Back Home Again

We're back in the Netherlands again. We arrived yesterday afternoon and even though we've been pretty tired, it feels great to be here again. It always feels very natural, like I'm "home". I still remember how I felt homesick already the night before we left 3 1/2 years ago as I thought about leaving this place. It's wonderful to be back.

I think we started this trip even more exhausted than other times when we've come to Europe. Today's visit to Den Haag has shown that we are much more out of conditioning for this kind of thing than we had figured. The "market crawl" followed by the "museum crawl" are much harder than walking a lot of miles.

For tonight, I'll share just one photo from the day and I'll see what I can make time/energy for tomorrow.

This is Linda, as we walked along one of the pedestrian-only shopping streets. Note the stroopwafel stand in the background.

Okay, just one more. Buildings reflected in the canal between the lily pads.

The Last One

The last of 6 bottles of Hertog Jan Grand Prestige has been lovingly stored in the refrigerator since our trip to the Netherlands in 2012. I've been "milking" my supply ever so carefully since this great beer isn't available in the United States. (We're a very backward beer country.)

Well tonight's the night to enjoy the last bottle and it's every bit as good as I remembered and expected. Too bad it's the last one.

So I guess it's time to go back for more. I think a week from Wednesday would be a great day to fly.

P.S. - Thanks, Harm, for the glass!
 

Short Shakespeare

Last week Ellie attended the "Short Shakespeare" camp which was put on by Theatrikos. She had a great time and now wants to be an actress.

The stunt demonstration was great fun. They clearly had a great time "beating up" on each other!

Ellie's scene from Macbeth. Ellie is the witch with the shimmering purple cape (who is not holding a script because she knows her lines). She did good!

Summer Fun

Nate, Ellie & Eve are with us for 2 weeks for  summer camps. This week Ellie is in Theatrikos’ “Short Shakespeare” camp and Nate & Eve have been attending Vacation Bible School.

I think the thing the kids have been most excited about is having their bicycles in Flagstaff. They love the freedom of being able to “ride in the street”. We watch them pretty closely, but we do have a quiet street that allows a lot of freedom to ride. Here’s a video of my girls on their bikes:

Tuesday was “Cow Appreciation Day” at our local Chic-fil-A. Free chicken if you showed up dressed as a cow. So Linda got some cow print fabric. Ellie made paper “horns” for  her forehead, and the girls became an instant cow!

Some videos of them as a cow. Eve’s really got the tail wag down good!

Sunset Ride

Most evenings we get in a ride on our bikes after supper. Tonight was a particularly impressive sunset, but I left the camera at home. No problem – I had my work phone with me since I’m on call this week. Not a bad substitute!

Flagstaff Wool & Fiber Festival

This weekend we visited the 2015 Flagstaff Wool & Fiber Festival. We’ve visited this event a few years ago when it  had just a couple of vendors and about the same number of sheep in attendance. By comparison, this year’s event was creating quite a buzz in town. The new organizers did a great job of creating a fun and educational event that had great vendors, education opportunities, and lots of attendees. Here are a few of my photos from the weekend.

Pre-conditioning

I’m calling this week my “Netherlands Pre-Conditioning Week”.

We’ve been watching lots of videos on YouTube about the Netherlands, including ones about how the bike path system works and how the system came into being. It tied in well with this being “Bike to Work” week here in Flagstaff. In previous years I’ve had to skip biking to work during this event because dry storm fronts came through with strong winds out of the west that were just too much of a headwind to fight on the way to work. This year the forecast was much better.

Monday morning was pretty good. It’s about 6 miles to work, and the hospital is on a hill so the end of the ride is always tough, but it seemed to be okay. I made it in 45 minutes as planned, but I really felt like I was out of shape. The afternoon ride was a different story – even though the forecast called for 0% chance of rain, I left work in a rain shower. Fortunately, the rain let up and I was able to “ride between the drops”, but there was a brief shower about half-way home that included sloppy snow mixed with rain. Still, not too bad, until I got to the traffic signal a couple of blocks from home. As I sat waiting for the light it started to rain hard, and then change to sloppy snow. I got wetter within 2 minutes of home than I had in the previous half hour.

Tuesday was better, at least weather wise. It was clear, sunny, and I had a good tailwind coming home. Still, I felt really out of shape and felt like I was working far too hard.  My tires looked fine, but a check of air pressure showed that I had 55 pounds instead of the maximum 75 pounds. That could explain a lot!

Wednesday was like night and day compared to the first two. I sailed to work, got further up a big hill before I had to walk, used higher gears, and got home in record time. What a difference proper air pressure makes!

So I figure that by bicycling that many miles, in such varied weather, and being inspired by the videos, I had a pretty good warm-up for bicycling in the Netherlands. Maybe I’ll be able to keep it up and ride once or twice a week this summer.

On one of my lunch-time walks, I saw that the orange poppies are beginning to bloom. I  always think of the Netherlands when I see these flowers.

I think I’ll continue working on my conditioning by enjoying one of my last bottles of Hertog Jan this weekend. I’ve been rationing myself since I can’t get it here in the U.S. When they are gone, it’s time to go back, so maybe I should drink them sooner rather than later?!