How to feed two birds with one plate? 



Living in Ibiza I’m so happy we took our mountainbikes with us. Never knew how important a bike could be for your well-being, especially when you move to a different place where biking is not that common as you thought it would be. 

That bike is a life-saver, a joy-bringer, a gate to freedom.

I’m fully accountable 😉 Really, people on Ibiza should bike more. Obviously the Dutch DNA tells you to bike. Especially when there’s so much to enjoy during the ride and the temperature won’t rise to sweaty levels yet. So, wintertime (14 C) is just perfect. It brings so much joy as you struggle your way up and as you go down-hill Es Vèdra pops up at the blue horizon. Total bliss.

Today no blue skies at all, but it’s a rainy, grey and cold day. Nevertheless I can’t wait to jump on the bike to test my new bike-items (bags, lights, mirror) which my sweet man gave me. No more veggies and bottles of red wine sticking in my back. Yay! 

Yes, we do have a car (our Silver Shadow van 😉 so why bother that much? Because we feel so much better using our bikes. It’s free, free energy and it’s super healthy for body & mind. Doing your (daily) shopping and work-out at once. You won’t need an expensive gym-membership anymore. 

You see, feed two birds with one plate!  Or: kill two birds with one stone..(not so animal-friendly 😉

Just free exercise by using free-energy.  That brings me to the protests in Ibiza of last year against the oil-drilling.. Free, alternative energy is something we all want, don’t we?       We – most of us – are aware of the mass pollution we cause with driving cars and travel by planes. Besides, by doing this we give our support to the oil-industry. As long as we keep on driving our cars and filling it up with petrol, the oil-prospections will continue with all consequences resulting from this. We, car-owners, have the power. It’s simple: Supply and demand. 

That’s why I think Ibiza should protest against the oil-drillings in the Mediterranean Sea by coming to these manifestations by bike and please leave your thirsty 4×4 at home. And bike way, way more. 

Feel that freedom of free energy! 

Isn’t that a great reason to take your bike and go?  I say “yes” !   What do you say Ibiza? 



Photo: Gybizia

On Love 





” Life without love is like a tree without blossoms or fruit ” ~ Khalil Gibran

Today on the bike I passed these beautiful almond-trees, which are all over the island. Blossoming. It’s the time of the year. Almond-blossom everywhere. The moment I left the blossom-trees behind, the thought of a beautiful love poem became stronger and stronger.  

Our friends gave us this poem when Dorus and I celebrated love with our family and friends as our engagement-party in the Summer of 2012. That poem… I had to find it. Meanwhile the pink blossom was just everywhere I looked. Guess I’m a damn lucky woman on my Dutch bike today. Alone. Together. 


ON  LOVE

Love one another, but make not a bond of love

Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls

Fill each other’s cup, but drink not from one cup

Give one another of your bread, but eat not from the same loaf

Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each one of you be alone

Even as the strings of a lute are alone though they quiver with the same music

Give your hearts, but not into each other’s keeping

For only the hand of life can contain your hearts

And stand together, yet not too near together

For the pillars of the temple stand apart

And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other’s shadow 

~ Khalil Gibran


Time spent with cats is never wasted

We trapped this beauty this morning. Christel, a german lady offered her help and the cages. What a big heart Christel has, she helps so many straycats here in Ibiza. A true angel! Glad I can learn from her. 

So this wild beauty is at the vet now to be sterilized **

She used to come at Cotton Beach Club..bothering the guests and staff for food 😼 together with a male cat who didn’t show up today. Tomorrow we go again to trap him and bring this cat to the vet to be sterilized as well. Both Cotton-Cats have found the place where I feed the others at the beach. They are with five now. It’s getting busy up there 😉 

Tomorrow we pick this grey female up at the vet and after she goes to Christel’s who has a special room for her to fully recover. Isn’t that incredibly sweet?! Really, so good to know people like that exist. I’m happy!

Yes, it’s stressful for these wild cats, but in the end it’s so much better. No more unwanted kittens living in the streets of Ibiza – or at the beach in this case..

Good to help these beautiful creatures. No, time spent with cats is never, never wasted.

care4catsibiza the charity which helps the many straycats of Ibiza. You can support their Trap-Neuter-Return program by making a donation on the website.

** Today we picked her up at the vet..she had already tiny babies growing inside her. Recovering now and in good hands with Christel 🙂



To magic!

                             IMG_6268

Personally 2014 has been a year full of magic…and surprises.

Last January a year ago we left Amsterdam in the morning, the house empty, the Silver Shadow full of bags and Dorus’ tools, Liefje in the back meoowing and there we went. First we drove to Ygrande (under Paris), then Barcelona and in the end Valencia where we took the ferry to Ibiza! Inspired by our friend and before it’s too late to jump in the unknown we decided to do it. Live in Ibiza. We had a plan to stay on the white island for 14 months. This sabbatical year further I look back on something sweet. I do know now that dreams will come true 🙂

If I have to describe the year 2014 in one word. I would say: Freedom.

Freedom to go, freedom to do, freedom to see, freedom to think differently… 

Not sitting in an office most of the time, but being outside, walk, bike, enjoy the life on a Mediterranean island where there’s so much sun – even now-, meet new people, learn and speak a different language. Also freedom to live another life, to choose a non-traditional life style. No more careers and expectations to chase after, but rather start doing what we really love (working on that ;-). The year 2014 has given me some interesting insights. About being afraid and worrying about things: The fear is not real. I still need to remind me of that. About family and friends: It was better than ever to see them, here and back in Amsterdam, because there was real time and space for each other. About working in a Spanish-speaking environment: The lack of confidence I felt the first week, like I was 17 again (ohh terrible!). About being in the present time: the power of Now (still difficult..inclined to think too much). About more awareness of health and living green etc. Also time became my new best friend. Wow, so much time! It all feels like a blessing to experience time and freedom like that.  

We started the year in Casita Verde, an ecological community. 

We lived in a former call-oven/cave for two months in a community with a bunch of hippies from all over the world; the British were overpresented. 

 Straight from my office/desk-life, mainly in a conventional and business setting, I entered a green – ecological life without hardly any conventions and with other, mostly surprising views on our world we are living in 😉 I will never forget these months in Casita Verde. Especially the fires Dorus made in our ecological house in the evening when it was pitch dark and quite cold in the valley. The sky full of stars at night was out of this world. 

Then an amazing opportunity came: a small studio for rent at sea in the South-West of the island through our Spanish friend. We still live there.

That’s our dream came true. Beach, beautiful skies, magical sunsets, the way the sunlight looks like over here… If people, especially Dutch tourists, ask me: “What are you doing on the island?”, I say – mostly with a big smile – : “I’m enjoying”. 

Because that’s the only right answer to me. 

No, we won’t leave this little paradise in March and return to Amsterdam. We can’t. We will stay.

Wherever you Go…



Since last week thoughts about distance have passed by…distance between people – family and friends – with whom you feel connected with. So, a connected distance 🙂

People on the island sometimes ask me: “Do you miss them?” “Yes , I do. No, I don’t.” Uh what? The no-answer sounds less horrible than you think… Really.

No, I don’t miss the people I love and who aren’t near me, because I feel them. Feel. In my heart.  

This week I had a strange , but beautiful dream. Unfortunately I always forget the dream as soon as I wake up, but somehow certain bits always remain and I think they want to tell me something. It went like this:

A written note appeared. By my dad. It said 10k. Highlighted by a circle. He showed me the note and said he had driven a distance of 10.000 miles with his car. To see me?  I can’t remember. And it doesn’t matter really. My dad died 15 years ago – hard to believe it’s already that long – , but he’s always there. Wherever I go, how far it is, it’s not important. I feel him in my heart.

No place or distance can compete with your heart. 

It is everywhere where you decide to go. So love your heart and feel your heart. Keep the ones you love in this safe place and they ‘re always with you. FEEL them wherever you go; whatever you do. Feel and be connected with your heart. It certainly works for me. 

PS This white Ibizan-heart on rocks I found near our house when I was walking and enjoying “wintertime” on the white island. It’s amazing!

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