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Category Archives: travel

Mandella, Bee Hotel and Nepal

Sadly, our beautiful Mandella bought in Arizona many years ago, has been attacked by moths and we can’t keep it.

After a delicious lunch with our dear friend M, we went to the garden centre to find a new shrub. No luck with that but I did see an amazing bee hotel.

In honour of our fellow human beings in Nepal who are suffering in the terrible flooding, I give you some pictures taken when we were lucky enough to visit in October 2013. Beautiful people, beautiful country. My heart goes out to them all.

I just heard that our Cornish based charity, ShelterBox, is on the ground already and assessing how they can help. They had a deployment of boxes in the area so will be able to provide help quickly. They are a wonderful charity.
If you would like to see more of this beautiful country, click here and move forward through the days. I am so deeply moved by this tragedy having fallen in love with the place and its people on our visit in 2013.

4 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on August 28, 2026 in environment, friendship, nature, Nepal, Postaday 2026, ShelterBox

Fabulous Quilt

09 Aug

In May, we went with friends to Amsterdam and while there visited a lovely quilt shop as our friend K is a quilter. A couple of weeks ago, an enormous box was delivered and to our utter delight, inside was the most beautiful quilt, the pattern being the very distinctive houses of Amsterdam, along with a bridge and canal. Absolutely stunning.
We were given washing instructions but wanted to hang this beautiful piece of art rather than throw it over a bed. We found a curtain pole, a pair of bronzed hooks and over the weekend, have rearranged paintings on our landing and hung the quilt in pride of place in the stairwell. It looks amazing and we love it.

Little Amsterdam designed by North Sea Quilters and made by K.

The amount of work in this is remarkable and we treasure this beautiful piece.

7 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on August 9, 2026 in Amsterdam, art, Beauty, friendship, Happiness, Postaday 2026, quilting, Uncategorized

Tags: North Sea quilters

Borage, Shallots and Plastic Pots

19 Jul

I loved how a blue borage bloom had landed on a vibrant green courgette leaf and near the gold of a courgette flower.

We have harvested our shallots today, a bit earlier than expected but with the heat and dryness they had stopped growing. They are a lovely colour but rather smaller than usual.

Here we have two expandable plastic pots with lids, not conventionally beautiful, I agree but they hold wonderful memories. They have been to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon with us on each of our many adventures starting in 1998! We used them for our breakfasts in the cabins, for our picnics on the various trails and for desserts collected from the deli.

Sadly, we probably won’t be able to go again (the awful and very sad fire of last year destroyed so much that will take years to restore) though we do hope to be able to visit family and friends in 2028 perhaps.

1 Comment

Posted by mybeautfulthings on July 19, 2026 in America, environment, Food, garden, growing, nature, Postaday 2026, travel, Uncategorized

Rijks Museum and Goodbye Amsterdam

24 May

The Night Watch by Rembrandt being cleaned, love the t-shirts

Love the mischievous expression on the young woman’s face

Miniature kitchen in one of the dolls’ houses

I Love this jacket!

Taken from the Eurostar on the way home after a brilliant holiday with our very good friends.

6 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on May 24, 2026 in art, environment, friendship, Netherlands, painting, Postaday 2026, travel, Uncategorized

Stedelijk Museum and Blossombs

23 May

The Stedelijk Museum was fascinating, I’d been looking forward to seeing the Karel Appel works,

We later found a wonderful painting bursting with joy, Bal Tabarin by Jan Sluijters.

and discovered a room full of protest art work.

When in the gift shop, I found the perfect gift for Sue-next-door who looked after our place while we were away. I bought us a miniature egg box full of seed bombs too. Today, I have followed instructions and ‘planted’ them. We’ll look forward to seeing what comes up!

3 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on May 23, 2026 in Amsterdam, art, dance, nature, Netherlands, painting, Postaday 2026, travel, Uncategorized

Tags: protest art

Wisteria and Flowers in Amsterdam

22 May

Wisteria in our garden

Wisteria in Amsterdam

Outside the Rijks Museum

Street market

In the flower market

More wisteria

On a bridge

and a Banksy?

Outside a shop

2 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on May 22, 2026 in environment, garden, nature, Netherlands, Postaday 2026, travel

Quirky Bits in Amsterdam

21 May

There were shops all over Amsterdam selling plastic ducks. After passing several , I went in to one to ask ‘Why?” It seems they are simply a retail opportunity to attract tourists!

One of the Duck shops

Information re ducks

I loved the decoration outside a shop selling children’s clothes, the decoration comprising of painted bicycle parts and enormous knitted strawberries!

On the corner of the street near our hotel, Roemers Hotel, was a house beautifully decorated with blue and white tiles near the top of the building. Lower down was a plaque to Maria Tesselschade Roemers Visscher. She is described by her friends mentioned below as “attractive, musically talented, and a skilled translator and commentator from French and Italian.They also praised her skill at singing, painting, carving, glass engraving and tapestry work.” From Wikipedia.

Here’s a translation for you:

If Tesselschade is unfamiliar to you, then you may know
That she was a friend of Roemer Visscher,

That she sat in the circle of singers
And with her stylus wrote wittily on the glass
And if you wish to find more merit and gifts
Speak to Huygens, Hooft and Vondel, her friends

PIETER HUISINGA BAKKER
Maria Tesselschade Roemers Visscher 1594 – 1649 poet

2 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on May 21, 2026 in art, craft, History, knitting, Netherlands, poetry, Postaday 2026, travel

Street Art, Sculptures and Statues

20 May

We came across lots of interesting structures around Amsterdam.

Against the Tide by Rini Hurkmans is a memorial sculpture honouring murdered Dutch journalist Peter R. de Vries who was shot on July 6, 2021, and died on July 15, 2021.

It’s worth reading this, if a bit of a struggle.

In the gardens of Begijnhof

One of the lizards in a grassy patch by the street

Loved the goblin

Loved these two on the roof of a club

In silhouette

Gerardus Vossius and Caspar Barlaeus were pioneering Dutch scholars and the founding fathers of the University of Amsterdam. In 1632, they opened the Athenaeum Illustre, a city-sponsored academy that challenged Leiden’s academic monopoly and eventually evolved into the modern university I found this in a hidded garden off the book alley I told you about a couple of days ago.

We went to Amsterdam with our friends A&K and just had to find A’s Great Grandfather, Ferdinand Domela Nieuwenhuis, 31 December 1846 – 18 November 1919) who was a Dutch socialist politician and later a social anarchist and anti-militarist. Just learned that we share a birthday!

A translation of the plaque: Ferdinand Domela Nieuwenhuis sculpture represents the rise of the labor movement in the 19th century. Prometheus is depicted in the relief. This Greek hero stole fire from heaven and gave it to mankind. In earlier designs, Polet had placed the Greek myth at the center, with a subordinate position for Domela. Only in a third design did Polet allow himself to be guided by the form of a statue on a pedestal. In his time, Polet was an important exponent of Expressionism within Dutch sculpture. Artist Johan Polet 1931

4 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on May 20, 2026 in Amsterdam, art, family history, Netherlands, Postaday 2026, travel

Tags: Against the Tide, Caspar Barlaeus, Ferdinand Domela Nieuwenhuis, Gerardus Vossius, Rini Hurkmans

Poly-Tunnels, Pollinator and Paintings

19 May

Having missed Community Roots for two weeks while we were on holiday, the growth of everything in the poly-tunnels was wonderful to see.

I spotted a little pollinator where I was working today.

We visited many galleries when in Amsterdam and here are a few of my favourite paintings.

I loved this one as it reminded me of my lovely Dad’s beautiful beard.

Isaac Blessing Jacob by Govert Flink 1615-1660

There’ll be more.

2 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on May 19, 2026 in Amsterdam, art, environment, growing, nature, Netherlands, Postaday 2026, Uncategorized

Soup, Stamppot and A Talk

18 May

We had some delicious courgette soup in the sunshine before going into the very interesting H’Art Museum in Amsterdam.

That evening, wanting to eat Dutch food, I had Boerenkool Stamppot and being a big fan of mash and gravy, absolutely loved this meal.

Tonight we have been to the Hall for Cornwall for a talk I really wasn’t interested in, A Gun Through Time by the historian David Olusoga. However, the subject was made quite fascinating by him concentrating on the social history rather than the military history of guns.