What I Did This Summer Since I Didn’t Go On Holiday | Neeltje’s Thoughts: Summer

Did someone say summer is almost over? I just want to enjoy it a little longer… For now let’s think about the summer memories and put ‘Summertime Sadness’ by Lana Del Rey on repeat. This summer was a bit different than previous summers. My trip at the beginning of May got cancelled and Eline and I had plans to book something for the end of summer but I am glad we didn’t. I don’t feel like traveling right now because health is so much more important than going on holiday. But what did I do this summer since I didn’t go on holiday? I made a selection of my four fave things from this summer!

Chasing sunsets

Previously I always used to make bucket lists especially for that summer. Since these lists put a pressure on me to actually accomplish all of those during the summertime, I stopped making them. I just go with the flow. I remember once putting ‘watch the sunset on the beach’ on one of those lists. This summer I visited the beach a couple of times and yes, I did watch the sunset. It was very peaceful and pretty. So, as you might have guessed, my film roll is filled with sunset photos and a small selection I thought I would use for this blog post.

Surviving a heatwave

Since we weren’t able to go on holiday, the sun and heat came here. For two weeks the heat and humidity was insane. I can handle a little heat but not that much. Luckily for me, we have air conditioning at work, which I was enjoying very much. During the weekend I spent my days in the garden in the shadow or just inside with my fan. My fan was truly a life saver, especially at night. Please no more heatwaves but just nice, sunny weather and 25 °C.

Outdoor theatre at Museum Voorlinden

Going to the movie theatre is so fun, but going to an outdoor theatre is even moooore fun. I’ve always wanted to go to an outdoor theatre, so when I saw Museum Voorlinden was hosting a couple of evenings with viewings of different movies, I had to go. When I visited Museum Voorlinden I saw work of Yayoi Kusama, like the ‘Infinity Mirror Room: Gleaming Lights of the Souls’ room. I love her work, since it’s so unique, and one of the movies they showed was a one about Kusama. Together with my mom I attended this outdoor movie night at Museum Voorlinden. Everything was organized so well and the movie was so interesting. Now I only want to go to outdoor theaters.

Spotting butterflies

I adore butterflies and I love to take photos of them. Right now there are so many of them in our garden. As you can imagine, I keep taking photos of them and have a little collection right now. Since I have been obsessed with spotting butterflies in our garden, my dad and I made plans to visit a butterfly garden. I can’t even remember the last time I visited one so I was very excited. Like expected I took tons of photos of beautiful butterflies and other ones then I see in my garden all the time, which I might share in another blog post…

This summer has been filled with spontaneous activities and lots of fun day outings. I hear a lot of people complaining about not being able to go on holiday but I was talking about this with Eline and we agreed it’s so much fun to go places in our own country and discover new places. So, I don’t really miss being abroad and it makes me appreciate my country even more. Even though this summer I didn’t really have a summer break, I did took some days off and have long weekends, which was lovely. It was a different kind of summer but a really enjoyable one. How has your summer been? What’s the most memorable thing you’ve done this summer?

Love,

Neeltje