…so luckily we took the opportunity yesterday to enjoy the snow bonanza hitting the Low Countries for the last couple of days. Sadly the snowman and our igloo lantern have turned into grey slush by now, but memories and pictures remain :).

we don’t get many evenings like this

So Sebastian and I started on a snowman project. Unfortunately we didn’t have a carrot at our disposal so it received the bird treatment instead 😉

igloo lantern

recipe from a Swedish childhood

I’m in bed with the snowflakes dancing outside of my window. It’s so peaceful, which is what I need after one of the most hectic months and years I can remember. Perhaps not surprising I feel fluish and decided against having another working Sunday. Instead I will put on the Crown which has just premiered it’s second season.

Before going offline, some snapshots of yesterday’s evening. We don’t get much time to have a 3 hour dinner with the family, so very happy for this treat. Thanks Victoria and RP for making it memorable.

Dogged tired but managed to scrape up well with my beautiful daughter as companion

good company, conversations, food and wine

special evening

100 year anniversary menu ending with a delightful dessert

The Groenendaal manor in full Christmas glory

A late but wonderful Sinterklaas celebration. And he had prezzies for everyone. On that note I can’t wait until it’s Christmas!

❤️ Sibling love ❤️

who is the boss of the prezzies?

…and more Lego. We have quite some building to do this weekend

It feels tremendously good to be home after a hectic week and a conference in Helsinki. Although extremely cold when I arrived home, I found beautiful gift from the kids in the shape of an Advent Calendar by Rituals. Very thoughtful and I am already using the hand cream :). As I was away they had fun with morning gift openings leading up to Sinterklaas. And from what I can see their Advent Calendars were quite a hit too!

First morning of December

Surprise, surprise!

Advent Calendar by Rituals

I have written endless perfume posts, some venturing into that of the carnal, esoteric and forbidden. Because perfumes are all of those and so much more. A quality fragrance will smell like sun drenched skin, the peculiar scent of ozone, with deep notes of civet, amber and musk. And a good perfume will age with grace, dignity yet revealing depths you can’t recall since you last cracked open the bottle. TABU is one such fragrance, originating from 1932 by the legendary perfumer Jean Carles who famously was told by his contractor (Dana) to “make a perfume a prostitute would wear”. I can’t attest to if it’s living up to its ideals, but it certainly is a perfume that is worn best with silk and lace under the glow of candlelit chandeliers and classical music.

Should you ever look for good quality vintage perfumes in Haarlem, then make sure to stop by the obscure but lovely perfume store “Perfumes of the Past”. Caron, Schiaparelli, Lanvin and of course Dana are all on the menu. You won’t be disappointed.

We might have a hectic schedule, rendering precious little family time, but luckily Sinterklaas and his helpers haven’t forgotten us. A few more weeks and it starts looking like Christmas. Can’t wait!

kids were happy 🙂

In my lunch break, having the last gazpacho soup I could find in the supermarket before winter sets in. It’s been such a hectic week and it’s not a secret I’m counting down the days and weeks until Christmas and New Year. But work has plenty of gems too. Last night saw an interesting reading from Coalition for Defense at Sociëteit de Witte. This weekend however is less gilt-edged, as I am preparing the action list for the coming days, it will most like constitute of catching up on emails, plans and preparing for an upcoming business trip. Happy Weekend!

The magnifique entrance

Still life before the reading commence

I’m not sure where she got the piracy tendencies from, but it looks great (especially since it’s from my own collection ;).

hun you look gorgeous….but please bring back the trousers and the bag x

It’s one of those weekends which is much needed! I started it off yesterday late afternoon with a stroll in the woods followed by dinner at restaurant Groenendaal. All was so peaceful and quiet and it provided opportunity to pause and breath in the autumn air. This weekend is reserved for work at the fireplace, but thinking about it I might just repeat yesterday’s excursion.

the woods are surprisingly still very green

with even the odd flower blooming

elsewhere autumn has left its signature

such as this gorgeous tree mushroom

and a soft blanket of leaves

As a result of my quest for peace – and here I’m talking about constant, inner peace – an even mind so to speak, or equanimity, I have made quite some changes to my life. I have described them here before but I shall repeat for those who are perhaps reading this blog for the first time.

After a long journey of reading, contemplating, and practicing that of what I read (the Art of War, The 48 laws of Power, buddhistic passages, stoic literature to name a few), my life took an even more “radical turn” when I decided to live more clean and ethical. I have since cut out alcohol, coffee, meat and as much as I can, sugar. 

Further, I changed my routines, waking up earlier and earlier and as a result going to bed no later than 10.30 pm. Right now I am usually up by 6.30 am, although I am going to push this to 6 am for weekdays and 7.45 for weekends.

My idea is to start off the day with stoic meditation followed by a 40 min workout whilst listening to different podcasts on philosophy. It takes time and commitment and perhaps more so the 4 cardinal virtues of stoicism: courage, equanimity, self-control and wisdom.

And so I started today, with my stoic meditation. I turned on the fire, wrapped a blanket around myself as a chilly draft swept past me from the aging windows. I made myself a cup of tea and I began.

At first I went though my usual morning exercise, the morning ritual of Marcus Aurelius

“Begin each day by telling yourself: Today I shall be meeting with interference, ingratitude, insolence, disloyalty, ill-will, and selfishness – all of them due to the offenders’ ignorance of what is good or evil. But for my part I have long perceived the nature of good and its nobility, the nature of evil and its meanness, and also the nature of the culprit himself, who is my brother (not in the physical sense, but as a fellow creature similarly endowed with reason and a share of the divine); therefore none of those things can injure me, for nobody can implicate me in what is degrading. Neither can I be angry with my brother or fall foul of him; for he and I were born to work together, like a man’s two hands, feet or eyelids, or the upper and lower rows of his teeth. To obstruct each other is against Nature’s law – and what is irritation or aversion but a form of obstruction.”

Then I began thinking of the challenges I may have to face during the day and which of the 4 cardinal virtues (once again, courage, temperance, justice and wisdom) I’d be called to employ.

After this, I engaged in an exercise called Hierocles Circles, which is a stoic form of cosmopolitanism, through the use of concentric circles. Hierocles describes individuals as consisting of a series of circles: the first circle is the human mind, next comes the immediate family, followed by the extended family, and then the local community. Next comes the community of neighbouring towns, followed by your country, and finally, the entire human race. Our task, according to Hierocles was to draw the circles in towards the centre, transferring people from the outer circles to the inner circles, making all human beings part of our concern.

Then I passed to “premeditatio malorum”, a technique of contemplating potential misfortunes in advance. I imagined minor and major “catastrophes” (one being going without sleep for days). I focused on that fundamentally, it would not change myself and my self-worth (although cosmically, I don’t prescribe to the idea I would hold any intrinsic value).

After this exercise, which lasted a good half an hour as I am a novice to the game, I read the writings of Epictetus.

I am sure, as with everything, it will take time, to apply and re-apply and get back on it, if or when I fall off the bandwagon (the emphasis being on when here).

But for now, I am happy and pleased I have taken yet another step towards total freedom of disturbance.

Stoic meditation by the fireplace