sights and well, sights...

several things about the journey. long layover in amsterdam due to optimization of ticket prices. happily, we decided to take the train to amsterdam and walk around. it was a beautiful day and that was wonderful. and no doubt fortified us for the horrendously long flight ahead. because it is a horrendously long flight. and there is a world of difference between monkey and business class (which i will regale you with tales of another day, when i don't have to get up early and fly to kuala lumpur for the day). in the meantime, here are some snapshots of the journey thus far...

totally adore these retro-painted SAS planes. SAS has class. too bad we flew KLM.

love those silver converse all-stars

mmm, frozen hazelnut coffee in (you guessed it) amsterdam

and little pancakes with lovely, tart lemony sauce.

worth the 7-hour layover alone.

playing drawing games in the sunshine.

an interminably long time later, cut to a japanese restaurant at clark quay, singapore

a fountain to play in and keep the sleepies at bay.
crocs are good for something, they can be wet.

and a couple of martinis for the folks.

plus a shirley temple for the pooka.

yes, that's outdoor air conditioning. indefensible.

sneaked a self-portrait in the fitting room of miss whatever while sabin tried on a dress.

gee, i don't look tired at all, do i?

keeping the jetlag at bay with a grande latte.

sorry, i just gotta do starbucks when i see it.

i adore this system of wooden clothespins used by the waitresses
at bi feng tang in the wisma food court.

also adore the sambal kung kang, but failed to photograph it.

will have to go back.

seen in the window of some telecom provider.

loved it.

and it seems like a good note to leave on...

see you soon...

p.s. blogger cutting off the right edge of my photos strangely and i don't have the energy to figure out why, so just know that i'm aware they're kinda cut off, but the originals aren't...i promise to fix it later.

we didn't want it to end

yup, there they are again.

i can't stop taking their picture.

around 5:30 p.m., the three of us retired to the upper garden (our property has a hill behind the house, so this isn't as exotic as it sounds). 

a place to relax in the upper garden

sabin brought her basket of pens and pencils and a book to draw in. husband had a cider and i had a glass of spiers inspire chardonnay. i brought my sketchbook and some pastels as well. we relaxed and chatted and lit some candles and got our little bitty mexican oven fired up (mostly to smoke away any mosquitos in the area). we tried to count the buds on the peonies (more than 75) and the giant poppy (more than 20), we wondered aloud when the first strawberries will be ready (in a week or so), we discussed when the roses would be just right to pluck some and bring them in to sugar some of the petals for exotic desserts, like anna did on frilandshaven.

all of the recent rain made the creek overflow

it was so wonderful, sitting there in the cool early evening air, listening to the birds and talking and laughing that we put off getting dinner started. and then we decided to cook it and eat it outside because we didn't want the lovely day to end.

snobrød roasting on an open fire

i could hear the panic rising in sabin's voice as it neared 8 p.m., which was when we said we'd go in and start winding down and getting her off to bed. there's still two more weeks of school here, tho' we now officially have that feeling tara talked about a few weeks ago...we're just so ready for school to be done and the summer to start.  and after a weekend of climbing trees and walks in the park and ice cream and snobrød (bread cooked on a stick over a fire--see above) and a game of rundbold (a sort of baseball with really weird rules--like that you can have as many people on base at a time as you want), peach cobbler and rhubarb cake, a batch of hyldeblomst juice, two riding lessons, lots of sunshine, tons of sewing and making things--it just seemed so hard that it all had to come to an end.

at the top of the troldebøg (weeping beech?) trees at the little castle in jægerspris

i guess if weekends weren't so short, we probably wouldn't appreciate them as much as we do.  but we sure are sad to see this one go.

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have you noticed the improvements in the adding pictures thing here on blogger (in draft)? much better now. i can even drag & drop. it's a big improvement blogger peeps, thanks!