Groentesoep Festival 2012

The Groentesoep Festival 2012  took place for the second time, last May, 20th, in De Kemphaan, an estate located in Almere, in the forest area of Almeerderhout. The Brazilian music show, the vintage and crafts market, the possibility of buying biological products, the Nature and the Sun, made this afternoon absolutely perfect.

De Kemphaan is one of my favourites places in Almere.
It's the perfect place to go for a walk and a bike ride. There we can also take a look at the animals: the monkeys, the cows, the sheep and the goats, as well as the pigs. There is also a restaurant and a biological products shop.A farmer market is held every Saturday and from April to October there are regular performances and activities taking place.
Let's see some photos of the Kemphaan? :-)

From Groentesoep Festival 2012

From Groentesoep Festival 2012

Here and there, in the middle of the Nature, we can also find some pretty Art works ...

From Groentesoep Festival 2012

The monkeys island in front of the restaurant....Aren't they cute? :-))

From Groentesoep Festival 2012

From Groentesoep Festival 2012

The Groentesoep Festival was quite amusing.
A Brazilian Music show took place next to the restaurant. I enjoyed very much to stay in the terrace, in front of the lake, and listening to Garota de Ipanema ("Girl from Ipanema"). :-) A taste of Summer, you see? ;-)

From Groentesoep Festival 2012

From Groentesoep Festival 2012

The second-hand, vintage and crafts market where we did some shopping.
The aim of the Groentesoep Festival is to promote a more respectful attitude towards the environment and to present more green options in our everyday life.

From Groentesoep Festival 2012

From Groentesoep Festival 2012

However, we only found one place selling soups: this van. We arrived in the middle of the afternoon, so maybe the other places were already closed (?)...

Quite amusing and picturesque this van, don't you think? :-)

From Groentesoep Festival 2012

The soup and the smothies were really delicious! 

From Groentesoep Festival 2012

Do you enjoy this kind of events too? :-)

Portugal vs Spain

European Football Championship

Tonight's semi-final

Portugal vs Spain

Hoje, de pé, vamos cantar o Hino!!

E gritar PORTUGAL!PORTUGAL!

 

CONGRATS PORTUGAL!!!

PARABÉNS PORTUGAL!!!!!

CZECH REPUBLIC 0 PORTUGAL 1

http://www.uefa.com/uefaeuro/season=2012/matches/round=15173/match=2003343/postmatch/report/

:-))

Kunstmarkt 2012

May was a month full of cultural events in Almere. I've already told you about Luilakmarkt and Outdoor Eating in the previous posts. Now I will show you some photos of the Kunstmarkt 2012 (Arts Market), held last May, 13th in front of Almere Centrum train station. A splendid ideia to promote the local artisans and crafts.

Do you like to watch artisans at work?

Old crafts...

From Kunstmarkt 2012

New crafts...

From Kunstmarkt 2012

Look at this wooden clogs artisan. So typically Dutch....
The first time I saw a clogs artisan working was in 2008 in our visit to Zaandam. Have you ever been there visiting the windmills?

From Kunstmarkt 2012

We also had the chance to appreciate these shoes from the Middle Ages.

From Kunstmarkt 2012

In the photo below, you can see a magazine with an image of the painting The Arnolfini Portrait (1434) by Jan van Eijk, one of the most significant Northern European painters of the 15th century. The shoes represented in the painting are similar to these ones next to the magazine.

From Kunstmarkt 2012

In our Kunstmarkt, I also found especially interesting the ladies dressed with typical Dutch outfits.Lovely, isn't it?



From Kunstmarkt 2012

Do you have similar markets in your town/city to help promoting the local artisans and crafts?

CONGRATS PORTUGAL!!

PARABÉNS PORTUGAL!!!!

PORTUGAL 2  - THE NETHERLANDS 1

http://www.uefa.com/uefaeuro/season=2012/matches/round=15172/match=2003337/index.html

:-)))

Pentecost Holidays (2)

Sunday: Outdoor Eating

On the Pentecost Day (Whitsunday), we went to the Outdoor Eating in De Kemphaan, a very interesting initiative to promote the local caterers and restaurants. I like this kind of events because everybody wins. The city organizes a pleasant activity, the local caterers and restaurants have a great marketing opportunity and the inhabitants can discover new tastes and flavours, products and services.
Besides, the weather was great, perfect to enjoy a cocktail, eat an ice-cream and listening to very good music outside. 

Two pics of this event...

These mushrooms were quite delicious!

From Outdoor Eating Almere 2012

This is a photo of the Dutch Classic Rock music, Vandeband. I was quite pleased with the way they played.

From Outdoor Eating Almere 2012

Helps a lot in the integration process in a new society to participate in the local events and to live the city not as a tourist but as local, don't you agree?

Saturday: a BBQ with our friends from Poland

Our 4th BBQ of the season was on Pentecost's Saturday, a splendid shinning afternoon that we enjoyed with our friends from Poland. As usual, when we have friends for a BBQ, we went afterwards for a stroll nearby the canal and the lake.

A BBQ in the achtertuin (backyard) is something very Dutch, like a ritual and tradition that marks the start of the Spring /Summer season. This year we were the first of our neighbourhood, so I guess I can say we are well integrated in the Netherlands. ;-))
There is nothing better than the sunshine and to be with the ones we love, just enjoying each other's company, nice talks, many laughs and a relaxing day. I love this time of the year!

From Sábado Pentecostes 2012 & BBQ

All our backyards are displayed in a row, so you can imagine how amusing it is when we and our nearest neighbours are doing BBQ's at the same time. In a certain way, especially because of the smell of the grilled meat and the patio's atmosphere, it reminds me Saint Anthony's Festival in June in the Medieval districts of Alfama and Castelo in Lisbon.

From Sábado Pentecostes 2012 & BBQ

These four Pentecost days were really, really great! The Luilakmarkt on Friday, a BBQ on Saturday, the Outdoor Eating on Sunday and the outing to Almere Haven on Monday...Fantastic! :-)
I'm so glad we enjoyed the Sun to the fullest! Lately, it has been cold and rainy...
We should never forget to enjoy the little pleasures of life, don't you agree? ;-)

Pentecost Holidays (1)

We had enjoyed a very nice weather in the second half of May and specially during Pentecost holidays. So, on the 28th , the second Pentecost day, we went to Katwijk aan Zee, a beach nearby the city of Leiden. Unfortunately, when we arrived there, the weather was cold and foggy. We stayed there only five minutes, time enough to say "Hello, Katwijk!"/ "Bye, bye Katwijk! Until the next time!" and take this photo. Two hours later after leaving our house, we were in Almere again.

From Tweede Pinksterdag 2012

In our city, the sun was still shinning, the sky was still blue and clear and the terraces full of people enjoying the nice weather.

Almere Haven is our favourite place when the sun is shinning in the city.

This is the Restaurant Pannekoekschip where we have been already to taste their delicious pancakes.

From Tweede Pinksterdag 2012

We sat in the Krab aan de Haven terrace to enjoy a Salade Julia with a glass of Rosé wine.

From Tweede Pinksterdag 2012

Nice view from our terrace, don't you think?

From Tweede Pinksterdag 2012

I love these old boats!

From Tweede Pinksterdag 2012

In the end, we finished our lovely afternoon with a walk and a Mariola ice-cream. This photo, however, was taken in April when we went for our  first ice-cream of the year.

From Coisas Minhas II

 We enjoyed very much this Pentecost weekend!

Luilakmarkt in Almere

May, 25th

Luilak Jaarmarkt Almere

This year, Luilakmarkt in Almere was not only about flowers and plants. We could also buy antiques, brand clothes for very affordable prices and interesting handmade objects related with personal hobbies.This Pentescost's Friday was quite amusing and the weather was gorgeous. We even enjoyed a delicious BBQ in our backyard, after having bought some flowers, especially daisies, and small handmade kabouters for our frontyard.

From Luilakmarkt 2012 & BBQ

As far as I understood, by reading the Wikipedia article, there is a similar market to this one in Utrecht and it seems that the oldest Luilak market in Dutch history took place in Harlem in 1890.

Luilak (which means Lazybones in English and Dorminhocos or Preguiçosos in Portuguese) is a folklore festivity especially celebrated in the Western part of the Netherlands between the island of Texel and the city of Delft. The most famous celebrations take place in Zaandam, a town nearby Amsterdam.

From Luilakmarkt 2012 & BBQ

Luilak isn't a Christian based celebration in spite of occuring at the same time as Pentecost. Everything starts when groups of young people begin whistling, beating on pots, kettles and pans and ringing doorbells at four in the morning on the Saturday before Pentecost or Whitsunday. As you can imagine, everybody wakes up and nobody can sleep anymore with such a noise. Those who don't join the fun will be called "Lazybones" throughout the coming year, being the butt of all sorts of jokes, teasing and taunts. Moreover, they must treat their companions with candies and cakes.Funny, don't you think? ;-)

From Luilakmarkt 2012 & BBQ

" Zaandam and Haarlem children celebrate Luilak by making little wagons which often are shaped like boots and sometimes are decorated with green branches and thistles, known as luilakken. The youngsters trundle their wagons over the cobblestones until the wheels become smoking hot and finally catch fire. The children either watch their wagons go up into flames or else dump them into the canals. This rite represents an ancient spring fertility ceremony which long since has been forgotten."
(Source: http://sacred-texts.com/etc/fwe/fwe09.htm)

From Luilakmarkt 2012 & BBQ

Must be very amusing to participate and watch these celebrations in Zaandam. I would like to experience it, wouldn't you? Meanwhile, I can only share with you the photos of the market usually held in the Pentecost's Friday in Almere and these videos I have found in Youtube. Enjoy! :-)

 If you are from Zaandam and whish to share with us your experience at Luilak festivities, please do. :-) We would like to hear from you.

Gardening

Hello!!! How are you? :-)
I hope you are doing fine. I have been away from the blog but for several and good reasons.May was a month full of interesting activities in Almere and the Sun, especially in the second half of the month, was absolutely gorgeous. So we have been enjoying this gift from the Heaven, and I'm glad we did it because this week is raining a lot again. We also took advantage of the nice weather to work on the front garden. Let's see what we have done so far? :-)

Do you like this flowerbed?
We bought these daisies and decorations in the Pentecost's weekend at the Luilakmarkt  in Almere and the new soil at Ranzijn store. This flowerbed is now more colourful, simple and easy to manage. Bye-bye arm pains because of the ivy pruning. I still need to paint this part of the fence, but that's all. The hardest part of this job was removing the ivy and the tree that were previously here.

From Sábado Pentecostes 2012 & BBQ

We also replaced  the lamp of the frontyard. We bought this one in Gamma  with a very nice discount.;-) Very Dutch procedure! ;-)

From Jardim

From the biggest flowerbed, I removed the two buxus and planted instead some red flowers.

From Jardim

We decided to keep the maple (acer) and the pine tree but remove the small bushes in between, so we could make the flowerbed with the pink stones that we had bought at Kippersluis.

From Jardim

From the other corner we removed the tree in the flowerbed and planted these camellias instead. Aren't they lovely? :-)

From Jardim

As you can see in the photo below, we still need to clean the brick pavers.Our neighbours will lend us the proper machine to do it.
This tree was already in the frontyard when we came to live here, but in the front flowerbed among several bushes that we removed last year, as you may remember, so we could plant hortensias instead.

From Jardim

Here we also planted hortensias.The little grey pebbles you see avoid the weed to appear as often, and that means less work in the future and no more pains in the back.

From Jardim

I've also bought more kabouters, this time in Xenos, to decorate the biggest flowerbed. Aren't they funny? 

" I didn't see, I didn't hear, I didn't say anything.". In fact, I appreciate discrete people. ;-)
In the evening, these kabouters spread some light because they recharge during the day through the sunlight. Very ecological, don't you think?. ;-)

From Jardim

This kabouter is nice for the birds. Here they can drink rain water.

From Jardim

So, tell me, what do you think about our renewed front garden?
I should have taken some pictures to show you how it was before, so you could see the differences:

the fence was grey and now is brown;
there were a lot of bushes and a tree in the front flowerbed and now there are hortensias;
we have now small grey pebbles covering the soil, pink stones surrounding the flowerbeds and kabouters decorating;
in the corner flowerbeds, we had trees and walls covered with ivy and now we have daisies and camellias;

I used to have a lot of work to keep the front garden clean and tidy: a lot of leaves to sweep, a lot of ivy to prune and a lot of weed to remove every two weeks. This kind of work is no longer necessary.

From Jardim

I hope now we will enjoy more the garden. Let's see if we find a pretty set of two chairs and a small table with a nice discount.
;-)

From Jardim

By the way, are you spotting the Dutch flags in the picture? The European Football Championship is starting. Good luck Portugal! Good luck Holland! :-) More for Portugal, of course! ;-))