Vegas Show Girl Pasties as Art?

We visited an art exhibition at the "Vleeshal" in Middelburg yesterday, and the let me just say that the jury's still out. The artist was American-born Jeffrey Vallance, and the art (or should I say artifacts?) included were oddities such as Vegas show girl pasties, a Gerber baby spoon, and a plastic dog bone, all encased in self-made shrine-type contraptions of varying shapes and sizes. I like the fact that he's done something productive with the things that he's collected from around the world, and I love the stories that accompany each piece (be sure to pick up a brochure at the entrance)... I suppose I'm just not much of a modern-art kind of girl.

The Vleeshal itself is quite something, but it's not alone. Middelburg is full of incredible architecture, seemingly around ever corner. We got cozy at one of the many cafés for lunch ("Café Brooklyn" I think), then slowly mosied back to the car, meandering past street musicians and a variety of (tempting) shops on the way. We spent the rest of the day being lazy, making ourselves cozy around the fireplace.

Today was extra-special, because it was my day to cook (by choice, that is). I made our main meal of the day at lunch - a German tradition. The recipe, "Slow Cooked Beef in a Red Wine Sauce" is from one of my very favorite cooking magazines, Woolworth's Taste (a South Africa publication). Tobi made a warm spinach and goat cheese salad to accompany my dish, all complimented by a dry Australian red wine. Delish! (Nevermind the fact that my year and a half-old claimed it was "Fooey!"... that boy doesn't know good food when he sees it. ;-)

Afterwards we went on a Sunday family walk, and let Lukas play on the playground. It was ice cold (already!), but we enjoyed the stroll, stopping briefly to feed the horses.

And tonight is DATE NIGHT! The weather is atrocious, so the plan is to check out Vlissingen's fancy movie theater (and our movie of choice is the Heartbreak Kid with Ben Stiller - in ENGLISH!).

On that note I better get going. There are, of course, more adventures coming up, so check back soon!

P.S. I realize that it's probably confusing to change the blog color (& format) on a regular basis, but I just wasn't happy with the last layout. Sorry! :-)

Above: Lukas and Oma goofing around

on the Oudelande playground.