cafe au lait

Dazzling cafe au last Dahlias from the garden of my friend Marieke.

Yesterday my friend Marieke came over with her almost three months old daughter Loïs. We more or less spent the entire afternoon together on the daybed. Catching up with Marieke and cuddling with Loïs. We don't see each other not very often and as soon as we are together we always need hours to catch up. We never stop talking, which didn't bother 'mini', she had a two-hour nap on the daybed between us.

djemaa el fna rotterdam

The Museumpark in Rotterdam has been transformed this weekend into a gigantic open-air restaurant during the Djemaa el Fna festival.

The food festival is inspired by the eponymous square in Marrakech, world's largest open-air restaurant. More than 40 chefs cook for you in the classic white stalls. The food is fragrant, colorful, tasteful and prepared with love. We had a delicious Pastilla and brought some Moroccan cookies back home.

However it is not just about food at the Djemaa el Fna. The festival has moreover a small souk and an extensive cultural program, with literature, music and theater. Artists and musicians are inspired by the atmosphere of a Thousand and One Nights.

We went to the storytelling Kalief by Abdelkader Benali in the tower in the middle of the festival site. Benali shows a Thousand and One Nights Night of our time presents, in an up-to-date and playful absurd look at the old stories in which he shares his fascination for his grandmother, the power of the oral narration.

On this beautiful late summer day in September, all in all an appropriate foretaste of my trip to Marrakech next week.

PS: The top photo was taken in the Depot Boijmans van Beuningen 'mirror' building under construction. Can you spot me?

apples

Saturday morning mini polder tour on the first day of autumn.

A perfect late summer day.

We had a coffee on the terrace at Fluitekruid, (Dutch for cow parsley) in the countryside and bought apples at Izak's orchard.

Throughout the harvest season, we always buy our apples in the wooden barn close to our home #shoplocal and some of you might recognize the wooden barn from 'woodwoolstool shoots' in the past...



March 2010 - a pile of woodwoolstools between my good old 2CV and the chickens

marvelous marrakech workshop preparations

Final preparations for the Marvelous Marrakech workshop are in full swing. Have been working on the last details for the workshop program this afternoon. Next to a bunch of sunflowers from the Villa Augustus garden and enjoying the late summer sunshine in my studio.

I can't wait to return to Marrakech and I'm super excited to meet everyone!

In exactly two weeks from now we will kick off with the traditional welcome dinner on the roof terrace at Chambres d'Amis!

noordwijk aan zee

Late summer day at the beach in Noordwijk.

What a treat!

kunsthal rotterdam - i'm your mirror

Rotterdam - Kunsthal - Tuesday 10th of September

The impressive retrospective exhibition I’m Your Mirror, featuring the work of the famous Portuguese artist Joana Vasconcelos (1971). In an activist and feminist way, and with a profound respect for Portuguese culture and traditions, she gives reality her own personal twist. Vasconcelos is known for her sharp sense of proportions, masterly use of colour and unusual choice of materials, like household appliances, wall tiles, textiles, medicines, urinals, pans and plastic cutlery.

I’m Your Mirror is an exhibition with a large number of sculptures and installations, such as Lilicoptère (a gold-plated helicopter decorated with Swarovski crystals and pink ostrich feathers) and A Noiva (The Bride - a six-metre high chandelier made of 14,000 tampons.) In her work, Vasconcelos is searching for different identities – including those of modern-day women – and the discord that can be found within them. She is inspired by the traditional crafts of her native country. The result is a seductive, funny, exuberant and sometimes absurdist exhibition in which nothing is ever as it seems.

The exhibition is organised by the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, in collaboration with the Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art Porto and Kunsthal Rotterdam.

philotimo

Philotimo (φιλότιμο) is a Greek noun translating to 'love of honor'.

However, philotimo is almost impossible to translate sufficiently as it describes a complex array of virtues. Philotimo is considered to be the highest of all Greek virtues, the standards for family and social living. The core concept is that of respect and walking in right paths. In its simplest form, the term means 'doing good', actions that ensure that a man's behavior be exemplary and demonstrate his personality and the manner in which he was raised. Philotimo to a Greek is essentially a way of life.

We found the expression on the typical blue & white Greek paper tablecloth of beach restaurant Kaliva, an authentic and picturesque greek restaurant, where we had lunch almost every day.

The friendly waiter who served us every day was a paragon of philotimo. During our last lunch at the beach yesterday he was setting the table for a big group for the evening. When I suggested, to arrange a small table bouquet, he returned with a big smile on his face, scissors and a vase. I simply snipped bougainvillea and pandorea jasminoides from the porch, herbs from the garden and some branches along the beach.

A gesture to express our gratitude and appreciation for his service and kindness.

Meanwhile we are back home to realize all good things come to an end...

Our laid back (beach) vacation was wonderful and we savored every moment of the greek cabin life on the island of Rhodes.