Rome 2014 - Tivoli

One morning we left the apartment early and set out to the Villa d'Este in Tivoli, outside of Rome. What an amazing site! The villa, and most particularly the gardens, were absolutely stunning.
You'll probably be able to tell how excited I got by the amount of photos I took. :-)

Alden Biesen, Belgium

A couple of weeks ago my parents came to visit us in Maastricht and it was, as always, delightful. It was during that weekend that my mum and I turned pretty much loom-crazy (have you heard of/seen/tried making these bracelets with small colourful elastics? well, they're pretty addictive and heaps of fun to make - anyway, more on that another time). Since my parents were here with their car (and we don't have one) we jumped on the opportunity to go on a little day-trip to some Belgian castles. The first stop of the day was in Alden Biesen, just over the border in Belgium. It's a truly spectacular place kept in beautiful shape. See for yourself!

Old pink

Our little table on the balcony is in dear need of repainting... I had painted it bright pink a few years ago, but the sun and rain have taken their toll on it...

Outside

The flowers have grown beautifully.

And Mart took a photo of the moon the other night when I was already asleep. He said it didn't work, but I quite like the outcome!

Garden update

The seeds that Claire had sent me for my birthday have been growing beautifully - in fact we are about to eat our first beans of the season tonight!
The tomatoes shouldn't take too much longer until they are ready too. We have two sorts; some cherry tomatoes, and some roma-type ones.
And Joab now has leaves! He's doing so well. I guess the temperatures we've been having lately are fairly similar to what he would have had, would he have stayed in Senegal...

Succulents

Joab the baobab

Please meet Joab, our new little baobab (or boab) from Senegal. We bought him in the new fair trade shop in Maastricht.
I wonder if he'll ever grow to anything like this one...?

Little paper pots

I was really excited by my little paper pots when I first made them during the weekend. They looked cute, were made out of recycled material, and most of all, enabled me to keep all the tomato seedlings that had grown in our little greenhouse. Each plant now has its own little recipient, and I will be able to give them away to colleagues and friends as soon as they will be a bit sturdier.



But after watering the freshly replanted seedlings, the paper started getting very humid (quite logical I guess). I didn't mind it so much in the beginning (I thought it might dry out after a while), but now that two days have passed, none of them have dried, they are slowly going browny/yellowy/yucky and are all looking... well... pretty sad!


I'm not convinced I'll want to give them away to anyone else than our compost bin now!

I'll wait another few days before I do so, though - who knows, maybe the tomatoes will love their new moist environment.

Happy Mothers' Day!

My mum would love to come and see the Royal Greenhouses of Laeken, close to Brussels, in Belgium. This won't happen this year as the annual opening closes today, but to make up for it, I sent her this for Mothers' Day:

Photos from PostCarden.


I can see you wondering what on earth it is I sent her... click here to see more!