Hidden Treasures

Look what I found in my garden today..

I'm very excited, as I've never had a vine before. As soon as I saw the first bunch, I kept spotting more and more and more! The vine is so overgrown and neglected, that I didn't expect much from it - will have to wait a bit longer to see if they are edible.

 All of our garden is sadly very neglected and overgrown. We have four fruit trees in there ( not sure what fruit they will grow!)  but they are so overgrown and surrounded by weeds, they are hard to spot! Next year, next year, I will start on the garden..... (need to get the inside done first!)

Normal service shall resume shortly....

... Honest!!

Wow, I can't believe that we've been in our new house for nearly a month now. Slowly, things are coming together, boxes are gradually unpacked, and our family starts to find its new, everyday rhythm.

We have a HUGE amount of decorating to do.

Our living area is starting to come together. We still need some coffee tables, another bookcase, curtains etc, but it's starting to feel a bit more homely.

Do you notice the sofas?...

Meanwhile, the rest of the house looks a little like this :

we're doing one room at a time while the occupants sleep in one of the 'spare' rooms. It will take a while, but we'll get there.

The children have done so well in adjusting. We have lots of phonecalls, emails and skyping to friends back in the UK, but I am so proud and amazed at how well they have coped with all the change - not least of which has been having to speak (and learn in) Dutch all day at school. It's not been easy, but they are doing so very well.

I'm too busy at the moment to take stock of things really, I'm trying to find my feet, decorate a house, remember to speak Dutch to everyone, look after the children, find my new 'place', make friends and work out the health system here to really stop and let things sink in. That will come. I miss my friends dearly and am yearning for company, but I know it will be baby steps, one at a time. Until then I have a visit of my closest friends to look forward to in September!!

I've missed blogging! Really have, but when my workroom looks like this

you can understand why there's not much 'making' going on at the moment, and it's only this past week that we've found our routine again. Hopefully things will settle down soon and I'll be updating a lot more regularly. Till then, please be patient with me!

xx

Just a quick 'hello'..

I'm just popping by to say 'hello' and to let you know that I won't be around for a little while. I'm back in hospital again on Monday for another operation on my kidney and may be out of action for a little while. I just hope this op is more successful than the one a few weeks ago. Turns out, they did the 'wrong' op. Honest, no kidding, so this time I'm back in for the one that should have been done the first time. I just hope it leaves me in less pain and solves the problems I've been having, and yes, we are pursuing the matter of the previous debacle...

On a much more upbeat note, I have found the most perfect sofa for our new house. We are lucky enough to have two living areas, one I can imagine for the TV and mostly occupied by the children, the other I'm imagining as a more peaceful reading/knitting area for me. Guess where this sofa will hopefully be going....I saw this sofa tonight and squeaked out loud when I saw it (honest!!) It's a 'Klippan' sofa from Ikea in Lappmon covers - I love it! Now, just to persuade Daddy Long Legs.....