Topsy Turvy

Of course, this morning I awoke to clear skies, bright sunshine, and what appears to be low wind. Wouldn't you know it?! Oh well, I'm sure that experiences like yesterday's build character...or something.

Our living room is a bit chaotic at the moment. Mike has next week off of school - the February 'Break' being standard in many international schools, and is taking a group of 20 students to Tanzania for a service learning trip. As a result, he's packing and organizing his things and so the living room bears the brunt of all this. He will be accompanied by three other adults and they leave tomorrow morning, missing the final two days of school this week. Mike did this same trip last year and since the teacher-coordinator who had been in charge is retiring, she asked Mike if he'd be interested in taking over.

It's a tremendous experience for all involved, they fly into the town of Moshe (pronounced "Moe-shee"), located near Mt. Kiliminjaro. There is an international school there and that becomes their home base for the trip. While in Africa, they will be working several days at a local Tanzanian school, preparing the foundations for a new classroom to be built. That is the morning activity. In the afternoons, Mike's group will be visiting an orphanage and helping out in any way they are able, whether reading to the children or heavier work. The children at the orphanage are aged 0-5.

The last couple of days they have in the country will include camping on the rim of the Ngorongoro Crater and then going down in on a photo safari. Mike's impressions of this from last year are still vivid and he said he'd never seen anything like it in his life. The variety of wildlife, the immensity of the Crater, and, in spite of many safari vehicles, the wildness of it all were amazing. His pictures showed everything from cheetah cubs with their mother, to hyenas resting after gorging on a buffalo carcass, to a sea of pink on a lake where flamingoes were resting. Truly a different world, and one which, thanks to his job here at ASH, he has the opportunity to visit.

I have a couple of last-minute purchases to make for him today, so I'll be outside in this lovely sunshine, but I'll be wishing for the warmth Mike'll be getting while in Africa! While he's off on his working adventure, I'm staying put, keeping warm with the cats and taking care of Maroz. I would love to visit Africa and do some of these things with him, but I prefer to wait until we can go for longer and set our itinerary with a bit more freedom. In the meantime, I will hope for his safe travels and that he brings back many new stories and photos for me to share!

Determination

I'm home again, though a little worse for the wear. I needed to go see Maroz (Tuesday being a regular day for this) and since there is only one viable option for getting there, I kitted up in rain gear and headed down on my bike.

Before I continue, I realize that I haven't properly introduced my bike, and since it is a fairly constant feature in these postings, let me correct that lapse. Here it is:
"Gazelle" is a popular Dutch brand of bicycle, and mine is now 1 1/2 years old. It has 8 speeds, disk brakes, shocks on the front forks and seat, and a battery-free, automatic headlight.
It is heavier than two of my mountain bike (which I'm told is a tank), so pedaling up hills is a real pain. Luckily, there are few hills other than in the dunes, but cycling with the wind is another matter. (Some days, I think the only thing keeping me on the ground in strong wind is the weight of this bike!) If the wind is behind me, all is great, I often wonder why the bikers going the other way look so miserable and go so slowly. Then I turn a corner and realize that the wind has been an ally up to now.

That's what happened on my trip down to the stable, the wind was a suggestion, but I had a feeling that would change. It was raining also, so it was just as well I'd taken the time to put on all the waterproof stuff. I saw, the longer I was at the stable, the more the rain looked like it was mixing with snow, which told me that it was colder than I'd thought on the ride down. Hmmm. Well, I couldn't hide out at the stable all day, but I was in no way looking forward to my return journey - the only positive factor being that home waited with dry clothes and hot showers!

Sighing inwardly, I set out. The first thing I realized is that the wind is blowing in a gusty way, so there is no regular force to lean into, but one that lets up and swirls around to buffet you from a new direction. Ick. The second thing I realized was that the semi-frozen rain hurt while it was being flung into my face. So I put my head down and just mentally told myself it would be an upleasant 25 minute ride home. It was, especially since 1/2 there, my boots gave up being waterproof (and I'm using that term with a lot of irony) and so my feet began getting colder and wetter. By the end of the ride, I felt like they were enclosed in two little water balloons.

I also noticed as I slogged along, that the air was perfumed with a smell not unlike rotten eggs or sewage. Oh great, have we had so much rain that now the sewers are backing up? Or is it just the canal slime getting stirred up and rising to the surface (trust me, that really stinks). Hard to say, but it kind of suited the whole mood of the ride. My one ray of light was that my bike didn't break down or get a flat, then forcing me to push it the rest of the way home (remember the water balloons?). Arriving back at our apartment building, I wheeled my trusty steed into the lobby where it lives and realized the final indignity, my rain trousers are losing integrity...in the seat. Sigh (outwardly this time). So, I got upstairs, feeling like a child that couldn't quite make it to the facility in time and decided to begin my day all over again.

This means I am now sitting in flannel jammie bottoms, turtleneck, and drinking hot tea. At least I'm home, something the cats clearly wonder why I'd ever leave in the first place. I'm beginning to wonder too! By the way, Hallie, I know you're laughing at this, so I just hope you get landed with a few more freckles as a result of the warm sunshine you'll be in next week! There, sweet revenge...or not.

From this, you can see the overhang in front of our kitchen window; it's about 1 1/2 meters deep. That means the rain hitting the glass halfway up is really getting blown around.

What this photo doesn't show is the 45 degree slant to the rain, as well and the snowflakes mixed in and the gusts that probably make it more of 55 degrees of slope...bleh!

Good Intentions

I truly did mean to post something yesterday, but in the end I just...forgot to. It wasn't even that yesterday was such a busy day, after all, Sundays shouldn't be busy, but that Mike and I just sort of lazed away the late afternoon / evening and I awoke this morning and realized I'd already broken my resolution of writing something every day. Oh well, I'll start again today and see how long I make it!

Of course, I also awoke this morning telling myself I needed to get out for a run, since that didn't happen yesterday either. I was dressed in the appropriate gear, then sat down to check a couple of things on the computer and.... Next thing I knew, I was hungry and that put an end to any plans of outdoor activity. Rats! I did manage an epically long, hot shower, so I feel good about that...but I suppose it doesn't count, not really. May I just say in defense of long, hot showers, I love the fact that we, and most of Europe, have hot water on demand. What that means precisely is that there is always hot water, even if you have 10 people showering ahead of you, the water will be as piping hot as if you were the first person in. I really don't think I can ever return to hot water tanks and that horrible feeling when you realize the water is beginning to cool off and you still have to rinse your hair. Ugh. And Brrr!

I'm next off to the grocery store, since it's not open in our little town on Sundays and we are short of staples. I really try not to shop on Saturdays because that's when everyone is shopping and the store is a zoo. Sometimes I don't make it in on Fridays either due to being with Maroz at the stable, so by today, we usually need things from the dairy and bread sections at least. It's also laundry day, so my radiators will be festooned with drying clothes soon (the washing machine is in its final throes of spinning - sounding like a jet preparing to take off). We actually do have a clothes dryer, but I hate how much energy it uses - please don't mention the irony of this comment vis-á-vis my long shower energy useage, I make choices in my life - and the radiators dry the clothes faster anyway and they are already 'on', keeping me and the cats warm on winter days.

There likely won't be much biking, if any, today, since many shops are closed on Monday due to being open on Saturday, so I'll have to go for a walk or something to get some exercise in. Not the best start to a new week, but I have every expectation that it will still be a good one! I leave you will a couple of cat photos I took the other day when they were looking particularly cat-like.

Chloe finds sunny corners like this and then lines up all four feet in the most precise way. From her look, she seems to be daring me to question why that would be anything but normal.

Clearly, Elliot thought I might have some food I'm about to drop to him, if you listen carefully, you'll hear him asking in a not-so-subtle way.

Continuing sunny

Happily, the mellow weather from yesterday afternoon didn't completely disappear during the night. It didn't get as warm today, but the sun was out and not too much wind for our runs or our ride up to Leiden this afternoon. I notice the bird life seeming more numerous, certainly the cow pastures along where we run have a lot of swans. The swans stay here all winter but they seem to be looking more like settling in preparation for cygnets arriving in the spring. We have a couple of mating pairs that we've observed over the years and it's nice to see them continuing to produce offspring; I think one pair had nine young last year, those parents have to be pretty good watchers with that many!

Our bike ride to Leiden was uneventful, though we did see a couple photo-worthy items, so Mike used his phone and took the following shots. Enjoy and may your weekends be sunny too!

Click on the photo so it gets bigger and you will see a cute little pony getting its exercise.

Who knew my bikes' tires were so big, but the shadow seems to indicate I'm on one of those turn of the last century two-wheelers!

This is a nice area for biking, walking, jogging, horse riding, etc., no motorized vehicles other than the occasional scooter goes through here.

Just a random canal in Leiden, but someone's going to have a hard time getting their boat mobile again!

A Hint of Spring?

I wouldn't have thought so this morning, because when I got up it was raining, pretty heavily, and the temp was just above freezing. Biking down to the stable to take care of Maroz had me reasonably bundled up, but the bike ride warmed me up and the rain had stopped, so I was feeling pretty good. Good became better because I ended up with no hat or gloves for the ride home - I was just too warm with them on! When I had cleaned up, had a quick bite and headed back out, I was amazed at the softness in the air. It was a feeling like the cold had been making a fist and today it got a cramp and just had to stretch and opened right up.

The softness could almost be considered warmth as the sun was out too and the temps were up to 9 C (50 F). What a change in one day! It really had me studying the ground, looking for the first crocus coming up, because that will mean that the Netherlands is about to explode with flowers everywhere, and that is really something to look forward to! I know I haven't been taking photos lately, it's just been so gray that I haven't had the urge, but when the flowers start, I will be sure to post LOTS of pictures. I've even seen daffodils growing in the middle of horse pastures, the flowers, especially those from bulbs, are prolific, to say the least.

Mike and I have a relaxed Friday evening scheduled, leftovers from our nice dinner last night - which was a success - and watching several episodes of House M.D. We are in Season II and still in the thrall of this show, so we are doing some marathon tv watching these winter evenings. Tomorrow will be a Leiden day, Mike loves rugby (played in university) and something called the "6 Nations Cup" (or something) starts tomorrow. We will meet up with a Canadian / Australian couple to watch two (groan) games and get caught up socially. For your information, I always offer to sit with my back to the television since I wouldn't want to take away from anyone who cares the experience of the game!

Let's just hope the weather continues soft and sweet for our ride up and back tomorrow, but I'm pretty sure we'll be packing our rain gear. Just in case.

A Blog a Day..

As far as the title of today's post goes, I figure if I write it down, maybe I'll get better at doing it! Whether it keeps the Doctor or anyone else 'away', is yet to be determined. If I am less random about my postings, maybe it'll allow me to get more of the same randomness out of my head and leave room for the really good thoughts - whatever those may be!

The result of this will be some days where the posting will comprise drivel of the worst sort - is there a good sort of drivel? Oh dear, I've just checked the dictionary and here's what it has to say:

drivel |ˈdrivəl|
noun
silly nonsense : don't talk such drivel!
1 talk nonsense: he was driveling on about the glory days.
2 archaic let saliva or mucus flow from the mouth or nose; dribble.

Well. I like the silly nonsense, it indicates a bit of irreverence, but let's move right past the archaic form of the word!

Today will see me charging around a bit as I coordinate grocery shopping with house tidying in preparation for dinner guests. I know what I need to get accomplished, and thank goodness it's not raining since there's nothing less fun than biking around in the rain and going in and out of shops with ever increasing bags hanging off your arms - can't leave the shopping on the bike like you can with a car after all.

Our guests tonight are a fun and stimulating group, my former head of department (International Relations) from Webster University in Leiden, who is a wonderful man, his partner, and Mike's colleague and head of department (Social Studies) from ASH. The latter's hubby is skiing in France, so she's at a loose end, and while she hasn't met Leonard and Fanny, I have a feeling all will spark well and conversation will be stimulating. In true expat fashion, Leonard is South African, Fanny is Dutch, and Marilyn is American (but who grew up with a military family and lived all over). It's part of the fun of being here, all the mixing of nationalities that goes on.

Mike and I have really come to appreciate that and feel very much at home since we were both raised outside of our home cultures (I realize that this year will see the tipping point for me living more years of my life outside the U.S.A. than in). There is even a special term for 'folks like us', it's called being a Third Culture Kid, and so being creates a bond between others with the same background, regardless of their home culture or where they were raised. It's an interesting topic, at least for Mike and I, and Mike's school really uses the theories when welcoming new students as well as when saying good-bye to those moving on (About 20% of the student body moves on every year).

So we're looking forward to tonight, no doubt there will be some great conversation and thought provoking discussion. On the food front, I'm making a curried butternut squash with honey soup which I've made a few times and which gets good reviews, spinach pie (only with phyllo dough instead of pie crust), Caesar salad, and pears, port, and Stilton cheese for after. Due to some dietary restrictions in the group, I am going kosher and vegetarian in the preparation.

And now, if the shopping is to get done, I need to be on my way!

Breakfast leavings

I'm proud to report that I've finally taken a load of compost to the dump / recycling / compost centre. For a reason I haven't investigated (yet), our building does not have curbside compost pickup like individual houses do around here. So it's up to an individual to a) throw everything away, or b) haul the compost to the refuse centre oneself. I'm one of those people that likes to think that everyone knows that I need something done and so some nice soul will step forward and make an offer to do a disagreeable task for me. Strangely, this happens less often than you would expect. Maybe I need to work on my heavy sighing.

In the winter, it's easy to put off taking the compost away because it's cold out and so the stuff doesn't smell. However, since we have a narrow-ish walkway to our front door, and the compost receptacle sits where anyone coming to our house gets to see it (although it is in a discreet little bin next to our regular garbage), it does need taking away regularly. It adds up more quickly than I'd have thought, I guess it's from all the fruit I go through when I make my breakfast smoothie. It gets heavy too!

I've considered various ways of making this more convenient for myself, even to the point of seriously thinking of lurking near the windows, waiting til I see the compost truck coming along and collecting all the neighbours' green wheelie bins full of compost, then running like mad, arms full of my compost bin, and asking them to pretty-please take it away with them. Somehow, my pride has not allowed me to try this.

So today, I packed down two bags, loaded them in my bicycle panniers, and off I went. Considering it's only a 5 - 6 minute ride, and there is little traffic to interfere with my journey, you wouldn't think it would be such a big deal. I was a little worried since it snowed a little yesterday afternoon and it looks kind of slick out that I might hit an icy patch and go sailing. The visual of myself in the middle of the street, compost all over me (because of course the panniers would rupture and the stuff would break out of its containment), while cars, bikers, and pedestrians looked on in amazement. That really didn't bear thinking about, but it sure kept me watching the road for ice and turning corners somewhat more slowly than normal!

Once at the refuse centre I don't even have to speak Dutch, something I can do in a pinch, but not too gracefully, since I cycle up, gesture to the man in the shed where I'm headed and continue on. What's kind of sad is the pile of kitchen leavings that looks so big to me at home (at least when faced with cycling it somewhere), once deposited on the communal heap, pales to insignificance. What's the big deal? Since I have just returned from doing all this, I can honestly ask myself that question. However, I know that when the next time comes, in just a couple weeks, I'll be working on my heavy sighs again! It's that or quit eating fruit and vegetables. And eggs. And drinking tea. Hmmm.