Gnome no more

Have you ever walked into a room and noticed that it was so much smaller than you remembered? Or travelled somewhere nearby and wondered why it always seemed so far away? When we're little kids, the world around us seems much bigger in comparison. So when we grow into the world, our memories are sometimes distorted. Obviously gnomes don't grow all that much, but even we recognize the phenomenon.

Some things can't be blamed on growing (up) though. I'm quite confident the 'gnome garden' in my childhood village was a colourful and happy place. But now it looks like a toy cemetery. And not a very nice one either! I spoke to a neighbour and he told me that tragically the toy collector had lost his marbles. He could no longer made a distinction between displayable objects and junk and simply put everything he found in his garden, whether it could brave the elements or not.

A very sad story. I hope parents aren't taking their kids there to see the gnomes. They're in for a nasty surprise. This is the stuff horror movies are made of. Perhaps the perfect set for the next Child's Play movie?

A story of gnomes, secret doors and snowdrops

Today is a beautiful day. It's almost as if the world outside is holding its breath: could that be spring lurking? We've had a few beautiful days so far and the birds have begun marking their territory and I've already seen a few bushes that had the beginnings of leaves on them. So far it's been a lousy winter, but I'm not complaining: let's skip winter altogether and go straight on to spring. The snowdrops seem to agree with me:

A great opportunity to visit Paleis Soestdijk, the palace where queen Juliana of the Netherlands used to live. After the passing of Juliana the palace had no new destination, but after a few years the doors were opened and the public was welcomed inside for a glimpse of what royal life in the 20th century had looked like. I'd already done the guided tour twice before, but inside the palace is currently an exposition of the work of one of my favorite artists: Rien Poortvliet.

Not only did this man paint the most beautiful portraits of animals you've ever seen, but he was also very much into gnomes. So I guess the attraction is mutual! I found this little fella hiding in the corner of a painting:

And here's proof that I'm not the only gnome that has a special relationship with bunnies:

During the guided tour I also found a secret door in one of the walls. I'll happily admit I was soooooo tempted, but I was inside a palace, so I was probably expected to act a little bit more ladylike. Still curious as to where it led, though!

Last bag (for now)

This is it: I've officially reached the quotum of all the bags I'm allowed to have. For a while I got away with the excuse that my camera needed a place to live, but it's there, and so's the spare. So yes, this bag is more than I need. But damn, ain't it shiny?

Better half created the skull ornament to add a bit of a feminine touch. <3

I'm a happy kitteh once more...

We're going to steal the moon!

It took *months* of trial and error:

But I finally did it!

Gru would be so proud...

Spice up your lunch break!

It was time for a gnomish adventure and the office was terribly boring. Last year my colleague and I went out and made snow bunnies:

But there was no snow in sight. Instead we decided to use our lunch break to take the office squirrels and our symbol of wisdom for walkies so we could take some pictures in their natural habitat. I was quite a hoot! (Pun fully intended.)