Shops are Open Again

I'm back in business, and in the same café (Café Standard in the 5th District) as last post. It has gotten cold here and that's okay, because at least it's not raining and it's also not a damp cold since we are so far inland.
We had a quiet-ish day yesterday because a lot of stores and cafés were closed for St. Stephen's Day, which is a big holiday in Europe. Here Christmas is celebrated over two days, so the 26th is known as the second day of Christmas. However, we did come into town (we're staying in the 13th District, which is a 15 minute walk, then 15 minute train ride into the centre of Vienna) and went to a Brewery we visited last year called Salm Bräu. We were excited to be back, especially because of the great creamy garlic soup I remembered and also for the terrific beer.
We weren't the only ones with this idea, so it was a noisy, atmospheric visit, although cut a little short when we decided to move on after being denied the right to play cards at our table in the bar...What's up with that, anyway??!! We were astonished, after all, we were relatively quiet (for us), and not playing strip poker or anything too wild, just a simple game of Euker. Oh well. It won't stop us from returning, but we did find it strange.
Our Christmas Day was nice, we slept in after attending a midnight mass at a local church and getting home at 1:30 a.m. We stayed in the house and Mike and I talked about going for a walk when I realized a nap might be better for me and collapsed on the sofa. I was better for it after and we all got dressed up for our trip to the Vienna Opera house to see the Nutcracker ballet.
What a beautiful old building, although compared to many buildings in the city, relatively young. We were seated waaaayy up, but still had a good view and were happy that we were seated instead of in the standing-room only section. The ballet itself was a different sort of interpretation with some modern (AKA digital) touches, but the music was wonderful and the dancers talented. We all did a few spins and dainty runs on our way out and down the street afterward! We definitely have potential.
Our plans for the coming week include a visit to the Melk Monastery ( http://www.sacred-destinations.com/austria/melk-abbey.htm ), the Spanish Riding School ( http://www.srs.at/index.php?id=265 ), and a visit to Bratislava, Slovakia. There will be many other fun things mixed in between these events, and I will endeavour to remember them for my next post! I should also have some photos at that time, since I will try to remember my camera cable next time.

A Wiener Christmas

Here's a sampling of photos from our trip so far. I will keep this short, but wanted to share and wish all a very happy Christmas and coming New Year! We are having a lot of fun with our friends, Kim and Aaron, and in spite of the rain, getting out and seeing lots of great sights. More soon, hopefully! It all depends on the next café we're in offering wireless service!

At the Nürnberg Christmas market, lots and lots of these sausage vendors. Mike and Aaron gave them lots of business.

Mike in front of the Vienna Town Hall, or "Rathaus". One of several Christmas markets is in front of this huge building.

Market stalls, lots of kitsch

Yummy beer at Wieden Bräu Brewery, these are a mix of light and dark beers (literally, a "Schnitt of Helles and Donker"

Three be-whiskered fellows:
Mike and Aaron with a pig...(Pig in the middle). In the Freiung Christmas market in Vienna

Aaron and Kim, our partners in the Chrismas fun!

Mike and I tried on some great hats in a stall at the Karlsplatz Market...this one gives golfers and edge.

Mine was more generic, definitely for cold weather though.

I've just had very sad news sent to me, The Lodge at Hidden Lakes Golf Course, a place Mike and I have both worked at in the summers (not lately, of course), burned to the ground yesterday. This is a tragic loss, not only for the golf course, which loses a beautiful centrepiece, but also for the Sandpoint community. This lodge was a thing of beauty, made entirely of enormous logs from the local woods, and situated in a peerless setting.

It wasn't right in town, but the 15-20 minute drive from Sandpoint, on the way to Hope, down the lake was always worthwhile, because you knew that you would have this lovely place waiting for you. In the winter, when the course was closed because of snow, the lodge's wonderful restaurant would still be open and many holiday parties were held here, as well as weddings, reunions, and many other notable gatherings.

Something like this Lodge is not easily replaced, because it's hard to improve on something that worked so well for all the uses it was put to. Sandpoint, we feel for your loss, it is our's also.

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On a lighter note, Mike finished school for the holidays this afternoon. He is home now, having the last of the eggnog from our party on Sunday. The sun is out, though not for much longer, and we are talking about what to pack for our driving trip to Vienna tomorrow morning. We are going in a friend's car, so we have the luxury of not being restricted by space and weight.

It's a pity we can't bring our cats, Chloe and Elliot, along with us, but since our friends, Kim and Aaron, are bringing their four, plus Arthur the corgie, along, it wasn't possible. We hate leaving the cats as they are older now, fourteen, and each get a pill a day (one for kidneys, one for hyperthyroid). We have also, since living in Europe, spent every Christmas away from them, and that has spoiled our tradition of all sleeping on the floor in front of the Christmas tree on Christmas Eve. They sleep with us anyway, but think it's great when we are at their level and they can just tromp all over us at will!

So, Vienna! We are only driving part way tomorrow, to Nürnburg. This is a beautiful old city and having all been through it before, we wanted to stop again. We will have time to go to the Christmas Market there as well as Mike and Aaron's favourite comic book store in the world, so it will all be worthwhile. Additionally, there is the "oldest Bratwurst restaurant in the world" there, founded in 1419 and still going strong: Zum Gulden Stern, so the boys will undoubtably have to get their fill. I did it last year and probably still am processing the grease, so will give it a miss!

I will endeavour to make some sort of regular posts while we are gone, but the flat we're staying in does not have a connection, so I can't promise anything. A very happy, safe, and joyous holiday season to you all.

Cleaning Silver

I'm sharing a tip for cleaning silver that works so well I could see the change! Tom Kelley is a Chemistry teacher at ASH and shared this tip with the staff. Mike knew I'd be interested and forwarded it home to me. Without further ado, I went into the kitchen, gathered up my silver teaspoons that I've been eying warily for the past week or so and tossed them into the silver bath.

I don't really mind cleaning silver the old-fashioned way, with a tub of Twinkle (how old-fashioned can that actually be, come to think of it??) and a little elbow grease, but thought I'd see if this really was as easy as it sounded. It was! I'm just sorry I didn't take a 'before' photo, because there really is an impressive difference in the spoons. The other advantage, the first being time-saving, is that several of my spoons have intricate motifs and the bath got right into all the little nooks and crannies and cleaned them out too! When I rinsed the spoons off and dried them with a soft cloth, some of them had completely changed their wardrobe and new details came to light - literally!

Following is the text of Tom's email, verbatim (can I say that if it's written?) and a photo of my spoons at the end of their bath:

"If you have silver dinnerware or jewelry you wish to clean, this method mimics the one seen on TV from time to time in North America and sold for around 25 dollars.
This is certainly cheaper and is the same thing.

Step 1: Find a glass bowl or baking dish.
Step 2: Line it with aluminum foil.
Step 3: Put the silver jewelry or silverware in the bowl - on top of the foil.
Step 4: Take a large tablespoon of baking soda or washing soda and spread it over the jewelry.
Step 5: Next boil enough water to cover the items in the bowl, pour it over the jewelry.

Wait about fifteen minutes and remove the items and rinse them in cold water.

The results? beautiful shiny jewelry you'll be proud to wear. The smell of rotten eggs is normal as you are making hydrogen sulfide from the silver sulfide on the silver items. Silver sulfide is tarnish.

I always find that I have to wipe off the silver items with a paper towel as well.
Tom Kelley"

Damn, it's Cold!

As I sit here, I'm sipping hot tea and wearing a big sweater. No, the heaters in the house still work fine, I'm just trying to get warm again after going riding this morning. It's not that it's so very cold, especially compared to places I've lived before, but it's misty, and that mist seems to have worked its way right into my bones. We had a good frost last night and the temperature currently stands at about 2 degrees C (low 30s F), so there are slippery spots and crunchy grass.

When I set out for the horse this morning, I put on long undies, a turtleneck, thick Irish sweater, under a fleece-lined windbreaker. I was warm as long as I was active (biking, mucking out the stall, etc.) but sitting on a walking horse is not so active and the chill crept up my legs and started working on my core. So, we'd speed up to trots and gallops, but since I didn't want a sweaty horse, I had to ration the faster speeds and so would cool off again. Biking home saw me mostly warm, but my feet had completely given up the fight, so now I'm well bundled while I type.

Mike just asked if I wanted to accompany him to his local bar where he will be doing some grading. I told him I had everything I needed right here - already paid for, plus a more comfortable chair - and that I didn't really plan on going back outside today. Honestly, the house is warm, the cats are here and ready to sit on people and purr, my preference of beverages is at my disposal, and I couldn't be more pleased. I related all this to Mike and then asked if he was still planning to go. He laughed, but has not yet given me an answer. He is home early (2:30pm) by the way, because he's giving finals this week and was finished at 1:30 today.

One reason we have pretty much everything I might want in-house is due to the Holiday Drinks party we had on Sunday afternoon. We realized the weekend before that we were running out of time if we wanted to have folks over before everyone splits for all corners of the globe (isn't that an impossible statement? Globes don't have corners!). So we sent out invites and had 16-18 people show up and keep us company.

I actually planned ahead and knew what I wanted to make and serve, so the shopping was done as well as some of the make-ahead type things (hummous, tapenade, bean dip) on Friday. On Saturday, while Mike was a white tornado of cleaning action in the house, I did the rest of the munchables and we bought things like bread and final touches that were overlooked previously.

A slideshow of previous winter photos from our collection was on the computer, as was a playlist of holiday music. Candles were lit, wine was mulled (which we as hosts thought was awful, but came out a draw in the opinions of guests who tried it), and the eggnog came together nicely, albeit I might want a larger bowl next time around! I used a recipe for the eggnog from Mike's mom, Pat Flaim, and boy was it rich...eggs, heavy cream, whiskey, brandy, AND rum, and not much else. Potential for serious impairment there. I can say with confidence that Mike is extremely happy that there were several helpings worth of leftover nog and he plans to enjoy it all week. He, by the way, just left for the bar, so I guess I didn't sell the comforts of home quite well enough!

The gathering and attendees was great, we realize anytime we do this that we really have terrific friends and like to be around them. It was a mix of ages and nationalities, including Americans, Canadians, Australians, British, Dutch, and Serbian. Most of these folks work at the school with Mike, but a couple were friends from 'outside of ASH' or were partners of ASH teachers, but not working there themselves and so it was a nice mix. We might just have to make it an annual thing. I do need to make special mention of Marilyn because she wanted to know what she could do to make special mention in this blog. Since she said, more than once, that the mulled wine tasted "fine" to her, had some eggnog, and enjoyed the brownies, I think she constitutes a perfect guest! However, since everyone who came claimed similar achievments, I will do a quick run-through of names. Thanks for coming: Kim and Aaron, Todd and Vu, Marilyn and Geoff, Jennifer, Bill, Vesna, Ron and Rochelle (additional thanks for the wine-warming crock pot), Karen and Mike, Paul and Laurie, and Hans! You are appreciated, have a wonderful holiday season!

Giving Credit Where it's Due

It occurs to me always at the times when I am not at the computer - on a horse, on a bike, lying in bed in the middle of the night - that I owe a "Thank You" to someone and I haven't given it yet. I mentioned in one of my first postings that I was inspired to write this blog as a result of reading Marianne Love's several-years-strong blog discussing life and times in North Idaho, where Mike and I previously lived (and I went to high school).

Marianne was my Grade 10 English teacher in 1984-85 and I was grateful to have her. I'd just moved to Sandpoint from B.C. and needed all the help and humour I could get to fit in to this new school and new country. She's remained someone constant as I came and went from Sandpoint over the years and always was a friendly face and a great teacher. So there's a thank you for all of the water under the bridge, but also for a more recent event.

I wrote to Marianne when I began this blog last month and, after watching me successfully post 2-3 times, she "outed" me in her blog. This is a bit daunting because she has quite a following due to being a successful author and just because you know a lot of people after teaching for so long and being such a social person. The words she wrote in that posting were wonderful and I, and Mike, realize we have a good friend and supporter in Marianne, so THANK YOU! Here, if you are interested in seeing why we have slightly larger heads than normal, is the link to her posting: Slight Detour: The Flaims of my life

While I'm at it, I also need to thank her for the delicious apple jelly that came along to Denver last month, hand carried by Mike's sister Geraldine. In addition, the book, Lessons with Love, it's very personal inscription, and the jelly, all took Mike and I right back to Sandpoint, and that's a treat!

We realize on a regular basis what wonderful people are in our lives, and we cherish them all!

The Brightness of Life

I'm sitting in the late (3:30pm) afternoon sunshine, squinting as I write. Yes, I am still in the Netherlands, but we have been granted a reprieve and the sun is blazing today. The reason it's in my eyes is because we are far enough north at 53 degrees that the sun has a pretty flat trajectory across the sky. In another hour, it will have set and a winter's night set in. It reminds me of when I was growing up in British Columbia, Canada - during the week, my brothers and I would leave the house for school in the dark and by the time we were home again, in the afternoon, it was dark again. I only ever saw my horse and our beautiful surroundings by daylight on the weekends during the mid-winter time. However, these are wonderful memories because it also marked the time approaching for the winter holidays, skiiing, and lots of snow. I also knew that when I went back to school after Christmas, the days would be just a teensy bit longer and summer was on its way! I don't have quite the same situation here, since we live on the North Sea, we rarely get snow, and I find that I really am missing the sunshine by the time spring and summer arrive. The Dutch call this the "Winter Dip" and since they all know what this means, I can tell it's a real issue here. My solution is to have the blankets handy to curl up with, I light votive candles in warm-coloured glass holders and when the sun is out, I ENJOY it! Keeping up with a running routine really helps my frame of mind too.
This past Friday, 5 December, saw a winter tradition that the Dutch are very fond of. Historically, Dutch people didn't celebrate Christmas as they had this feast instead, the feast of SinterKlaas. This does not translate to Santa Claus, because this is a unique individual. "Sint" as he is fondly referred to, was the patron saint of Turkey and now is rumoured to spend most of the year in Spain (which really does sound more welcoming than the North Pole to be honest, but lacks a certain mystery all the same). In about mid-November, he arrives, by boat, to the Netherlands. He is accompanied, and this is the part that many expats have difficulty with, by several Zwarte Piets. This translates as "Black Pete" and they are historically Moors, Sint having come from Spain. The unfortunate thing now, however, is that in the 60's or so, the Dutch realized that this didn't work too well in modern-world view, so instead of Piet being a Moor, he is now only black because he came down the chimney before Sint (I should mention that Sint is dressed in long, white robes, and wears a pope-like mitre on his head. He also has a long white beard and rides a white horse, called Amerigo). As a result, there is now perceived to be no problem with the fact that Dutch people all over the country dress up in black face, with red lips, a black wig and a colourful costume (that somehow did not get sullied coming down the chimney...). At any rate, these are Sint's helpers and run around with gunny sacks filled with sweets for the children. Again, in prior times, children were told the sacks held switches and if they didn't behave, Piet would beat them, stuff them in the sack, and take them back to Spain! Small wonder we've talked to a few people here that grew up having a distrust of any black person they saw until they were old enough to work through the trauma.
On to the rest of the tradition. Sint is given a list of children and what they've been up to before showing up at their homes to hand out gifts. Associated with this day are letters made of chocolate that are given out to correspond with one's first name. Clever poems are written about family members or friends, usually with a sly and humourous twist, and kruidnoten and peppernoten (both a gingerbready flavoured small cookie) are baked. Children put out one of their shoes for Sint to fill with gifts and next to these, is hay and maybe an apple or carrot for Sint's horse. The weeks leading up to 5 December therefore are full of yummy treats and strange sights in the streets and give a definite atmosphere of, "We're not in Kansas anymore". As an addendum to the somewhat pejorative story about Zwarte Piet, our friend Hans told us on Friday night that in the 1800s the story about the Piets was changed by a schoolteacher trying to instill discipline in his classroom (hence the Piets being seen since then as I mentioned above). In fact, prior to this teacher, the legend had it that Sint had liberated the Piets from slavery by buying their freedom and this was why they chose to accompany him. In all, a better story to tell the children, certainly in modern times, than some malarkey about being sooty from the chimney which simply implies they are only smudged white people!
Since Mike and I don't have kids - the cats don't count in this instance, we joined three other childless friends for a food and movie night in The Hague. Hans (Dutch) hosted, Bill (British), Lisa (Italian / American), and Mike and I ate ourselves silly, and stayed up til the early hours watching movies. In the spirit of Sinterklaas, we were to bring our movie choice wrapped so it was secret, and have food relating to the day. Mike brought tapas (Spain), Bill the chocolate letters, Hans had paella, Lisa was creative and brought frozen "Piet-za" as a nod to her Italian upbringing and a nice play on Zwarte Piet's name. I made split pea soup for a Dutch contribution. All in all, it was a great evening, until Mike and I hopped on our bikes for the 40 minute ride home and it was not only 3:00am, but raining quite hard. Our bed feels so good to get into at times like this!!
The sun is now gone, although it's still light, but the photo at the top of this post, courtesy of my computer, shows me squinting at the start of the email.

A busy past week

I feel remiss for the gap in posting, but Mike and I were zipping around on airplanes this past week. We took off last Wednesday from Amsterdam and, going via Memphis, landed in Denver at 9:00pm that same day. We were collected by Mike's sister Geraldine and her husband Jim, and we drove straight to Mike's folk's, (Pat and Lou) house in Littleton. Even though it was late by that time, we needed to say hi and give and receive hugs before heading off to the hotel where we were staying (along with Jim and Gers). Normally, we would have stayed with Pat and Lou, but they were pretty full as it was since Pat's brother Dennis, his wife Linda, and their three grown sons, Devin, Kelly, and Keegan, were in the house, and my parents, brother and nephew were using the facilites there while staying in a tent trailer in the driveway! Equally full were Mike's other sisters and their families, as their children and Jim and Gers' kids were there, for a total of 8 in Meg and Mike's house, and 7 in Paula and Joe's!
Thanksgiving was a wonderful day, full of people (32 in total sitting down to dinner), food, and most of all, family. Mike and I were a little on the tired side, mostly because we hadn't slept all that well after landing on Wednesday night, but hung in there and enjoyed our selves to the fullest. When we got a little sleepy, we mustered a group for a walk around the neighbourhood in the fresh air.
On Friday, we did a little shopping at Aspen Grove, a nice little shopping centre around the corner from Pat and Lou's place and were pleased at the lack of day-after-Thanksgiving crowds. Most of the stores only had one or two other groups inside, and some had none at all. The Apple Computer store was another story, but not terrible all the same. I shudder to think about the mentality in people waiting all night for a superstore to open, then checking their humanity at the door and allowing a tragedy to happen, resulting in the death of the Walmart clerk in New York. Good Heavens.
Friday afternoon saw the clan reassemble at Meg and Mike's house to host a 40th Birthday bash for Mike (it was a day early since Jim and Gers and kids had to drive back to Sandpoint on Saturday). In addition to the Thanksgiving crowd, several others dropped by to spend some time with the families and so it was another festive gathering. After a great dinner of roasted pork, our host sat down at the piano and the singing began. I have always been a little in awe of my in-laws and their musicality, and this brought that back to me. I almost never sing along because I get so much pleasure from listening to the talent all around me. There were many holiday carols sung, as well as some show tunes, with a "special" performance by Pat and Dennis: a reprise of their childhood, when they performed "Surrey with a Fringe on Top". Terrific stuff! When the evening wound down, we opened the door to discover the snow falling fast and building up on the ground. The children, and some adults, charged out and started flinging it in every direction. Christopher, coming from Southern California, was absolutely thrilled, and was just running around with both arms in the air, what joy.
Saturday morning we awoke to a white world and clear skies that lasted long enough for us to snap a couple of nice pictures. We said good-bye to Gers and Jim, Chris, Mike, Beth, and Kate, and wished them a safe 17-hour drive back to Sandpoint (they were stopping for the night in Bozeman). Mike, Mom and I then took a trip to the Barnes and Noble bookstore nearby so that Mike and I could get some books we'd been wanting. Books are so spendy in the Netherlands that we try to wait and buy them when we're in the States, not only are they cheaper by about 1/2, but we also benefit from the exchange rate!
The rest of Saturday was pretty relaxed, the troops gathered at Pat and Lou's, so we didn't have to go anywhere and got the majority of our packing done. On this night, we slept on the floor at Mike's folks, since we had an early start and wanted to spend the time with them. Everyone enjoyed an all-American meal of hot dogs and hamburgers and some leftovers from the previous two days, and sat around enjoying one another's company. It was a really nice 4 days, full of the feeling that tv tries to express when it bottles up holiday emotions and sends them out. It's times like this that are why Mike and I have always said that Thanksgiving is our favourite holiday, there is not the commercialism attached to Christmas and it is soley about sharing a meal with family and giving thanks. We had that in spades and are very thankful.
We flew out Sunday morning and after a long time sitting, arrived home at 6:30am on Monday. Mike came home, showered and went off to teach all day. How he managed it, I have no idea, but then he slept a little more than I on the plane, so that probably helped. Now it's 2.5 weeks until he has another break, this time for 3 weeks, at Christmas - the holiday season is well under way! As I type this I'm pleased to look out the window and see snow falling. It's wet and won't last, but it has kept me company and revived the feeling we had last weekend in the snow with our families.

(A note on the photos, they are in reverse order since they seem to prefer uploading that way, so please realize the snow did not arrive first, but last!)

Mike's b-day cake: "Bungsu" means "Youngest" in Indonesian, where Mike spent 7 years with his three older sisters and parents. The Tonka truck on the cake is a nod to me, because for reasons unknown, my nickname has been 'Tonka' for as long as I can remember!

Dennis and sister Pat enacting 'Surrey with the Fringe on Top' to general hilarity

Mike H plays the piano while Keegan, Sue, Joe, Paula, and Gers with Kristen's daughter play out the words

A black and white effect of a full colour day

Beautiful sun in the morning after a snow.

The Thanksgiving Feasting

More or less the entire group having dinner

Pegg family photo

Pre-dinner walk: Mike H., Monica with Dad's dog Gretel, Linda, Gers, Dennis, Meg

Mike mastering the oven.

Surviving the Blustery Weekend

It's Monday again and another weekend has slipped past. Actually, this one more blew past than slipped, and that is due to the big storm we had, beginning on Thursday evening. I had a feeling that Friday would be a windy ride on the bike down to ride Maroz, but I was taken off guard a couple of times and nearly brought to a standstill. It's not a fun feeling to be always bracing for a gust of wind that might be the one that finally tips me into the ditch! However, all's well that ends well and I made it down to the stable safely.

Maroz was unimpressed, to say the least, with my plan of riding out into the dunes, but I assured him that it was good for both of us and so out we went. Poor fellow, there were times when walking a straight line was a challenge if the wind was hitting him broadside! The clouds were whipping by overhead, and there was no rain, so it wasn't really a bad ride, but we didn't stay out more than an hour all the same. Maroz was delighted to be back in his stall and munching on his lunch, while I anticipated a zippy ride home since I'd had the wind in my face on the way down.

Interestingly, revoltingly, that was not the case...the wind decided I needed more of a workout and had switched directions to keep me company all the way back. Up to a point, I can keep reasonably upbeat and think about the workout I'm getting, but I have my limits and Friday saw me hit that. I looked at the weather report later and saw that we had 40-55 kph (25-35 mph) gusts. One interesting moment was while I was riding along on the bike and a drift of leaves was blowing along with me. While still on a straight stretch of the road, there came toward me another drift of leaves, causing a mild confusion in my mind as to just what exactly was going on with all the invisible currents around me!

I arrived home to a scene of mild chaos on my front step - the change of wind directions had finished off COMPLETELY my plants that had done so well all summer and autumn. So, fushia, begonias, and impatiens were all uprooted and they, their dirt, and a mixer of rain water were all swirled around in the area of my front door. That was about the last straw (add to all this that I was pretty hungry and you'll have a fair idea of my mood) and I came into the house, called Mike and declared I was never going outside again!

Of course, I didn't mean it, and the wind did eventually die down, but it sure was impressive while it lasted. Later on Friday afternoon, just after Mike got home from school, the heavens opened up and poured: Friday night, all day Saturday, snow on Sunday that didn't really stick and then more rain all Sunday night. Now there is sunny skies, but we earned them!

Yesterday, Sunday, we were invited to a friend's house in Amsterdam. Jennifer is Canadian and hadn't been able to celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving (1st Monday in October) because people were out of town. She made up for that yesterday and we enjoyed a delicious feast with her and several others. I think Mike and I did ourselves proud getting our tummies in shape for this Thursday when we will have American Thanksgiving. Way to go, Team! The fact it was snowing outside added enormously to the whole feel of the feast and we had a thoroughly wonderful time. Thank you for being such a wonderful hostess, Jenn!

In just under two days, Mike and I hop on the airplane for our whirlwind trip to Denver, I'm finally thinking about what I should actually pack, while Mike has had his list done and things set out for days already! We are not checking any luggage, so with airline restrictions and such, it's a bit of a challenge to get it all in. The fact we are going to be surrounded by family who can lend us practically anything we might need makes it easier. I mainly hope I don't forget any of the little tidbits we are bringing along for gifts! Tomorrow sees me back on the horse in the morning, then running a few errands around town in the afternoon. I will meet Mike at school on Wednesday in the late morning as we head up to the airport. Oh boy!!

The riding path through the dunes, a protected area separating the populated areas from the North Sea.

Maroz and his shadow rider

A Hague Day

Mike and I are meeting in The Hague this afternoon when he gets finished with school. I'm going down earlier for a hair cut and to have a bit of a wander. Since we are leaving next Wednesday for Denver, we have some shopping to do that will save us having to pay overseas shipping costs for Christmas packages. We have a couple ideas, but we need to do some prowling in and out of stores to get more inspiration. As for the haircut, I haven't had one since June, so it's high time!

I'm hoping it's not going to storm on us while we are en route or out and about, but it's entirely possible when you look at all the clouds moving around. These photos were just taken from our living room window, so you'll get an idea of what I'm talking about! As a description of what else you're seeing besides clouds from our window, across the street we have a grocery store called Albert Heijn (pronounced "Hine"), as well as a row of shops comprising a pharmacy, bakery, Renault car dealer, and a computer shop. Above all of these places of business are apartment buildings - the Dutch are experts at conserving space! Our own building is made up of a ground level of shops (drugstore and a Chinese restaurant), then two levels of 5 apartments each. We are on the top, at the end furthest from the street, so the canal you see in the first photo runs beside our building. The Plein in front of our building has a nice little flower shop as well. All this, combined with the local bus route going past our front door, gives us a lot of amenities. Since we don't have a car, that is very nice!

We live so close to the North Sea, the weather is changeable here, to say the least. Add to that the fact the Netherlands doesn't have much in the way of geographical obstructions to wind, and you get a windy climate with weather that sneaks up on you in a hurry! I predict that my bike ride to The Hague will be into a strong headwind, but at least I know the ride home will involve a lot less effort! I will also be taking along my rain gear, just in case. I've noticed an interesting phenomenon here: if I take rain gear or an umbrella, I frequently end up NOT using it; however, if I go without, or heaven forbid, wear sunglasses, then it's sure to rain on me! An uneasy balance is achieved when I have rain gear AND sunglasses...I think that really buffaloes things and the weather just sort of roils around, but never actually arrives at doing anything!

This week is low key for us, Mike's trying to get all caught up and planned ahead so he doesn't have to worry about anything while we're on our whirlwind 4-day trip to the States. His school has next Thursday and Friday off for American Thanksgiving, so we are flying out on Wednesday afternoon and returning very early on Monday. Mike is turning 40 on Saturday, the 29th and his family is all gathering in Denver, where we will meet them. It's a bit of a luxury trip, but it's our favourite holiday and how often does a guy turn 40? My parents are meeting us there as well, as is my brother, Brendan and his son, Christopher. At last count, there will be 33 people for Thanksgiving dinner...!!! It will be great and just what the holiday should be about! Coming back will be the challenge, as we land at 06:30 in the morning and then Mike gets to go to teach all day. I really appreciate not having to report to a specific job at times like this!

Oh, Monday

It's a blustery Monday afternoon here, the wind making the trees really hang on to the last of their leaves. It rained most of the morning and at noon, I even had to turn on the living room light because it was feeling more like twilight than lunchtime. Now the rain has stopped and the clouds are a bit higher, but the wind is still hammering away outside. Mike just called as he was walking out of school for the day and said it may take him an hour to bike home against the wind (FYI, we live a 6 minute bike ride from ASH, so he might have been exaggerating a bit). The plan was then to go for a run together, but we have scaled it down to a walk, figuring that we'll get a decent workout walking into the wind. At least it's not too cold, only about 11-12 degrees Celsius (50-50 degrees Farenheit).

We had a nice weekend, mostly sunny and the opportunity to spend time with good friends. On Saturday, Mike biked up to Leiden to watch football (aka soccer) with Mike and Karen, I chose to stay home since A) I don't like watching football, and B) we were going out to The Hague in the evening and I had some stuff I wanted to get done at home, including making a yummy garlic and fennel bisque we would have for dinner. Our outing in the evening was a mellow and nicely conversational time with Bill and Hans and we vowed to try and make it more of a regular occurrence. It probably helped that we were in a cozy little bar, known as a Brown Bar here because it serves only beer and wine and has a natural wood decor. There was music piped in, but not so loud that we couldn't hear each other speak, and it wasn't packed full of people, so we had space to sit down and relax.

On Sunday, we had a nice sleep-in and then a leisurely morning. Mike needed to pick up some papers from school, so I proposed we take a longer walk and stop by there on our way home. It was a nice day, we went by the farm I like so much because of its goat population (they even charmed me on demand by making goat sounds...it's not baa like a sheep, what is the English equivalent?). We came to school and the gate was closed, at which time Mike said, "I guess it opens at 1:00 on Sundays, not 12:00. So, we kept on going and ended up back home. A relaxed afternoon, reading and watching some TV and then I made a white bean and chicken chili for dinner - also yummy.

The first blog of the rest of my life

Hi there.
Well this is a new thing for me, so we'll see how it goes. I've been inspired by my former high school English teacher, Marianne Love, who has been blogging for several years. I always enjoy reading her posts because they have a way of taking me back to Sandpoint (Idaho) and reminding me what a unique place it is. I will try to do justice to Marianne's teachings all those years ago (she taught me Grade 10 English in 1984-85).

It's a Friday evening and the plans Mike and I had have been postponed until tomorrow night. These involved riding our bicycles down to The Hague, about a 40 minute ride, to meet up with friends to toast the U.S. President-elect. However, since only one friend was going to be able to make it, we decided to wait until our toast held a little more weight. The place we were (and hopefully still will) to meet is called de Paas (www.depaas.nl) and is a great little beer café selling over 400 brands of beer. I don't think the plan involves toasting with each beer...

Last night and today were parent-teacher conferences for Mike at school (www.ash.nl), so he was done at noon today. He and a buddy headed to The Hague for a separate café trip while I was out riding a horse (more on that presently). Mike's comments about last night's 30 or so parents who came in were positive; all bar one set came in to say how pleased they were with their child's progress in Economics - what Mike happens to be teaching this year. I don't know about this morning's group, but one assumes they thought him equally as wonderful.

As I wrote above, I was out riding at the time and very pleased that it was neither raining, nor too cold, nor a howling gale. Instead, Maroz (the horse) and I enjoyed ourselves in November (read: weak) sunshine, galloping around the dunes separating his stable from the North Sea coast. A 25 minute bike ride home and now I'm relaxing in front of the computer.

Just so you know, bike riding is a big part of our lives here as we don't own a car. We made that decision when we first moved here and have rarely regretted it. We did own a car for about 6 months, but found the excessive traffic and high (Dad tells me the price of gasoline is higher here than anywhere in Europe, though I don't know his source on this, it sounds plausible) costs for gasoline, insurance, road tax, etc., etc. made the decision to sell an easy one. The few times we've really needed a car, we rent one for a day or a week and that seems to work just fine. Of course, the next time I'm out and it's a torrential downpour and my rainsuit springs a leak, I won't be singing the praises of biking, but for now I'll act all noble and environmentally in charge of my own life.

I think this is as good a start as any for a blog, so I'll leave it at that for today.
Tot ziens!