The golden month, that was how I always remembered July. The fields of wheat and grass turn yellow and then golden during the sunset. We purposefully watched the sunset plenty of times this month. Every month differs when it comes to its sunsets, but July seems to pull out all the stops. The color palette ranges from gold and orange, all the way to soft pink and lilac pastels. What I usually like to shoot the most is the former one. Golden-toned portraits are such a delight to edit in Lightroom! We got quite lucky while shooting photos for a collaboration with KIDPHILOSOPHY!
The weather took a turn for worse after that but we still continued on with our weekend hikes. They were quite eventful at times, with the famously flimsy Belgian weather soaking us through after a warm sunny day. One random Tuesday, I headed to the cinema for a screening of Roman Holiday. I still remember the first time I saw that film, one early Saturday morning. Surprisingly enough, I hadn’t rewatched it until now so it was quite amazing to see it on the big screen for my second viewing. And even more so because two months ago, at the Audrey Hepburn exhibition in Brussels, I saw the Vespa featured in the movie!
And then, before you know it, my birthday came along. I planned on visiting Maastricht together with Grégory since he never did before. Because of the announced temperatures of 35°, we arrived at Maastricht early in the morning. Due to that, we saw the city slowly wake up. We also came to the conclusion that we always seem to visit Dutch cities only during heatwaves. Three years ago, we visited Amsterdam on such a day and actually spent the whole day walking. I should stop making plans for day trips during summertime! Overall, we liked Maastricht and its many green corners and how pedestrian-friendly it was. But if there’s a next time, it should happen during a slightly colder month. Lastly, since it was my birthday, I got to choose the food so we went to a Greek restaurant. Greece, I miss you and your food!
Since the heat continued on for the next few days, we decided to surprise Miles with a morning spent at lake Butgenbach. We figured he would love swimming after his frisbee and finally cooling off and we were right. He loved it so much that once he missed the frisbee, he almost swam through the whole length of the lake! We finally lured him back by waving a baguette at him from the shore. After that little adventure, he spent the rest of the morning swimming alongside us. We found a hidden little spot and arrived there at 6 AM. It was a bit chilly then but the lake was so calm and surprisingly warm. So I hopped inside for a swim or two with Grégory and it was quite fun in the end. There, my yearly swimming quota is full!
We finished off the month of July by going blueberry picking in the neighborhood forest. This is something Grégory always talked of doing when he was younger, picking blueberries which his grandma would then turn into homemade jam. It sounded absolutely lovely and I had never done it before so I was really excited about it. The forest blueberries are much smaller in size than anything you can find in a shop. But they are no less delicious, that’s for sure! We didn’t find a crazy amount of them but it was enough for a little summer treat. The blueberries perfectly complemented our favorite Greek yogurt. And once again, we were treated to another charming July sunset. Now I’m excited about what the last month of summer will bring!
