My Christmas in pictures

So Christmas is over, it flew by like a cannon ball. K. and I went on a family brunch at my brother' s house and the day after Christmas he went to the cinema with his daughter. The family brunch was fun and noisy as always. The women of the family brought the food, so my sister-in-law didn't have to cater it all by herself. I made a lovely big trifle that was finished to the last crumb, everybody loved it.
Here is an impression in photos.

braided hair of one of my nieces

nephew and nieces playing games

Christmas brunch table

blue decorated wall

jars filled with Christmas decorations

my fruit trifle

empty trifle bowl

my niece Emily on the iPad

my niece Katie decorating the trifle

three spiral braids

50 years of me

50 years of me

Today my family celebrated my niece's birthday, as well as my mother's and mine. My niece had her birthday on 13 July but never got to celebrate it with us, my mother's birthday was on 3 September and mine was on 30 July, while I was in India. So it was a big get-together here in Amsterdam with lots of drinks, food and laughter. Above is the collage that my father made for me in the old-fashioned way: he took photos of old photos of me, cut them out with the scissors and glued them on a large piece of paper. I love how it turned out: here is me young, older, innocent, mature, with long and short hair, smiling, having the flue, pale and bronzed, in winter and summer outfits. Half a century of me.

my brother and sister

my painting nieces

niece Lisa painting

Bit of Spring

Last weekend, over Easter, I stayed at my sister and nieces. From one day to the next the sun came out and it was warm. Nature had started to come out of its winter recluse so we spotted some small flowers and budding trees.

Above: my niece Emily taking a picture of this yellow tree. It looks green in the photo, but in real life it contained a lot more yellow.

happy orange jogger

faint pink buds

My sister invented a little photo contest to get my nieces interested in a walk: to shoot the prettiest picture of a flower. There wasn't really a winner, but they were willing to go outdoors and they seemed to enjoy the sun and the daisies in the grass. It was a very pleasant way to spend parts of Easter Sunday.

my two nieces taking photos

Family birthday party

My sister celebrated her birthday last weekend and it was one of those grey days, you know, when there is not much light in da house even when your sister lives on the 10th floor of a tall apartment building.

my mother with niece and nephew

 my niece Lisa reading a book

I almost didn't get there in the first place because I woke up Saturday in a snowy world and the trains wouldn't ride out of Amsterdam all morning.
You see my nephew and nieces reading a book in the photographs but normally they are playing on a tablet or smart phone. I am glad my brother and sister are trying to pass on some old school skills.

My oldest niece Katie is showing her portfolio to my father, her granddad. She has an intake for a regional school for media and graphic design this week and she is quite excited and nervous about it at the same time. By the end of February she will hear if she is enrolled or not.

My mother enjoyed being surrounded by her children and grandchildren, sipped on a glass of red wine and chatted away. I enjoyed being with my family too, but more from a spectator's perspective.
At the end of the day I was happy that I could find a train riding back to Amsterdam when I got to the station. For some time now train traffic is difficult in Autumn (leaves on the tracks) and Winter (snow on the tracks). But if trains are riding in Siberia, why not in Holland?

A Sunday afternoon at the beach

The past few days have been terribly hot in Amsterdam, so hot I didn't know where to go or what to do. My family came over for my birthday last Sunday which is actually on 30 July, but there was no occasion to see each other closer to that date so I decided to celebrate it last weekend. My parents came over and my sister with her three daughters, Katie, Emily and Lisa. My sister suggested we'd go to the beach after lunch and although it was actually a bit cooler, we went and we had a wonderful time.

Emily's hands

My father and Lisa building a sandcastle. 

shadows of seashells in the sandcastle

Emily and Katie also working on the sandcastle

seagull watching a strolling boy

too much sunscreen on my face

Emily under the parasol/umbrella

a family in the sea

Katie's arms and legs

a lock of Katie's hair

my mother enjoying the small waves

my sister's feet

Moving in

Last weekend I helped my sister moving in her new old apartment, actually the whole family did as most of her friends were already on holiday. The weekend before I helped her sanding and painting, and in the week in between the weekends the carpet arrived and she had the first things being moved in. This is how the hallway looked like:

All the big things had arrived like beds and cupboards, but they were all in pieces and had to be reassembled. We started on the beds of the kids.

Now was also the time to paint any of those items like the above bunk bed of the twins. They had been sleeping in it for years and it could use a little revamp. She had a leftover blue-green chalk paint et voila!

My sister got some essential items for free from friends like this table which had been in storage for years. We schlepped it home, put the legs underneath it and gave a wash. She might paint it later or she may not, she has not decided yet.

The living room still looks a bit bare here, but later on we added two small side tables from her storage. It started to look more and more like a real cozy home. The lamp shade left of the sofa is also a gift.

She spiced up the built in closet in the living room by putting this lovely wallpaper on the shelves. The inside and outside of this closet still needs a coat of paint, she will do that later on after she has put up all the beds and cupboards.

Sunday afternoon I started unpacking the boxes with kitchen stuff so she'd be able to cook after the weekend. I found some lovely coloured baking equipment and my mother had planted three herbs in a row: mint, chives and basil. The whole kitchen smelled lovely!

Later in the afternoon when the twins arrived from their father, we sat outside on the balcony and enjoyed a cup of tea and Emily made a drawing. Together again at last.

Painting and sanding

Last Friday and Saturday I helped out my sister (photo above on the right) sanding and painting in her new 'old' apartment; she received the keys last week and it was in dire need of intense cleaning and painting.

We worked hard and saw the apartment slowly transforming. She is by no means ready yet, but every lick of paint makes a difference.

She'd collected some colour swatches for a little inspiration. For the moment she is painting all the walls, built-in cupboards and plinths white as the previous owner left some hideous colour combinations.

 Floor abstract.

My sister painting the hallway. I love this door: it gives a psychedelic effect and leaves in a lot of light.

My eldest niece came by to help out for a couple of hours. The apartment was so dusty that she left a print of her jeans in the chair she sat on.

My sister painting the ceiling. Pink is slowly disappearing and white is emerging. The colour swatches are probably for details in the apartment. I will let you know how it all will turn out.