This year we are focusing on a different country each week, which certainly leaves enormous scope for interpretation! The country given the honour of coming first on the list is The Netherlands...Holland when I was a child and I still stumble over the newer name...
My parents numbered several Dutch families amongst their friends when I was growing up, including the Top family. Mr. Top was a cobbler of the old school...I remember him wearing a long leather apron and his workshop smelt simply delicious. His wife was a great cook and shared recipes with mum that I still use. I always loved visiting as she always provided a lovely afternoon tea!
It wasn't surprising really that we knew so many Dutch speaking people as Dutch immigrants and their descendants were the largest non-English speaking ethnic category in Tasmania when I was a child.
When I was thinking through all the aspects of this country that I could consider for an inchie my first thoughts went to the canals and the houses that front them. I set to to draw a little scene of the tall, narrow and interestingly shaped houses but simply could not do them any sort of justice on an inchie, despite several tries. Clogs, windmills, blue and white tiles...but I then though I might just focus on flowers this year...my mind swapped the complex for the simple very gladly and I drew and water coloured a bunch of orange tulips for this first inchie of the new regime...
A beautifully clear but hot day spent with the girls was a lovely treat...however, it all ended very badly with the girls dogs, Bonnie and Hollie, having had a rather viscous scrap with each other while they were home alone during the day, dogs not being permitted into National Parks.
The girls believe it was probably over ownership of their bones...the result of their tussle left Hollie spending the night at the vet being patched up, and Bonnie needing to be separated from her., so they brought her to us for a day or two while Hollie and they got over the worse of the shock.
The girls are now trying hard to locate a suitable new home for Bonnie, sad and hard as it is for them to part with her, but they cannot risk a recurrence of such a traumatic event...for either of the dogs, or themselves.
In the meanwhile, Hollie is recuperating with us...she is still on antibiotics but has regained her usual chirpy spirit. Both dogs are feeling the separation and change, but the girls feel it will be for the best in the long run.
It was a distressing end to what had been a very lovely day...
I have a couple of birthdays coming up and had no suitable cards on hand...I made a YT video of the action while I was enjoying the process...I still have much to learn about colour combinations...
Bye now,
Di