Do You Feel Like a Room Without a Roof? Just Another Day in the Garden.

Hi there!
My pansies have had it. That last storm 2 nights ago, with wind speeds up to 9, have whipped them into submission...no life left in them.
What better excuse to visit my local garden shop?!

Gardening makes me very happy indeed :-)

So: out with the pansies and in with a lovely lavender (the purple butterfly variety) and in front of the house blue lobelia and white begonia. I try to stick to a blue/white/grey/pink colour scheme over there, as we still haven't repainted the blue/grey door covering.

There you are; they are tiny still (I tend to go for small plants as they are far cheaper, obviously), but experience tells me they will grow to overflow that planter in no time!

Meanwhile the plants in the greenhouse are growing as well. We have harvested the first 3 (small) cucumbers, and I have been able to pluck enough lettuce leaves for salads for the last week. Yay! They taste much, much better than that stuff you can buy in the supermarket (we don't have an organic greenery nearby, unfortunately).

The large-leafed plant is a courgette (or zuchini I believe Americans call it). And the tomatoes are coming along fine. The red/orange flowers are called "Afrikaantjes", and they smell rather peppery. Many people say they stink. We've planted them not for their flowers (which are nice enough), but for their utility in keeping out the ants. Ants hate them.

And what do you think of our geranium? Cool eh?

It's last year's, but due to our extremely mild winter it never stopped growing, so now it is 60 cm wide and high. Together with the herbs and the gravel it gives the back garden where we eat (whenever we can!) a French atmosphere.

Two evenings ago we tried eating there; the temperature was fine (22 degrees, which is warm for The Wetlands I can tell you!), but that wind blew so hard already that the salad was blown into the liguster hedge...Oh well. You aren't Dutch if you aren't used to wind and wetness...

Okay, back to the garden for me now!

Have a lovely Saturday, and get your hands into that soil!

Quick Newsflash: hey! Only 90 readers away from 3,000 :-)

Spring! Oooohhhhhhh yes....it has sprung! Don't you love it?

Hello, are you also feeling sprightly from this sudden Spring burst?
(Before you think I have gone absolutely bonkers, let me remind you I am from The Wetlands. The low lying lands where water is the predominant feature, clouds are omnipresent and sunshine is a gift and a blessing.)

After an entire Winter of feeling like a mole, I now see the sun come up every day from the windows of the Tube, and this morning it didn't immediately hide itself behind a bank of grey, but stayed in view!

And I was so lucky, in that it was still shining when I got home from work, and I even had a little snooze in the garden, on the bench with Viggo on my lap. Bliss!

Afterwards I took a turn in our garden, removed a dog turd or two, admired the pansies and the daffs, and planned a trip to the garden centre for tomorrow.

And have you noticed that people are more friendly when the sun is shining? (Perhaps not when you are in, say, Brazil, but in The Wetlands they definitely are) I exchanged smiles with at least 5 persons within ten minutes, which is quite a lot for my hard-nosed neighbourhood.

The currants are in bloom, the swans are on their nests, all my little garden birds are very active and twittering away. 

And the shrubs are getting tiny leaves (no, not like the photo yet, but I couldn't resist that one, as I think it lovely).

What do YOU do in Springtime? Does it effect you at all? Or are you one of those "Heck, as long as I can watch Netflix I'm happy" type of person?

Perhaps I'm a bit weird, but I actually feel happy when I see my ferns unfurl...And when I spot the bumble bees checking out the potting shed. I saw a huge one this afternoon, and bid it welcome. One of our projects for this year, garden-maintenance-wise, is to build an insect hotel. And my husband wants to build a chicken coop. And a new woodshed. 

Now isn't this interesting? 

:-)

Someone pointed out to me (on FB) that my blog was utterly uninteresting to him. It took me aback for all of 3 seconds (well, at least he took the time to point it out to me) and then I thought long and hard about the bloggers-bug.

Does it really matter if 9 people read this post, or 900? I mean, does it make a difference to me?

The fact that you are reading this right now, is enough. I used to be a diary keeper. Then a reporter. Now I am a blogger. I think it is realistic to say that writing is a sort of compulsion. And even if nobody reads it, I can view it as a kind of super diary, without all the nasty bits. I'll keep the really nasty bits to myself.

Have a super Spring day tomorrow!

You've done it! - You've clicked 2,001 times on Rays of Light. Here's my thank-you gift for you.

Thank you for reading my blog!

You have NO idea how happy you make me by reading the little stories I upload almost every day. And especially YOU, Dianne Overbeeke, as you've just pushed the ticker past the 2,000 mark.

What gives me such a kick is that people from all over this world are interested enough to click on my blog, simply by looking at a #. And thinking: oh, I'd like to read about that.
 It means that we are all connected.

Yes, Russia, we are connected. Yes, South-Korea, South-Africa, Australia, India, far away though you may be, we are connected. Yes, Canada, we are connected. And New Zealand, just saw you appear this morning, hi there!

And my European readers who share this continent with me: we are connected. 
Spain! How are you? Ever since I visited your country when I was a child of 5, I've loved it.

I am very happy that we are "in-tune" so to speak. And hope our virtual relationship will prove fruitful, colourful and beautiful. Tot de volgende keer!

I've been pondering a suitable thank-you gift for you all (I believe in bestowing gifts).

The last time I gave you a recipe. I think this time I will give you a song.

You'll find the link below this post.

A romantic song by WOTE - one of my favourite bands

I Did It!!! Thanks for all your support!

Yesterday I told you about my irrational fear of driving our Volkswagen Transporter, didn't I?

Well. I DID IT.

And it was...fine, really. I told myself I was going to drive that car, and I wasn't even nervous...except for one moment whilst driving into the Benelux tunnel.

I took a terrible selfie to prove to you I'm not fibbing, but for some strange reason my phone refuses to upload it to Google Drive and hence to this blog.

Anyway...I'm very happy I took this hurdle, as it means I can drive to my choir practice instead of having to take a bus late at night. Tra-lalalala!

Have a smashing Sunday, you! I know I will!

Those people sending me uplifting messages yesterday...thanks so much!

My 'selfie' to prove it...

YAY! I've passed the 1,000 readers mark! I'll share my 'Renée's Salad' to thank you.

Good Golly! More than a thousand readers for Rays of Light within 6 weeks...I am chuffed, proud, pleased, happy, over the moon, and delighted with you all!

My Selfie

Hello there, you from The United States! So nice of you to drop in!

And you, from Russia! Lovely to meet you!

And you, over there in Serbia, how are you?

And that sole reader in Greece: never mind, I adore Greece.

And all the rest of you in Germany, England, Ireland, Sweden, Scotland, Morocco, India (yes, you, Smitty), Australia, Austria, South-Africa, Brasil and last but not least my fellow Dutchmen, who think nothing of reading my stuff in English - GREAT, I am proud of you!

Apart from toasting you all tonight with my single glass of red wine (this is for that fellow who is worried that I drink too many, you know who you are!), I thought I'd write down my very own salad recipe.

Renée's Salad

You need:

- mixed greens, made up of bean sprouts, endive leaves, lettuce leaves, chicory leaves, spinach leaves, in fact all sprouts you like except for the Brussels variety (for 4 people I use 200 grams of greens at least, and that is not counting the tomatoes, pepper and cucumber!)

- a hand-full of roasted pine nuts and/or walnuts (I use both)

- 250 grams tiny sweet tomatoes

- pieces of roast chicken (organic happy chickens, please, and how much is up to you. Organic chicken is bloody expensive in my country, so 250 grams is enough for me)

- spices (I use Himalayan rock salt, freshly ground black pepper, chili pepper, garlic)

- approx. 10 black Kalamata olives (hey! Greece!)

- fresh Parmezan cheese, in slivers

- you may add a couple of hard boiled eggs, but that is optional (happy...you know the score)

- 1 cucumber (in cubes)

- a bell pepper (red, green, orange, yellow, whatever colour you like)

Start by quickly spicing and roasting the chicken (I use coconut butter for this). Let it cool off a bit. Then take out your loveliest salad bowl (large! This is a large salad!) and put in everything else (hah! This is the kind of cooking I prefer - no fuss), put the chicken on top and end by grating your Parmezan cheese on top.

Now; the dressing. I usually make up an easy one by mixing a couple of spoon-fulls of organic mayonaise with the juice of half a lime and some finely chopped parsley. But I've been known to use finely chopped dandelion leaves instead of parsley(not too many, they will make it too bitter). Chicken and lime is a perfect combination. But you can use your own dressing, as anything goes, really. As long as it doesn't clash with the olives.

Enjoy!!

This is our greenhouse in Summer, b.t.w. Notice the Rucola on the right, it was growing rampant! The kids were complaining of a Rucola overkill.