Amsterdam (again - lucky me!)

A couple of weeks ago we had a long weekend with my sister in Amsterdam.

She took us to Madurodam...

Yes it's a miniature Holland. I was a little sceptical to start with thinking it might just be a load of small houses but it was fantastic. There weren't just miniature houses and famous buildings but factories, an airport, harbour, school, even a moving fairground.

The attention to detail was amazing. The more you looked the more you spotted.

The school photograph being taken.

The rock concert. All the people were different and a lot of them moved!

I decided I'd love a job as a props maker and then we found my future place of work.

This is life size! It is the studio where all the props are made.

We even spotted a mini Mr Magoo in the window!

Dotted around were activities for children.



The little jammers enjoyed measuring their weight in cheeses and then trying to lift the equivalent.

They pumped very hard to keep the floodgates shut!

The littlest enjoyed watching for the train.

Finally there was a clog factory. 1 Euro in the slot bought you the sound of miniature workers hammering away inside then ker-plunk a mini pair of clogs flew down the shute into a truck. The truck duly 'drove' round and delivered the clogs to a very happy customer!!

Thankfully a dry day but you can see the rain clouds moving in from the train window.

Sadly the weather was no better than here!

Catching up

Sorry it's been a while. I'll blame it on the weather! No really it's true, all my photos look rubbish unless the sun shines.

Also, I've been on a little mini break, a child free long weekend courtesy of my dad. He took me to Amsterdam to stay with my sister. The occasion? A horribly large birthday that's hurtling towards me. I didn't take many photos but spotted Tintin's twin by a canal.

The event? My family's musical hero - Tom Petty. Tickets for England sold straight away, my dad booked himself one for Dublin and then hurrah my sister's boyfriend spotted an ad for an extra date in Amsterdam.

It was 20 years ago I first saw Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and then again in the late '90s so a much awaited, long overdue concert.

They did not disappoint and I've been indulging on you Tube ever since.

Thank you Dad! Thank you Layla! Thank you Pat!

There doesn't seem to have been much time for making around here but I did finish this baby blanket for a customer yesterday. The baby was due yesterday so nothing like cutting it fine.

 Now whilst I was away this little parcel turned up from Jane at Teawagon Tales

 Some lovely pieces of sheeting to make some patchwork cushions. Thank you Jane!

Earlier in the year you may recall I posted a picture of the top of my fridge each week. I tried to keep it topped up with signs of spring and a growing number of tins and teapots.

 Well I'm not sure what happened, perhaps life took over but here is the fridge this week...

 Hmmmmm.

When there's nothing pretty there I tend to use it to dump the cardboard recycling before putting in the sack. Well, photographing my lazy habit shamed me into picking up some Stocks going cheap at the Co-op and I'm all inspired to keep tidy once more...

we shall see.

Promise to get back into the bloggy habit too. Welcome new followers. I've been amazed you've joined up even though I've not posted for ages - thank you!

x

Amsterdam

Last week we packed up and headed off to damp and drizzly Amsterdam to visit my youngest sister. Having looked at as many weather forecasts as we could find, in the hope of reading something positive, we were dreading the weather. It was a bit hit and miss and my camera only came out when the sun shone!

It's five years since we last visited and so was the smallest Jammer's first taste of Holland. First day was spent exploring the sights and shops within walking distance of little sister's very nice apartment. We loved this shop and the lady was happy for me to take some photos to share...

I loved the retro designs on these tins

and the sugary 'Green Gate' display

not to mention all the spotty china. Still it was day one - time to be a bit restrained!

On Saturday we were blessed with some sunshine and got up frighteningly early to make a picnic and get two trains and a bus to Apenheul in Appledorn. http://www.apenheul.com

We've been a couple of times before and knew it would be worth the early start. Apenheul is a vary large monkey park with lots of free ranging monkeys and hardly a fence in sight! First stop was the old Citroen h-van (Oh how we'd love one!) where we packed our bags and belongings into monkey proof bags! Yes they are very cheeky indeed.

These squirrel monkeys are free ranging and scurry about in the trees overhead. The Jammers and I were slightly disappointed they'd just been fed and were too busy to come and sit on our shoulders as they have in the past.

I can't remember what type of monkey this one was but it reminded us so much of our cat, Hectic.
Sorry Hec!

Too many monkeys to name them all but the highlight had to be the gorillas. They live in a group of about 20 on an island (no, they can't swim). Their moat is surprisingly narrow so you can get some really good views of them. There were a couple of playful youngsters and a huge Silverback called Jambo. The keeper talk was great in that she threw them some fruit so we got to see them very close up but sadly our Dutch is non-existant although my sister translated some bits for us!

An exhausting but very enjoyable day that I would thoroughly recommend if you're in the country. Just enough energy left to drag ourselves into the city centre for grown up dinner whilst the top aunty babysat and the Jammers proved to be a bit cheeky, hmmm!

Time for the weather to deteriorate and snatches of sun were spent in the Vondelpark. What more is needed than a bit of sand

and water play?

Even the big kids joined in.

Time for a final 'spot' of shopping. I 'spotted' this shop late on Saturday night but had to wait until Tuesday for them to open. Have you ever seen so many polka dots in one shop?

Bought some lovely fabric and haberdashery bits to take home. Even better, when I found their card when I unpacked I discovered they have a blog http://thefairytaleshop.blogspot.com/ Check them out for far better photos than mine.

And all too soon it was time to fly home. We had a fantastic, if somewhat, expensive time and have vowed not to leave it another five years.