The Lambregts family adventures: November 2017

Monday, 20 November 2017

Another milestone

The family reached another milestone: Paula completed her Batchelor of Applied Earth Sciences, and we all attended the ceremony at the University where she received her certificate, with cum laude. Paula is currently in a gap year, and has a full time job on the board of her rowing club Proteus, being responsible for all the material. She hasn't decided yet what she will do for her Master program, but there is still time.

All students had to present a very short overview of their final project, demonstrating the width of the BSc program. Mary's parents were also present, and afterwards we did a tour of Delft, starting at Dorien's new room, at crawling distance from her faculty. She then showed the obstacle course of her survival club Slopend, where she is one of the trainers now. The afternoon was completed with a grand tour of Proteus by Paula. As board member she has access to everything, and especially the number, size and costs of the boats were impressive. In the evening the girls had their own social engagements, so all the 'old' people' drove back to The Hague to start their own celebrations.

Paula in the lecture hall, waiting for the start of the ceremony

Paula presenting a short overview of her final project

Paula and her grandparents in the maintenance room at Proteus

Wednesday, 1 November 2017

Gardening, cycling and wine: autumn holiday in France

Piet and Mary went for a week to the house in France, for their traditional autumn break. They had no big plans, and just wanted a week to relax and get the house and garden ready for the winter. The weather was nice, sunny and a bit cold, but good enough to work in the garden and for a few bike rides. As Mary is still suffering from her achilles tendons they didn't go for any hikes, but she was able to walk around the garden with her noisy tools. Piet managed to cycle up Alpe d'Huez, but noticed that being 6 weeks off the bike doesn't help!

Around the house the main projects of this summer were finished by one of our neighbours, the owner of a large construction company. The cables and wall anchors were placed in the barn to complete the stabilisation project. In addition the gate, that was brought over from Egypt, was finally installed. Due to the weight of this gate separate concrete pillars had to be constructed, but now there is an entry that matches the rest of the house.

Also a tradition by now is to catch up with Frits, one of Piet's old friends from university, who is always in southern France in October to stock up on his wines. This time the village of Mazan was the meeting point, and after visiting 3 wine houses (Fondreche, Pigeade and Amadieu) they landed at Les Florets, a nice hotel in the Dentelles de Montmirail, in Gigondas. The remainder of the day was spend on the terrace, and finished off with an excellent dinner. The next day Piet and Mary left Frits to buy some more wine, and drove slowly back along some scenic roads, to screen the area for nice villages and hiking opportunities for the next visit.
The highlights of the week were the absence of an alarm clock, internet and the opportunity to read books and newspapers at leisure, and of course drinking a nice glass of red wine in the evening!