Friday's Parties

Hi everybody, it's Friday, and that means double party time for me - Eva and Kristin are hosting Paint Party Friday as always, and Darcy's Postcard Challenge is entering its 11th week.

This week Auntie Cissie is off to Holland:

In the four weeks since Jason returned from Canada, they have been eating together nearly every day. Cissie was not delighted with the strange Canadian haircut, and makes a mental note to supervise future visits to the hairdresser. She was also VERY concerned, when she received a letter from her friend SANDI in Canada, who wrote* I've been so drowned in work just lately, I haven't had the chance to tell you that I met Jason during his sojourn in Victoria!

Well I didn't really "meet" him more like I witnessed him being here. It isn't everyday that our visitors so take to wearing the Canadian red & white and maple leaf.

He was also clearly taken with visiting all of our pubs and spirit serving establishments. Then "resting up" between by hanging about the statue of Queen Victoria on the lawn of the parliament building. I am sure many other visitors got charming pictures of this!

It's too bad that he didn't appear to have properly rested up before trying to board the ferry over to Washington state. I did think the Customs Agents were a bit rough dragging him back down the ramp! That would have been a nice additional excursion.*
They eat most days at the Chip shop. Cissie needs Jason to be there, as she is still trying to lose weight. She still orders a double portion for each of them, but gives Jason a few of her chips in return for half of his fish, as the doctor told her to eat plenty of fish. I wonder if he meant it to be deep-fried in batter? She has also reduced the afternoon cream cakes from 3 to 2. Most days, anyway! She shows Jason that she has taken off half a stone. He is not really convinced, as he notices her leaning on the bathroom sink while standing on the scales….
This week she is getting ready for her trip to Holland with Thelma. Jason manages to talk her out of buying yellow wooden clogs for the journey, so she wears her orange crocs instead….
Poor Jason has to drive both of the heavyweight ladies to the Victoria Coach Station and heave them and their luggage into the coach before thankfully waving goodbye and heading for the nearest pub.
After checking into the hotel in Amsterdam, they go shopping, take a boat trip through the *grachten* - canals, and enjoy the scenery.

Cissie is astonished that the town is not plastered with tulips, but the lady at the reception of the hotel recommends them to take a trip to the Keukenhof near Amsterdam, and there they see a sea of tulips as far as the eye can see.

Auntie Cissie and Thelma go to lots of cafés, and are amused that there are carpets on most tables instead of table cloths.

Then they wander down a side street, and see a *Coffee Shop* sign. Cissie insists on going on for a coffee. The proprietor is very friendly, and surprised to see the two robust, elderly ladies in his shop. Cissie buys some tobacco for Jason, and decides to smoke one herself, which results in her getting very giggly….she has not realised that the coffee shops sell marijuana. No wonder she felt strange.

The next day she visits The Kröller-Müller Museum in Otterlo, where she is meeting up with her friend Valerie from Düsseldorf, with whom she went to school many years ago. They have a nice day together looking at the Van Gogh paintings and walking in the sculpture garden, although Valerie is a little annoyed that Cissie tells her that she looks very fat!

Cissie was also very indignant about this sculpture, and was horrified that a woman with such a figure should have a statue made of herself:

(Photos from Google)

Here is the postcard that Cissie sends Jason: the photo was taken in her new, Dutch T-shirt:

For PPF I have a WIP to show, but I don't yet know where it will be progressing to! I have used water-colours and Ranger colourwash sprays, and flicked a bit of gold ink onto it.

That's all for now! Have a good day, take care and thanks for visiting!