Remember I told you that I succumbed to buying the 3rd item of the 10 I allowed myself this year? It was when I was with my Shopping Saturday friends (see this post).
In my mind combining these pink cargo trousers with a green shirt is fabulous. Not everybody will agree but in the colour wheel red and green are complementary colours. And pink is a pale red. (There is more to it than this, but I am not familiar with that. I should know though as it is very helpful in creating outfits.)
Marjolein and I started the photo shoot with coffee. Of course.
Below: In the restaurant were these funny statuettes.
Marjolein had suggested we’d do a photo shoot at an art exhibition in the pond around our parliament building in The Hague. I replied “gladly”.
Below: Funny shapes in front of historic buildings. The BlowUp Art exhibition. The little pink tower on the right is an art interpretation of our prime minister’s ‘tower‘ by Sigrid Calon. (The office of our prime minister is in an actual tower of the building.)
I will show you three more art works and mention who designed them.
Below: Arboretum, design by Studio Mieke Meijer.
Below: Eggs, designed by Marcel Wanders.
Below: The pan is a design of Studio Job
Of course we used all items. Well…except for the pan which was in the water.
Below: In the pink tower.
Below: Patiently waiting for the little boys to clear off, so we could take a photo without them. While selecting the photos for this post, I thought this photo was better. My behind is not bad in these trousers, a great plus.
Below: The grey ’tiles’ I am standing on, are air-filled floaters in the water. The feeling when you walk on them is worse than on a boat; I nearly got a little seasick. Marjolein gave me the tip to step on the round bits between the tiles. That helped.
Below: Among all the silver (mirror) eggs there was also this colourful one.
The shoes are black and the accessories (necklace and bracelet) are black and white. I thought they worked very well. The belt came with the trousers and is neatly ruched.
Below: After taking the photographs we walked to Lange Voorhout, in search of a restaurant for lunch. This was and still is a posh area of The Hague.
Below: Indeed, a chic area. I learned recently why there are two rods sticking out on either side of the lamp. This used to be an oil lamp and in the old days someone would come round to turn on the light and he would put his ladder against the rods.
Below: Statue at Lange Voorhout. If this statue were to be designed today, there would be protests against the position of the woman, sitting on the desk of a man.
Below: Marjolein with an old statue as background. We have done a photo shoot in this place before (see the post with my grey trousers.)
She is wearing the same blue blazer as she had on in Delft but this time with the matching trousers. A patterned shirt and silver bag plus trainers make her look a million dollars. Yep, I have stylish friends.
Below: After lunch we walked back and spotted this old pump.
Below: It still works!
Below: This post wouldn’t be complete without a few beautiful houses to show.
Below (and above) are houses on Denneweg in The Hague.
Below: Statue of Johan van Oldenbarnevelt, a Dutch statesman and revolutionary who played an important role in the Dutch struggle for independence from Spain. He is considered one of the greatest and most important political figures in the history of the Netherlands.
Below: When I came home, I tried Marjolein’s suggestion of the night before, to wear my chunky cream trainers with the trousers. I grant her that they looked even better (I changed the necklace, the bracelets and the bag as well). Only, it was too hot that day for trainers; I wanted to wear sandals. Marjolein is good at styling, that’s for sure.
What happened in my life this week
Let me start by showing you a lot of photos of the garden. The combination of rain and some sunshine (too little but the plants think differently), made the plants grow like mad.
Below: First an overview of the garden, followed by close-ups of areas.
Below: The catalpa trees have their leaves again. No sign anymore of the damage from last year’s storm.
Below: The jasmine is about to bloom, which will give us a heavenly smell.
Below: The rhododendron has finished blooming but the Hydrangea arborescens ‘Annabelle” is starting to bloom and will give big white flowers, just like the climbing hydrangea. In front of it you see pink Astilbe.
Below: More Astilbe and a Hosta in front of it. Snails love hostas.
Below: Some high and some low plants, all giving colour to the garden.
Below: Ron planted black callas (bottom of the photo).
Below: He also replaced the overblown violets with new plants in the four hanging baskets and the plant stand underneath them.
All credits to Ron for the garden. My involvement is limited to picking up the bloody big leaves of the summer magnolia. About 50 to 100 a day.
Below: Had a photo shoot (and a great day) with Helena, again at the Noordermarkt in Amsterdam. Finally the sun was out and it was warm. Below we are still wearing a coat as we were in the shade and it was early. Summer is definitely coming. At last.
Below: And I had another photo shoot this week. Here I am with Ineke who was my photographer. You’ll see the photos in two weeks time.
I went back to the doctor for my ‘trigger finger’. It has improved a lot since the injection but it isn’t complete gone. He examined it and said to wait another month as he is confident that the first injection is still doing its job.
One day of the week was a wasted day. The electrician came to install an earthed plug upstairs for my computer (apparently a must). It took him long to drill a whole in the ceiling etc.; kept him busy for 5 hours. It was half past two before I could start to dye the outgrow of my hair, followed by washing, blow-drying and make-up. What a wasted day.
On top of which the WiFi repeater and the smart lights didn’t work anymore when he was finished. The power had been turned off and I couldn’t get them to work again. Aagghh. Computer stuff can get me so mad.
I happily played taxi driver for Ron and his friend one evening, taking them to a restaurant, picking them up again to go to the theatre and afterwards back home. The places were murder to park. Ron does this for me all the time so I was happy to do him the same favour.
Greetje
You’ve hit a home run with your photos this week. Very fun and lovely. I want to have coffee surrounded by those funny animals! You look snazzy in your new pants.
Oh, I like that…looking snazzy. Thanks.
Beautiful garden! I loved your pink pants. You have encouraged me to buy a pair of the new wide leg jeans but, as they are longer than
all of my other pants, I now must buy new shoes. Goody!
Buying new shoes is never a bad thing, I agree LOL. But, you have to be comfortable walking in them. Otherwise just bring the trousers to a seamstress or a tailor and have them shortened. Take those shoes with you that you are most likely to wear with them.
I don’t like cargo pants for dressy outfits, I think they’re designed for working in manual activities. And I don’t like this combination of green and pink either. I don’t like this look with these shoes either. In the second photo, with the shoes, I like it better. Wow, this has never happened in our relationship. I’ve always been in love with your outfits, but this discrepancy had to come up at some point. I think the shirt and the accessories are very pretty, that’s true. I love Marjolein’s linen suit. You know I really like your garden, it’s a cute corner.
Indeed, I was thinking WOW as well, as I was reading your comment. That indeed has never happened in our relationship.
Never mind dear friend. I agree, it was bound to happen some time.
As they say “You cannot please everybody all of the time. You are not a jar of Nutella” LOL
Your outfit looks fabulous on you. I love that shade of pink. It’s quite unique. Your garden is beautiful and looks so peaceful. I think I would be sitting out there reading most of the day!
I had two trigger thumbs. Sadly, the injection did nothing for me and I had to have surgery on both. The surgery was easy and recovery was quick. It’s been about six years and I haven’t had any problems at all. So if the injections stop working, don’t fear the surgery!
The garden is indeed a place to enjoy. Not always of leasure. It needs a lot of maintenance (which makes you zen).
I don’t fear surgery should it come to that. So far all my surgery stuff went flawless.
Such a pretty outfit! Those trousers are stunning, and I like them styled with trainers. Your garden is so lovely, as are your friends and the houses you photographed.
No wonder you keep reading my posts every week. You are always so full of praise. Thank you very much.
Love the pink trousers – so drapey, and they look great with the green. I bet they would look great with a cream top as well.
Thanks for all the beautiful pictures as well.
Have a great week.
I combined the trousers with a white shirt and that was a good outfit. Cream would be equally good. I just thought green was a less obvious choice.
Greetje, you look fabulous in the pink cargo pants and green blouse. I always love you in bright colors. (We know that red is your favorite and most flattering color.) This outfit is one of you best in recent months. Love, love, love!
Well, well, well…one of my best in recent months. It is always hard to predict what people will like. Most people (and I am no exception) judge an outfit from the perspective “Would I wear it? Would it suit me?” As that is highly personal I get that not everybody will like every outfit. But you readers do often surprise me.
You should be able to wash those trousers on Delicate in cold water and hang to dry-no need to dry clean. I love them- they remind me of my pink boss pants. Fantastic purchase, Greetje. Gorgeous pictures amongst the art (love the eggs).
Great to hear I did well with this post. I probably will wash them the way you describe. I mean 100% polyester..
I will tell Marjolein about your compliment for her photography.
Oh my goodness! Green and pink are my two favorite colors…that pink was such an interesting color. And loved the pose in the pink tower. Such a wonderful outfit — it just looked fabulous. And of course the sight-seeing was also amazing. Looks like so much fun.
And your garden is really awesome! Yes, the slugs love hostas. Last year ours were being decimated. Lo and behold…we saw squirrels eating our hostas! We actually found squirrel repellant to use, and it works! Great everything on this episode!
Thanks for all the lovely compliments Janis. Makes blogging such a nice hobby.
Good morning! As always, I love seeing your style, your friends, your surroundings (such beautiful, majestic buildings!), your friends, and yes – the excellent pink pants definitely look great on you! You have a gift! One of my favorite things about this post: your stunning garden! How amazing it looks! Ron does a great job. Thank you for this peep into your beautiful life. ♥️ from Missy, the English teacher from Georgia in the US.
I wish I had the gift of styling but I don’t. Pure blood, sweat and tears. I just love clothes or perhaps I should say, adorning myself. Which is why I put a lot of time and effort in it. But put me in front of a rack of clothes in a shop and my mind goes completely blank.
Greetje,
You looked very nice! I taught the color wheel and use it. I like your cream jacket with the colorful scarves too! So glad you and Marjolein had a nice visit. Love her silver tennis shoes! That was quite an unusual sculpture display even on the water!
Your garden looks so nice and green! The prefect place to sit with a cold drink in the afternoon! What are you going to do with that horse? Here, it would be put on a pole and displayed in the corner!
We had a nice time at the beach and ate some good seafood. I stayed on the porch with my book. I didn’t want to swim at all. Shadow had a good time and was a lot of fun! I have the house for next year.
I am still somewhat dealing with the blood clot leg. It woke me with a lot of pain this morning when I wanted to sleep. At least the girl that cleans came yesterday and the house is clean. I won’t work again. My back is too bad. This is genetics. Good for me that I’ve lost 30 pounds. I can have anything I want. I can meet a friend for lunch, but need my pain meds to work first.
Have a wonderful week!
The horse is an iron one and rusting as we speak. It is purely decoration.
It doesn’t sound good that you wake up with pain from your leg. Perhaps the doctor should examine it one more time? Losing 30 pounds this way is not nice but perhaps it is a silver lining? Hang in there.
Hi. Your garden is a marvelous oasis. If the slugs are a problem, suggest to Ron that small dishes of beer on the ground help and you can also save egg shells and dry them,crush them and sprinkle on the soil at the base of the hostas. Apparently they won’t cross the egg shell line. For me the culprits are earwigs.
Your clothes as always are fabulous, you seem to wear everything well. Beth
Thanks for the tips. Unfortunately we tried them all. At the moment the slugs are not too bad, we don’t have many.
As for the clothes…no I don’t wear everything well but I do know what hangs well on me and what not. And I mostly show you the outfits that worked.
Love the pants, and yes they look smashing with the green top!
I like Marjolein’s metallic shoes, but then I always like metallic shoes, ha ha!
And your garden, WOW! What a change from just a couple of months ago. It looks beautiful and so inviting. Do you get a lot of butterflies visiting?
They are worth to be the third item, right? They are also very comfortable to wear. Something I am appreciating more and more. (Clear sign I am getting older LOL.)
The garden…it is as if a magic wand transformed it. We get some butterflies visiting but not many. We need more plants that butterflies love.
I love the pink pants with the green shirt! looks fabulous and the pants fit you very well. are they satin or silk? And your garden is really lovely. I had all the flowers in my garden in New England, but now in Florida I cannot have them! boohoo. I loved and had all kinds of varieties of hostas. and astilbe, etc. I think the pants were a great selection for one of the 10 items this year! I am way ahead of you. I think I have more than 10 items already! Hope your summer warms up soon!
The trousers have a satin shine but are 100% polyester. The brand is Second Female. I had to really search the trousers before I found this information. My fault I never check the label before buying and I now have to wash them by hand or have them try-cleaned. My mother always checks the label first and when the item cannot be washed in the washing machine, she doesn’t buy it. Smart thinking.
The 10 items challenge is getting harder, but I am still sticking to it and I actually love it.
You enjoy all your purchases. Remember, it took me to being 70 before I embarked on this 10 items journey. Before this year it was so much more.
And summer is coming.
I too love the shade of green..I have one very similar but mine has some eyelet features…I wear with white linen pants but love the pink you are wearing. Will explore that! As usual your friends are very stylish and the photos of your garden are lovely..especially your wooden horse…I am thinking he started life as a “merry go round horse”..priceless….We have been sweltering over this way with Dante inferno temperatures plus drenching humidity! Have a great summer…..
Elizabeth E.
Bright green goes very well with white, but also with dark blue for instance.
Pink is a colour that goes with a lot. I have pink booties and they are hardly ever wrong with an outfit. They act as neutrals. My orange bag is another surprise; it also goes with so much.
The horse is iron not wooden and slowly rusting away.
Summer has finally arrived here as well. 28 degrees all of a sudden. It is a good thing I have been on holiday in France. Don’t know if I could have handled such a sudden change otherwise (grin). Where do you live? (I forgot.)