Ever since I arrived in Amsterdam this time last year, I have been living on a houseboat. And I won’t lie to you – it’s the best. I just love it. It’s my little floating hideaway, my sanctuary, my home.

But I will admit, I frequently find myself with green-eyes admiring the many other houseboats lining the city’s canals. They are all unique in their own way and I can’t help but wonder what life might be like on them… “what sort of windows do they have? Big windows? Skylights even? Balcony space? Oh, look, those people are smiling so much more on their boat!” And so on. I know, it’s ridiculous. But seriously, some of these floating homes just make me stop dead in my tracks and sigh: “wow”.

“Hi, my name is Pia, and I have house(boat) envy”…

…knock knock…

…who’s there?

“Pia” “Pia who?”

“PiacanIcomelivewithyou?”

It’s about now that this song comes to mind.

House.
Boat.
Bliss.

Overindulgence, do you think? Perhaps. Especially since French Boy and I dug into the left over cheeses the next morning, with a baguette and some homemade apricot jam. Please note: we did not devour all of it on our own. If so I’m not sure I’d be alive to tell you so today.

………………………………….

In other news, I have decided this week is a special week. In what way, do you wonder?

It has been one year since I moved to Amsterdam!

So to celebrate, this week here in the (blog)house will be all about Amsterdam – where to find the best breakfast, where I shop for props, my favourite wanders, and best of all plenty of photos. It will be my personal guide and experiences of this city that I never imagined I would one day call home. I do hope you will enjoy this special little tour…

It was a misty drive back through the French countryside… The fog was thick and heavy, revealing some rather eerie tree creatures along the way. I was able to capture a few with my camera from behind the safety of the car window – they were so spooky, I did not dare open my window to get a closer look, just in case one of them stretched their ghostly branches toward me and snapped me out of my warm comfy seat.. to get a really good feel for this ghoulish ride, click here to open a new window for the soundtrack to this post, then come back here to scroll through the images below… happy halloween my dear readers…

…as you know I snuck away to France last weekend. It is the same place in fact, that I took you to when I first started this blog at Christmas time last year, do you recall? (Click here to see it back then in it’s wintry glory.) This time it was of course Autumn in this special place in the east of France, and all the leaves on the trees were turning magnificent shades of gold, orange and red. On my way there I saw a billboard by the forest that said…

Plongez au coeur du poéme vert…

Which means “Let your heart dive into a poem of green”. How beautiful. It was the perfect way to describe how I felt about this wonderful place (had this billboard read my mind?)…

I found myself writing my own little simple poem…

I love these Autumn trees
with their paper-thin golden leaves
that flutter in the breeze…

I asked French Boy the names of the trees in the forest as we drove to our destination, and he rattled off the following names: Le Chêne (oak), Le Hêtre (beech), Charme, Acacia, Charmille, Bouleau (white birch) and Peuplier. It all sounds so much more magical en français…

There are many things I love in this area, but I especially love the farm houses – each one has it’s own vegetable garden, and often it’s own cattle, sheep, or horses…

It was a brief stay, but just enough time to go for an afternoon stroll, eat and drink the local victuals, go market scouring, and collect a trunk-full of wine and cheese to bring home. Next week I will show you my brocante finds from the trip, and this weekend we are hosting a wine and cheese night to share our Jura specialities with friends. But before I sign off here for the week, I have one more post for you from the trip…

(PS I love this song with this post)

(PPS But now I also love this song with it too. And here it is live.)

I snuck away for the weekend. Shhh. It’s a secret. From who, I don’t know, but sometimes it’s nice to be ‘incognito’ isn’t it? I certainly am in this little village in France. Although the Dutch number plates do give me away just a little.

I have some photos to share with you when I return to le petit bateau on Tuesday, but for now, I am trying to relax and enjoy the fresh, clean air, the stunning sunset that just passed, and now the dazzling night sky.

Oh how I miss living amongst nature.

À bientot!

xx

PS I went to a brocante (french flea market) today -not exactly the ideal place to go when one is trying to declutter her home. And although I am ecstatic with what I have found, of which there will be show and tell I promise, I am still lamenting over what I did not purchase: Like a drawer full of antique cutlery (doh!); a box full of found river rocks each with it’s own tiny, smooth hole (the things I could make with them!); and a suitcase full of vintage glass bottle stops (silly girl). Oh, the heartache.