Top1 has been working at some new designs for rings and bracelets. These are all in copper and brass, but he is thinking about doing them in alpaca and silver.

As I am not really a jewelry kinda girl, he asked me to post these on the blog for some input from experts. (Assuming you all are jewelry lovers, or better yet, jewelry addicts. That would make you an expert in my book.)

So we'd appreciate it if you could give your feedback on the two bracelets and three rings below. If he ever goes into production phase, I'm sure we'll do some sort of give-away. Just for the fun of it.

PS We're off for a few days of camping again. (This time we're travelling by car AND by boat. For the safety of everyone on board, I'll make sure Top3 and Top4 are handcuffed and gagged. Can't afford a near-accident with a passenger ship...)

The landscape was inspired by wallpaper samples. I love how it interacts with the cute frame (yay for thrift stores).

The bird, also a thrift store find, flew all the way from Mexico (according to the stamp on the back) and therefore I felt it could do with a proper tail and something to look at, after all these years of staring at an empty tree...

If you are a regular visitor of this blog, you may have deduced by now that my passion (apart from art) is quirky humour. I love a good twist!

Top1 has a passion for everything historical, preferably touching upon metal and metal forging as well. In the past, he has participated in countless re-enactment events as Napoleonic cuirassier (cost him a fortune for hiring and transporting horses, as the best horses were always to be found in England). He's been involved in Viking re-enactment as well, most notably at the Battle of Hastings in 2006.

Although I've tagged along for a while, I never quite got the hang of it. I was done with re-enactment the moment an overzealous Dutch re-enactment family collectively snapped at me one morning, very early, hours before the general public would arrive, for coming out of my tent in a pyjama covered with teddy bears. That would not do!

Luckily for Top1, in Hastings he met up wit lots of funny English re-enactors. One group wore T-shirts with parts of the Bayeux Tapestry printed on it, urging bystanders to kill a Saxon for Jesus.

They explained about an online Tapestry Image Generator, and Top1 was quick to copy them once at home. He even ordered a coffee cup with his Bayeux print.

The day it arrived in the mail, I had such a good laugh. The hint of seriousness in the original text was completely overthrown by one silly spelling mistake.

"Kill a Saxon for Jusus". Gets me every time.

PS Please visit Francesca at FuoriBorgo for more Corner Views of the world!

Judging from the pictures, you'd say I keep flowers. The truth is, I keep bumblebees. Or rather, they keep me.

When we moved into this house, a little over a decade ago, I discovered a small colony living inside the garden-facing walls. (There were wasps as well, but we had to get rid of those. Too much dying wasps in the living room and the bedrooms.)

I watched with quiet intent as they popped out as early as February, thick-set creatures with a sleep-drunken flight about them, shaking off the cold, seeking out food. With trial and error, I found out about their favorite plants and gradually, the garden was designed around them. (Not all plants pictured are for them, and not all plants I have in the garden are pictured.) Nowadays, I am the proud host of a thriving colony of 50-odd bumblebees, happily foraging from February till November. I am never bored with them, with their deep humming and the fact that it seems impossible for them to even lift off the ground, being as overweight as they are.

One of the things I hate about leaving this house (no sale yet, but someday it will happen), is that future owners might not care for my pudgy friends as much as I do. For all I know, they will rip out all the flower beds and put in a larger lawn. Or worse: gravel.

So I try and visualize an elderly couple, prepensioners perhaps, wanting to spend the rest of their lives away from the big city, in a little hide-away corner of the Netherlands - independent people with good health, who like to putter about in a manageable garden and often invite friends and family over to visit (to populate the six bedrooms). I think they should be avid readers, artistic.

People with an eye for all the wonderful details in my garden. I think my bumblebee friends would agree to that being the most important aspect.

So, supposedly we were going to Bremen. Except that the camping there turned out to be very expensive, very noisy (right next to the road) and emptied of all children. We headed towards the Elbe, where we knew of a cheaper and quieter camping. There it rained and rained and rained, and though we did meet a few English cyclists on a grand tour of Europe, and lots of German pensionados, there still were no children.

In the end, we cut our visit to the Elbe towns short and headed back. On our way home, we noticed that the weather in Oldenburg was OK (dry), and we decided to stay there for a few days. That is when we discovered that Camping Gaz is not available in Germany, and Top1 MacGyvered a double-spouted Roman oil lamp out of a tin, sunflower oil and some cotton guy rope. (Only to be used in the open, not in the tent.) It gave just enough light to knit.

The holiday ended in style, with very nice and sunny weather on the very last day.

And then we came back, I did four rounds of laundry (we still have to fold it away), Top3 and Top4 got all worked up about visiting with their grandparents (for a whole week! Oh bless!) and today I tackled the garden, which had led a life of its own this past week.

Also, I wrote an English poem, which might need some finetuning, and allowed myself a half hour of worrying about our future. (We've had no luck with the art fairs these past few weeks, perfectly in line with the old saying "From Great Suffering Comes Great Art".)

We have another camping trip planned for the week after next, so let's hope the weather will be good...

PS Our Golden Tip for other parents with crazy kids: Never let them sit side by side in the car, with sleeping bags and rolled-up matrasses in between. They will try and slaughter each other with the rolls and get carried away, you will lose control of the wheel and have a near-accident, just half an hour into the country of your destination, thinking, "Well, this sure is a crappy way to die!"

Part 5/5 of the miniseries "When The Flowtops Are Out Of Town"

Part 4/5 of the miniseries "When The Flowtops Are Out Of Town"

Part 3/5 of the miniseries "When The Flowtops Are Out Of Town"

Part 2/5 of the miniseries "When The Flowtops Are Out Of Town"

Part 1/5 of the miniseries "When The Flowtops Are Out Of Town"

I've been playing around with my photo editing software again.

These are parts of a helmet (and the helmet pattern) I found laying about in Top1s studio.

PS We're planning on taking a few days off, visiting Bremen, which is not far from here. I'll probably schedule a few automatic posts. No laptop, no internet, no house, no work, no nothing for a while. Just two never-ending kids, a tired hubby, a tent, a sketch book and a notebook, a camera, something to knit and something to read.

Some time ago, Top1 decided to grow a beard, which apparently is the must-have accessory for any metalsmith / armourer / artist dedicated to his profession.

Although it does suit him, I wonder how long it will be before he scorches it, what with the fire and all...





PS These shots were taken yesterday, at a local market, where he was giving a demonstration. He'll be doing the same tomorrow, but then in a more Vikingy set-up.

Whilst you were napping
I wrote you a letter
Not to say I love you
nor to say I am sorry

The words were written
for the sake of writing
Just like the nap was taken
for the sake of napping

When you tucked the nap away
I stopped and opened my mouth
Starry-eyed you listened as I
read you your dreams out loud

In between the inevitable bouts of boredom befalling almost all 8-going-on-80 YOs from time to time, Top3 has been busy inventing new species for his Warhammer games. Below are three slightly mangled dinosaurs.

(I guess they wouldn't have become extinct if they'd thought of upgrading back in their Golden Age...)





Please visit Francesca at FuoriBorgo for more Corner Views of the world!

Theater act "Raaf=Gaaf" blessing Top3

See the red dot on his forehead?

Top4 fell in love with the art of body painting

Top3 worked alongside Top1. He made this nail cleaner.

I have no idea what Top1 has been casting in this mould, it's just that everytime I walk past the two halves laying about in the studio, I have the urge to say: "Oh, boys, cheer up, it's not the end of the world!"

(We Flowtops love to point out the faces and figures we discover in inanimated stuff. I personally am drawn to animism, not with the religious connotation, but I do think that everything harbours energy in some form or other.)