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We went to the Coda Museum in Apeldoorn today. It’s a relatively short drive, so it’s perfect for a low-tension Sunday outing. We had lunch in the cafe and then went inside — for free, because we both have a Museum Card.

There was an exhibit we wanted to see: Craft Now, highlighting some artists who, instead of embracing only the conceptual, also return to the craft of making art. There were some very nice pieces on exhibit, and some that did not speak to me. One of the highlights is the opening piece: a painting on the wall by Thomas Trum, using a tool he made himself. A case also showed one of the felt pens he made himself to make his art, which was very interesting and gives a great result.

We also checked out the exhibition Speaking Jewels. Coda turns out to have the biggest collection of artist jewelry (who would have known?) and they got the jewelry expert from “Tussen Kunst en Kitsch” (the Dutch version of the “Antiques Roadshow”) to make a selection and to write commentary. There were some striking pieces. I really liked these “Koi bracelets” by David Bielander, especially upon closer inspection: the scales are actually flat head pushpins!

After the museum visit, we wandered a bit through the city centre of Apeldoorn. Even though it is the first Sunday of the month (traditionally a day for stores to be open), most stores were actually closed — Apeldoorn is kinda christian. And there were lots of empty storefronts as well. Combined with the drizzly and windy weather, it was a bit depressing so we didn’t linger long and went home.

Yesterday, usmu came over to visit — it had been a while since we had hung out together, and the last time we visited him in Utrecht. We picked him up at the train station and drove to Weurt, a small village at the side of the Waal to the west of Nijmegen. There is an old gravel pit outside of the river dike that is now unmanaged and left as a fishing spot. We walked towards the viewing platform and had a picnic lunch there. Afterwards, we walked along the river around the gravel pit before retiring home for tea and cookies and dinner.



There are wild horses roaming the area, they keep it from overgrowing. They had little foal! As we approached the two were annoying each other, but when we got a bit closer they got curious. The parent kept an eye on us, but we kept an acceptable distance as we passed.



When we returned, it was naptime for the foal. So cute.

The wisteria on our shed is happy it’s spring again — it’s growing and covered in flowers!



We hung a trellis on the side of the shed so it had something to hang on to, we might have to extend that. It makes me happy to see it grow so abundantly.