And then I spent a good portion of the afternoon drying my jacket and cleaning my walking boots.

We've had a bit of snow yesterday and the temperatures have dropped considerably. I guess proper winter weather is finally here and I feel relieved. This warm interlude was beginning to feel unsettling.

Family

2006

This is my family. It consists of three people. Well one is technically a cat but that's exactly the point I'm trying to make. Families come in all sorts of shapes, sizes and living arrangements.
Mr. C and I have been together for over 11 years now and Rufus has been part of our family for the last 8 years. He's moved house with us, destroyed furniture, made us laugh with his crazy stunts, shed hair all over the place...
He can hear our footsteps the moment we open the front door of the apartment building and wait for us at the front door even though we live on 3rd floor! As far as unconditional love and acceptance go it doesn't get any more real than this.

2011

Mr. C and I jokingly refer to ourselves as mum and dad and some people can't get past it. And don't get me wrong, I'm fully aware that Rufus is a cat and not a substitute for a child. He's a cat and is treated as such though his living conditions vastly differ from a wild cat or a feral cat.

But still as a family member he gets treated like a member of the family not like some disposable commodity that gets thrown out the moment it's no longer useful.

2013

In the past I've had to deal with inappropriate comments and sideways glances when I mentioned the monthly costs of his upkeep. Some even had the nerve to propose straight out I get rid of him. I'm not a mean person per se but comments like that invoke a certain mischievous behaviour in me and I love to annoy people like that by proclaiming with a most serious face that Rufus is my baby and I'm his mummy.
Needles to say, they don't invite me over for coffee anymore. Fine by me.

Easing into 2014

Emperor's dream

Calming down after a hectic, memorable and exciting December 2013 I've chosen to start 2014 slowly. Unburdened by the need to review the past year as well as make any new year's resolutions or immediate plans.
Instead I've decided to ease in to the new year with some ingenious entertainment in the form of origami (a gift from a friend who's recently travelled to Hong Kong) and a delicious cup of my favourite tea (bought on my recent trip to Holland).

Origami grasshopper and pig

How are you spending your first week of 2014?

1st anniversary

Jungle jive

Time flies! Mr. C and I celebrated our first wedding anniversary Sunday 1st December. Traditionally known as the paper anniversary but hey, it would be so very predictable if the present were of the paper/stationery variety.
So instead my old favourite, a helium balloon. This time I got to pick the one I wanted and I chose the leaping tiger that was swaying along with a myriad of other animals, hearts and champagne glasses.

I call him jungle jive and he makes a nice addition to the textile birds, stuffed teddy bears and real live urban mini panther, our cat Rufus.