in the year 2022

Saturday 31st of December

On the last day of the year we're browsing through the precious memories we made together in 2022. Captured forever in 178 pages.

An annual photo book tradition since 2007.

Wishing you all an exciting 2023 and challenging new beginnings!

2022 in a nutshell on instagram

30

Minne turned 30 today!

I can hardly believe it, how fast did that go?!

He is passionate sports journalist, a wonderful son, the dearest brother and also loving uncle of Liam nowadays.

30 years ago Minne was born and today there's another mini in the crib, the circle of life.

playback 2021 & press play 2022

Annual photo book tradition since 2007.

After 72 analogue photo albums from 1986, digital photography took over.

We missed browsing through our photo albums and started to make one printed photo book every year. Thousands of photos to choose from and we reduced it to 170 full-page photos of 2021! You can 'browse' the book on my Instagram account.

What a year. It won't get any crazier. It started in january with Henks heart attack and 65 seconds without a heartbeat. Thereafter sometimes pulse 180 because of the excitement and beautiful and emotional moments.

We went to Amsterdam, Antwerp, Olhao, Aljezur, Vila do Bispo, Paris, Bari, Ostuni, Puglia, Marrakech and Barcelona. We enjoyed the days with our family, friends, new friendships and of course there was the birth of our grandson Liam-Novi in November.

Let's forget the 'shit' and only remember the good things of last year and face 2022 with hope, joy and new plans. Very much looking forward to 'normal life', freedom, family time, travel and love.

Now it's time to hit the play button for 2022!

Best wishes to you all have a great year!

review twenty twenty one

Review 2021 in a nutshell.

January - Start of the year in Amsterdam. We stayed at my friend Ank's house for a few days.
February - Month of the winter walks - 10000 steps almost every day and lots in the snow.
March - The first rides in our orange Mini Cooper.
April - Slow life painting days in my studio.
May - Only a few rare beach days this spring.
June - Two weeks in southern Portugal.
July - Daytrip to Antwerp, since a long time.
August - Four days in Paris.
September - La dolce vita in Puglia
October - Marvelous Marrakech
November - Our grandson Liam-Novi is here!
December - City break in Barcelona.

2021 all in all, an emotional, eventful and memorable year with many highlights!

Happy New Years Eve to all of you!

greek taverna

Pretending to have dinner in a greek taverna, with a recipe from the cookbook Greek Islands by Rebecca Seal.

Simple and fresh summer food always brings back good memories. As long as we can't travel, we can cook and fill the kitchen with delicious scents that evoke a feeling of travel...

Tonight we traveled back to 2010 when we went with Minne & Pippa to Crete, one of the many Greek Islands we've visited over the past 35 years.

The islands we've been to in random order; Mykonos, Milos, Naxos, Paros, Kos, Crete, Skiathos, Skopelos, Santorini and Rhodes.

Let's toast to the day that we are sitting on a bright blue chair at a tavern by the sea again.

travel throwback

A moroccan memory picture from exactly 3 years ago popped up on my iPhone this morning.

Upon seeing those images, it sometimes feels surreal that it once felt so 'natural' to travel.

Yet I booked my flight to Marrakech for october a few weeks ago.

If all goes well, we will start the Marvelous Marrakech retreat in October, with the group of 13 women that was supposed to come and join us in October last year.

We are positive and keep our fingers crossed, by then everyone will have been vaccinated and traveling will be possible again.

October 2019 I was in Marrakech for the last time and I miss the Red City, the atmosphere, the food and lovely people.

Tomorrow I'm going to stay a few nights at my friend Ank (owner of hotel Chambres d'Amis) in Amsterdam and we will put together a new Marvelous Marrakech program. I am SO looking forward to new adventures!

review twenty twenty

Review 2020

January - overnight stay in Antwerp to celebrate our 28th wedding anniversary

February - two days in Paris to celebrate our 'romance' since the 15th of February 1986

March - while we’re quarantined, we started a creative #stayhome challenge and moved from our cozy attic bedroom to Minne's old bedroom

April - blessed with a garden and being able to go outside for the weather has been amazing for weeks. Nature helps us through this uncertain time

May - midweek city break in Hamburg to celebrate Henk's anniversary

June - daily breakfasts, lunches and dinners in the backyard, we cooked a lot and tried to make a festivity of every meal

July - roadtrip Portugal - when we booked our summer holiday in 2019, we didn't have a clue, Portugal would be the only safe destination in Europe by then

August - one of the longest heatwaves ever, we often went to the beach very early, to avoid the crowds

September - we rebooked our flight tickets to New York and enjoyed a quiet week in Faro to the fullest. We took a boat to another deserted beach in Ria Formosa every day

October - two days in Maastricht, Paris of The Netherlands

November - dinners with friends and family at our kitchen table

December - lots of cocooning, crocheting, creativity and christmas with the family

2020 was the most bizarre year we've ever had, without a doubt!
Even though it was a year with the handbrake on, we tried to get the best out of it in a safe way.
Both our children got the keys to their first homes in March. We are happy they are living in Dordrecht and we can visit eachother easily.
I eagerly look forward to a new year, with good hope for better times. A 'happy new year' is not even necessary, a normal new year would be fine!

Thank you dear followers, lots of love and just hold on, everything will be okay one day...

The € 7.40 cappuccino, served at très chic Café de Flore, is 2020 in a nutshell...

moroccan nook

Collecting is no stranger to me...

The precious handmade souvenirs from my beloved Marrakech are gathered on an old tiny table in the kitchen.

The vintage breakbaskets, coasters and a bottle cover and clever candle holder we use daily.

I love the kind of souvenirs, genuine for everyday use and not just decoration.

The items of my Moroccan collection nook are one by one handmade in the medina of Marrakech, with simple materials and the objects are of no great value, but to me they are priceless. They remind me of my travels to Morocco and bring back fond memories.

How i miss the Red city and its lovely people.

how i miss the freedom to travel

How I miss the freedom to travel.

After staying at home for weeks now, I barely know what day it is anymore.

Besides going to my work in the market at Villa Augustus and visiting my children, days are filled with doing things in and around the house.
We feel blessed to have a garden since the quarantine started, and can spend our spare time outside during the most lovely sunny spring weather April brought us.

Yesterday we would have returned home from a week's holiday at the coast in northern Morocco. We took it lightly when we had to cancel this trip, because hey, worse things can happen...

I think a lot about traveling these days and how obvious it seemed to plan and book a trip.
All we can do now is 'daydreaming' about trips from the past, last year and trips ahead.

But here we are with at least another #stayhome month to go, so i thought i’d share this happy memory that popped up in my Instagram memories yesterday, bursting of happiness and freedom.

Dear all, stay positive and trust that everything will be okay.

photo: Marrakech - April 2018 - In the middle of the medina with a bouquet of flowers from the local market.

between the eucalyptus & ginkgo

Summer in May, at least that's how it feels in the garden lately.

We have a new evergreen in the backyard; an Eucalyptus Gunnii tree.

The small eucalyptus stands beside the ginkgo tree on the terrace. The new tree is an evergreen tree. The small round gray-green leaves give off a delicious eucalyptus smell. Especially when the leaf is bruised, a strong eucalyptus smell is released. Good thing is, mosquitoes hate this smell, so perfect for long summer evenings in the garden.

This afternoon we planted the new evergreen, a remembrance tree for Henk's mother, who passed away yesterday.

After gardening (we also repotted some plants and sowed flowers seeds) we had a tea between the trees and it felt special...