Day 8, Feb. 3rd, Fun on Friday!

Sorry about the long delay but I have not been feeling up to snuff. Had a little cold or something.

This morning Stuart & Jan (pronounce Yon) Duif, (Yvonne Duif's husband) went to the Flower Auction. It starts at 04:00 a.m. They were there about 06:30 a.m. He understands that all of the flowers that are produced in the world are sold through this auction. Could not take pic's in the Auction Room but it was really cool to see! He said there were millions of flowers sold. It's three weeks before Valentines Day. These pic's are of the rooms where they test the flowers to see how long they will last before wilting.
The fresh cut flowers all in blossom. He said the fragrance was out of this world.
After they are sold these trams would take the flowers to each of the buyers docks and there the employees would box them to be shipped out by truck or in ship containers. That's Jan in the pic walking down though the warehouse bays.
Watch your step these trams are moving fast. See the ramp that comes down from the second floor? This is a big place!

These look like cabbage but they are flowers, I think they came from Africa.

Here the flowers are boxed and ready to go.

There were so many colors and variety's.

Then when Stuart got back from his early morning adventure we were all off to the Patchwork & Quiltdagen(quilt show and craft fair).
Just entering the show was a hoot. Stuart was the only guy around that we could see. Towards the end of the time we were there a few more men had participated in the days events. He is such a sport isn't he. And he is so fun to have along, the girl's just love him.

There were all sorts of Dutch vendors selling their wares including fabric, patterns, finished projects, etc. We saw again some pretty amazing quilts.

I had to stop and introduce myself to this cute lady. You can recognize the fabrics right off the bat if you are an Amy Butler fan. She is the distributor of Amy's products there in the Netherlands.
This booth had lot's of wonderful things. So many Japenese fabrics.
Both Yvonne and I bought the kit to make this bag. Isn't it cute and yes, there is applique' on it, but I am bound and determined to do it myself. I have had several tell me they would be glad to do it for me. Thanks for offering though. Yes my bag is started and the houses are just about ready to start stitching.
This lady is a follower of Yvonne's blog and had seen the both of us on there several times. She knew and recognized us as soon as she ran into us. I feel we are some what of celebrity's there. I didn't see the red carpet anywhere!! It was nice meeting her, I just can't remember her name. I'm sorry.

Yummy, a basket full of tweeds. Should I have picked some of them up? I didn't, but now I'm wishing I had. They had the coolest quilt made from them.

Oh it was fun running into Sieneke Van der Plas at the show. We met last March in PA and we had such a good time getting to know each other. I'm glad we ran into each other so we could get caught up on things. She does beautiful hand work.
We just had to stop at this booth. A place to buy all sorts of candy. And we love candy! They really had a good variety of things. Just look at all the licorice.
We found peanut clusters, red licorice straws filled with cream, and caramels.
Our first ice cream treat of the trip. Even if it was a blizzard outside we were sure enjoying our treat inside.
Just having a little break and of course laughing. Getting ready for more of the show.

This is a quilt made from traditional dutch fabrics. It was gorgeous.

A quilt made from shot cottons from Kaffe Faucett.

Another quilt with Kaffe fabrics.

When we got ready to leave this is what we encountered outside, a total white out. They were really getting dumped on today. The first snow we had had while there and boy was it a duzie.
When we got back to Katwijk we headed into Friends for a late lunch. It's a good thing we left the show when we did. By 5:00 that evening the roads were so bad that cars, trains and buses were stranded all because of the snow. We hit that just right.
We have a new cowgirl among us. We will call her "Renegade Rennie"! She had been dying to try Stuart's hat on. What do you think? I think she makes a pretty cute cowgirl. Ride em' Rennie!

Stuart's choice today, a cheeseburger and fries.

My choice, french onion soup and a grilled cheese sandwich. And they both hit the spot. The soup, one of the best I've ever tasted.

The sign says:

Friends

Meet / Food / Drink

For young and old, something for everyone, this is the motto of this fun eatery.

A place where you agree with your friends or where you happen to bump into them.

Through town the kids were sledging(sledding). You could just hear the laughter in the air they were having so much fun. Should of shipped a sledge home for the kiddos I guess.
After a day of sightseeing and shopping we decided to stay in for the evening. I did a little hand sewing. I am working on yo yo's for a quilt. Yes I did say hand sewing!

We watched t.v. and enjoyed the snow falling outside our window.

No supper that night either because of the late lunch. We did however snack on the things we bought during the day. Rennie was nice enough to spoil us with chocolates from the candy shop in Katwijk.
Stuart found us some Ben and Jerry's ice cream to go with the cake we also found at the candy shop. Now wasn't that a nice dieting supper!
Two more days of holiday bliss to go. Our trip is going by so quickly, that's why I am taking so long to finish blogging about it. This way makes the trip last longer!