New Year's Eve

photo by PRK

It’s New Year’s Eve already. I can tell because there have been people in the neighborhood setting off fireworks all day.

Can you believe 2010 is almost over? Where did it go?! It seems like just a few weeks ago I was celebrating the holidays at home at Mom’s. Boy oh boy, time DOES fly, doesn’t it?

Was 2010 good for you?  Mine had some ups and downs. I suppose that’s normal though. I got my diploma for the Dutch courses this year. Man, that really does seem like ages ago. It’s hard to believe that was just a year ago. We went to Germany. Twice. I did a whole bunch of crocheting and baking and relaxing. Overall, I guess there were more ups than downs. So that made it a decent year.

I hope that your year had more ups than downs too. And here's to 2011 being the same way!!!


xxx

December 25, 2010

To all my friends and family,

I hope you have a wonderful Christmas, and a fantastic 2011.


xxx

1 day and 10 minutes...

(or it was...when I started writing this post. I'm too slow, I guess!)


It's the day before the night before Christmas! And I'm busy busy busy bein' good...

We had a Christmas record growing up that had a song by that name on it. We used to listen to it all the time. I can still sing it now!

Remember I said that our white Christmas might go away? Well, I don't think it's going to. The warmer temps that they were forecasting never came. It's stayed cold. And today it's been snowing almost all day. Buses stopped running, most people are staying in. Heck, even the POLICE are staying in unless called out in an emergency! So it must be bad, huh?

Maybe I should go walk in the beautiful snow while it's almost completely silent in the city? No cars coming and going, no motor scooters whining/whizzing by, no neighborhood yokels testing their fireworks before New Year's Eve. And that is why I love winter and snow. It's magically still and serene.

Makes me kind of glad that I have tomorrow off.

But Ludi has to work, so that kind of worries me. I hope he makes it in safely.

It hasn't really felt like Christmas was coming this week to me.  Maybe because I was off of work last week, and there were some festivities on Friday that kind of made it feel like a goal had been reached. It felt like a normal work week this week. I hope that feeling changes tomorrow, and I get back into The Christmas Spirit.

Stay warm!


xxx

Countdown

20


16


9


4???  Only FOUR days until Christmas??!! How did that happen?!

I cannot believe how fast this month has gone. I've been busy busy busy.

Sending packages to friends in the States...

 

 

...decorating...

 ...and baking up enough cookies for an entire village.

Through it all, it's looked like this outside

 

 

Very snowy. We have a Winter Wonderland here at the moment. It's very festive! But I don't think it's going to stick around until Christmas. Some forecasts say it's going to rain over the next few days, taking my White Christmas away.


Bummer.


Is everyone done with their Christmas shopping?


xxx

A fine meal

Today was our Thanksgiving dinner. I've been looking forward to it for at least a week. I LOVE turkey and all the fixin's.  Gravy, potatoes, stuffing.... vegetables can vary, but I must have the gravy, stuffing and potatoes.

oh, it was so good

We even had the crescent rolls! It's so traditionally American. Except maybe for the sprouts. Not many Americans eat sprouts, do they? They're much more popular over here. I never even considered them before moving here. But now I love them. I could have them every week! Dee-lish.

 We even have leftovers. Yahoo! Not of the sprouts though. Those don't do well as a leftover, I've found. Better to eat them all up the first time!

I even got out the Spode dishes to start off the official Holiday Season.

Let the holidays begin!!! yay!!!!

I have so many plans/ideas, I hope I can get it all done.


xxx

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

The Dutch don't celebrate the holiday, of course. We'll be doing a mini-celebration on Sunday with a turkey breast, mashed potatoes, stuffing and brussels sprouts. I think it's going to be waaaaay too much food for just the two of us. But hey... that means leftovers!!!

mmmmmmmmm...soo good.......

Gosh, that picture is making me hungry!


I hope everyone has a fantastic Thanksgiving! Eat some turkey and gravy for me!


xxx

Another birthday!

Today is my friend Lisa's birthday.

I have known Lisa since we were 5 years old. We sat next to each other in kindergarten, and have been friends ever since. I have so many great memories of times spent with her. Sleep overs, fireworks, cookouts at Cherry Springs and then later star gazing.

one of those stick your arm out and click photos!

We don't get to see each other very often anymore. We don't live just around the corner and up the street from each other now. Adult life gets in the way and keeps us from visiting more often. Even though we don't have regular contact, I still cannot imagine my world without her. She's just been there too long! I mean, sheesh! It's been 36 years! There's no one else in the world that I've known as long, other than family.

So I hope she has a wonderful day.

Miss you, Lisa!!! *hugs*


xxx

Hooky ta-da!

Hello there all!

Are you guys having a Monday like we're having here? Ugh, it hasn't been pretty.

But what IS pretty (in my opinion) is my latest crochet project. I had taken a little break from hooking for a while. A few weeks. It wasn't intentional, I guess I just had a lot of other things going on taking up my time. But I'm back on the wagon now, and this is what I made this weekend.

is it a crown??!

A neck warmer! Like a scarf, but much shorter and connected. You slip it on over your head.

folded over

It's made with really thick and warm yarn meant for felting, but if I'm careful with it, I won't have to worry about that, right? I used a Catherine's Wheel stitch for it. I finished it in a day and a half, too! LOVE that, since most of my projects have been taking months. If it wasn't necessary to restart the thing 3 times due to pattern issues and size, it would have been done even sooner.

unfolded, for REALLY cold days

Now I can't wait for winter!!!



Yes. Really.



xxx

Fall colors

Don't you just love the colors of fall? All the reds and yellows and oranges and some browns thrown in for good measure. Just gorgeous.

I walk past this tree every work morning on my way to the bus stop.

  

What kind of tree is it? It's got thorns too!

 

I've been admiring it for a few weeks, ever since it began to change it's colors. The red of the fruits against the yellow of the leaves. A great combination. I was waiting for a nice sunny day to get a good picture. But of course the weather wasn't cooperating. Finally the other morning it was sunny enough to get some kind of photo with my phone (hence the blur). 

I was glad I had taken the time in the morning to take a picture, because the weather turned nasty again later in the day. It was so dark at 5pm that the street lights were on. Plus the wind had blown off almost all of the leaves!

I clock the seasons with this tree right across from my bus stop.

a giant tree

Beautiful, isn't it?

I'm glad the weather gave me one day to admire the orange-yellow leaves against a blue sky.


I hope you're enjoying your fall colors.



xxx

Gefeliciteerd!

Happy birthday to you!

Happy birthday TO you!

Happy BIRTHday dear Ludi...

HAPPY birthday to you!

xxx

Fall Windowsills

I'm a little late this year doing my fall decorating. We went on a long-weekend trip in the middle of the month, so I think I was just putting everything off until after that. Plus fall seemed to come a little late here. The leaves were very slow to change, and the neighbors across the street still has flowers on their balcony, so I'm a little off-kilter.

Now that fall is in full-swing, I've done my windowsill decorating for the season.

by the kitchen window

I looked at the garden center first for small pumpkins and gourds, but they were OUTRAGEOUSLY expensive. €4.99 for a medium sized gourd.

I passed on those.

by the Mac Room window

Then we went to the place we've gone the past two years. A little road-side shop in Belgium. I got 6 medium gourds for the same price as the big box garden center. The overwhelming cow smell was thrown in, free-of-charge.

Generous Belgians.

closeup

The leaves, acorns and hazelnuts were gathered in various areas. Also free (minus the odors)! You'd never really know I live in a city, huh?

It's hard to believe it's almost Halloween. Time is just flying. Soon it will be snowing.


eeeeeeeee! *squeals in happiness*


xxx

Cleanliness is next to...

Have you ever noticed how a dirty house kind of sneaks up on you? Especially the bathroom.

You go about your daily business for a few days, and it’s not that bad. I mean, if The Queen were to come visit, you might be horrified, but for us normal folk, it’s just fine. Then another few days (weeks?!) pass, and you don’t really notice anything out of the ordinary. And then one day you catch something from the corner of your eye and it’s SHOCKing how filthy things have gotten! How could I have missed all of this CRUD for so long?! Eeegads.

So I spent last weekend deep cleaning the bathroom. I hate cleaning the bathroom. Soap scum, hard water spots, calcium buildup. Though vinegar works FANTASTIC on calcium buildup. And I've read that baking soda makes a great bathroom cleanser too. Has anyone tried it? I didn't try it this time, because it's hard to find baking soda here. There isn't enough left to waste it on the bathroom. (Cookies are waaaay more important.)

I remember thinking in the middle of the project, “this would be easier every time if I would just do it more often.”


Wonder if I’ll remember that next time I notice it needs just a little tidying?



prolly not...



xxx

Relaxed Sunday

Hi there! Thanks for dropping by! How have you been?

Do you know what today is? Besides Sunday?  It’s 10.10.10! Isn’t that the coolest thing? Babies born today have a great birth date. People married today have it easy. No matter how you write it, it’s always October 10. Day then month? 10/10. Month then day? 10/10! Even better that the year is 2010 too. Don’t you love it when those things happen?  And we’ll get another two of these before we’re too far along in the years to be all matchy-matchy. November 11, 2011 (a Friday) and December 12, 2012 (a Wednesday). Will you plan anything special for those days?

In other news, we booked a weekend trip for this coming weekend. We’ll be going to the Black Forest region of Germany. It’s just a 4 day/3 night trip, but hopefully it will be packed full of hiking and other relaxing things. Maybe a little retail therapy, even. The area is supposedly known for cuckoo clocks, too. Anyone want a cuckoo clock? I’ll take lots of pictures and post them for you all to see. It will be nice to get away for a bit. I love Maastricht, but it’s great to travel and see other places!

Have a great week, if I don't see you sooner!



xxx

Driving in Maastricht

is terrifying.

I have been driving for ... uhh...never mind how long, just since I was 16, and I have never been that scared driving. Well, maybe when the roads were covered in snow and it was dark, but never in broad daylight in perfect weather!

I had my first driving lesson on Monday. My American license does not transfer here, so I have to do as all Dutch people do, and take lessons. Since I have to take the lessons anyways, I decided it's time I learned how to drive a stick shift. Besides, the car we own is a stick, so if I want to drive, I'd better learn how to drive THAT, right?

The shifting part wasn't really the most terrifying part. It was all of it put together. The Dutch drive much more aggressively than Americans do. Rarely slowing down for anything, and squeezing between the tightest of places to make sure they get from A to B in the fastest time possible. Plus, we don't have a lot of people on bikes/mopeds in America. That's another thing you have to watch out for here. And there are people EVERywhere.  And the roads are very narrow. And the trucks (buses too) are very wide.

"More gas..."



"Not so fast with the clutch..."


"Slow down..."


"Into 3rd..."   "Don't look at the gear stick!"


"Faster...."


"Look both ways..."


"Slow down, but don't stop..."


"Never take the inside of the wheel."
Meaning, if you're making a turn, don't flip your hand over and hold onto the inside of the wheel with your hand upside down to make the turn. Think about it. You know you do it. What's wrong with it? I have no idea.

All of it added up to a very stressful hour's worth of driving lesson. I am already having panic attacks about the next lesson in a week.

I wonder if it's worth it?








Yeah, it probably is.




I wonder if they have a package that includes valium as an after-lesson aperitif?





xxx

Labor Day Trip

No, we don't have Labor Day here, but it was a trip on Monday September 6th, so I'll call it the Labor Day Trip.

We were having some more computer problems, so we had to take a drive to the company that sold us the computer for some repairs. That's a 2 1/2 hour drive from here, so we decided to make a day of it (since we'd be in the car all day anyways). Ok, so maybe I decided to make a day of it when I realized that the online shop that I order yarn from has an actual store in a town just half an hour from where we had to take the computer. What luck!

And I talked Ludi into it, which was even more luck!

I am so glad I talked him into it. It was an awesome store. Everything they had online, they had in stock! That sometimes doesn't happen, you know? There were so many yarns to choose from. And it was so great to be able to see them in real life, their actual color, rather than picking from a photo online and hoping that the real thing was somewhat close to what is on my screen! And also be able to feel them, to know if they're too scratchy or whatever. It was great!

This is what I bought.

the haul from the Hall

I got a lot, huh? There is enough for 5 different projects, I think. Unless I combine the gray and green yarns on the side (in the plastic bags). I haven't really decided what I'm doing with those yarns yet. These, I know what I'm doing with already.

first project

I'll share a Ta-Da! post when it's ready.

It was a great day for a driving trip too. Sunny, not too hot. There wasn't a whole lot of traffic either. There was only one traffic jam that we got caught in on the way home. It was rush-hour time, afterall, so it was bound to happen. But we still enjoyed it.

Ludi too, since his computer got fixed. yay! Let's hope it stays this way.


 And since it's Friday, September 10 today I have to say

to Aunt Val! I hope that she has a fantabulous birthday today, and celebrates over the entire weekend. That's what you're supposed to do when your birthday lands on a Friday. The whole weekend is then your birthday. 72-hours worth of b-day.


Have a great weekend, everyone! Talk to you soon...


xxx

I have a twitch.

In my eye. The lower eyelid.


This is the 2nd day of it's torture.


What does it want from me?!


In order to try to forget about the above mentioned tick, I'll try something different today. I've read on other blogs in blogland "Things I Like" posts. Perhaps that will satisfy the twitch, and make it calm the heck down. Worth a shot, huh? Here goes:

• the smell of freshly cut grass. Even this time of year, in September, you can get a whiff of that green smell that is the best thing in the world. You can take the girl out of the country, but you can't take the country out of the girl, I guess!

• this song. It's so catchy! It makes me bob up and down every time I hear it. Even if I can't understand what they're saying (it's in German!).

• Diet Coke. "Hi, my name is Heather, and I'm a Diet Coke-aholic." 

• Christmas!!!!! It's only 108 days until, you know. Have you started shopping yet?! Making your list? Checking it twice? Do you think Santa reads my blog? Hmmm...

• flowers. Mostly cut flowers. I've shown you many pictures in the past of the pretties I've gotten, but I really do like planted flowers too. I just wish my thumbs were greener. The flowers on the balcony this year didn't do very well. I don't know if it was me, or if the location just didn't suit them. I'll blame it on location, so I don't have to take it personally.

These are all things that you already knew about me, other than the song. I didn't want to list too many, because that would be boring, wouldn't it? Next time I'll try to think of things you DON'T know about me.

Also coming up in a future post is my new stash of yarn. Pictures and everything!

Enjoy the rest of your week...



xxx


edit: per the comment, I switched the link of the song to one that works in the States. Hope it works for everyone now!

a scary tale

I had to share this with you.

Last night near bedtime (well, after bedtime, but just before going to bed) I was winding down my day by doing a little Internet surfing. I had some music playing in my headphones and was just chilaxin'.

Until I saw something moving on the floor out of the corner of my eye. I quickly looked down, and saw a SPIDER!!!!! It had crawled from under my desk, where MY FEET WERE, to underneath Ludi's desk. Since I don't deal well with spiders, I did what any scaredycat would do.

I promptly called for Ludi to come take care of it.

He did a good job too, catching it in a cup. Of course, he proceeded to then tease me with the trapped-in-a-cup spider, but oh well... we can't have everything, can we?

of course I got a picture

It was a giant of a spider. Not tarantula sized, but still. When you're a chicken like me, it's HUGE. And it moved really fast. EEEEEEKS!!! I didn't notice until I looked at the picture though that it has hairy legs. I DID notice at the time that it has fang-type things.

It gives me the heebie-geebies just thinking about it. *gah*

it's coming to get me!

We employed a catch-and-release strategy with this beast. Once it was in the cup, we opened the window and threw it out.


"and STAY out!"


xxx

A techy weekend

What a gorgeous day here today. Weather-wise, that is. It's cool, in the high 60s, and mostly sunny. There is also a lovely breeze making all the leaves on the trees rustle. A lovely sound, don't you think?

How is the weather where you are?

We have had a techy kind of weekend. Doing maintenance, and backing up files and all that. Some of it went smoothly, and some didn't. That's the thing about technology. It's fanTAStic when it goes smoothly and works just as it should. But when it doesn't, it is a real pain in the you-know-what. And sometimes things can go horribly wrong. I'm sure you all have computer-related horror stories, so you know what we went through this weekend. Bleh!

I finally broke down and bought an external HD to back up my files.

Western Digital My Passport Studio

It's so tiny! It's hard to believe they can fit 500GB into such a tiny package. Actually they probably can fit MORE space into an even smaller package. (Technology is a wonder!) It makes the 60GB hard drive inside my computer seem really puny. Anyways, I chose this particular drive because it was reviewed by a Mac magazine that we get from the UK, MacFormat. They tested 5 different external hard drives in various areas, and this model won. I figured they knew their stuff, so I took their advice. It's nice because you can connect it via a USB cable, OR a FireWire cable. So if I lose one cord, I'll have a back up. ;)

Now that we have had a few months of summer, I'm really looking forward to fall. Especially now that there have been a few days of almost fall-like weather. I don't want it to snow, yet, but sweatshirt weather is always something to look forward to.


Till next time,


xxx

Slow Sunday

Hello again everyone!

I wish I had a really cool opening phrase. A catchy greeting of some sort. I suppose if I said the same thing at the beginning of every post, it would be really boring. It wouldn't be "a cool greeting" anymore, it would just be an "overlooked opening phrase".

Still wish I had one, though.

How has the weekend been going for everyone? Has anyone done anything fun lately? It's Back-To-School time in the States, right? If classes don't start next week, then they will soon. Mom, have you been thumbing your nose at your fellow teachers who aren't retired yet? Sleeping in when they are getting up early to get their rooms ready for students? Do you miss it yet?

Ha!!  Silly question!

For those of you who are new to my world, Mom was a 4th grade teacher for ... what... some 30-odd years. She's retired now, and loving every August that she doesn't have to go back to school. Loving every wintery morning that she doesn't have to wait and see if there's a school delay. Loving every lunch time that she doesn't have playground duty.

At least I'm pretty sure she's loving it.

Another lazy weekend here. Today it's been raining all day, and it might rain all night too, so the weather man says. Since it hasn't rained much all summer, I don't mind. It has to rain a lot (a week or more) for me to start minding it, though. It's cooler too. It really feels like fall already! We haven't had much of a summer here. We had, what, two weeks of hot weather, and the rest has been fairly mild, or even cold (as far as summer temps go). I guess that's how it goes here!

I finished another crochet project a while ago. Do you want to see it?

Yes?

Well, ok, if you insist...

soft and cozy

It's a scarf of flowers connected by little leaves.

close up

and it goes perfectly with my blue coat, don't you think?

cheerful colors

A good way to pretty-up a gray and rainy day! So far it hasn't been cool enough to wear a scarf. I'm patiently waiting for those days. It's more of a spring colored scarf, but I'll wear it this fall a few times anyways, I think. Though I am working on another scarf. That has more fall colors. Would you like to see pictures of that? If you do, then let me know!

Enjoy the rest of your day, friends.



xxx

edit: hmm...I was a little slow on the typing there, wasn't I? The title of the post is "Slow Sunday", but blogger put the date on as Monday, because I'm 35 minutes past Sunday. oops!! 

Too long again

Forgive me, Blogger, for I have sinned.

It's been too long since my last post.

I can't really say that I don't have the time to do it. I do. I guess I just don't make it a priority. Shame on me. I'm letting Dot Com down.


*hangs head in shame*



ok, are we over it now? Yeah? Super!

We went on a shopping spr yesterday. woohoo! (Not a whole SPREE, just a little one - a SPR.) We haven't done that in a long time. Somehow there is always something else to do on Mondays besides go downtown for some shopping. Isn't it funny how that works out? Huh. Anywhoo, we didn't find much that was on our list, but I did find something I've been wanting for quite a while, and just saved up enough money to splurge on.

smallish messenger-type bag

Can you smell the leathery goodness? It's so strong it almost smells like a farm. It's just a simple bag with a long strap so I can wear it around me for hands free shopping/walking, which I really prefer. It is 10in. wide x 10in. tall x 4.5in deep. Big enough to carry what I need, but not so big that I put too much in it and it gets too heavy. I used it today, and it's very comfortable.

inside shot

Inside it's got a zipped pocket and some smaller slots for credit/business cards, a pocket for a cell phone, pen slots, and in the front is a slim pocket too.

Just a simple, basic bag. Not too fussy, classic enough that it can be used for quite a while (not trendy). It's not terribly green (eco-friendly) since it's made of leather, but if you consider that I won't have to buy three new bags to replace this one, then that's environmentally friendly, right? Semi-green?

Pale green?

Celery?

No? Ok, oh well. I like it anyways. I think it will get better as it ages too. (Especially when it doesn't smell like a farm anymore.)

I hope you all are enjoying your August. I can't believe how time flies. Before we know it, it will be winter. And then it will be Christmas!



(In  137 days, to be exact...)


Enjoy your summer!!!



xxx

Pretty Peonies

It's been rainy and cool here the past few days. You know me though. I prefer it that way! But I'm feeling like I need a bright spot. A few weeks ago I bought these pretties.

giant pink blooms

They smelled very good. So summery! They were lovely. I think I've always loved peonies. We had two big bushes of them (or one giant one? Not sure which!) at home growing up, and I always think of those when I see peonies now. Maybe some day when I'm a grown up and have a yard of my very own I'll have some too.

partially open

The just opening ones were so interesting, their different colors. They lasted the whole week too, which was great!

essence of summer

You just can't beat that, can you.

Perfection.

I hope these pictures brightened your day!


xxx

Happy Christmas in July!

Chestnuts roasting on an open fire...

Hello everyone!

It is 154 days until Christmas. woohoo! Normally I don't count them until December, but since it's Christmas in July I thought it'd be nice to know!

I've been watching QVC online today. For the whole weekend they are doing Christmas items. It really puts me in the mood! I want to put my tree up while listening to holiday tunes, and then watch A Christmas Story. It's not too early, is it? I'm just getting a jump start on the season!

Remember a few weeks ago I made the post about the new stash? I figured out what I wanted to make with it. I did a little Christmas in July package for home.

And I finally finished Lisa's gift from last Christmas. Terrible, huh? But it gave me a great excuse to send a Christmas in July package to her! This is what I made for her...

scarf for Lisa

I hope that she likes it. I hope she got it already too. Guess I should say "spoiler alert!" I had made one for my sister and myself too, in different colors though. After I finished this last one, I decided to not make this pattern again. Got a little burnt out on it! But I do like how they turned out. This is the yarn I used for them:

Shimmer™ yarns by Knit Picks®

It's 70% Baby Alpaca, and 30% Silk. Very nice stuff! The purple is called Galaxy, the very light green is Eucalyptus, and the gray is Cumulus. I love the names they assigned to them! Knit Picks has great yarn, if you ask me.

I also did a package for Mom and Pam.

awww....cute, huh?

I did a little mitten garland (remember my mitten post?) and also did some old fashioned light bulbs. Those great big ones, the C7s? They turned out pretty cool! It was a little tricky at first, getting them to look right. I think it took me 4 tries before I liked them. But I really liked how they turned out. I'm going to have to make some for myself too, I think!

These were also included in both packages.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

I didn't have time to make all 4 for each of them. They each got one. These are definitely going to be made for myself too! Just love them.

I hope that you all have a great Christmas in July if you celebrated it. I know I did!

Have a holly, jolly Christmas. It's the best time of the year...


xxx

A nation in mourning

Orange Madness turned to Orange Sadness.

We lost our World Cup final game. Darnit. The guys on the team were so sure that they could pull it off too. Oh well. 2nd place in the world is still good. You'll get 'em next time, guys!

The weather finally broke here. I thought it would never get here! But on Wednesday afternoon, this was what the radar looked like.

We're under the smaller bottom red storm cell

Luckily I was already home from work (since I have to walk from the bus stop). The wind was TERRIBLE. Scary terrible. Later we heard on the news about all the trees down everywhere, and somewhere north of us an electrical tower bent in half. YIKES! And downtown, I just saw on my way home tonight, that a tree at a usually very busy bus stop fell over onto the bus stop shelter! I don't think that anyone was hurt (we didn't hear of any injuries from that on the news. At least not yet.), thankfully. And also further north in a camping ground there were a dozen or more campers that got picked up by the wind, and deposited in the lake. With people still in them. Yes, there were injuries (and worse) in that event, unfortunately.

Everywhere else were there branches down, leaves blowing everywhere etc. This is what it looked like at work today.

branches everywhere up and down our street

It was over quickly though, and today the weather is just beautiful. Low 70s, and light wind. A perfect day.

I hope everyone is having a good week. Any fun plans for the weekend? I think mine includes sleeping, since that hasn't been going well lately thanks to the heat here. But this weekend should be more comfortable at night. YAY!

Maybe it'll be cool enough to clean?

I kind of hope not, though.

Enjoy your weekend folks!!


xxx

The heat is on

The heat is on.

yep...it was at 7:25pm

Oh-wo-ho, oh-wo-ho.

The heat is on.



xxx

Finally Friday

This felt like a really long week to me. Maybe because I was not very busy at work (for a switch!). Maybe because we have an appointment next Monday that I'm really excited about. Maybe because I knew it was going to get hot again at the end of the week. Whatever the reason, Friday took forever to get here. I'm very much looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow. Too bad it's going to be really hot again, and so it won't be a very comfortable sleep. But sleeping in is always good, no matter what.

Also something else to look forward to this weekend is the World Cup finals on Sunday (20:30 here, but check your local listings!). The Dutch team is in it! I was a little surprised that they won the last one, so if they win THIS one, then I'll be surprised again. I am wondering how much partying there will be if they win, too.  Wishing we had a garage to park the car in... On Wednesday, after the Spain-Germany game someone nearby set of a whole bunch of fireworks. It must have been someone from Spain, since they won! Will you be watching, and rooting for my adopted country's team?

Another thing this weekend is Ludi's sister's birthday. Everyone wish her a happy birthday!!!

Sounds like I'm really busy, doesn't it?

It feels strange to not have a picture in a post, so I'll show this one.

new stash

I ordered some yarn online from a Dutch hobby shop a while ago. It's been kind of too hot to do any hooking though, so I'm not sure when I'll finish this project and get to show you. I'll try to do it soon, though!


Enjoy your weekend, everyone! Stay cool!


xxx

HAPPY 4th OF JULY!!!

Happy 4th to everyone!

ooooooooohhhh.... aaaaaaaaaaaahhhh

Are cookouts planned? With potato salads or macaroni salads? That's what I think of for summer BBQs. Hamburgers and potato or macaroni salad. Yumm!!! We don't have anything special planned here.

I can hardly believe it's July already. Where is the time going? The days are just flying by. Though the last few days kind of took forever. I think I mentioned in a previous post that we were having a hot spell this week. Friday was to be the hottest day.

Friday's heat wave

I don't think that it got to 93, but it got hot enough! Luckily the humidity wasn't very high. I think to a lot of people 91 degrees isn't very hot, really, but for here, that's unreasonably unseasonably warm. We only have a few of these days a year, thankfully. Low to mid-80s is more of a normal temperature. But the weather has been cooling down now. Thank goodness!

I hope everything has been going well for you all. Enjoy your holiday!!!


xxx

Oranje Mania!!!!

The country is deep deep DEEP in OranjeMadness. For their national soccer team playing at the World Cup. Everywhere people are wearing orange on the days the team plays. There are decorations everywhere, special orange foods for sale...it's insane!  Here is a picture of the street next to ours.

the entire block decked out

One house even has a tent set up in their tiny front lawn (just behind the red car down the street)! They put their tv outside to watch the games, and have a party. One thing you can't say about the Dutch is that they don't have any national pride in their sports teams.

Today is another game. In fact, it's starting right now. Netherlands are playing against Brazil. Brazil is favored to win (cuz they're really good), but hopefully the Dutch will pull a miracle out of somewhere and win it.

This is the 2nd round of games, out of...what... 4? I can't remember. Here in our house we have watched every game possible. Well... one of us has. I started out watching them all (or most of them), but after the 12th or 13th game, I got a little tired of them. But this one I think I'll go watch, since it's my adopted country. And the USA is out now anyways, so rooting for The Netherlands is the next best thing!

Hup Holland Hup!!!


xxx


edit: Well, whaddya know. There was indeed a miracle (thanks to a Brazilian player and his hitting it into his own goal!) and the Dutch won, 2-1. More Orange Madness! Yippee!!!

Summer is HERE!

Summer is hitting us hard this week. It was in the 80s all weekend, and will continue to be until Friday. Then it changes a little, and goes into the 90s. Ugh. We don't have AC.

Ugh.

I can feel myself wilting already.

On Sunday I was enjoying the smells of summer. The breeze coming in through the kitchen window (fresh air), the scent of some mysterious flower somewhere in the neighborhood. There are so many flowering things around the apartment that I'm not positive what I was smelling, but I suspect it was this.

the culprit

A dainty little yellow flower. There's a long oval kind of leaf right next to the flower clusters (you can see that at the top of the picture). The actual tree leaves are bigger (seen in the lower right corner of the photo).

the big picture

It's a huge tree, and the tree is covered with those little yellow blossoms. The street is lined with them, so we get a lot of the perfumed air in the apartment. Actually, there are hundreds of these trees in Maastricht. I can't figure out what they are though.

leaves and bark of mystery tree

Anyone know? If you could let me know, that would be great!

Stay cool, everyone!


xxx