Meijendel

This afternoon we cycled in the dunes of estate Meijendel nearby our home. The weather was wonderful and it was quiet. We enjoyed the birds singing and I noticed so many beautiful plants. I would love to take them home to put in our garden. For sure they would do very well; they are originally from here and perfectly suited to the climate and other conditions.

garden and bugs

Lots of bugs in our garden lately. It must be the rain. Plants are growing fast. I noticed bugs on our roses, our buxuses and lots of snails eating the fresh leaves and flowers of my new clematis. Yesterday afternoon we decided to do some garden cleaning. We removed the trellises from the walls (it's where the snails hide), cut the plants and cleaned everything with water. It resulted in a snail-exodus. I like how the cutting and cleaning makes the garden look roomier. I was never a fan of cutting plants and trees but I realize you have to in a small garden if you want to keep it healthy. I also decided that, yes, I want a natural garden full of plants, but, yes, I also want a garden that can be lived in, used for relaxing, drinks, dinners and maybe even parties. That you can walk through our garden without having to crawl between the trees and plants. Besides, it's not fair to a tall husband who needs to be careful not to hit his head on the trees every time he walks into our garden... I hope it creates a lighter and fresher atmosphere and that it hasn't scared away the birds. In the meantime, we will plant some new plants as well. My mother in law brought some nice ones as a present last week: echinops and omphalodus.

our friend Dickie

flea market

Yesterday I visited a flea market nearby that I have been longing to visit for a long time. The market is organised every couple of months in a former bread baking factory in a town called Rijswijk. Now, I always had the idea this market would be filled with unique finds and vintage treasures that I am looking for. I woke up early yesterday morning to be there on time and my heart was racing from excitement. I actually returned about 2 hrs later having bought nothing. The market was so disappointing. Later I saw it was being advertised as the biggest bargain market ever. That should have warned me. But, no, I had this romantic image. It was full of stalls with businesspeople mostly selling cheap clothes and shoes. And people pushing each other out of the way to find the cheapest deals. Certainly not the most charming kind of people. Some of the stalls had indeed vintage glassware, china etc but not very interesting - not what I was looking for: utility china. And these semi-professional sellers knew exactly what there were selling. For example, they asked an absurd price for a Royal Albert Lady Hamilton cup and saucer. No surprise finds there. So, the positive thing for me was that at least I got this market out of my system and I cherish my trips to the local thrift shops and virtual trips to Ebay even more!
When I returned home I was so happy to be back in my own neighbourhood with its lovely little shops.
Part of my afternoon was spent on cleaning and photographing my earlier finds and my collection until now. I have joined the Flickr-group "Utility China" and posted some of my pictures there. More will follow! I also found the lovely website Kathryn's Curious Life by a fellow utility china collector/vintage hunter in the UK. Love to read about her finds and see the pictures! It has inspired me to share more of my finds as well. Since I have a week off, I hope to be able to spend some time visiting my local thrift shops! For now, I will share some more pics of my collection, which consists mostly of Greydawn because that's what I started collecting because I love that so much!

five o-so-cute little egg cups

sunday morning coffee & breakfast

vintage finds

I absolutely love beautiful vintage finds I collect from thrift stores and flea markets. Here are some pictures of the vintage (utility) china I collected until now. Always on the lookout for more!

our chicks from brussels watching over the goodies...