Fashion Fads

Just a little motley collection of my erm penchant for “Shoes” Every woman’s best friend .
Rather than Google shoes ,here’s my runway collection .Some can be deemed as vintage .I will not be offended .
First rule of feet for me ,regarding the size of heels,they can never be high enough .Being only of short stature ,a modest 5 ft 5 it does help .T hats my excuse to keep my shoe stock cupboard regularly filled .

Trip to the Woods – De Lage Vuursche -Holland

Today I decided to check out the green leafy suburbs based  woods based in the Dutch province of Utrecht

Lage Vuursche is a small village in the municipality of Baarn , in the Dutch province of Utrecht . The village is situated in a wooded area on theUtrecht Ridge , between Baarn, Bilthoven and Hilversum . The village, including the environment and Baarnse  is a part of Soestdijk , with approximately 1460 inhabitants (2004).

In 1840 it had 190 inhabitants who lived in 15 houses. Vuursche also belonged to the hamlet Hooge Vuursche . I was intrigued by the build and feature of its house interspersed throughout the dense patch of forest and in the tiny  village. I simply had to take these snapshots .A totally different world here. My first contact with  some blissfully happy inhabitants of the 4 legged variety :Stunning animals . Totally oblivious to a gawking creature like myself peering animatedly over the fence , making silly incoherent horse attracting noises, as I juggled my camera and balance to avoid tumbling heading over the wooded fence into its all you can eat meal fest. thankfully horses are renowned for their patient, tolerant apathy to unusual antics of the human species.

I decided to embark on a 2 km stretch of the woods , just to soak up the ambience of the surrounding nature , accompanied by the symphonic sounds of its large variety of birds. Note to self , never wear eye watering wedges on a walk, always keep a pair of trainers in the car for such eventualities as these. Thankfully , my walk was unhindered by my not so sensible choice of footwear 🙂

I met a few savoury souls on my rambles

Lage Vuursche has a protected village with some eighteenth and nineteenth century houses and has dozens of national monuments . The Reformed Church The Stulp Church dates from 1650.

Lage Vuursche is at the Utrecht Ridge , but at the edge of the vale of Pijnenburg . Nearby are a number of estates , including Drakensteyn Castle (in the immediate vicinity of the village), Soestdijk Palace , the estate Pijnenburg , the Ewijckshoeve , Estate Eyckenstein and Castle de Hooge Vuursche . On the Kloosterlaan is the former monastery St. Elisabeth , designed by the Haarlem architect MHWJ van Ooijen.

The forests near Lage Vuursche are partly owned by Forestry Commission and are part of the forestry De Vuursche . Also , the Utrecht Landscapemanages several areas, including Martin dikes forest Knight Oord Serbian Bosschen and Willem Arntsz forest. Tree species common in the Dutch Woods are its birches

http://www.bomengids.nl/uk/bosbomen.html

The Flora and Fauna of this closely guarded secret was no exception to the fascination of these woods. I was enthralled throughout . One can hire bikes here too for the duration of their stay.

Convenient train and well mapped out parking routes.

Lage Vuursche, partly due to the wooded area, have long been a stopping place for hikers and day trippers who flood the village especially at weekends. There are several restaurants and amusements, most of which specialize in pancakes .

This I simply had to try and by God they were the best pancakes ever I had eaten, and in such  lovely surroundings too.

One cannot leave the place without sampling its infamous pancakes, a culinary delicacy not to be missed

THOUGHTS

Raining today profusely ..wanted to go biking .Instead stayed at home to browse through Netflix and find a film I haven’t already seen.So I settled on Gattacq, starring Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman.Good rainy day distraction .I have to mention for any viewers who have accidently stumbled upon my blog ,I did visit this delectable tea shop ..which is erm a regular haunt of mine.. Latte macciato,not even sure it’s spelt correctly but never mind .”I hope no one erm noticed.
The infamous tea room in Amsterdam

Truffle chocolate cake ,heavy on my beached whale figure ,but irresistible .

Couple Complexities

WORK IN PROGRESS as far as relationships go .

My Favourite quotes

As an avid country side walker and a big fan of Mother Nature ,I love this beautifully summed up text .Taken from the opening shots of “Into the Wild”

Once a drifter ……………

I had “drifted” away from those I loved, until one day I spotted the shoreline…..

Life events and personal circumstances somehow put me onto a path from which I became a drifter so to speak. That did however make a significant impact on my life and the journey I have been on, opening up to situations inconceivable but true,nevertheless. Although I do consider myself ,a people’s person, and need them to thrive. Social interaction is my oxygen. I would have no qualms about attempting to make the first conversation move, forging friendships in the most unexpected of situations, airports, bus shelters, air raid shelters, doctor’s surgeries, the local tantric yoga class, spas and so forth. Once I befriended a lovely psychic woman in the jacuzzi of my  local spa! However now comes the part where everybody starts reaching out for their violins, the ominous twanging,and pulling of heart strings,complimented by the  heart wrenching chords of the cello ,as I begin…..

I met many people and drifted away from so called friends, who were continuously getting me to pick up the tabs,pay for their little expensive tastes in the name of “best friends forever” . How could I have been so blatantly naive in allowing them to manipulate my actions,a cab driver, for the most part, dining at restaurants, treating them to hair extensions and so on .In my misplaced sense of trying to please all, and my not so cool naivety, you name it ,I would bust a gut doing it with  unrestrained enthusiasm . More often than not at times a misguided loyalty in which I revered  some people , putting them on a mighty high pedestal of friendship I danced to their tune . I am sure many of us have been there also . It never ceases to amaze me how blatantly foolish I can be ,an unsuspecting, trusting soul . It was not until  my bank statements suggested otherwise, that my frivolous ways and trying to please friends and family members was not looking too healthy for my finances. I wizened up years later.I was picking up the pieces of my devastated life,  In my teeny tiny heart I harbour no regrets, no bitterness, and will welcome them back into the fold, should they choose to do .However my little forays across the North Sea and the Atlantic have taken me to places beyond my wildest dreams, as I became encapsulated in the warm embrace of a world with so much to discover and explore. My blog will take you to these places and relive the experiences time and time from the past to currant locations. It is not a typical travel blog,but in retrospect the journey of a fugitive woman and people who she meets on these escapades.

I am buzzing with eager anticipation and excitement at things to come .It is a monumental feeling,when one breaks the  surface and comes up for air, fighting through clouds of obscured mindless, pitiless traditions…creating ripples of shock waves. They observed at a distance, with much disdain and disapproval at the rebirth of a woman who had annihilated the mindset of an iron cast mould steeped in ancient tradition and folklore to become a woman with a mind of her own,still a fugitive in some respects ! How could she just dismantle the centuries old system of being a passive voiceless entity and  become an object of shame, simply because she advocated “free thinking values” and the right to be her own person . All paths lead somewhere,eventually and one hopes that maybe one of them will take me home to those I love.

Feels good to live for others and feel your heart grow with content !

The most kindest person in the Universe

Never Underestimate The Power Of Kindness

I never thought up until a few years ago that kindness could exist in such a pure untainted ,unconditional form as that I have experienced in a wonderful friend. Clearly it is a breed in extinction. Today it  continues to overwhelm me each time I reflect upon that. My life is better as a result of the actions of one individual. How could I have conceived that one day I would be the recipient of unimaginable generosity. I am a proud fiercely independent soul. It has been an inherently turbulent decade from which I somehow bounced back from .I did not expect that this person would go to such dizzying lengths to  take on the colossal load and emotional baggage which I at the time had inherited somewhat reluctantly.Unwavering in his conviction that ,somehow I deserved it, he chose to relinquish a relatively peaceful existence in order to raise the sinking ship from a bottomless ocean. That was where I was headed ,until I grasped the anchor which was my saving grace and felt myself gently hauled back to the surface. It reinforced my conviction that there are some exceptional souls out there who will give their last drop to save others and never expect any recompense for their generosity. Now I can breathe again and feel alive thanks to the generosity of one exceptional individual.

Elixir of life !

Feel Good Moments

What makes each of us feel good ? Is it inspirational sayings, gorging on chocolate and comfort food ,which is me who has it honed to a fine art.I would like to share some of my favourite boredom alleviating specials ,and share a few responses from a random segment of the community .

I love reading and immersing myself into page turning gripping novels that have you riveted to the edge of your seats.
Feel good movies with a renowned star cast ..
Driving with my sat navigation set to any random location where the points of interest are defined through my intrepid exploration of British Country roads

Working out at my local spa is a vital pick me up item listed on my things to do when the couch ,and the TV beckon ,inviting me to succumb to brain induced numbness .

ONE OF MY FAVOURITE POSITIVELY POWER INDUCING MESSAGES

Known for my eccentric moods and fluctuating spells ,I love to throw myself with reckless abandon at whatever life and Mother Nature have to offer .As they say life is not a rehearsal. This is it !

Is it just me or do I think that we are on this planet for some particular calling ,because I have spent the better part of erm a few decades trying to figure out what the heck In God’s glorious name am I supposed to be doing here. I keep setting myself new challenges ,new goals, chasing sun scorched rainbows, willing my dreams to come true,but I guess I have to go with the old adage,”what will be will be”

Anyway to cut the chase this blog will be a chaotic portal of my attempts to succeed in that mission .In this arduous journey,in which corns and blisters leave a trail blazing evidence upon my weather beaten trotters that is a guaranteed outcome. In the process I will chronicle my experiences as they unfold .I hope to delight some readers whilst others will undoubtedly be left scratching their scalps in confusion 🙂