T sTands for cool caTs and more

Hi Everybody!

We had a sunny weekend here, and the severe frost has left us for the time being, so lots of time and opportunity for walking and enjoying life. Not that I didn't enjoy life and walk a lot when the weather was bad! On Friday evening we visited the local Christmas market and on Saturday we drove over the border to Holland and enjoyed a few hours in Venlo. And on Sunday I enjoyed three long walks and a wonderful goulash cooked by Nathalie for lunch. I walked a total of 62,000 steps over three days, and enjoyed every step.

For Wendy's theme at Tag Tuesday I have another feline tag, this time with 2 cool cats off out for an evening. The cats are from the graphics fairy and other images from Serif and me. I love the lady-cat's shoes designed to keep her delicate paws from getting wet! Hope to see YOU joining in soon:

Tuesday is always time for Elizabeth's T stands for Tuesday, which always begins Monday evening, so here a warm welcome to all of the lovely ladies of the T gang.This week I got happy mail from Iris who sent me a tin of lion speculatius cookies from her town of Braunschweig. The tin alone is a treasure, and the cookies are wonderful - tender and buttery and deliciously spiced, yummy!

And Iris wrote some beautifully folded notes to accompany it, and told me all about the story of the lion:

Thanks Iris, this was a great surprise in the mail!

On Saturday Nathalie had an idea to drive to Venlo, so she collected me and off we went. Here we are just crossing the border. The pic is a bit fuzzy as I took it through the windscreen while we were driving:

After finding a spot in a huge parking building we decided to get a coffee. First of all we saw and heard this old organ being pulled through the crowded streets:

Then we spotted Prince Henry (Prins Hendrik) and dived in:

It was a beautiful, traditionally decorated pub/restaurant/cafe:

Although the hunting trophies on the wall were not quite my taste...

We both had cappuccino, served as always in Holland with extra cream, and I had the best apricot cake ever, ever, ever - a dream:

Nathalie ordered onion soup topped with grilled cheese and served in a beautiful bowl with a lion's head:

After we felt strengthened we walked through the market and then hit the shops. Natalie tried on this gorgeous, fluffy jacket:

The old town hall:

I am sure Iris will love the beautiful lions guarding the entrance:

Fun pieces in a shop window:

A cafe dedicated to Hemingway:

A 'selfie' throne:

Neptune down by the River Maas:

A statue which held my hand:

A lot of the shops in Venlo, like this big grocery store, have the signs written In German, as many go over the border to shop there:

The tea, coffee and herb departments smelled so good:

And Nathalie admiring the sugar canes:

There are lots more photos, but they will have to wait for another time.

Have a great day, take care,

and thanks a lot for coming by!