More winter

Last night a new layer of snow fell, and although the weather was very grey we went out for some sledging, to check out the beach, and to take some pictures. It is a shame most of our winter gear (cross country skis!) is still in France.

Strandslag 7, the dune crossing to the beach

Paula and Dorien on the beach

In the dunes, overlooking The Hague

Dorien is sledging down one of the paths in the dunes

Winter!

It's really winter in Holland. The last few weeks we have been treated to snow, sub-zero temperatures, a bit of ice skating and snow again. The Netherlands came close to a standstill a few times, but luckily we don't have to go further than office, school and stable. The car has been idle for a long time.....

Snow in The Hague, our house is hidden by the big tree

An egret in our garden

Paula is letting Smokey enjoy the snow

Paula, Charlotte and Smokey

The ponies are trying to graze in the park in front of our house

A lot of horse riding

We had another weekend full of horse riding. On Friday Mary went along with the 3 ladies who run the "our" stable, De Wildhoef. They had to go to Woudenberg in the centre of The Netherlands to take some teaching exams, and needed a few victims to act as pupils. They went with 5 horses and 3 pupils, and Mary spend the whole day grooming, riding and chatting. And it happened to be her birthday as well!

In the evening Mary and Paula had their own exam at the stable, the F6 dressage level. Although they had some hiccups during their rides, they both managed to pass. And they can go to the next level!

On Saturday was their regular day of voluntary work at the handicapped stable Madurodam. Paula and Dorien cleaned out the stables, took the horses for some exercise on the beach and helped with the lessons. Mary took a break as her next exam was due in the evening. However, during the day it turned out that due to some administrative mistake by the stable the exam had to be postponed.... Mary found some comfort with Smokey (or Smook), her timeshare horse, that she rode in the paddock to exercise and train him.

The next day it was Dorien's turn, she had to to the F5 level exam. She passed F4 last time and was the only F5 participant. She did very well, better than Paula and Mary, so everyone at the stable was very surprised that she didn't pass. Unfortunately this is a jury sport, and not a straight race to a finish. A disappointing end to a very busy weekend.

Mary and Dwight are ready for their F6 test

Paula and Sixteen are ready as well

Paula is going to give some instructions to Mary and Smook

Dorien and Sixteen looking forward to the F5 ride

A cold bike race

It is winter in Holland, with sub zero temperatures and some snow. This is, apart from our yearly ski holiday, the first real winter experience for the girls. And yes, life just continues! Cycling to school, horse riding and walking the cats in the garden, it is business as usual.

Piet happened to have signed up for a bike race on the beach, Scheveningen-Noordwijk and back. Together with his cycling buddy Renaat he joined some 1000 enthusiasts at Scheveningen Pier, at temperatures around zero, grey skies and a chilly southerly wind. They were sent off, and after a short "run" through soft sand the ride started at the shoreline. It turned out to be a wet (and ultimately a very cold) affair, but with the tailwind Noordwijk was reached in no time. Another drag through soft sand to cross the time check, and back along the beach. Headwind this time, so it was important to find a good group for some shelter. The finish on Scheveningen boulevard was reached after 1 hour 39 minutes, 10 minutes after Renaat and 30 minutes after the winner. As we were soaked we didn't linger, but rushed home for a hot shower and to defrost our toes and fingers!

An impression of the Rabobank Beach Challenge (27th November 2010)

A short visit to Cairo and two new (temporary) family members

Never a dull moment in the Lambregts family.... Mary returned to Cairo to visit our horses and their Egyptian entourage, and to hook up with some of her lady friends. She took the "red eye" flight and arrived at 2 in the morning, and was picked up by Sayed, the stable owner. He dropped her off at Els, where Mary stayed for the first three days. Her days consisted of horse riding, and ... horse riding. She had arranged to ride with her friends at the stable or in the desert, and also for daily horse jumping lessons with Sayed at the Saqqara Country Club. Our horses where in good shape, but had suffered some during the hot summer, being a bit skinny. A good, cooler winter will definitely help them! Weather was perfect, and Mary had many, many hours in the saddle, putting into practise all the "traditional" horse riding lessons she got in Holland.

Mary was received with open arms by Sayed, his family, headgroom Reda and the rest of the village. She could borrow Sayed's car and a phone, has lunch in the stable every day, and stayed in the small apartment in the village for the last 2 nights. After five full, satisfying and tiring days Mary was taken back to the airport by Sayed, with the promise that she will return with the girls next time.

In the mean time, back in stormy, wet and cold The Hague, Piet picked up two Siamese cats from one of his colleagues, who is traveling for 5 weeks. Paula and Dorien will look after them, mainly cleaning the litterbox and associated mess. The cats are living in an apartment, and are not used to go outside; under close supervision we let them out in the garden, which they find very exiting.

The foal Baghour is having fun in the paddock in the village

The village ladies are backing bread

Our new (temporary) family members Maru and Mochi

Autumn break in France

The girls has their autumn break at school, and we decided early on to go back to our house in France. During the summer we (read: Mary) did not get round to do maintenance on our outside wooden stairs and balcony, and there is always some work to do in the garden. But above all we wanted to ride horses, to cycle and to do some hiking, in hopefully nice autumn weather.

Mary drove down by herself the Sunday before, so she had time to sand the stairs and balcony, and varnish them afterwards in dry weather. She hooked up with the neighbours and was allowed to work with the village horse, Swallow, again. Since the summer little had been done with her, so after a few training sessions in our garden Mary took her for some rides in the area, getting her back into shape.

On next Saturday morning Piet and the girls flew into Geneva, where they were picked up by Mary. After our usual stop in Grenoble to shop for some sports gear we arrived at the house. The next few days Paula and Dorien spent a lot of time at Cecile's stable in Mizoen, helping out and riding. They also hooked up with their friend Pauline, who came to our house a few times. We did some work in the garden, picking apples from our trees, and starting some serious trimming on these trees. Cutting the grass, cleaning out some of the ditches and keeping our forest clearing open are some of the regular chores we carried out.

Piet did a few bike rides, he even managed to cycle up Alpe d'Huez (ice on the roads!) in pretty cold weather. There was already some snow on the mountain sides, and frost on the ground in the mornings. On the nicest day of the week we went on a hike towards Lac des Quirlies, in a beautiful valley behind Mizoen. The sheep had been rounded up from the high grazing grounds, and there were many of them around in the fields at the start of the walk. Always fun to mingle with them. We did not reach the lake, but we will try again this summer when we have more time.

On Saturday morning we drove back, as on Sunday Paula and Mary had a riding lesson in The Hague. We didn't notice anything of the strikes in France, with threats of no petrol or blocked highways. We had a smooth ride, and will be back at Christmas!

Lunch at chalet des Quirlies

A sign on the hike to Lac des Quirlies

Lot's of sheep at Les Perrons, in the Ferrand valley

Piet in Utah

Once in a while a good training opportunity lands on Piet's desk, and this year he got invited to attend a geological field trip in Utah. The idea is to go "back to basics", and link observations in the field to the daily work done behind a computer screen, sitting in an office with the nearest rocks hundreds of kilometers away.

A group of 20 geologists met in Salt Lake City, and in 8 days drove east (via Price and Green River) to Moab, which is on of the main outdoor activity centers in the US, surrounded by beautifully exposed, red coloured rocks. During the day (still very hot and sunny in October) we walked around, discussing the rocks, and did some exercises linking these to finding oil and gas (Piet's day job in The Hague). They also visited the famous Canyonlands and Arches National Parks. The evenings were spend having typical American dinners (lot's of meat) in classic places like Ray's, Eddie McStiff and Sundance.

They also had a half day off, and Piet took the opportunity to rent a MTB and explore some of the classic tracks around Moab. It is claimed that mountain biking started here, and as it is one of his passions.....

Walking to an outcrop in Hatch Mesa, Utah

Piet at Delicate Arch, Arches National Park, Moab

Daily routine and a new family member

After our time in France it was back to our daily routine again. The girls started their first full year at the ISH, Paula in year 10, and Dorien in year 8. Paula had to choose a number of subjects, and could drop a few as well (history and drama featuring high on that list!). As part of the IB (International Baccalaureate), secondary education that is recognised all over the world, the girls have to do some hours of community service. Our stable across the road has joint accommodation with an organisation for horse riding for disabled people, and they are always looking for volunteers. Just before the holiday the girls went for an intake interview and after the summer they started. Every Saturday from 8 to 12 o’clock they help cleaning the stables, grooming the horses and helping with the lessons. Many of the disabled riders need help to stay on their horse, or someone holding on to the reins. And when they are lucky they can ride a bit themselves, the horses need proper exercise as well….

Piet has recently moved office. As part of a larger reorganisation his department moved from a grey office complex in the outskirts of Rijswijk to the main office in the centre of The Hague, definitely a step up. He also went on a team building outing in the Belgian Ardennes, where they did some outdoor activities, a cooking clinic and team discussions.

And we got a new family member: Smokey. Mary met a lady, Hanneke, during barbeque at the stable. She was looking for someone to help taking care of her horse. They agreed that Mary would look after this horse, Smokey, every Thursday, and also on other days when required. Mary has started to train him, as they want to do endurance events in the future. Smokey is riding without a bit, and that is something new as well. Mary is very happy with the arrangement and gets along very well with Smokey's owner.

And the first endurance event was held early October, with Mary as groom and photographer.

Smokey and Hanneke during the endurance event

Holiday in France (part III)

The third part of the holiday was pretty straightforward: Paula and Dorien went horse riding at Cecile’s almost every day and Mary worked around the house and garden, while Piet was doing time in the office in The Hague. Cecile had a children’s holiday camp (daytime only) with 20 kids from 3 to 12 years old, and she needed all the help she could get. The (spoken) French of the girls improved again, and Dorien is also managing to chat away happily now. In the garden Mary cleaned out some of the ditches and opened up our natural spring. She also managed to get the antique wardrobe, which she had been restoring over the last few years, from the old part of the house into our bedroom. We had postponed this move many times, as we thought scaffolding was required. However, pure man- and woman power turned out to be sufficient. In between all the work Mary rode several times on the village horse Swallow, taking her on longer trips each time. Afterwards there is always the reward of fresh grass from our garden. Her companions, two sheep, enjoy that snack as well!

Piet’s return started a bad weather week: lots of rain and cool temperatures. We still managed to get in some cycling (Piet) and horse riding, and on one of the nicer days we did another Via Ferrata (see also post of the 8th of August), this one near Alpe d’Huez. The route had an easy and a hard section, which were intertwined, and offers the option of several different combinations. We used our own equipment (we have 2 complete sets now) and just did the easy route, leaving the more difficult parts for next year.

Due to the rain work in the garden was very slow, and we just cleaned up what was already chopped down. We had a huge bonfire again, and filled up the barn with more wood for the fire place. The smaller bits were shredded to wood chips and ended up in Swallow’s stable. After a day of cleaning in and around the house it was back to reality again: we left on Sunday at 5 a.m., had a very smooth ride and arrived back in The Hague after 11 hours in the car: home after a 7 week holiday!

Mary admiring another bonfire

Dorien riding Swallow along the Romanche

Paula and Dorien on the Via Ferrata of Alpe d'Huez

Holiday in France (part II)

The second part of our holiday got going when the girls left for a 5 day horse riding trip, with stable owner Cecile and two other teenage girls. They started from Col d’Ornon and descended to the southwest, arriving back across the Taillefer 5 days later (this for people who know the region...). They carried all their equipment with them, and slept under the stars or in mountain / shepherd huts. Even horse food and a portable paddock were dragged along, by a big Fjord horse acting as a giant donkey. The girls had a brilliant time, riding through the mountains on small hiking trails, cooking on a wood fire (couscous and tomato sauce every day) and being with horses 24 hours a day.

Just after they left Piet had to go back to The Hague to put in some time in the office. Mary was by herself for 2 days and then her parents arrived, by bus from Holland. In our village Mary met a guy, who was looking for a place to leave his horse overnight. Our fellow villagers pointed at our garden and a temporary paddock was put up. The guy was organizing a horse back mountain trip (similar to what the girls were doing) for a group of French and Italians. After a lot of changes of plan Mary decided to join them on part of that trip. In the mean time the girls had returned and all of them went to Vizille to a big horse festival “Equirando”. Here Mary stayed behind, leaving the girls in the care of the grandparents (or the other way around?). Mary spend the night in a barn and left next morning with the horse guy (Jacques), who had left his group by themselves, as they were a rowdy and unruly bunch. They rode to Alpe du Grand Serre, and stayed in a bed & breakfast. The next day they rode across the Taillefer (part of the beautiful route the girls took a few days earlier) and descended to Bassey; the horses stayed in our garden again. The following day the group had to be guided up to Villard Reculas, right above our village, from where they would go on by themselves. Paula did the honours along a narrow, steep and winding forest track. Mary drove round and picked her up, and the group continued their trek towards Briançon.

A day of rest and then Piet returned for a 4 day long weekend, and the following day Mary’s parents were put on the bus back home again. This weekend we did a long overdue activity: the Via Ferrata of St. Christophe. A Via Ferrata is a secured rock climb, where you are clipped in to a steel wire all the time. We rented some equipment and just took off with the four of us. It was quite tricky in some parts, with a 10 m vertical wall high above the Veneon river as the main difficulty. Vertigo is not an option as there is no way back once you started! We ended at the top after some 3 hours, doing much better than many other groups on the climb. Despite Dorien’s protests we also did the much shorter second section and ended up, exhausted, on a café terrace in St. Christophe. After the walk back down, a quick late lunch and a short drive we collapsed in our chairs at the house. The day was finished off with a meal in our favourite restaurant in Bourg d’Oisans. Unfortunately the next afternoon Piet had to return to The Hague again.......

Cooking dinner during the horse riding trip

Approaching Taillefer on horseback

Ready for the descend at Taillefer: the last day of Paula and Dorien's horse riding tour

Dorien climbing up the Via Ferrata at St. Christophe en Oisans

Mary, Paula and Dorien on the Via Ferrata

Holiday in France (part I)

This summer we planned to stay in our house in Bassey, France for some 7 weeks, with Piet commuting up and down, making his total 4 weeks. He still hasn’t the same amount of holidays as the girls…

We drove down overnight, arriving on the 1st of July, very early in the morning. During the trip we celebrated Piet’s 45th birthday, and presents were unwrapped in the car. In Bassey we went straight to bed for a couple of hours, and then our holiday started. We quickly got into the routine of working in the garden (starting with getting our lawn in shape), cycling, hiking and horse riding.

In the garden all our tools (toys) were employed: our lawn mower, which we inherited with the house, is an old beast with bits falling off, but the engine is as strong as ever. The strimmer (brousailleuse), with rope or saw blade is used to cut long grass and small bushes. Then we get out the chain saw to cut down (nearly) dead trees in our swampy forest, and last in line is the wood mulcher (broyeur) which pulverises everything to small wood chips. (Mary is in charge of the noisy ones!). And there is the old-fashioned axe, to splice wood for the fire place. Enough ingredients for a loud and bloody horror movie!

The girls were lucky this year with the horses. One of our neighbours has a horse, but their daughter fell off some time ago when it bolted, and she hasn’t dared to go back on again. Mary offered to train the horse to get it ready again for riding. Every morning Paula and Dorien picked up Swallow and longed her in our garden (running around in circles on a rope) to get her used to exercise and to make her listen to commands. After a week they slowly started riding her, and now they take her everywhere on the forest tracks around the village.

Since they were small Paula and Dorien have been riding with Cecile, who used to have a stable in the next village, only a 10 minute walk away. Unfortunately a few years ago she had to move to Mizoen, a village higher up in the main valley, and a 20 minute drive from the house. Every year Cecile goes to the French championships with a few children and horses, and leaves the stable in the care of the remaining girls, with, in general, a 15 year old in charge. Paula and Dorien have been helping the past few years as well, taking care of the horses, cleaning out the stables and giving lessons to small kids. It should be clear that we run a regular taxi service from Bassey to Mizoen (and vice versa). This year Cecile also planned a horse riding-camping trip in the area to the south of us; a 5-day horse trek, sleeping under the stars. More in the next post....

Like almost every year Piet’s sister and family visited, and they were keen to go with us to one of the mountain cabins in the Parc des Ecrins. We did two long hikes beforehand and they also came well prepared, fully trained, new backpacks and ready to go. We decided to go to Refuge de la Pilatte, which is located on a beautiful viewpoint above a valley with a large glacier. Starting from La Berarde we had a good walk up in spectacular mountain scenery, crossing a number of snow fields and arrived at the hut after some 4 hours. And they had draft beer! We had to organise our stuff, claim 9 of the communal bunk beds and enjoy the view. A few of us descended to the glacier, but as we had no equipment we couldn’t venture very far. After the meal we tried to sleep amidst snoring, creaking beds and whispering kids. As it is lights out at 9 we managed enough hours of sleep anyway. The next morning we took everybody on the glacier, and Mary could practise her old job of mountaineering instructor again. We hiked a different way back and ended up again in La Berarde, where we had lunch and cooled down in the local water fountain, as it was baking hot. The day was finished off with pizza in Bourg d'Oisans.

The next morning they left for their own holidays near Lake Geneva. Unfortunately the day after Piet had to go back to The Hague to work (but not without a ride up Alpe d'Huez in the morning)....

Dorien and Piet during a walk near Le Chazelet

Paula is longing Swallow

Hiking up to Refuge de la Pilatte

Piet and the van Balkom boys showing off their bodies at the Refuge

The kids are descending towards La Berarde

A last update before the summer holidays

Some routine has settled in the Lambregts household now, and after a busy and stressful time we are ready for a long summer break. School will finish next Wednesday, and we will drive straight to France. Mary and the girls will stay for some 7 weeks, and Piet will be there for 4 weeks, split into 3 sessions. So what else has happened the last few weeks?

The court case (see post of June 5th): our downstairs neighbour finally signed the agreed compromise, and Mary went back to Utrecht on a peace mission. Both the neighbour and we had arranged our own contractor to inspect the leakage problem. All met at the house, and both contactors had a good look, and will come up with a joint proposal. The work should be initialised as soon as possible and paid for 50-50. We are now one step closer to a solution and can go on holiday with some peace of mind.

The house in The Hague: Mary has been very, very busy; she has fixed up Paula’s attic room (with some help from all of us). The walls are clean and whitewashed; all Paula’s things are up there, including photographs of our Egyptian horses Adham and Mirinda. It is a nice teenager room now, and the next big project is to get the windows extended to make the room larger (the famous Dutch “dakkapel”). Dorien was less lucky, her attic room needs to be extended first, otherwise it is not possible to stand upright in most of it. She has been stuck in a small (future guest-) room on the first floor, which just fits her bed, a desk and a bookshelf. But she is perfectly happy there. Our bedroom was done as well, the walls were whitewashed, the sideboards replaced and a large 5-piece wardrobe installed. With our bed and a rug it looks just like new!

Almost all boxes have been unpacked now and most things have found their own place. It is starting to be possible again to move around the garage and the cellar and the house really feels like home.

Horse riding: Mary and the girls managed to wriggle themselves into the riding lessons at the stable across the road “De Wildhoef”. Like with a lot of things in The Netherlands there was a waiting list, but with some flexibility and persistence they got in. On Saturday afternoon Paula is riding with the teenage advanced group, and on Monday Dorien is riding with the advanced group of her age. Thursday evening all three together join an adult group, and they have been riding on the beach a few times, although most lessons are inside in the paddock. Although they miss the freedom from Egypt they are enjoying the riding very much. And that it is just a 5 minute walk from the house makes it only better.

The beach: one of the best things with the location of the house is the short distance to the beach. Just a 10 minute walk or a 5 minute bike ride and we are there, and all our visitors end up there as well. Every weekend we go for a walk, to test the seawater temperature, to swim (! Piet and Dorien on a windless, sunny day) or to try out our kite. There are always people on the beach, but because there is no parking area nearby it lacks the busy resort atmosphere of nearby Scheveningen. And that we also like!

Paula in her attic room

Paula and Passoa are ready for a lesson

Lining up for a lesson in the paddock of "De Wildhoef"

Dorien flying her kite

A hectic period – including a court case

It has been quiet for a while, as we have been swamped with many things. The most important one was the arrival of our sea freight, about 2 weeks ago. We are slowly working our way through the boxes, trying to fit all our furniture and possessions in a much smaller house. We’re getting there!

For his job Piet went to London three times last month, to look at data of a number of business opportunities. He learned the route from our house to The Hague Central Station to Schiphol Airport and London City Airport by heart. These were busy days, just work-eat-sleep and no sightseeing.

However, all the stress during this period came from a completely different angle. A few years ago we bought an apartment (“bovenhuis”) in Piet’s hometown Utrecht, with the plan to use it as a home base for future postings, or possibly as a place for the girls if they would study at university there. In the mean time we have rented it out. On the ground floor apartment a notorious complainer is living, permanently living on health benefit and a real “pain in the ass” according to the previous owner. A few months ago he started to communicate to us via his lawyer, demanding that we remove the existing roof terrace, which is on top of his kitchen / garden parlour. According to him it is illegal and causing severe leakage during rain. Anyway we have been politely answering him with counter arguments and, as he was getting nowhere, he dismissed the lawyer and got a new one.

The new lawyer sent us a similar letter, which we received during our last week in Egypt. We replied that our files were packed and in transit from Egypt to The Netherlands, so any detailed answers would have to wait a while. This was an obvious mistake! Suddenly all was accelerated, and before we knew it we received a short note that a trial (“kort geding”) was set for the 1st of June. Three days after receiving our container we got a very thick file, the input to the court case from our neighbour with an outrageous claim of 40.000 EUR. Mary dropped everything, and spent the next 6 days putting our defence together; luckily we found the box with all the files quickly. She spent at least 12 hours a day going though these files, finding counterarguments to almost everything in the trial document. We talked to the previous owner, and the owner before him; both helped us a lot and were ready to testify at any moment. She also spoke to a lawyer in The Hague, who helped her with suggestions on how to construct our defence. On Friday Mary handed in our documents to the court in Utrecht, and a copy to the neighbour’s lawyer. On Tuesday morning we were sitting outside the courtroom, as nervous as for our first ever job interview. The session took more than 3 hours in the end. In short the arguments of the neighbour were almost all invalidated and the judge directed us to a compromise, which was our position from the beginning. Our proposal was basically to get a contractor in as quickly as possible and get the leakage problem fixed, with both parties paying half of the costs. All other issues would be dealt with at a later stage. This was verbally agreed by us and the neighbour’s lawyer and turned into a final statement by the judge, to be signed by both parties. At that moment our opponent (conveniently?) fainted, and had to be wheeled out of the session. The judge left the statement, signed by us, with his lawyer, and gave him a few days to get it signed as well. In case it wasn’t signed all his claims would be dismissed. There are many more details to be told, but we better do that over a beer!

In any case this was a very stressful week, with little sleep and lot’s of worries. The main issue we have is how someone without an income, who is taking no responsibility for his own living conditions, can go from lawyer to lawyer to harass honest, hardworking people to fix and pay his problems for him, over a period of nearly 20 years. And we are pretty sure this is not the end of it.

Luckily there were some good things as well, Mary’s mom helped the first few days with unpacking, Piet’s mother, sister and family visited on the best day yet; we went to the beach without swimming gear, which was a mistake. Wet clothes galore.... The following weekend Piet’s best friend and family came to check out the house and beach, and then the weather was already much cooler, but not stopping a 5 and 2 year old to get soaking wet!

Paula's sunset photography

Mary and Britt enjoying the beach

A few days in France

We took the opportunity of the school break to drive to our holiday house in Bassey, France, for a 5-day escape of organising and upgrading our new house. One of the advantages of our return to The Netherlands is the (relative) closeness of Bassey, and as we don't have to book or organise anything, we can just get in the car and go.

When Piet came home from work on Tuesday we packed the car and took off, driving through the night and arriving at 5.30 am, after a 10 hour journey. Straight to bed for a couple of hours and then our holiday began. First is the inspection of the house and terrain (our apple trees with colourful pink blossom), the state of the bikes and the horses in the village, and catching up with the latest news from the neighbours. Paula had already phoned the local stable manager from Holland, and that first afternoon all 3 ladies had a ride in the country side, while Piet checked and prepared the bikes. The next 2 days the pattern was as follows: a lazy morning with some cleaning around the house and the garden and feeding and grooming of the local horses. In the afternoon the girls went to the stable, Piet on a bike ride and Mary got her noisy garden toys out to attack the long grass and our forest; everybody doing something they enjoy most. The last day we finished cutting the grass of the lawn and went on a hike to beautiful Lac Lauvitel, a splendid alpine lake nearby. There was still a lot of snow around, and very few people. At the lake were numerous marmots, just out of hibernation and not afraid of humans at all. Like all walks this one was rewarding, and we finished the day in the local pizzeria. The next (Sunday) morning we got in the car and drove all the way back again. But it was worth it for 3 1/2 days of alpine scenery and fresh air!

Our house with the apple blossom in the foreground

Mary is working in our forest with the brousailleuse

Mary and Piet taking a break near Lac Lauvitel

A marmot at Lac Lauvitel

A rainy weekend

It is our first holiday weekend, and our first taste of "real" Dutch weather. Friday, 30th of April, it was Queen's Day, celebrating the birthday of our queen (in fact of the late queen-mother, as the our queen Beatrix has a birthday in January, not a very good date for our National Day). This is a day with street celebrations everywhere, with many bands playing on the streets and especially the "Vrijmarkt (free market)", where people and children can sell anything they dragged out of their attics and basements. Unfortunately it rained during the night and in the morning, but luckily the sun came out during lunch time, saving some of it. We had a long cycle through The Hague, to drop off Paula at a friend, followed by a long-way-round return trip, passing by the Queen's residence Huis Den Bosch. We encountered a few Vrijmarkt areas on the way, mainly filled with kids trying to sell their left over toys, games and DVD's. When Piet picked up Paula at the end of the day it was clear that the rubbish collectors were on strike; the centre of The Hague looked worse than Cairo on a bad day!

What else did we do:

- Dorien has been playing at in our pond a lot, there are thousands of tadpoles swimming around. She is catching them, putting them in a jar, releasing most of them, and putting a few unfortunate ones in a bird bath (these get quickly eaten).

- Paula made a friend at school who is as passionate as she is about horses. This girl, Laura, is looking after someone else's horse, and that is where Paula went on Queen's Day. They brushed and trained this horse, Grizzley, and had a lot of fun together. Laura is living on the other side of The Hague, but next time Paula will go alone, now she has had a taste of independence and freedom that a bike is offering.....

- Piet has done his first long cycle ride in the poring rain, coming home soaked to the bone, with lifeless feet and hands. Nothing a warm shower can't solve, and he better gets used to this!

- Mary has been fighting with the new IKEA wardrobe, which is nearly finished. Putting it up required a 4-person team, and putting the drawers is is hampered by some flaws in the design... But it looks like our bedroom will be ready next week.

Dorien is catching tadpoles in the pond in our garden

Paula is jumping with Grizzly

Piet and Mary in front of the house

A few more pictures

It looks like we are properly settled; after just 3 weeks our house feels like home, helped by the beautiful weather and lot's of progress on the domestic front. Mary whitewashed our bedroom and has been assembling our new Ikea wardrobe this weekend, with lot's of help from all of us. Also our new car is standing in the driveway, we chose a Peugeot 308 SW, which we had been driving last summer in France. It has proven its worth the first day, as our Ikea packages (2.5 m long!) fitted in easily.

We are still sleeping on mattresses on the floor, and our sea freight is not in sight yet, but we manage pretty well. And we can go on the bike everywhere, the car is not used on most days

School and work are going fine, and first friendships are starting to form. Mary and the girls had their first horse riding lesson last Thursday, at the stable across the road. The stable has an informal feel, which is what they like. Piet has also started with his cycling reconnaissance of the surroundings, and has been doing a 2-3 hour ride the last 3 Sundays.

So far, so good!

Dorien and Mary cycling in the dunes near our house

Icecream on Scheveningen boulevard

Dorien and Paula are testing the sea water temperature