Traditions

 Dutch tradition with New Year :

Loads and loads of "oliebollen", kind of donuts with or without raisins, freshly  made they're delicious ...


The lady dog is very stressed by fireworks noise , the macho mad dog couldn't care less of course...
so I'm going to  try and  distract her from all the noise at midnight  by giving her her all time favourite... an immense  huge bone....enough to concentrate on for her....of course  the macho mad dog joins the fun..

see......the dogs are definitely not vegetarian.........!

Good Luck...2012

An elephant with his trunk high up means good luck.... so...

Happy New Year....Bonne Annee.....Felice Anno Nuovo....Prospero Ano Nuevo...

....a tiny elephant.... wishes  you loads and loads of good times in 2012....

rat

Little rat... the painting measures 10,5 cm by 15 cm....the perfect size for this  little rat she decided

it took patience and layer by layer she worked on it...

amazing litlle rat, amazing painter ...Elisabeth Maria Tertoolen

she spent her whole life perfecting  this old traditional painting technique ...to her painting was craftmanship,  to me her craftmanship is of an intense beauty...
...she loved animals ...can you  imagine her as a little girl taking all the animals in need of help home,
feeding them, talking to them... I was told she did it even as a grown -up, bless her....and that's why
she knew how to paint them like this....

fallen angels , fake roses ...

Fallen angels and fake roses...

bears and company  heading home...

see you next year at Christmas...

Must say that it's feels good to clean up and head for less melancholic  days.... although   I'm fond of  the kitchy glittering figures,  sometimes I  take a peek at them in highsummer...a bit surrealistic but I like them in the sun ... for now they're  waiting in their closet for next christmas...

Friend

My friend came along this morning, brought  along these  chocolats...

we've been friends for ages now and I can imagine us ending up like these two  ladies...

...of course we'll  try to be nice to the rest of the world but, more important,  we'll have as much pigheaded fun  as Agatha Christies  miss Marple...whom we both admire dearly ... essential attributes seem to be the right hat and white gloves ....

Midwinter's day

or...Winter Solstice...Solstice d"Hiver... Winterwende...Solstizio d"inverno... 

WinterSonnenWende ...Vintersolverv...

Midwinter's day is there to celebrate...... the shortest day of the year, from now on the light will grow stronger and brighter ...

Where I grew up it's said that  every day light is lenghtened by the time of one crow of a rooster... still believe it...

...more decembercolours

nice  kitch colours ....yummie

decembergreen

Sometimes green looks a bit  a too green , doesn't it ....

and one wonders how on earth it will taste , when it looks like oldfashioned witchbroth....

well ... it was courgettesoup and in fact it tasted quite nice...

especially with some gorgonzola in it...

friends

Hopefully can make loads and loads of these  chocolate hearts for them in all the decembers to come yet...and enjoy it together .... or can one eat  too much chocolate...?!? and guess what...
.................. even the  Macho Mad Dog  felt at ease.........

Today's green and pink 7

The pink is fading away...

while the green was quite sparkling today ...

...and suddenly the city  became Christmas-minded .... all kind of dressed-up animals crossed my road,

gave the day a nice surrealistic touch....things aren't always what they seem...

not when the city is christmas-minded...

Today's green and pink 6

The tulips are beautiful, the pink changes every day

... the green was quite wet today...

can't say the dogs minded the weather....

me neither...

in fact we had quite some fun...

Today's green and pink 5

 It was a day for a nice soup and the green vegetables looked likes a stille life while

the tulips, shy as they were some days ago, are going wild...

Today's pink and green 4

The small golden bird  came in today and it's  going to stay," too cold outside for paradise birds" it says...

and the gold is just the right  colour to go with today's green and pink....