Beauty & Fashion

Black summer trousers with a green top and yellow necklace

One for the matchy matchy enthusiasts amongst us. Yellow shoes (suede) to bookend the yellow necklace by Lara Design. Marcella of Lara Design showed me her new creation and I borrowed it to feature in this blog post. She used my old face on her website to promote the necklace. I am flattered. I paired my black summer trousers with a green top and the yellow necklace, a combination which got Marcella’s approval. You saw the trousers a couple of months before.

Loes and I strolled through an old part of Haarlem (nearly every part is old haha) to do the photo shoot.

Below: We passed a lady who had created a sweet little terrace for herself outside her house. Sitting there in the morning sun, having your coffee must be bliss. Her doggy came to greet us.

Perfect terrace in the city

Below: Further down the street sat this cat who didn’t move an inch when I approached it with the camera.

Cat

Below: The cat wasn’t scared at all, not even of the dog.

Dob and cat

Below: And a bit cheeky. “What is in that bag? Anything interesting? Some food?” (I always just plonk my camera tote somewhere out of sight.)

Curious cat

Below: Normally the suspenders just hang down, but in the top photo I am wearing one up. The suede shoes are by Marks & Spencer, bought in Newcastle when I was there in 2019 with Nikki of Midlifechic (great weekend).

Black summer trousers with a green top and yellow necklace

Below: Loes spotted these modern houses between the old houses. Hmmm…don’t know what I think of it.

Modern house amongst old houses

Below: The Jansstraat is the street where we headed next. I so appreciate the city of Haarlem for putting in all these flower beds. It brightens up the streets.

Flower beds in Jansstraat Haarlem

Below: And not just one or two.

Flower beds in Jansstraat Haarlem

Below: In one of the side streets we discovered some flowers, planted there by the residents. I am staring at a gigantic spider. Well, it wasn’t that big but I have arachnophobia and although I was treated for that by a psychologist, it will never completely go away. Thanks to the therapy it is much better though.

Black summer trousers with a green top and yellow necklace

Below: “Oh good, it is not attacking me” LOL.

Black summer trousers with a green top and yellow necklace

Below: We were near a small courtyard with old houses. I have been here before in 2019. In that post I am wearing a blue and white striped dress. Obviously I was thinner in those days as I had to give the dress away for showing my belly. Or did it shrink?? Not likely. I measured my height the other day and I have shrunk by 4 centimetres. Which means my organs are pushed to the front giving me a belly and a bulge between the belly and the boobs. Such fun. On the other hand, the loss of beauty isn’t what makes getting older hard, at least not for me. It’s the ailments, especially the fact that you know they will only get worse. Now not only have I got arthrosis in my left knee, but also in my right hand. It isn’t bad…yet. Let’s live life to its fullest while we still can.

Black summer trousers with a green top and yellow necklace

Below: We walked on to St Janskerk (kerk = church) which is appropriately in Jansstraat (straat = street). This is the entrance, the church itself and the former monastery is hidden behind the houses. It is no longer in use as a church or monastery. It now houses the archives of the province Noord-Holland. Read more about it here.

Saint Janskerk (church)

Below: It also has a good café at the side of the monastery/church. Great cappuccino, low prices. Yay, that’s what the Dutch love. We are a stingy sort.

Black summer trousers with a green top and yellow necklace

Below: Close-up of the necklace by Lara Design. (This one is for you José-Maria.)

yellow and grey necklace by Lara Design

Below: Here is Loes in full glory. She knows I love colour, such a happy shirt.

Loes

Below: We passed this intriguing door in Jansstraat.

Entrance to the back yard

Below: The door led to this…garden? Courtyard? No idea what this is or what the building is, but it was a wild oasis.

Beautiful building in Haarlem

Below: Going back I looked up and saw a door high up above the entrance. Why? To haul and store goods? Again, I have no idea.

Exit back yard with a strange door high up

Below: In the Janstraat this house was being renovated. Maintaining a house is an ongoing thing.

Renovating a house in Haarlem

Below: Returning to the car, I photographed this building. Just for your sake.

Beautiful building in Haarlem

Below: And the famous Saint Bavo church in the middle of Haarlem. Well, part of it. It is a big church.

Saint Bavo church in Haarlem

And those are the outfit and buildings for this week.

What happened in my life this week

I met Helga who doesn’t live too far from me. She came to have a coffee with me. Helga has either just returned from a holiday or she is leaving shortly for a holiday. The girl knows how to live.

Helga

Below: I was wearing a polka dot dress by Essentiel Antwerp from 2020 I think. I used the belt as a sort of scarf and put a white brooch on it. The first time I wore it as a dress but it is really too short for me.

Polka dot dress

An update on the Pee Project

Tuesday I went to hospital for several checks and filling in questionnaires, all in the pursuit of ending the loss of pee drops. I had to keep a diary for two days, listing every amount of liquid I drank and every amount of pee that followed plus how many drops of pee I lost in those days and at which time.
Of course I didn’t lose drops on those days as I didn’t leave the house, so I’d be near a WC. I mean, you don’t take two jugs with you to measure what goes in and out while shopping, right?

The questionnaire was easy, just fill in what you know and what bothers you.

In hospital I had to pee on a special toilet which collected the pee to measure it. I was ordered to drink 4 to 6 glasses of water in the two hours before the appointment and not go to the WC. Hahaha. Too risky. So, I went to the hospital an hour in advance and took a water bottle with me, which I refilled twice. My bladder was full at the right time.
Result: I pee how I should and there was nothing left in my bladder (which is good).

Next was a check by the gynaecologist to see whether that area was OK.
Result: In tip top shape, as it happened.

A bladder check wasn’t necessary anymore as I had had one the previous month.

More questions…I was lucky that all doctors and nurses were women, although I talk about these things easily, it still is more comfortable with women.

Final result? Live with it.

It appeared that the suggested operation whereby they put a little support underneath your urethra, would improve the problem from say 50% bother to 10%. But my “problem” is already only 10% thanks to all the pelvic floor exercises I did. It would be a total waste of time to operate me. Plus, such a support can have side effects like instead of peeing every 2 or 3 hours, you might have to pee every hour. Not to mention the fact that every operation is always a risk. After all, surgeons are human and humans make mistakes.

They gave me the advice to use Tena Lady pads when I go out (I can use the mini version). Or another brand which is specialised in this inconvenience. They might have less chemical stuff in them than normal daily pads, although the doctors didn’t see too many problems with the normal ones. And of course change a pad when it gets wet.

Oh well, I tried. I hope all this information is of help to some of you who might have the same issue. Isn’t getting older fun?

Below: To boost morale and because it got significantly colder that day, I wore my Big Bird outfit. (Link to original post.) The gynaecologist gave me a compliment and said I certainly didn’t look like 70.

Big bird outfit

Saw my friend Jeanne again (below). When we were young (about 16) she moved from the south of Holland up north with her family and joined my secondary school. They put her next to me in class and we have been friends since. It was a happy afternoon again.

Jeanne

Below: My outfit that day. It was cold, it rained and there were hailstones. This outfit with the leather jogging trousers and the two layers on top was exactly right for that day. (Link to original post.)

Leather jogging trousers with a lime coloured patterned jacket

I picked up two gold bracelets from the jeweller, bracelets my mum gave me. They were made to fit my wrist which is smaller than mum’s. It was raining cats and dogs, which made me decide to visit a clothes shop across the road, being LAB, Women’s Clothing to wait out the sun. That was an expensive shelter. I bought two pairs of jeans (as if I don’t have any) and a very long winter coat, well more of an in-between-coat. Which means I now only have 1 purchase left for the rest of the year. And…no colour. Everything I bought is white or cream or black. The blush pink trousers are the only exception. I so love colour and I had sworn that the last 4 items were going to be bright colours. It feels like failing even if I make the challenge.

The owner of the camera shop taught me all sorts of things about my camera for an hour (you can book one-to-one lessons per half hour) and it was totally worth the money. Below one of the photos he took from me while teaching me different settings. After so much rain that day, my hair had given up.

Photo camera lessons

Friday was babysitting day. In the evening our friends and neighbours Froukje and Petro took us to a restaurant for a meal. That was a great way to end the week.

Greetje

No Fear of Fashion

 

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