Summer holidays (part 1)

During the last part of Mary’s recovery period from her back surgery her horsey itch started again. With Smook far away (see post of 10th of June) she investigated the possibility to get Mirinda, our horse in Egypt, over to The Netherlands. Unfortunately, in addition to the current unrest, there is at present a ban on exporting horses from Egypt, so the search quickly switched direction to France. Last year she met Jacques and his horse Real (pronounced Re-aal), a stallion that she really liked. So she hooked up with him again and drove over to Normandy to view this horse. It was agreed that we could have the horse on loan for a trial period, before we would make a final decision to buy. However, we had to get the horse ourselves… So now the search was re-directed to marktplaats.nl (a Dutch version of Ebay) to find a horse trailer, and Mary was successful within a few days.

Thus on our first day of the summer holidays we all drove over to Normandy, stayed overnight at Jacques’ farm and early in the morning loaded Real in the trailer. Then we drove all the way across France to our house in Bassey, a solid 12 hour drive as we had to keep our speed under control. On arrival we quickly had to make a small paddock with electric fence and let him out. The next days a much bigger space was set up in our garden and Real slowly calmed down. Then the trials started: he proved to be a handful, and although he picked up quickly on the exercises his fiery character kept playing up (not helped by a number of mares in the village!), and we had some entertaining rodeo scenes. After several days the opinion of Cecile, the local stable owner, was sought and she was very clear: this horse is not suitable for a stable in The Netherlands. After few more days Mary and the girls accepted the inevitable and the decision was made to decline.
Due to all this horse action our usual activities were at a lower level, but we had a few nice days with Hanneke (Smook’s owner) and her extended family, and Piet managed to get a number of bike rides under his belt.

Paula and Mary are training Real

Dorien riding in our paddock in the garden

Real is a very sweet horse, but not really suitable for us in The Netherlands

The crash

On the last weekend before the summer holidays Piet had his first ever real crash, after some 25 years on the bike. The weather was great and a long loop around the islands south of Rotterdam was nearly done. Piet was drafting behind his mate Renaat, speeding along a narrow cycling path with no one in sight, when suddenly some geese decided to cross. Renaat braked abruptly, bikes tangled and they were both on the ground. Piet had some bad roadrash (elbow, thigh, knee, lower leg) after sliding on the asphalt, Renaat tumbled in the grass and was fine. His bike however, was missing a 10 cm piece of carbon frame that had snapped off his rear fork. A total write-off for the frame, and stuck in the middle of nowhere… (east of Hellevoetsluis for the connaisseurs). So, Piet got back on his somewhat functioning bike, cycled 25 km back to the car, picked up Renaat, and together they drove back home, to the joy of cleaning wounds under the shower. We will spare you the photo’s of raw flesh! After a few unpleasant nights and 2 weeks of scabs he has a baby-pink skin again. There are a few upsides though: apparently you don’t become a real biker if you haven’t had a serious crash (and live to tell the tale!), and Renaat can start looking for a new bike…

Bikes and horses

During the last months we have been very active on two fronts: cycling and horse riding. Piet and his cycling mate Renaat have been putting in many kilometers since early spring. On Saturday mornings they have been making rides of 80-120 km, all over the western part of The Netherlands. This culminated in two organised events, "cyclosportives", in Limburg and the Belgian Ardennes. These are longer rides with thousands of participants, on scenic roads, with many small climbs. The first one was the Grensland Klassieker, 150 km from Geleen to Eupen, Aachen and back.Unfortunately this day had the worst weather in a long time, and they got soaking wet and very cold, but finished without problem. The next ride was the Steven Rooks Classic, 165 km from Maastricht, south into the Ardennes and back, over the classic roads of the Liege-Bastogne-Liege race. The weather was fantastic, and both finished strongly after nearly 7 hours on the bike.

Also the girls have been busy: Paula is spending more time with the friendly giant Zidane; especially after Zidane stood on his owners foot (and she broke a bone). Mary has slowly started riding again after her back surgery, and except for some initial sour muscles she has been doing fine (and enjoying it tremendously after 4 months of abstinence!). The injury of our timeshare horse Smook has not been improving, and his owner decided to take him to a field for the summer. She found a place in Kootwijk (east-central Netherlands), where he is sharing a large patch of grass with other horses. We went to visit him, and Smook is obviously enjoying the freedom after months of confinement in his box at the stable.

Piet's race number for the Grensland Klassieker

and for the Steven Rooks Classic...

Paula and Dorien are trying to walk Zidane

Nearly under control, Zidane is very strong!

Paula and Dorien are entertaining Smook in Kootwijk

A short holiday in France

The girls had their early May school break, and we had planned some time ago to go to France to relax, but also to make the house and garden ready for the summer. But with Mary's recent hernia operation everything was uncertain, as she was not allowed to sit up for a long time. A few days before we got the go-ahead from her doctor, and we turned the car into an ambulance again, by moving the chairs around and putting a mattress in the back. The disadvantage was that Piet had to drive by himself, but with plenty of breaks it turned out to be a smooth ride.

The house was in good shape and we quickly settled into our routines. Mary continued her rehabilitation by doing long walks in the flat valley, followed by stretching exercises and long rests on our garden bed. The weather was beautiful, and Mary managed to get a healthy colour. During the week her mobility greatly improved and she even did some painting during the last days.

The girls occupied themselves with the village horses Swallow and Image, who were allowed to eat the grass in our garden together for the first time... they were always kept separate. Paula and Dorien also hooked up with Cecile again, had riding lessons and helped with the horses. Cecile ("their French mum") is always looking forward to their arrival, as they like to stay on to play card and board games.

Piet occupied himself with the bikes, and the grass in the garden. This needed to be cut, to prevent an unmanageable job in the summer. And Mary's noisy tools had to stay in the shed... Piet also made some long rides on his bike, in preparation for two cycling tours later this spring. In short a good, relaxing break, with beautiful weather. After a long drive home it is time for our daily routine again, and for some mess in the house, as the long awaited renovation of the top floor has started.

Paula is training Image in our garden

Image and Swallow are enjoying the grass in our garden, together at last...

Surgery, injury and the big friendly giant

Again a lot has happened the last few weeks. Mary has been suffering from her left leg since early December. Starting off as a common sports injury the trajectory of muscle relaxants, followed by physiotherapy, didn’t result in any improvement, it was just getting worse. The next step was a suspected slipped disk or hernia, and she was sent to the hospital for an MRI scan. The result was unambiguous: a little bulge between two of her lower vertebrae. The only solution was surgery, but for every step you have to wait, and wait again. By this time Mary had been struggling for 3 months, stopped horse riding; and the last few weeks sleeping poorly due to the pain and shuffling around the house like a 90-year old. Fortunately through a waiting list consultant of our health insurance Mary managed to speed up the process significantly, and she was offered a place in a clinic near Arnhem, on the other side of the country. This was eagerly accepted and she has been in surgery this week. She went down there by train, stayed overnight after a successful operation and was picked up by Piet, using our car as a converted ambulance. Now the pain is gone, but a boring and long road of recovery has started. The first 2 weeks she has to lay down most of the day, with only minimal walking, and certainly no sitting. She is going to be sick and tired of daytime television! An additional complication is that Piet is in charge of the household now, and has been promoted to master chef…

The second patient is Smook, our timeshare horse. He has been diagnosed with an inflamed tendon injury, and has been put on a 6-week rehabilitation program. No riding, and just 3 short walks in the park every day, shared between the owner’s family, Paula and Dorien. The obvious nurse is recovering herself… The rest of the day Smook is confined to his stable. His diet has been adjusted as well; he now has to survive on wet straw (!), because his regular food is too rich when he isn’t doing anything.

Paula’s continued presence in the stable and good riding and calm handling skills of horses resulted in another family addition. One of the ladies has asked her to become the additional rider for her horse Zidane. This is a truly giant horse, the largest of the stable, and a bit intimidating at first sight. However, he is very gentle, and Paula has been riding him during lessons and doing lounging exercises. For laymen: lounging is letting the horse run around in circles on a long rope, and teaching him to listen to commands of walk, trot and canter. It is an ideal way to practice obedience, and to keep horses fit. As Zidane is one of Smook’s friends the ultimate goal is a race on the beach between them (with Mary and Paula as jockey’s), but that is still months away, also because the beach will be closed for horses imminently (and Mary will not be allowed near a horse the next 6 weeks!).

Mary is recovering after her surgery

Paula and Smook on a rehabilitation walk in the park

Paula and Zidane, "the big friendly giant"

Champagne!

One of the advantages of being back in The Netherlands is that Piet regularly sees his old friends from his hometown Utrecht again. During Piet’s long stay abroad they developed a new passion: wine. They have their own, loosely organised wine tasting and purchasing group “Het Derde Glas”. They make a yearly trip to the Champagne area in north-eastern France, to taste, and, if it pleases their taste buds, to buy some bottles. This time they asked Piet to come along as well.

So on Wednesday after work he reported in Utrecht, and with a minibus and a car they drove to St. Quentin and stayed overnight. The next morning we started just west of Reims, with the first independent winemaker. The pattern was generally the same: we tasted the 3, 4 or 5 different champagnes that are produced (lot’s of spitting to keep our sanity throughout the day), the taste is discussed (yoghurt, nuts, strawberries, dry bread, a discussion far above Piet’s abilities) and a widely varying purchase is made. A large spreadsheet was kept to register everybody’s bottle counts, and to help splitting the bounty at the end.

Throughout 2 days we slowly descended to Troyes, and in the end visited 12 wineries in the region. It was very early in the season, and the farmers were just finishing the pruning of the grapevines, so the landscape was still lacking some green. That this industry is doing well was demonstrated by the small town of Epernay, where the Avenue de Champagne is lined with stately mansions, all owned by the large champagne houses. Piet also gained some background info on making champagne through 2 tours of the cellars, guided by the proud owners of the grapes, the process and the ultimate bottles.

In the end we had a lot of fun, and we bought quite a lot of bottles, which should last until the next trip. On Saturday morning the group split, Piet drove back with the treasure in the minibus, and the car continued to Chablis and Bourgogne for a day of some "real" wine. Everything was left in a spare room hidden underneath a sheet, at a secret location in Utrecht, to be split and sorted by a trustworthy member of the party….

Bare hillsides, waiting for the grapevines to start growing

Tasting and discussing the different champagnes at Huot et Fils

One of the winemakers that we honoured with a visit

Bethon, one of the many typical villages in the Champagne area

The City-Pier-City Run

This weekend the City-Pier-City Run was held, the largest sport event of The Hague. Originally this was a half marathon, but nowadays it is a whole day with different runs, and tens of thousands of participants. Through the school all 4 of us registered, and Piet did quite a lot of running the last few months, slowly building up after 5 years of abstinence due to his "Borneo Ballbreaker" knee injury.

On the day it was different though; Piet and Mary were both injured! Piet strained a calf muscle a few days before, and Mary has already been struggling for months with (what recently turned out to be) a slipped disk. So no 10 km for them. The weather was great, it was the first weekend of spring, and everybody was out on the bike. Paula and Dorien did the 5 km run, starting off with some of their friends (and 5000 other people), and finishing together. No problem for both of them!

In the afternoon we also watched the real race, passing close by the house. All the athletes were either Kenyan or Ethiopian, and were running their half marathon like it was a sprint. Just legs and lungs, impressive!

Paula and Dorien finishing their 5 km run

After the race