SinterKlaas arrives today!

Today all the children in Holland are excited because SinterKlaas (the Dutch Santa) arrived in Holland on his steamboat. He lives in Spain and comes to Holland a few weeks before SinterKlaas avond ~ December 5th which is the day the children receive gifts from him. He helper is not an elf but Zwarte Piet (Black Peter).


December 6th is St. Nicolas Day which is the birthday of this saint. The season brings with it certain Dutch goodies one of which is speculaas or the spice cookie. I love speculaas not only to eat, as there is nothing better dipped in a cup of hot tea, but also for the beautiful molds used to create these wonderful cookies.


For years, I have been collecting these cookie molds large and small. I have a wall in my little kitchen where I hang them. They come in all sizes and various motifs. Click on the photo to enlarge it so you can really get a good look at them. The little lady with the baby on her back comes from a famous cookie shop on the market square in Brussels, Belgium. It was hand carved and very nicely detailed.


These are my newest molds. I purchased these in The Alsace, France. They are springerle molds. I fell in love with these being a stitcher who loves samplers and just had to add them to my collection.


These molds have not been darkened with any oil or stain and are actually able to be used for making the cookies. My other molds are just for show. I was taught by a baker in the National Bakery Museum how to make the cookies. It is a very work intensive process but so fun to see the forms of these molds come to life.


This mold is my largest and used to hang in an actual bakery. It was bought at an antique shop that was going out of business. It is very heavy as it is carved from a solid piece of wood.


Some of my 'newer' molds which still need to be hung. The husband of a good friend is always picking them up for me at flea markets. He found me a really special one that is double sided but has had wood worm. It is outside in our storage shed and will need to be handled to be certain before bringing it in the house.


Those three molds from the previous photo will hang on the wall with this lady and her gentleman. They are hanging where other pictures had been and too far apart. I will rearrange the wall with the other forms to make it look nicer. This way, I can simply add more nails to where these already are.


Another 'arrival' is the wine called Beaujolais nouveau. It is a wine that is fermented for only a few weeks and then sold as of the 3rd Thursday of November. We picked up two bottles this morning. I can't wait to see how this year's nouveau is! This wine has a special place in my heart. Back when I first immigrated to Europe, we lived in Brussels and I was unfamiliar with drinking wine. Jos and I used to take walks in the city in the evenings and stop for a drink in a cafe. He told me to try this young and fruity wine thinking I might like it. Each year, as it comes out, I am taken back to that first autumn here by my taste buds. How different it was to be in a big city and sit in a cafe sipping wine. You really never know where life will take you!

You can still sign up for the blog give~away on the last post if you have not done so. This is a long blog entry so I will save my responses for tomorrow.

Birthday celebrations!

A year ago I decided to create a second blog which would be a place to reflect on my feelings over the changing seasons and how I celebrate those seasons in my home and garden. The year has flown by. I really feel blogging has heightened my appreciation of the passing times of the year. I have learned to look at things with even more detail than I imagined possible. It has helped to me slow down and appreciate the moment.


Blogging has also helped me to meet new friends and stay better in touch with old ones. It has given my family as well as friends a chance to peek into my garden or come up and knock on the front door.

To thank you, I am going to draw a name from those who comment on this post. With this being the autumn season, I have made an autumn fob which you can see in the photo. A fob can be used either to dress up your scissors or to hang from a purse or cell phone. The winner will receive this fob and some pretty napkins that Celebrate The Seasons! Please leave your message here before midnight on Wednesday, November 21st. I will hold the drawing on Thanksgiving Day which seems very appropriate to say how thankful I am for each of you who read my blog.

Wouldn't it be fun to live in Cranford?

'A man', as one of them observed to me once, 'is so in the way in the house'.

This quote comes at the opening of the novel "Cranford" by Elizabeth Gaskell. I found it very humorous as I started on my first visit to Cranford.

I was so excited to see that the film adaptation of this novel is coming to the BBC starting this Sunday. I think it was Nan who asked if I read my vintage books. The answer is yes although very carefully. Some of the books are over 100 years old and must be handled with great care. I realized that I needed to start reading this one before I see the series on the BBC. I like to read the book first, don't you?



This is a tiny book and I can just imagine a lady in the Victorian times going into the bookshop to purchase this little edition. Was it maybe wrapped in brown paper and tied with a string for her to carry home? Did she sit on a chaise with a throw over her while reading this in the afternoons? Or perhaps she carried with her and sat in the garden to enjoy it among her fragrant flowers? Did she revel in the witty views of Victorian life in a country village?

If you pick up an old book and start to read it, you can be transported back into time with ladies like this.



Our half bath is coming along very nicely and I hope to have photos to share with you in the coming days. At this moment, the last bits of installing the sink and toilet are being completed. Time to shop for a new mirror! I also want to invite you all to be sure you visit me on Friday as I will be announcing a give~away.

Photo taken in our garden at Cranberry Cottage.

A few responses:
Lynda ~ I was so pleased to see you visiting again. I hope your Victoria arrives in your mailbox this week. You are going to love it!

Julie ~ I used to volunteer at one of the castles here in Holland. I did a few jobs there but especially loved working there on the closing day with the cleaning crew. It felt so naughty and wonderful to be able to go into the spaces normally roped off and actually dust the items. It was done with a set of paintbrushes. Many castles say you should use a soft cloth that has only been lightly dampened to dust your wooden furniture. I do this now instead of using Pledge and am happy with the results. I will every once in a while use Pledge because I love the smell. It saves you money on cleaning supplies also and they say it is better for your furniture. You could maybe try it and see how you like it.

Andylynne ~ Another Tasha Tudor fan here! Do you have the books about her: The Private World of Tasha Tudor, Tasha Tudor's Garden, Tasha Tudor's Heirloom Crafts and Forever Christmas? They are wonderful books! I even had my mother knit me a shoulder wrap just like Tasha's in one of the books while she was here.

Dena ~ I do make bobbin lace myself. I just had a lace evening with a friend last night. We started another Christmas ornament. I will be showing its progress later on today over on my other blog if you are interested in seeing it.

Gail ~ How thrilled I was to read your comment. I have always wanted to create an English library in one of our bedrooms and love that look. To me, your saying my living room gives that feeling was a huge compliment. Thank you so much.

scj ~ I tried your blog but it is not showing any posts at the moment. Is that correct or is there another one?

Nan ~ The cottage is our own private property but Holland is the land of rules, taxes, more rules and even more taxes. When you purchase a property with a recreation permit, you have restrictions as to how you can use it. The silly thing is there is lots of talk about changing our road to permanent status but they don't want to bother of having to pave the road and add street lights. We felt that was silly as the road beside us that leads to ours does not have street lights but is permanent status. If they do ever change it, will would consider adding on and staying there. It is such an ideal spot.

Angela ~ I do hope we will be able to make it to the north and have a visit at the cottage. I thought since I talk about it so much that it would be fun to do during the get~together if possible.

Mary ~ If you did come knock on my door, you would most surely be invited in. Oh that would be such fun!

And to all my blogging friends ~ I want to thank you all for the comments about my decorating. I love creating vignettes and changing them regularly. It is a great way to renew your feelings in your home. I want you all to know how much I appreciate your visit to my home!

It arrived at last!

I was totally thrilled yesterday afternoon when my first issue of Victoria finally arrived. I had been hearing about it from online friends and couldn't wait to get mine. It is really wonderful and in the style of how Victoria was in the beginning. This promises to be a good start for the relaunch.


Isn't this a fun irony? This article about Tasha Tudor's historical dresses started with this title page which shares the name of my blog. The dresses were beautiful too. It is wonderful to have our old Victoria magazine back once again!


Our tiny half bath has been totally stripped. In just a few short hours, Jos and a friend's husband ripped out the toilet, sink and the tiles on the walls. This meant lots of dust downstairs and I am now giving the entry hall, laundry room, and living room/dining room/kitchen a deep clean. I am wax cleaning the wood floors bits at a time. While I dust, I have been playing with rearranging the vignettes on my tables. This is now the autumn arrangement on my coffee table. I moved this quilt and cornucopia to the living room as it had been by the front door on a sidetable. I like having it here for Thanksgiving.


I have now placed the sidetable in the living room behind the couch and no longer have it set up as a writing desk. I am missing the way it was before but it is fun to try something different. I put out a book bound collection of the family magazine from the Victorian period called "Sunday At Home". On this book is a pair of antique eyeglasses. I wish I could find more of them to add to my collection. I have four pairs so far.


I had to keep my red antique and vintage books in the book ends. These are some of my favorites! The lace you see on this sidetable has my own homemade bobbin lace.


My mother bought this paperweight from a charity shop in England on one of our visit and gave it to me.

A few responses ~
Sophie and Julie ~ I will try to post some more photos soon of the cottage. It is very small but yes, very magical and romantic. We love our weekends there!

Mary ~ We are not allowed to live in the cottage permanently. The law says you can stay there 40 weeks a year unless the status changes for the road. We do love it up north and would like to live there permanently one day which would mean selling the cottage and buying a house. We found out that the red and vanilla of our cottage are the original colors from when they were built. There is a sweet little old lady in her 80s across from us who is still the original owner of hers. Have a fun weekend at Emerald Isle, NC and share some photos if you can.

Nancy ~ I wish you could come by for a cup of hot chocolate! I did not jump into the leaves. I don't think that would be a good idea with my back.

Andylynne ~ The chest is something we purchased when we lived in Sweden many years ago. It has the year were were married stamped in the lid also which made us want to buy it even more. We like using it as a coffee table. The house is so small and this chest works very well there.

Gail ~ Planting bulbs in the grass is very popular here. It gives a wild and natural effect. You simply mow the leaves away when you mow the grass 6 weeks after they have bloomed. It also is effective as you don't 'use up space' in your flower borders.

A visit to Cranberry Cottage

After not being able to go to the cottage in October, it was really wonderful to return there this past weekend. We were not sure how much color we would see. Although many trees are loosing their leaves, the colors are still pretty as you can see from this road which leads us to the dirt road the cottage is on.


Here is our new sign hanging by the front door to our tiny little house. When we bought the house 3 years ago, I thought right away that I wanted to name it Cranberry Cottage. It is painted in a cranberry red which I thought was so adorablem that I wanted to keep it so. We are busy each year working on projects to fix this place up and it has really become our little country retreat. We love being here. The area and people in this region are really wonderful!


We spent the weekend raking leaves. The woods bordering the garden are pretty no matter what time of year.


We planted some more daffodils and crocus in the grass which will greet us with color this coming spring. The rack we have out in the summer needed to be stored for the winter months so I reworked some of the objects I had on the rack into an outdoor vigette on the table.


And then comes time to light the lanterns, candles and fireplace and enjoy an evening meal. Here is a peak into the window.

Don't forget to enlarge the photos so you can see them well.

A note to all ~ Thanks so much for the kind remarks about our bathroom. We are now realizing what an easy makeover it was as we are breaking the old tiles off the half bath walls today and I have a terrible mess to contend with now. It was not so upstairs. The new floor has made all the difference in the room. We thought it was so cold looking before but the new tiles have made the wall tiles come up with a warmer glow.

Before and after photos of bathroom

This is our new look upstairs bathroom. We did not change many things in it and yet to see it in person, there is a real change. I still have a few items I want to replace but have to go shopping for them. Here are some before and after photos to show you what we did.....


The old toilet is typical for a new build here in Holland. Although it is not visible in the photo, the plastic reservoir has turned yellowish grey with age. I really hate this kinds of toilets although they are standard in Dutch homes unless you pay extra. We are not the first people to live in this house and little above the standard was purchased when the house was built. This photo shows very well how you saw only the floor when you were in the bathroom. It just did not work with the other tiles.


Here is the new porcelain toilet block. I think I always took for granted that things like this were normal from back in the US. The reservoir is also smaller and easier to clean. It seems a luxury to have this which I never imagined I would be saying. Behind the toilet, two tiles were damaged where the reservoir was hanging bolted to the wall. Those tiles were replaced with two that Jos carefully took off the wall from the downstairs half bath. You would never know they were replaced.


We used furniture oil on the sink cupboard to bring it back to life. It was drying out from the humidity in the bathroom. We replaced the plain wooden knobs and put on these pretty porcelain ones. You can see a bit of damage if you look closely. The previous owners of the house had never put the knobs on and they used their nails to open the doors causing the wood to be damaged slightly along the top.


The old tiles on the floor were white and showed everything. They also did not really match the tiles which had been chosen for the walls. The grey grouting made them look very busy and even dirty.


After smoothing out the old uneven tiles.....


.....the results were a warm and cozy new floor tiles. We fell in love with these wood look tiles.


The bathroom before.....


.....and the bathroom after. When you see it in person, the few details we changed do really stand out. I am unable to get a total photo with the chandelier but the effect is really amazing how the small details have mattered.

Bathroom makeover ~ beautiful lighting

Since I have too many photos of my bathroom makeover, I will split them up just a little. I don't want to bore you after the first few photos. The first thing we did was hung our new French chandelier before work even started. I bought it on Saturday and just could not wait until Thursday to see it hanging. Here is the old ceiling light which is plain and boring.


Here is my pretty new lighting. I just love everything about it. The color is old cream with brushed gold. It has crystals hanging from the leaves and flowers.


This lamp works in our bathroom as our ceilings on that side of the house are round.
They go up to 4 meters height in places. The old lighting just got lost on the tall ceilings. You can get an idea of the ceiling lines in this last photo. You can click on the photos to enlarge them.

A Sunday morning's walk in the woods...

We took a walk on the family path in the Drents~Friese Wold again this morning. It is nice path that is easy to walk and goes through the woods near the visitors center. I want to share an impression of this very pretty area...


There were not as many toadstools this year in this part of the woods. I had to search a bit more for some nice examples to show you.




Old favorites were finally found...




There are parts of the pine woods that are 'open' and 'closed'. This is a photo of the 'closed' wood which has such dense planting of pines that only the tops of the trees still have growth and under is very dark. It is in these woods that you can imagine the stories of gnomes and trolls.



Jos spotted this one before I did and said it looked like a chocolate toadstool.


This meant going back to the cottage for some hot chocolate to warm us up with sausage pastries. How was your Sunday?

It doesn't get much cuter than this.....

Meet Zoe my precious little 5 year old grand niece. I call her my Zoe Pickle and she has the sweetest and fun personality. She loves dressing up all the time but she was supposed to dress up as a character in a book for her kindergarden Halloween parade. Zoe picked Tinkerbell. Her color is right as each year I tease her and tell her to dress up as a pickle.


This is a photo with her good little friend Judith who dressed as Dorothy. Look at those faces! I would say their Halloween was great. This is what Halloween is all about. Having fun!