Found this old article and I was wondering something...

They call men who wear make-up "genderbenders". As to say: because they're wearing make-up, they're bending towards being feminine. But is it actually genderbending when men have been wearing make-up in different cultures for centuries?

During the age of French king Louis XIV, it was completely normal for rich people to wear a lot of make-up.

Apparently, the term "genderbender" started somewhere in the 1960's.

What about the New Romantics in the 1980's? Men were wearing a lot of make-up. I remember Shirley Kemp, wife of Spandau Ballet's bass player Martin Kemp saying: "he wore more mascara than I did".
Not to mention Culture Club's singer Boy George!

Women have been wearing trousers/pants since the invention of the bicycle.
Amalia Bloomer made the first pair of pants for women, so that they could ride a bicycle safely.
Women started wearing more "men clothes" in the 1920's, as well as cutting their hair short. 

What about women who are wearing less or no make-up?
I hardly wear make-up in my daily life, nor skirts or dresses.
I'm mostly bare faced and wearing trousers.
Does that make me a genderbender?

Maybe we should take the gender labels off of clothes & make-up and let people wear what they want. First thing I've learned at Fashion & Clothing school was: "Fashion is not a trend, it's anything you wear that makes you feel good!

Boy George

Coffee lovers...

Asta loved coffee... well, ok... she liked it with a lot of milk and sugar but still...
Every day in the afternoon, my mum made herself a cup of coffee. Asta always came up to her and poked her nose against my mums leg to say: I want some coffee too! So my mum never had to drink her coffee alone.
Another thing Asta did her whole life was that she took some kibble out of her bowl in the kitchen, then she went to the front door to eat it. She repeated that until she had enough. The reason she did this was probably because she had to fight for her food with her siblings when she was in the pigsty as a puppy.
 

                        Asta was born in 1985 and passed away in 1995.

Baby and my dad.

As every night my dad put on his pajamas, which were always on his bed.
One night he reached for his pajamas and saw that his trousers were missing. He couldn't understand where he put them. He was sure that he didn't put them in the laundry and there wasn't another place where he places his pajamas. So he went to sleep without his trousers on. The next morning he came downstairs, made himself a cup of coffee and went to the dining table to read the newspaper. He pulled the chair away from the table and couldn't believe what he saw... THE TROUSERS! Apparently Baby took them downstairs somewhere in the evening and put them on the chair. She probably liked to have it because it has my dad's scent on it.

My father had received a bunch of flowers. He put the ribbons that you get on the wrapping paper on a cupboard door in the kitchen. I already saw Baby watch the ribbons. Ooh, she wanted to rip them of the cupboard door so badly!
A little while later I sat in the living room and suddenly the door flew open and Baby came running into the room with the ribbons in her mouth and a triumph look on her face. Yes ladies and gentlemen she did it and she was damn proud of it to!
It didn't take long for her to rip them apart, so I collected it all again and put them on her collar. See the proud look on her face, that's because she shows her loot here!
 

So happy to see us again... Or, was she?

I think it was in the summer of 1978 that we went camping. Loeki stayed with our neighbours, so she could stay in her own neighbourhood with people she knew.
On our way back home, I still remember it very well eventhough I was only 5 years old, we were all saying how happy Loeki would be when she saw us again.
We arrived at the house and the neighbours opened the door and Loeki was standing next to them.
They probably spoiled her rotten because after she welcomed us, by only wagging her tail, she went back to our neighbours house.
 

My dad and Loeki in the 1970's. The house in the background is our neighbour's house.

Here are some rabbit stories!

We mainly had Hollanders and Polish dwarf rabbits through the years. At one point, we had one that was quite aggressive. It would try to scratch you, while growling. But when it was in my arms, it would calm down. One sunny day, it was sitting next to me on the bench in the garden. Asta, our very large dog, was curious and went to take a look and a sniff. That wasn't appreciated and Asta greeted by a growl. She was so shocked that she ran away. The rabbit jumped off the bench and started chasing a scared Asta. It was such weird and funny thing to see! A rabbit chasing a dog! 

My sister and I often took the rabbits for a walk in our doll pram. Apparently, my sister took a nest of newborn baby rabbits and decided to take them out for a walk. She must have been very young because I'm not sure if I was born yet. She showed the babies to our neighbour, who quickly sent her back home. Luckily, the babies were alright and they all survived.

I moved into my new house in 2004. I didn't have two runs yet to put Droppie and Snuffie in. I couldn't put them together because Droppie was a male and Snuffie a female. To solve the problem I put a big lit in the middle so they couldn't get together.
After the rabbits were in the garden, Neil and I had breakfast in the kitchen and we kept an eye on the rabbits.
Droppie probably thought he wasn't being watched and tried to get to the other side by pressing his paws against the lit.
We saw it and we both yelled: Droppie nooo!!!!
He was so shocked by the fact that he was caught, he ran back to his side and layed down like he tried to say: hey, I'm not doing anything wrong, I'm just relaxing here!


Later that week I thought I could try it again.
I thought that Droppie had already learnt his lesson.
My dad was visiting and I made him an instant coffee.
While I opened the instant coffee bag, I saw Droppie on top of Snuffie.
Again I yelled Droppie nooo!!!! I ran outside to pick up Droppie and put him back in his own hutch.
I went back in the kitchen and I saw my dad with a very surprised look on his face and covered in coffee powder.

            Our dog Loeki with my sweet Hollander Snoesje and her babies.

Strawberry nets forever... Until Boris!

Boris used to love to rub against the hedge in the garden. I planted some strawberry plants next to that hedge. To keep the birds away I put a net over the plants. I hooked it on the hedge to keep the net in place, so the net went up a bit.
Boris was enjoying his rub so much, that he didn't notice that he went under the net. The last end of the hedge was behind the strawberries and he thought he could just walk away but instead he walked into the net.
He just kept on pulling to get loose. Neil said that he looked like a bankrobber with a pantyhose on his face. LOL!
We had to push him back and lead him back from the net.
He just couldn't understand why he couldn't walk through the net.
 

A case of mistaken identity...

This story proofs that at least some dogs are colourblind.
My mum and I were talking to our neighbour in our street and Asta was there with us.
Back then my dad drove a white mini van.
Suddenly an exactly the same van drove through our street, only this one was yellow.
Asta became all exited, like she always did when my dad came home. She was ready to greet my dad.
Only this van didn't stop and passed us.
The poor dog was so surprised and disappointed!
 

             Asta showing Smokey some love by licking until she was all wet.

Bambi

Asta used to run out of the small woods near my parents house after she did her things.
Only one time when she did this, the puddles were frozen and very slippery.
She ran out of the woods, her legs spread out and she skidded over the ice.
Just like Bambi!
 

The cafeteria

It was 1966. My parents just moved in their new house as newly weds in a brand new neighbourhood. They were the first couple to move into the neighbourhood. My mother passed away in 2007, after living there for nearly 41 years. My father passed away in 2022, after living there for nearly 56 years. They were the first couple to move in the newly built house. Another couple with 2 children moved next door. It was the Pannekoek family. Aunt Bertha and uncle Jan. They became good friends.

One afternoon, after having some drinks together, my mum and uncle Jan went to the cafeteria to buy some chips (fries when you live in the USA). They were already in a fun and festive mood when they came into the cafeteria. The new owner who didn't know them yet asked: you are in a happy mood, have you got something to celebrate?
My mum said that she and uncle Jan celebrated their 12 years of marriage. Not knowing of course that they were just neighbours, he offered them free chips!

My mum and our neighbour aunt Bertha used to take evening walks through the neighbourhood.
Aunt Bertha wasn't an aunt of mine but it became a habit to call all of our neighbours aunt or uncle.


One evening they were out walking again.
Suddenly my mum said: look, there's someone sitting in that car! Looks like a big man, we better watch out! As they passed the car, they carefully looked next to them. It turned out that it wasn't a big man but a large dog!


Talking about dogs: they passed a man with a dog one evening.
They were greeting each other and the man and his dog passed them. Suddenly aunt Bertha had to release some gas, if you know what I mean.
The dog reacted very strongly by barking very loud and the man could hardly keep it under control.
My mum and aunt Bertha started laughing and made a quick get a way!

 

      Black and white photo, courtesy of Historische Vereniging Diepenveen

an automatiek


My mum and aunt Bertha got a bit hungry on one of their evening walks.
So they went to the cafeteria. At that time the cafeteria still had what they call an "automatiek". That's a wall with lots of little glass doors that open when you put money in it. Behind those doors are all kinds of deep fried Dutch snacks.
Aunt Bertha bought a deep fried noodle ball, while my mum waited on a bench next to the way out.
Aunt Bertha took a bite and didn't like the taste of it.
Disgusted by the taste she tried to throw the ball through the open door. Instead of going through the door, the ball flew against the wall, right above my mum's head and a moment later she was covered in noodles!

Photo credit: Oh my foodness 

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnjeO6JGn28

Here's a story my father told me, I think the story dates from somewhere in the 50's.

My grandfather used to be a baker and he had a little shop where he sold his bread and other things. My grandfather didn't have the bakery anymore when I grew up, so I can't remember anything from it but I do remember my father telling me that when a baby was born in the village, my grandfather baked a bread with a pair of tiny wooden shoes in it as a surprise for the new parents.

But back to my story.

There was a farmers couple living in the village and they were very cheap.
Instead of putting sugar in their coffee they put peels from the very sweet apples they had in it.
The woman used to buy a large bag of sweets once a week and when children bought a loaf of bread at my grandfather's shop, which cost 22 cents at the time, they usually payed with a quarter (25 cents) and they went to the couples house to buy sweets of the remaining 3 cents.