Flower Parade of Bollenstreek – Flower Overdose

Posted on April 25, 2016 by Lucy

For all you flowers lovers out there, the Netherlands is the place to be during spring. From wonderfully colorful flower fields, to tulip’s day, to flower gardens and parades, the Dutch really know how to celebrate their love for flowers.

flower fields netherlands 2016

The Flower Parade of the Bollenstreek is the biggest event happening during springtime, becoming more and more every year, the symbol of the start of warm season. No other event is so full of color, perfumes and joy!

The origins of this event go back all the way to the end of the 1940’s, just after World War II, when people needed a bit of color and happiness in their lives, right after the war. The very first procession consisted only of a couple of flower garlands and decorated trucks. Still, it was the beginning of a great event.

Willem Warmenhoven, an amaryllis grower from Hillegom, is the creator of the first float, which took the shape of a whale, built out of hyacinths. Hillegom invited back then Sassenheim and Lisse, to cooperate at this event, which set the base for the large-scale parade taking place nowadays.

Like every year, this year the Flower Parade of Bollenstreek (the bulbs area), started in Noordwijk, and traveled slowly through Voorhout, Lisse, Hillegom, all the way to Haarlem, enchanting the spectators waiting for the colorful vehicles. In total, over 40 km of color, happiness and festive atmosphere.

With over 20 floats and 40 richly decorated vehicles, all covered in flowers, the procession made its way through the thousand of visitors, and around 9 pm Saturday evening, the illuminated parade arrived in the centre of Haarlem, ready for receiving a wave of admirers, on the following day.

Bloemenparade Apr 20161 Bloemenparade flower parade netherlands 2016

The entire Sunday, the parade floats were displayed in the beautiful old centre of Haarlem, the perfect time for seeing them closer, and clicking pictures with the million of flowers. Many activities were organized as well by the municipality, from music to street performances and food stalls.

And what better way to end such an amazing event, if not by sharing flowers with the spectators? Flowers sure put a smile on everyone’s faces 🙂

flower parade netherlands 2016

In the end, we have the appreciate the effort and dedication which are required in order to keep this beautiful tradition going. As every single flower, must be manually set in the right spot, you can only imagine how much time and patience it requires.

Happy Spring, from the bulb region!

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My First Oil Painting – Old Dutch Sail Ship

Posted on April 19, 2016 by Lucy

When I want something, I simply want something. No further explanations needed.

Being a bit too proud of my latest acrylic paintings and my new skills, I’ve decided it’s about time to feel bad once again, in order to motivate myself to improve even further. As acrylic and oil painting are so different, and from what I understood, it’s harder to paint in oil, I’ve decided to upgrade.

Buying my first oil set was a special moment. The only thing I could have in mind, was: my first painting has to be an old sail ship at sea. Why? No idea, but I wanted it.

As one of my friends said: “Why make it easy, when you can make it complicated?“. Most people start with a simple flower, but no, I have to start full speed, all engines running. No flower for me, unless is sitting on a sail ship. 🙂

First contact with oil paint was strange, to put it mildly. No more looking for water to quickly rinse my brush, no more finishing a painting in one go, no touching it for at least a few days. Even so, something about it fascinates me. The things you can do with oil, you simply can’t do with acrylic, and that alone is worth it, even if it means retraining myself on how to paint.

After painting one painting in 3 days, because of the different drying times, I must say I learned a lot, but what I’ve learned most of all is patience. You can’t do it all at once, but you can wait for the right moment.

And so I did, and with every brush stroke, I realized my first oil painting, isn’t a complete disaster, how I expected it to be, but it’s turning into something amazing.

old dutch sail ship

For a first try, I amazed myself, and I realized I was right all along to choose a ship at sea, instead of a simple painting. Painting something I really wanted, made me even more motivated to do it right!

Sails up, engines on and full speed ahead into more unknown waters!

Contact me to buy an original painting or a very high quality reproduction on canvas

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Letter To Your Soul Mate

Posted on April 18, 2016 by Lucy

“A true soul mate is probably the most important person you’ll ever meet, because they tear down your walls and smack you awake. But to live with a soul mate forever? Nah. Too painful. Soul mates, they come into your life just to reveal another layer of yourself to you, and then leave. A soul mates purpose is to shake you up, tear apart your ego a little bit, show you your obstacles and addictions, break your heart open so new light can get in, make you so desperate and out of control that you have to transform your life, then introduce you to your spiritual master…” ―Elizabeth Gilbert

When we say soul mate, most people instantly think about a life partner, when in fact, it can be anyone. Your soul mate might be your best friend, a relative, a person just passing through your life, or even a non-human being. When you meet that special one, you just know it. You feel it with all your spirit, and your heart finds new reasons to beat for.

Your soul mate will show you who you really are and what you are made out of. Like in front of a mirror, you’ll be facing your strengths, weaknesses, and you’ll get stripped of all the layers and walls you built around you. The touch of your soul mate will bring your true self to surface.

Like the moon, you can’t help but gravitate around. Losing all your physical aspects, your souls connect at a new level, where you learn more about yourself than you ever though it’s possible.

Your soul mate will challenge you. It won’t be easy. You will fight it, your ego will get hurt, you’ll be unhappy with the image in front of you, you’ll make things more difficult than needed. You get challenged, and you challenge back. You reassure, encourage and inspire each other.

Even with all the right sparks, sometimes you just can’t work out your differences. No matter how much this hurts, the truth is that our soul mate doesn’t always stay…

Love doesn’t fix everything. Love isn’t all that matter, no matter how much we try to convince ourselves about this. Love is important, but circumstances and timing are crucial. Sometimes, the right moment isn’t right, and no matter what you do, you just can’t fix it. No amount of love can fix a late or early arrival in your life. No amount of love can fix past mistakes and a complicated situation. Sometimes, you are just not ready for this once in a lifetime moment. And once it’s gone … there’s nothing you can do to put it back together.

Even so, you don’t just love only the good parts of this person, but you love all of them. All the perfect imperfections. They all make sense to be right there.

The thing with soul mates is that our hearts make it more complicated. They touch our heart in such a way, you just can’t get them out of there no matter how much you try. When they’re gone, you just can’t get closure. Closure doesn’t come when someone comes into your life, brings the light which you needed in order to get rid of darkness, changes your entire life, and then continues on a separate path. When your heart is being touched in such a way, there’s no getting that special feeling out of there.

You think you can’t breath or live without them. You suffer and die inside, but all the pain makes you see eventually, that your soul mate opened your eyes to a new life. A better life, and a better you. Maybe you are not meant to stop loving them, but maybe you are meant to love yourself more.

Even if your image of how it should have been was totally different, life has sometimes other plans in store. Sometimes, not getting a fairy tale ending is a better teacher than a positive outcome. A part of you will always love your soul mate, and that’s ok. Don’t regret a single second of it!

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