Broek in Waterland

I would like to thank everybody who visited my studio last week, it was a bit crowdy but very cozy and I loved to meet you all, thanks for your visit!

Hallo allemaal,
Wij hebben vakantie en doen 'dagjes uit'. Misschien vinden jullie het leuk om mee te gaan naar Broek in Waterland, dat zo'n 10 kilometer boven Amsterdam ligt. Ooit zag ik een artikel over de pastelkleurige houten huizen in Broek in een tijdschrift. Dat was inspiratie voor onze schuur. Dus op naar Broek in Waterland en een sloepje gehuurd. De foto's spreken verder denk ik wel voor zich.

We are having vacation right now and as we traveled to the US this spring, we only do small trips this summer. I know, some people take inspiration from places like Paris and Istanbul when they create,

but when hubby and I built and painted our shed,

we took our inspiration from this:

The wooden houses in Broek in Waterland, which I had seen in a magazine.

Broek in Waterland is a small village a few miles up North of Amsterdam.
Nowadays I should translate 'Broek' (pronounce brooke) as pants, but I discovered that Broek is an old word for swampy. Somehow I think I don't have to tell you what Waterland means. So as you can understand, we didn't use our car to discover Broek in Waterland, but we took our picknick basket and rented this baby:


a very flat boat, which we call a 'sloep' (pronounce sloop). Yes this is an electric, silent, environmental friendly and non stinking boat. It is small, which is very convenient in our landscape see:




A huge yacht is of no use over here. Too bad for the heirs of Aristoteles Onassis!


While there is so much water around, the ground here is soft and that's why the people up here used to built wooden homes.


And they used to paint these homes in pastel colors.




Even the dogs over here have wooden and pastel colored homes.


Not to mention the ducks!


We did enjoy the beautiful wooden houses


and the blooming hydrangeas everywhere


and the typical Dutch open and flat landscape, which will always be something special to me.


Someone abroad once told me that the Dutch are born with webs between their toes.


Like this aalscholver.


I wish we were!
We could sure use them over here.


Bye girls, thanks for having us in Broek in Waterland, it was even better than in the magzine.

Thanks for visiting me, have a great day whether you are having vacation or not.
xoxo LiLi M.