Rome

Piet had another short business trip, this time Rome was his destination. For 2 days he and his colleagues were working away in an office close to the Vatican, but luckily for him his hotel was on the other side of the town centre. In the mornings and afternoons he had a 30 minute commute on foot, past some of the famous landmarks. And on the last afternoon they had to pass some time to wait for a data package, and thus had a quick visit to the Vatican. No time for the Sistine Chapel, but only for a stroll inside St. Peter's Basilica: a very impressive building (and obviously there is still lots of money in the church). These little trips are definitely one of the advantages of working for a large international company!

The Trevi fountain

Castel Sant'Angelo

St. Peter's Basilica

Ice skating

This winter temperatures in The Netherlands dropped to a 15-year low, which allowed the Dutch people one of their favourite pastimes: ice skating. They were even close organising the most famous race of all: "De Elfstedentocht" (11 cities tour), a 220 km race in the north of the country. The race was held last in 1997, as thick ice is needed across the whole route. Only 16.000 participants are allowed, but there are probably a million people who want to join. A complicated membership-lottery combination is used to select the happy few. Anyway, the race was cancelled due to limited ice thickness and approaching warmer weather.

For the girls it was their first opportunity to have a go at it themselves, as growing up in Malaysia and Egypt didn't include ice skating... Mary still had a pair of skates, and Paula went out a few times with her friends, and enjoyed it a lot. One day after school Paula and Dorien joined forces at a nearby canal, swopping skates and making pictures.

And on the horse front: Beau is in a horse clinic at the moment to get his hoof fixed, and now needs 10 days of absolute rest. Visiting is only allowed on weekdays, so Mary had a long weekend...

Paula skating near our house

Dorien on the ice at sunset

Rio (II) and horse matters

Piet had another short trip to Rio de Janeiro for the project he is working on in the office (see post of Nov. 26^th 2011). The pattern was very similar: after one and a half day of meetings in a windowless room there was some time for sightseeing before taking the plane back. This time Piet and his two colleagues went to Pao de Açucar (Sugerloaf Mountain), the famous rock in the bay of Rio, also well known from James Bond’s Moonraker movie. The weather was great (it is summer in Brazil), and they enjoyed the views over the town and the beer afterwards on Copacabana Beach. When the plane landed next morning there was a minor snowstorm, with an almost 40 degrees C drop in temperature! No sympathy for Piet though, especially after he mentioned a morning swim in the Atlantic Ocean…….

Beau is having a bad time, not because of the weather, but due to an injury. Mary started a horse sports massage course and she wanted to take Beau along for one of the lessons. He has always been very good in trailers, so we didn’t expect any problems. He stepped into our trailer easily, but when Mary drove off he panicked almost immediately. Mary stopped, called the girls and had to unload him and leave him back in his stable. What apparently happened is that he got one of his hooves stuck below a divider we build ourselves (to allow some storage space for boxes with food and equipment), and his skin was stripped off just above. The vet was called because it looked quite nasty, and the injury was cleaned and bandaged. To allow quicker healing he cannot do any exercise, and Beau has been confined to his 3x3 m box for 10 days now. Twice a day he gets out to walk for 10 minutes, which is more a mental than a physical exercise. And for the rest the ladies keep him company as much as possible, because Beau is obviously very bored. To be continued……

Early morning exercise class on Ipanema Beach

Sugerloaf Mountain, from the middle cable car station

View over Copacabana Beach, from Sugerloaf Mountain

Beau's bandaged rear leg

Mochi and Maru are back

The siamese cats Mochi and Maru (see post of Nov 14th 2010) are back again. Their owner is out of the country for 5 weeks, and she was looking for a place to stay for her babies. We took them in and they settled in quickly, being much more at ease and sociable than last year. Going outside is still a huge adventure for them, but they have dog collars and leashes now, making it at least easier for us. In any case they seem to sleep 23 hours a day, lying on top of each other, making no noise and pretending they don't exist.

Beau is doing fine as well, we are extending his walks onto the beach to get him used to waves, wind and sand, all in preparation for long rides along the waterline.

Mochi and Maru in their favourite position

Walking Beau on the beach

In the dunes

Even Piet can hold Beau (or is he distracted by the grass?)

Lots of snow

This year we planned our skiing holiday after Christmas and we left for France on the 29^th. When we arrived in Bassey there was only a bit of winter, with just a thin snow cover. However, when we woke up next morning a fresh layer of some 30 cm of snow covered the village. We took the opportunity to do some cross-country skiing, and to build a huge snowman in our garden. We also sorted out our downhill skiing gear. The next day we followed the usual pattern: get up early, have breakfast, drive up to Alpe d’Huez, and dropping the girls off for their “competition” skiing lesson. Then we get ready ourselves for a few hours on the slopes, until we all meet up for lunch. After lunch we go back out again to carry on as a family, but only the girls last the whole afternoon. Skiing a whole day is pretty intense!

The weather was quite variable, and it snowed a lot. We got a record number of snow chain changes and had some tricky drives on the windy steep road between the resort and our village. Even the school bus had problems, and it slid off the narrow Bassey road into a ditch, blocking access to the village for a morning. But we thoroughly enjoyed the 2 days of sunshine, and had our best skiing ever in the Auris area.

On New Year’s Eve we stayed at home, and then the electricity in the whole village cut out at 22.30 hrs. We sat around for half an hour by candlelight, finished our champagne and then decided to go to bed. We passed into 2012 in our sleep….

We drove back on Sunday, and when we arrived home the car was unloaded in a few minutes, then the ladies ran off to the stable to check our missing son: Beau. He had been well taken care of by two other ladies, and was in fine shape. Mary did have intensive SMS correspondence during the week but still….they wanted to see for themselves!

Dorien and our snowman

Cross-country skiing in Bassey

Dorien arriving in the Gorges du Sarenne

The ladies on Lievre Blanc

Christmas in The Netherlands

This year we decided to stay in The Netherlands for Christmas, the first time since Paula was born, and that is 16 years ago! We had family over both days for dinner and drinks, and because it was very mild weather we took our visitors for a walk in the dunes with Beau. Paula and Dorien also had to look after two ponies during Christmas, so they came along as well. Especially on Boxing Day it was very crowded in the dunes and on the beach with strollers, getting some fresh air in between meals. Too busy for the horses...

Now it is prep time for skiing, and more fresh mountain air!

Dorien (on the bike) and Mary are watching Paula ride Beau in the dunes

Dorien is walking Bo and Jack, Paula is following with Beau

The Boyz from the Hood, our nephews on the beach

Paula and Beau

Beau is allowed some grass on the way back to the stable

More Beau and a Dutch tradition

This weekend Beau was taken outside the stable again, but now with Dorien sitting on his back, and following a different route through the dunes. Mary and Paula were holding him on a leash, to keep him assured in this new environment. As Beau was acting very calm, the leash was unclipped, and he followed us like a obedient dog. At the end of the path we turned around, and Beau suddenly bolted away in a canter, scared of something we didn't see. Dorien didn't panic and brought him back under control; 500 m further they were both waiting on the rest like nothing happened. It is all about confidence, also for a horse, and strange noises or shapes need getting used to!

It was Sinterklaas at Madurodam handicapped stable and Paula and Dorien were asked to play as his helpers, Zwarte Piet (black Peter). They dressed up, got themselves face-painted and played along during the lessons. As many of you know Sinterklaas is the Dutch equivalent of Father Christmas, who brings presents to all children in early December. Due to the age of the girls (and the fact that they got a huge present with Beau!) we didn't do much ourselves; but this way they still participated in a typical Dutch tradition.

Beau, Dorien and Mary, when everything was looking fine

Dorien and Paula at Madurodam stables, playing Zwarte Piet