Queen Beatrix of The Netherlands has abdicated.

It was announced yesterday that Queen Beatrix of The Netherlands will stand down from her duties on the 30th April - 33 years to the day of her coronation and her son Willem-Alexander will be King of The Netherlands - the first king in this country for 123 years since the death of his great great grandfather William III.

Queen Beatrix will be celebrating her 75th birthday on the 31st of January. In her televised broadcast she said it was not because the role was too heavy for her but she had been thinking about stepping down for some time now and with this year marking the anniversary of the monarchy's 200 years - she thought it was an appropriate time to do so. In her words, "The responsibility of the country should now lie with a new generation".

Having a monarchy in a country is an important symbol of tradition and Independence - I know how proud I feel when I see our Queen in the UK - so I can totally understand how the Dutch feel about their Royal family.

New beginnings ahead for The Netherlands.

God bless Queen Beatrix for the service she has given to this country and God bless King Willem for the times that lie ahead with his reign - may he be guided always on the right path.

Baby blanket!

Just two weeks left till the arrival of my Grandson and I wanted to make him a blanket but needed it to be a quick knit. It would probably have been quicker if I had crocheted the complete blanket but I wanted it to be warm and knitting it made it a closer finish.
I knitted squares in rib and crocheted borders around each of them - then sewed them all together - crocheted a border around the whole blanket and decorated with ribbon and silk roses.
I am quite pleased with the results and my daughter loves it. Simple but effective.

Our little visitor

We had a small visitor to our balcony a couple of nights ago. I had initially taken my camera outside to snap a photograph of the birds footprints in the snow underneath the bird table - I thought it looked really pretty. My husband came out to see what I was doing and he noticed another set of footprints that were obviously not made by the birds. My first reaction was a mouse - to which I was told if it was, then it was a mouse on steroids. Then I started to panic thinking it was an r-a-t! (I have never been able to say that word and always spell it out - goes back to my childhood in Scotland - my Gran and then subsequently my Mum thought it was bad luck to say r-a-t so was spelt out instead and it has stayed with me throughout my life Lol!)  Since moving to this flat I have convinced myself that we have an r-a-t in the roof! Each year for several months we have scratchings and movements under the roof and can be heard very clearly from the bedroom. So I was sure that the footprints belonged to the culprit in the roof! My husband thought the footprints were too small for an r-a-t - so set to and did some research. He was told it was a mouse native to The Netherlands but without seeing the animal itself could not be sure which species it is.
There is no sign of it in the surrounding area of the balcony since but I am making sure the door stays firmly shut when entering and exiting outside. How on earth it managed to get up to the third floor on the outside of the building is a mystery!!

bosmuis (wood mouse) picture courtesy of wikipedia user: Rasbak

Civil defense warning siren!

Every first Monday of each month at 12 noon, this siren is tested. It is tested to keep the population of The Netherlands aware and would be used in reality to warn of approaching danger of a national emergency.

When I first visited this country back in 2007 - it really unnerved me - it was quite alien to hear as a British person - although I know my Mum and Dad's generation heard similar sirens during the second world war! It was a little scary. Now when I hear it - it makes me feel very comforted and glad to know it is in place as a cautionary measure for us as citizens.

Apparantely there are over 4,000 of these sirens in place over The Netherlands and some have been adapted to enable voice messages to be broadcast over them depending on what kind of disaster ensues.
Our nearest amplifier is in our local shopping center.