Guten Rutsch!

The German title of this post literally means “good slide!”, which is what Germans wish you at this time of year: have a good slide into the new year! We (Mr Esther, our mini-not-me daughter and I) drove to Frankfurt am Main today to spend a few days here. Our son is at home, taking care of the cats. He’s doing an internship at a hotel and has to work; he’ll also be going out with friends to welcome the new year and is thrilled to be spending a few days all alone at home.

After a little detour past the towns where I had lived not far from here in the mid 1980s we arrived at our hotel at the end of the afternoon, right in the center of Frankfurt. We’re close to the main shopping area.

We walked around a bit, stopped for dinner…

… and then strolled back to the hotel where we played a few games. Now it’s time for unwinding a bit before we go to sleep.

We’ll be out and about tomorrow, so I don’t expect to be online much. That means that now is the time to wish you all a good beginning to the new year and the new decade. Have a “guten Rutsch” and cheers from me to you!

May 2020 be a good year and the beginning of a decade where we do better for our fellow human beings and our planet!

A Richard Armitage happy new year!

For me 2017 is starting out quite well! We’ve just been away for a week with the family to our little cottage in the north of The Netherlands that belongs to my parents. The week was lovely; we went to a speed skating competition (national Dutch championships), my brother visited us at the cottage for a few days and helped welcome the new year with us, a very good friend of ours came by and spent a night and we had some rest and relaxation as well. The downside for the kids was the lack of good wifi, but they (and we) survived well nonetheless. 🙂

When we got home Thursday evening there was a note from the post office, letting me know I could pick up a package. I was giddy with anticipation, because I knew what it was going to be – I had, after all, won a Christmas bauble in Guylty’s 2016 Christmas raffle! I never win anything, so I was very excited for this. I picked up the package yesterday and it did not only contain the bauble but many other goodies!

When I opened up the package it looked like I was receiving some caramel sweets…

…. but I knew that little box would contain this…

Such a gorgeous little thing (the bauble and RA)! We packed away all our Christmas decorations yesterday but this item will not be packed away… I am finding a nice little spot somewhere so I can look at it year round. 🙂 The package did not only contain the bauble, but several other lovely small goodies as well!

The package also contained a “Summer of Love” Crucible postcard, Thornton’s chocolate with pistachio (I’ve never had pistachio chocolate before, but I love pistachios and pistachio ice cream, so I’m guessing it will taste great!), some small RA stickers and a Love Love Love playbill because I haven’t been able to make it to NYC for Richard’s play. How thrilling is all that!! Last summer I bought this little case/hatbox at a flea market for next to nothing….

… and have decided that that is the place to keep the few playbills I already have, including my upside down signed The Crucible one…

The Love Love Love playbill will find its home here as well. 🙂

Just before Christmas I also received another Richard Armitage gift from fellow fan Suzy. We met up at the beginning of 2016 and she came to spend a weekend with me and my family at my home last fall. Her very unexpected but wonderful gift also made me very happy…

… a Richard Armitage as Daniel Miller puzzle!! Such a lovely surprise! And yes, in the near future I do actually plan to sit down and make it, I love this.

Thank you so very very much Suzy and Guylty for your generosity and kindness and warmth!!!

The new year has also started with Richard Armitage announcing a new project he will be doing, a movie called Miles…

… inspired by this proof-of-concept film:

I do wonder what Richard’s role will be in this. Will he voice the robot or play a scientist? He’s been biking for Berlin Station and has played a youth in Love Love Love but I don’t expect him to be a dirtbiking youth in this one…

In any case, Richard Armitage related news but especially the Richard Armitage gifts I received help make this year 2017 start out well for me. Let’s hope it’s a good omen for the rest of the year! I say this even as I already feel the dark clouds gathering with a deeply depressing US presidential inaugurarion coming up (not to mention other depressing news items about shootings and attacks)… Still, I wish everyone a Happy New Year and that even in dark times we will be able to find some light and hope that goodness is still possible!!

2016 annus horribilis… and 2017…?

Well, even Christmas was not left untainted by 2016 with George Michael, Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds dying!! RIP to all three of these very talented people!

I came across this video today, which sums up 2016 nicely – as if it were a horror movie!

Let’s hope 2017 gets better…

I’ll probably be AWOL for the next few days, maybe a week even, so I’m already sending you all my best wishes for the new year. May it be a better one than 2016 was!! If it could start off with something like an image of Richard Armitage on a snow-covered mountain, I wouldn’t mind…

In honesty, though – while the world may be falling apart, for me personally not all of 2016 was bad. I had some lovely times with family and friends and meeting new friends and I still do continue to enjoy blogging. So, thank you to all of you who drop by here for reading and  commenting, you helped me make it through 2016 OK! I wish you all the following…

Happy New Year!

We are ready in our holiday cottage, waiting for the new year to begin! We have traditional Dutch New Year’s Eve food: oliebollen and appelbeignets, kids’ champagne and grown up champage and sparklers ready to burn…

2015 has been my first full year of blogging and thanks to you, my readers, I am enjoying it more than I ever thought I would. So, thank you to all of you who stop by here and read and interact, you have made this a fulfilling and fun experience! For all of you I hope the new year will bring fulfillment and many happy moments. Here’s to many more blog posts and a great 2016!

Happy 2015!

Wishing everyone the very best for the new year! I’m in the Netherlands and my new year started two hours ago. And it started well! I am with my dearest husband and my beautiful two kids in a little holiday cottage. Just the four of us together, on a week-long very much needed break. December is always a crazy month here and after our last December social functions (the Christmas celebrations with our respective families) we just head away and bury ourselves in this little cottage. We have been doing it for 10 years now and the kids love it, my husband loves it, I love it. My 11 year old daughter even managed to stay up all evening…

The four us welcomed the New Year with sparklers,(fake) Champagne, kisses and some fireworks and when I later checked the messages on my phone, I also saw this on my Twitter feed:

Looks like Mr. Armitage is in my timezone now. So, yes, my new year is starting well!!  🙂

The kids crashed about 45 minutes ago, time for me to crash as well. Let me end by saying that, in the grander scheme of things, I so very very much wish for the new year to bring less violence, more peace and more tolerance amongst people of all ethnicities and/or religions. On a more personal note: I wish everyone a wonderful, loving and happy 2015!