Al fresco.....

For me, Easter weekend started on Good Friday as a day out with a friend. We went to a brocante market at a garden center but it was disappointing so we decided to drive further to a nice shop called Nostalgic Living where we found this lady on her nest. Now I am used to seeing storks up north near our cottage but this one was in the middle of Holland on what I found to be a rather low nest. She was happily brooding her eggs. I wonder how many she had???


We came back a little earlier than planned as Jos had called in the afternoon to tell me that he was laid off at work. They had warned this department on Wednesday evening that they were going to push through rush lay offs. He was on the list unfortunately.

We loaded the car and left for Cranberry Cottage as planned. Being there is always so restful. It was busy in our little dirt road but pleasantly so. We arrived and ate dinner. I had brought everything along to make us a nice big dinner salad. Since the Dutch weather is more like summer than spring, we went outside to clean our terrace ready for the coming days. Jos mowed the grass for the first time this season but sweetly mowed around these Cuckoo flowers (also called Lady's smock) for me. I loved seeing them in our garden.

We had all our meals outdoors! Even our breakfast became a treat as we sat out listening to the loud calling of all the birds in the woods. They are all very busily singing to their mates.

A drive to a local farm gave us an evening meal of day fresh white asparagus served in the traditional Dutch way. Even our potatoes are farm fresh. We drove back via Fochteloërveen to buy them. There is a farm there where they play around with various kinds of potatoes and grow the absolute best! They call this variety "bonbons of the clay".

The garden was starting to bloom and we enjoyed seeing where our forget-me-nots decided to come up this year. They always surprise you and do just what they want...

I planted this variety of old fashioned violets a couple of years ago. I love how they are spotted.

Breakfast on Easter morning was scrambled eggs with mushrooms, bacon bits, tomatoes and cheese. We enjoyed it with fresh bread rolls, orange juice and cafe au lait.

It was not all play as we took two of our old radiators apart and repainted them. They look refreshed now.

But there was plenty of time to just relax with warm baked ciabatta and homemade herb cream cheese with a glass of Prosecco, reading some magazines...

Neighbors popped into our garden to chat among the flowers. We are one of the few that have planted up a real flower garden in our little road.

Easter dinner was a pork tenderloin stuffed with brie. The local butcher is exceptionally good there. We often do not bother with meat when we have not been up north. We have been spoiled by his quality and would rather go without if it is not from him. I accompanied it with grilled herb tomatoes.

On Monday morning, as we sat outside having breakfast, we could hear the fire engines rushing to Fochteloërveen. As I mentioned, our weather has been so summer like and we are in need of rain in Holland. This weekend they moved the warning of code orange up to code red for forest fires. Unfortunately this beautiful area caught fire which is thankfully today under control again.