I have a GARDEN ....

When I returned home from work and it was not freezing or dark, the first thing I liked to do was to work in the garden.

Any computer-stress that had been building up on me during the day would drain into the soil, I started to feel at peace with nature and myself and then I could go in and cook dinner.

Vegetarian, yes.

And I have a HOUSE......

When we moved into the "FAR North" of Holland and into this house and grounds in the summer of 1991, both the house and the garden were in shambles, a mess...

But it had a good feeling.

We named the place "De Blauwe Aarde", which means the blue earth,as well as the blue planet.

We have been working hard to make it at nice place to live. We fixed the roof, the plumbing, the electricity, the gas, the woodwork all by ourselves, sometimes with the help of Jann's relatives. Everything we do ourselves and it is a slow painstaking job.

There are some old trees; around and among these I have been building a kind of cottage garden with roses and plants that do well on heavy soil, with a small patch for vegetables and fruits, a tiny greenhouse and some space for chickens. The trees have grown bigger and bigger so we now have a lot of shade and most of the vegetable garden has gone now. The roses do extremely well as you can see on the right, the picture was taken in 2006.

We have a wonderful wildlife here, as compared to other parts of Holland. When you click on my house on the right it will take you to my English page on Oosterwijtwerd to tell you more on the village and wildlife around it.

Marco, the flatcoated retriever is at the bottem picture. This wonderfull fellow has played an important part in our life the last 9 years. Sadly he passed away on januari 24th 2007. He has his own page on the internet.