Home, Den Bosch and Elst

Thursday, September 3, 2015

I think we've done shopping on Thursday morning, but haven't updated my blog for a few days, so it's more or less guessing.

In the afternoon Jack and Mayke come for drinks and we spend a few hours chatting together.  Of course stories about house exchanges and holidays among other things.

Unfortunately no pictures.  Too busy chatting!

Friday, September 4, 2015

On Friday we have to get up very early, and I mean 'very' early, because Leonie and Ferdy are going to Schiphol to pick up their son and want to catch the train at about 6 am.

After I have dropped them off I have my shower and have an easy morning all by myself again.  I contact Marlies, my 'old' schoolfriend in Den Bosch and we make a date for the afternoon.  At 2pm I arrive at her place and we have coffee together and chat away about old times.

We would love to spend some more time together so I suggest going out for dinner.  We drive to Chinese Restaurant 'Het Nieuwe Oosten' in de Rompert where we enjoy a lovely meal.  We both have Tjap Tjoy; Marlies with chicken and I with pork.  The restaurant is gezellig like most Chinese restaurants in the Netherlands, but there is a family that behaves very crude, complete with yelling children.  We really have to raise our own voices to be able to have a chat.  Not very pleasant.  Unfortunately they only leave shortly before we do.  They even come back briefly to empty a bowl with fortune cookies!

 

As we leave the restaurant rather late I drop off Marlies at home and go straight home to Wijchen.  It's been a long day...

Saturday, September 5, 2015

For today I had booked a workshop in Elst.  Over the years I've been a few times to Annelies' workshops and they are not only good fun, but it's also nice to meet many of my 'old' friends in miniatures at the workshops.

This time also Bert, the tutor, with whom I have done a few workshops in the past at his home.

Today we were going to make an old fashioned 'stroller', a wandelwagen, which I had requested and for which had been enough interest for Annelies to organise the workshop.

We started at 10 am with coffee and cake and a bit of a chat, after which we started with some serious work until lunchtime.

Lunch was soup, hot or cold drinks, and fruit and our own brought bread or bread rolls.

After lunch it was back to work until approx. mid afternoon, when we all went home with a beautiful finished product. The stroller looks so realistic and it can even fold as well!

At home I had a quiet evening in front of the TV until it was time to go to bed.

Sunday, September 6, 2015

I had prepared to have a quiet day at home, but at around mid-morning Wim sent an app asking if we would be home.  Well, as Leonie and Ferdy had gone to Amsterdam they were very welcome to visit me, but I would be the only one at home. :-)

No problem, they would come in the afternoon.  Which was great, because I had enough time to get ready and also do the necessary shopping.

We had a great time together, as usual, and talked a bit about family relations in connection with the family tree we were working on and also about great-aunt Riek, who had lived in Wijchen.

I suggested they stay for dinner and in the meantime we could go out to Wijchen centre and look at the house I'd sent Wim pictures off and also look for the house where she'd stayed after her husband's death.  The latter we couldn't find, but we had a nice walk through town anyway.

After we came home we had a few drinks and Wim took some lovely pictures of the rabbit that run amok through the back yard in the afternoon.  Then we had dinner and all to soon it was time for them to go home again.