Saint-Nicolas-Aux-Bois Abbey

Last weekend when we were geocaching around Ribemont, we encountered the remnants of the abbey of Saint-Nicolas-aux-Bois. It used to be a Benedictine abbey, building was started around 1024. Today, parts of the buildings date from the 15th century, including the great tower with the two turrets and the (now caved in) main hall (source).

The abbey around 1660.

The abbey around1869.

Today the abbey looks rather different, the main hall has caved in and so has the chapel. Most of the exterior buildings are still in good shape and inhabited. I just think t is a great shame that the main building has not been restored, or kept in the first place.

Camping Weekend!

Now that my exams are over and some of the overall stress has subdued a bit we decided it was time to try out our new folding trailer (I don’t think it has a word in English, in Dutch it’s ‘vouwwagen’, in Flemmish ‘plooikar’). This is what I’m talking about:

It starts out looking like a normal trailer.. and if you open it and piece it together it looks pretty much like a small palace.

Doesn’t that look amazing? We were the only ones on the camping. We prefer camping places provided by a commune (Camping Municipal), they are usually cheap, clean, and children free (no pools or entertainment). This time we went to Ribemont in the north of France, a little village in the middle of the French countryside. In my next post (coming up soon I hope) I’ll show some pictures from the region.

This was the first time camping for little Amat, she did really well. Although she does not understand being on a leash at all, she does not mind it either. Just like she doesn’t mind geocaching, and making long walks.. although it is nice if the Big Human (aka Tom) carries you for a bit when you are very very very tired...

Solar Chandelier

A very very long time ago I saw a picture of people having a dinner under a tree with a giant chandelier hanging from it. I absolutely loved the image, and with our new place having a tree in the middle of a field I immediately remembered the chandelier. But wouldn't it be great if when you are having a late summer night dinner, and it was getting dark,  the chandelier could provide just that little light you need to see your plate? Since most trees (except the ones in our living room) don't have a power outlet, we thought of solar power.

The Solar Chandelier has been on our to-think-about-and-to-do-list for some time. So when those garden-stick-in-the-ground solar lights were on sale (99 cents a piece!) we bought a huge stack of them. After that Tom payed a visit to the 2nd hand shop for a chandelier, and we were good to go.

<< Tom coming home with an atrocious beast of a lamp - note the very 3rd Reich double headed eagle on top >> 

After we got off the very ugly Belle and the Beast-esque plastic candles off we cut the cord and screwed off the bolt. We then found out that the bolt was integrated in the vertical metal piece that held op the bulb. That very blot also fixed the copper plate below it, so we had to salvage them all.

And with a little help of our new power tool and the best boyfriend & partner in crime ever, we succeeded in separating the bolts from the bulb fixtures.

 << Yes we can - with pink gloves >>

After screwing on the bolts we had to figure out how to get our solar lights onto the bolts. Luckily the solar lights had a piece of metal tubing connecting them to they ground pin. Tom cut the tubing into pieces and we were able to wiggle them on the bolts. Just for good measure we emptied a tube of super glue into the tubes. As a great tip: use gloves!! Those sharp metal edges cut worse than paper!

              

Finally we popped on the solar lights and hung the chandelier outside. For now it's hanging from out upstairs neighbors balustrade, but soon it will be hanging from our tree!! We can't wait for those long summer suppers!

Chair Upgrade - part two

Amat still isn't very amused, but we love the end result!

Some time ago when I was at the Ikea buying fabric for some project I don't even remember, I also bought one of their measuring tapes. They were more rubbery than the ones my mum uses, and they got me thinking... They would make a great chair seat!! So, since then we've been on the look out for a chair to try it out. A couple of months ago we found one, and started sanding it down (see the post here).

After the sand down this chair got ages ago (it has been standing in our living room ever since), we painted it thrice (with a small sanding after two coats). The chair itself was looking great, now we had to start cracking on the seat.

We measured and cut the measuring tape and decided for an order to put them in (above). Next I pulled and Tom stapled them to the back of the seat (below).

Once we had done the horizontals (or the verticals) and Tom had nailed them down a little harder. We were on to the verticals (or horizontals). To be honest I was planning for a checker pattern, but because we were not thinking properly when we started stapling everything down we ended up with something else. So, if you want a checker pattern make all the horizontals one color, and all the verticals a different color. Lesson learned for next time.

When you are doing the horizontals make sure that you push them tightly to the next strip. The tighter the stronger your seat will be.

The inch-bottom.

Make sure that when you staple anything down it is (a) in place, (b) tight, (c) really stapled down! In the end trim off the edges and give those sticking out staples another whack with the hammer and you're more or less finished. 

Just to sum it all up, we used:

- 1 chair

- Sanding paper

- White primer (1 coat)

- White paint (2 coats)

- A tiny paint roller

- 8 meters of measuring tape (4 grey, 4 yellow - from Ikea)

- our sturdy little staplegun

- and the best and most enabling boyfriend ever!

Before     &       After

Q: How large is your butt? Measure it with a measuring-chair!

And a 'salad' birthday gift for my mother

Basil, Rosemary, Chives, Thyme and Parsley.
Perfect for my mothers amazing salads, and a very cute gift.

Strawberries!

Strawberries!!! I love strawberries!

Ours are still to little and far to green to eat. Belgian strawberries in the store are still way to expensive. So we decided to look up a local farmer on Fermweb who would sell them.

I can tell you they were amazing, and the homemade strawberry jam they sold was even better!!

Potted Gift

I just wanted to share the super cute mothers day/birthday gift we made for Toms mother. She's a real flower person (you won't believe how pretty her garden always is), so we thought this would be an appropriate gift. We'll be dropping it off this afternoon, so I'll wait with posting till then, to keep it a surprise for just a little bit longer!

Oh, and the lavender in the middle is called Edelweiss lavender, it blooms white (we have one too)!