The set-up.

Let's face it. I'm running a tad low in the "catchy title" department. Had to happen sooner than later. So what? Is that it? We're done?
I suppose though before I completely give up, I could pass along a couple snippits. If you happen to be reading this in the afternoon and are in need of some nap material, do read on.
Got back late on Thursday night from Paris. Somewhat bushed from a few hours at the wheel, so Friday is a bit of a blur I'm afraid. I do seem to recall sleeping in just a tad, and that the weather sucked.

Which...makes it all that much easier to sleep in I find.

The weather continued to suck on into Saturday and I was glad to have use of the car in the morning to first take Gabe to a hair appointment, and then to pick up a couple things, grocery wise.

Left for Herkenbosch after 11:30 which meant that we were going to be late, even before we got into the car. We said we'd be there around 1:00.
Herkenbosch is down in Limburg, about 25 kilometers this side of Maastricht.

No, we did not get any cheese.

Nor did we sign any treaties.

In terms of the big picture, we were on our way to visit with some total strangers.
Let me attempt an explanation. The lady whom we were gong to visit, is the daughter of Gabe's older sister Anna's God Mother (now deceased). Got that?
In other words, a Slovenian connection (and I just now thought of what the label for this post will be...)
It probably didn't matter too much, but stupid GPS took us down through Germany. I watched the speed limits this time, no worries. However, there are places where the Autobahn is simply a spiders web of choices, so we chose to come home by way of Nijmegen when we returned, sticking to the much better highways on the Netherlands side of the border.
It rained all the way there, and down around Oberhausen it came down in buckets. Not fun.
So you have to understand that, in spite of being "total strangers", the "Slovenian connection" can be quite the phenomenon.
Here's what I mean:
Using one's Canadian sensibilities, one would not expect anything more than perhaps a cup of coffee and a biscuit or two. But NO! Deep in the recesses of my now much more learned psyche, I had a sneaking suspicion that there would be more. Let's just say that the items I bought for our supper on Saturday had to be left for the next day, since here we are, having a full meal in the middle of the afternoon.


You cannot leave without being fed! That's all there is to it!
(simply remember this, if asked "are you hungry?", answer: "yes, you are".)

This was of course after there had been a great deal of picture perusing, both in digital format, as well as the old fashioned kind.


We should really have been taking notes, since I'm now kind of sketchy on a couple (a "couple" he sez!) details.
Marti, the lady on the right looking at the photo, was a little more astute, and was making little notations from time to time.

Suffice to say, we had a wonderful visit.

So now, if your kids ever complain about learning another language, just kick 'em in the pants and tell them to get over it. Here's why: Marti and I spoke mostly in German, with a smattering of Dutch. Harry (her husband) spoke English quite well, but Marti spoke Dutch to him, and Slovenian to Gabe.
Hope you can sort that out, since I can't very well do any sort of drawing, schematic or otherwise.
Since I have a certain amount of Russian under my belt, I could pretty much follow the Slovenian, (and so could Harry btw) but every so often there would be a word or two that didn't register, so then I'd get the explanation in German.

A regular flippin' United Nations.

Let's move right along to the title of this entry shall we?

A while back I mentioned the additon of a wireless keyboard and mouse. Monday (forget Sunday...another lazy day) I decided to pedal my arse to Media Markt and pick up a video cable, since the new TV that Jenn brought a week ago has a few more bells and whistles than the old CRT that we had been using.
So here you go....I can now use the TV as a computer monitor.
So big deal, right? Well, some of our videos are not dvd, but are divx, and can only be played on a divx player. We have a divx player at home, but the player that I shipped does not happen to have that particular feature.
D'oh!
Matter of fact, neither did the computer, but thanks to the internet, I was able to simply download the program.
So now we can watch movies in what ever format they happen to be in, which is good, since we have a few that we have yet to see.
Thanks Rob!
As good as this set-up is for movie watching however, for typing it can be a tad onerous, since I need to be no farther away than about two metres, or I can't really see what the heck I'm doing.

I'll just have to suffer.

Paris, part deux

Need to go back.

That's pretty much the entire summation of the trip. The hotel was fine, and provided a reasonable view of the city, although the Montparnassus tower was blocking the view of the Eiffel tower. That was unfortunate.

We could at least see Notre Dame.



Of course, while peering out over the city, there's the rare occasion when you do see something a little bit out of the ordinary...



Pretty sure I don't need to explain.
I wonder if it's easy to keep the weeds down at that elevation? How high do dandelion seeds go?


I guess I had never really done any research on the Louve, since I had been there often enough that I felt that I didn't have to. Turns out a few things have changed. They've sorted out the whole problem of getting into the place with the entranceway now in the middle of the courtyard.
I mean, I just figured you went in the way you always did, at one of the many doorways, like here at the south end.


So....maybe I didn't want to come off as the "know it all" when it came to getting around and such?
You believe that, right?
That's my story anyway.

Turns out you go down through the goofy pyramid, get your ticket and then you go underneath to which ever wing you'd like to visit.

Surprisingly well organised considering that it's well.... Paris. This shouldn't be a repository for too many personal opinions or political diatribes. That's the theory anyway. We best not go down that road. Funny how one's point of view can change?

I was told that most of the impressionist stuff had been moved over to the Musée D'Orsay.
Dang.

Again....need to go back.

My hope was that the large pieces hadn't gone anywhere, and sure enough they were all hanging right where I had seen them last. Some of these things are the size of the side of a barn, so I'm not sure just where they'd get moved to.

Because of the sheer size of the larger paintings, I really wanted Gabe to see them. Also, you really have to be aware of your surroundings, since the building itself is pretty danged spectacular.So no, that's not our living room ceiling.


You'll no doubt notice that the place is pretty much mobbed all the time. This was a Wednesday fer heaven's sake, and it's not even tourist season. I did notice a number of school groups and such.
So it's rare to be able to take a shot without having some twit in your way.

There were those visitors who were taking pictures of everything. I guess I just don't see the point. If you're willing to do a little searching, there's enough stuff online these days that you can refresh your memory without too much trouble.

Of course, if you're into a possible bathroom reno, they had a couple ideas to explore...



So here's the underlying problem of being a tourist. It was easier say, thirty years ago to wander around all day long and then, perhaps without so much as taking a rest, wander around for half the night as well.
To quote inspector Clouseau...."not anymore".
(clue: wait until 3:45 in the video)

I can sort of get by for a while with an adequate supply of say, advil.
My travelling companion doesn't do quite so well however.

No amount of pain killer was going to help the situation, since her knees were on fire from about half way through the second day.
So it was time to tour around a little by car, and that would have to do.





One thing to consider for our next visit is taking a supper cruise on the Seine, since you then get to see stuff from your seat....


On a final note, there was truly only one souvenir that we brought back. Can't seem to find these aluminum pans around here, so I was quite excited to find them in a dollar type store in Paris.

Thrilling, huh?

There will be more.....

Live from Paris.

Not too sure I should try uploading any pictures, since this is coming from Wifi hotspot in the hotel lobby.
We're just about to head out again to hit the Louvre, only this time I figure I might just as well take the car, since when we were wandering around there last night, there seemed to be plenty of parking, and the parking garage next to the hotel here is charging us an arm and a leg, so I may as well give up those appendages closer to where we want to be. Trick is, we sat in a restaurant on the Quai du Louvre last night and the traffic was nuts right up until about 8:30. So, as long as we time it right, I don't see a problem. Hey, if I can do Brussels, Paris ain't that much worse. I don't necessarily recommend it for everyone though. See, I've driven the motorhome right through the heart of Montreal, so I'm pretty fearless. (or nuts...you chose)

Anyhoo, we're presently at the Montparnasse Meridien, not far from the Mont Parnassus tower. Of course, stupid GPS couldn't find the place. We got ourselves to the 14th arrondissement and figured out the rest with a good ole fashioned map.
Street signs are a challenge though, since they're stuck up on the side of the buildings. Typical, but annoying if you're behind the wheel.
One does need a certain hightened sense of awareness.

Alrighty, seems all is in order and we're about to head out.

I'll add more to this later.

The visit.

I was somewhat disappointed that Jenn had to go back already on Saturday, but at least we did have a bit of a visit.
I haven't really gotten into the habit of taking a pic of the "Friday meal", and I'm not sure if it's really all that necessary. I don't think I'll ever get the "passion" for cooking, but it did go down well just the same.
Not sure why their eyes are closed here, but you'll no doubt notice we went with the "good stuff" (Masi) in the wine department. I tried to remain lucid long enough to get the food on the table.
Oh, and no, the wine and cheese was not the meal either.
Turns out Jenn had just so much to do at home before the movers come on Tuesday that she felt she needed to be there.

Saturday morning though, after our customary croissants, we felt a little jaunt out on the bikes was in order.
Jenn got the princess bike and, although she hadn't ridden a bike in a little while we'll just say, it wasn't too long before she once again had the hang of it. Biking in Switzerland isn't really all that common.

We did a couple loops around the Delden area. Not really exciting stuff, but enough to give a feel for the place.






Made sure we headed for the canal.

The canal was also on our agenda for the now somewhat compulsory Sunday afternoon bike ride.

Happened to catch this fellow going by.

Came from somewhere in Germany.

Click To Play

One of these fine days I'll actually take the time to figure out the format for these flippin' videos, since I seem to get a slightly different result each time. I suppose as long as the thing shows up on here, then it's all good. Would be nice to know what to expect though.
Sorry, today's episode doesn't include any nauseating bike videos.

Almost forgot to mention. I barely got this photo this morning, since I wanted to catch Gabe on her way back from church, but she was kinda bootin' it.
Turns out there was some old guy with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth, and there was no way he was going to beat her.
Hasn't quite figured out how to "let it go"...

And now we wait.

Pretty normal Friday for around here.
I have my little tasks that I must perform. There's the usual quick trip out in the a.m. for a couple things, but then the rest of the morning was pretty well taken up with domestic issues.
A couple trips to the wonder machine, accompanied by the annoying machine. Oh, that would be the very cleaver vacuum cleaner that the owners left behind. Try not to accuse me of looking a gift horse in the mouth here, but a piece of junk is a piece of junk.

Thankfully I had a bungee cord hanging around is all I'll say.

Throw a visitor into the mix, and that does add just a few minutes to the job list.

Needed to get a couple things ready here at, "Bob's bed and get yer own breakfast".

Seems today is the vernal equinox. This is good.

A little more sun also means other things. Yesterday I had to cut the grass. Was mildly astonished that the mower started, since I broke my cardinal rule and left fuel in the tank. Didn't even change the plug. Talk about lucky. Well, if you call then having to cut the grass "lucky", but you know what I mean.
Had a look at the blade though. Pretty sure my toenails are sharper. (but that's another story) Have to deal with that at some point I suppose.

Our visitor is our friend Jennifer, who is happily tooling up the autobahn from Bonn as I write this. She's been there all week, and will be hanging with us until Sunday or maybe Monday (we hope).
Thing is, Tuesday is moving day for her, so she has to boot it back to Switzerland in time to sort that out. Seems like we just caught up to her, and now she's been reassigned back to the States.
Happy for her move but sad she's going back.

So there's still more to do in terms of digging, sweeping...washing.

Maybe next week.

We'll see how it goes.

Oh...this is worth mentioning. One of my other little "assignments" this morning was to stop by the "Apotheke" and see about getting a prescription filled. Not mine btw, I still have oodles of laying mash to go through.
Here's the thing, the Doc is away this week. I figured we're beat, but thought I'd ask anyway. Well, they simply renewed the whole thing!

Seriously.

The very nice lady simply said they'd send a note to the doctor, and he'd send them the prescription later.
Are you kidding me?
That is truly amazing.
Wouldn't happen at the boneheaded pharmacy down the street from our house back in Canada. Don't even get me started about those idiots.
We've been getting prescriptions filled there since 1992. That's what? Sixteen years? And they still don't know who the hell we are.

Honestly.

She went on to say that this is not something that is done everywhere in the Netherlands, but hey, it's a small town.

Not so bad being out in the "boonies", now is it?

Tomorrow is supposed to be sunny and 10°, so we'll no doubt throw a few miles on the bikes.

I'll see if I can get make my brother Angus nauseous again with another video.

Not our regular program

It was with great delight that I saw a fellow Canadian on CNN today. Had to wait another six hours with the camera in front of the tube before it re-appeared. Seems they thought some fire in London was more important.

Phuh.

Not very high tech. Oh well.

The sound is virtually non-existant, since I had the mike on the camera taped up for the bike video. No matter....only the first few seconds are actually important...
here's Geri and Mark.

"...For only thirty-seven hundred dollars a day...."

Off to town. Part deux.

Not only did I choose to go back into Hengelo once again today, but I shot a little video yesterday and decided to upload it.
It's a slightly lengthy process, so I didn't quite get it sorted out yesterday afternoon. The time on the video is still Eastern Daylight savings time, so you need to add five to get the correct time. So no, I didn't head out at seven a.m. Hello?

Notice at about the 1 minute 30 mark, that there's no need to go anywhere near the 347, since there's a tunnel under the roadway. No cars on this road, but notice the traffic signs for the bikes. All very civilized.





I thought I'd best break it up rather than bore you with the entire trip. Since the camera was rolling, I wasn't about to stop for the yellow. Matter of fact, on the way back today, I was following a guy who actually ran that light. I tried not to look on in horror.



Here at the very beginning up to the right, you'll also notice there's a one way sign for bikes, which is why I need to go left. Not sure why that section is only one way.



I was a bit annoyed with this person, since I had to pass her once, then she chose to not observe the "one way" sign, so I had to overtake her again. D'oh!







She probably figured that, since there was this construction, it was ok. There is no longer a bike path on the other side of the road at this point. Looks to me like they're putting in new sewer lines. Near as I can figure anyway.
I took this today heading back to Delden.


On the way back, I noticed that the "museum" part of the sign had been put in place at the Saw Mill, so I took a little detour to have a look. There are more pictures on the site, which happens to be in Dutch. Sorry.

Lots of wood.

I tried not to drool over myself.

There was a model of what I thought was the structure situated inside the museum. It looked very much like this used to be a wind mill, since that's what the model looked like. In that case, you have to imagine a honkin' big windmill perched on top of the structure.



I wonder if they're looking for volunteers?

Off to town

Before I get too far ahead here, I feel obliged to pass along a little piece of information that Gabe took great delight in sharing with me yesterday.

Not too sure if every one's German skills are up to snuff, but this little notice she received at work basically asked if anybody knows this clown, and where should they send the ticket...


So I was eleven km over. Good ole photo radar. Since I have no desire to try and muddle my way through the German court system (let alone find the place) I'll pay the stupid fine. I'm sure they figure with the minor ones, that most everyone couldn't be bothered to go to court, so it's like that "plead guilty with and explanation" scam.
Oh, and you'll notice I decided to add a little caption.

We'll see what the damages are like.

Stay tuned.

Meanwhile, I had been contemplating getting a wireless keyboard and mouse for this computer for a time now, and it just so happened that this very morning, my wired mouse decided to take a holiday. No matter how many times I unplugged and then plugged the thing back in, the computer was no longer willing to recognise it.

Fine.

Just yesterday I had been in to a small shop here in Delden looking at wireless stuff, and was a little horrified at some of his prices.
I know I have been claiming to take the high road when it comes to the "Mom and Pops" but this guy should have been wearing a mask. He wanted €45 for a wireless mouse, and something like €65 for a keyboard.

Yikes!

Pretty sure I had seen them for less.
Seriously. Glad I was only a few steps from the door.
Thought I might have a look online and sure enough, a shop in Hengelo was offering way more for way less. It's the second one down on that page, btw.

So you can see that's a pretty good deal, considering you end up with both pieces for €26,99.

The bonus was, it turned into a really nice day, so I figured I'd head for Hengelo. Took along a bottle of water just in case, and figured that, if I somehow started to fade or some such thing then well, I'd just turn around and come back. Turns out it was no big deal.
Kind of amazing what decent weather and a nice bike will do for the travelling radius.
Not about to head off to Amsterdam just yet, or ride as far as this guy, who thinks nothing of riding 75 km to pick up supplies for his basket building business.
(hey, whatever turns yer crank)

Turns out, the one I chose was their last one. So maybe they're not kidding when they say, "everything must go". I figure that's usually just horse manure.

This is the preferred method for bringing said keyboard and mouse back home.



The only slight annoyance was that, at that price you don't seem to get batteries. Not a problem, since having spares in a drawer somewhere is pretty much obligatory.
So hey! We're wireless!
This will be sweet when we get our "new" TV on Friday, since I can hook up the computer and play dvds....or just use the somewhat bigger screen.
Should be fun.

Oh...and Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Take it easy on yer liver.

A week of appointments

A couple weeks ago I guess it was, we each received yet another letter from the region (Hof van Twente, btw) pointing out how, since we were holding foreign passports, but were living in the Netherlands, it was now a requirement for "inburgering".
Please note the first "r" in inburgering, so we won't be throwing in any puns at this point.
Pretty sure this was finally triggered by me getting my residence permit.
That would be my guess anyway.
Now, if you're reluctant to click the link and go to the website, which is in English, it's simply this. We (in Canada) have something called "English as a second language" or "ESL" for short, that we provide in a number of our school systems. Everyone is welcome, but for the adults it's not mandatory. Here theoretically, learning the Dutch language is. Before the end of three years, you have to demonstrate a certain level of proficiency in Dutch. Not sure if they're ready and able to punt you out if you haven't done your test by that point, since this whole concept is rather new, but that is the plan.
Also, before you dismiss this idea as being rather draconian, you may wish to think back to those first generation immigrants who went to the "new world" and even after 25 or 30 years, have yet never been required to learn anything more than a smattering of English.
If you think ever so briefly of the title of this blog, you can rest assured that I could give a host of examples.

Nuff said.

So that appointment was over in Goor at the "gemeentehuis" on Tuesday at 2:00 p.m.
I met with two very nice ladies, one of whom spoke no English whatsoever, but we muddled along. So I first explained why Gabe was unable to attend, (something to do with working late and the economy) and then how that, by the end of three years, we both figure we'll be getting by very nicely in English back in the home country.
Well, I might throw in some French once in awhile just to keep it interesting.
Oh, and maybe a smattering of Spanish if we head for some sun.

Very little Dutch I'm thinking.

They both completely understood "the plan", we exchanged email addresses (in case I could help them in any way) and I blew out of there.

Tuesday morning was also the Doctor's appointment, but there was no use considering the car for that one, since I'd get about half way there and run out of parking options. Kind of unfortunate that it was raining pretty damned hard on the bike ride home, but I didn't melt.
While I had the car, it hit me like a bolt that I had better make an appointment to get the winter tires switched and since I'm still not 100% comfortable on the phone (in Dutch) it was a good chance to go in person.
That one we set up for this morning at 8:00.




Now, with all the time in the world at my disposal, you'd think I wouldn't want to get in that early, but old habits die hard, and I hate waiting as it is, so if I'm the first one there (hey, their outside clock had just turned 7:59 as I was rounding the corner) then the hope is that there won't be too much hanging about.
They were pretty expeditious, and I was out of there within 50 minutes.
You don't sign anything, and the tires get left behind.

Love it.

Here's the silver bullet getting her faster shoes put on:


I try to always ask permission when taking photos depending on the circumstances, and the guy at the desk was OK with that. Plus, they have a website, so they're certainly not going to mind a few more eyes looking at their garage.

Meanwhile, I had set up an appointment for Thursday morning for the first service interval for the bike. Keep in mind we still haven't got the oil changed in the car yet, but that's beside the point.

I took a host of pictures, just to give you a feel for the scope of the bike "industry" in this country. I didn't bother taking a loaner, but instead wandered home for a bit, then headed back after about an hour or so to pick up new and shiny.

Bike repair dude wasn't done.

I think there may have been a misunderstanding.
Like that's a stretch.
No biggie.
Gave me a chance to wander around with the camera.
Their showroom is a tad small, with the usual sea of bikes:


The outside is rather unassuming,
and in the back is the service entrance. The bikes on the rack are used bikes for sale, and the rest (with the tags if you can see them) are either waiting to be worked on, or to be picked up.

New and shiny was at least inside waiting for a turn on the hoist.



The model on the hoist looked very similar to the one we were looking at on the weekend for Gabe.

While he had the bike up there, I mentioned that between 5th and 6th gear, she'd sometimes break loose, so he not only made an adjustment to the cable, but showed me a couple tricks while he was at it.


I didn't ask this fellow anything about his experience when it came to working on bikes, but my guess is he's been at this for just about as long as I've been on the planet. Kind of a far cry from the tattooed pimply faced kid at your local bike shop where I come from.
So I thought we were done but no, he needed to take it for a test ride.
Nothing like customer satisfaction.










So with the minor exception of the oil change for the car, neither vehicle needs to be on a hoist until the fall.

More night pics

Just another feeble attempt at catching the moon coming out from behind the monkey tree.


Have to think back to the basics. Smaller f stop, more depth of field and then longer exposure.
Didn't quite get it though.




The quality of the last one is just about the best I can come up with at this point. Just want everything a little sharper.
Considerably more gratifying than waiting for the film to come back and then to discover nothing turned out.

Laying Mash

I'm not quite sure how I ended up thinking of this particular analogy, but thought I'd spit it out and be done with it.
I've never had cause to raise chickens, but I do recall spending a considerable amount of time as a young lad with my old man feeding the hens, gatherings eggs and let's not forget the joy of shovelling out the hen house.

Oh, and there's the smell.

That's a keeper.

See, there has been some mention over the last couple weeks of doctor's appointments and that kind of thing, so I figured I'd pass along this little snippit.
If you saw me on the bike, you'd realise that when the doctor suggested that I had "spastic colon", you'd know why I thought, "buddy, you have no idea".
Anyway, that's what we figure. Last week's visit to the hospital gave me pretty much the "all clear".

Turns out I'll live.

Well, kinda stuck with that whole "spastic" thing, but it's more of an annoyance than a killer.

So fine.



Well, just to make things move along more smoothly, so to speak, the good ole doc figures he'll give me a prescription for some "stuff". Now, in most drug stores in North America and certainly in Canada, you can simply buy this "stuff " off the shelf.

Here we need a prescription.

Again. Fine.

Oh, and by the way, if it were as nice and tasty as the "stuff" in the link, I probably wouldn't mind too much, but this "stuff" comes in little packets, and doesn't have much going on flavour wise.

So here's the thing:

Go out to the hen house (or chicken coop, if you prefer) and bring back about a quarter cup of laying mash, put it in a glass, fill it with water, stir like there's no tomorrow and drink it*.

Try not to gag.

Both the doctor (in English) and later the nice lady in the pharmacy (in Dutch)told me that a second glass of water is required right after the first.

Well, no sh*t!

You need the second glass of water to get rid of all the "stuff" that's stuck in your teeth and hanging off the back of your throat.


Woof.


I think I might just go with some alfalfa and call it a day.


*you're welcome to substitute sawdust at your discretion.

Another window.

It's usually in the latter part of the afternoon that the sun wants to torment me buy first finally coming out, and then slipping over the horizon.
In addition to that, it gets to a certain angle to make it glaringly obvious that there's at least one more window to clean. Maybe that's the one other very large contrast between living here and Puerto Rico. We didn't actually have any windows there, now that I think on it. Thankfully I have many witnesses to that fact, most of whom are reading this blog, otherwise not having windows isn't something that is easily believable.
Really. We had screens, but no windows. Here there are no screens....

In the meanwhile though I just realised that I had better get up to the "drogist" to pick up the dry cleaning. I had gone by there this morning but was told that it probably wouldn't be in until after 3:30. Fetching it on the bike wouldn't be a problem since, as you recall, the last place gave me my dry cleaning folded up and in a bag. (and darned lucky to get the bag, I thought) This place is just that much closer to home, so I figured we'd give it a try. Turns out, they actually gives you your dry cleaning on hangers just the way it should be.

Who knew?

Now, I've included a pic of the dry cleaning in question, just so you know I'm not making it up. I mean, I once saw a guy carrying a ladder on a bike, so surely I could get the dry cleaning home. I chose to do the last little bit by way of the sidewalk in front of the house, and I only came perilously close to that one lamppost.

Of course, it only takes one.


Back to our regularly scheduled program:

The curious thing about a few of the windows on this place is the addition of these "cage match" type bars.I would think that if I wanted to get in badly enough, I'd simply heave a great ugly rock through the rather large target just to the right there....

So unless you're going to try and poke your fingers between the openings to clean the glass, you need to take down the "cage".


I do think it looks better without the metal hanging off it but hey, not my place to say.

In order to avoid seeing a shadow from my big fat head, I thought it prudent to move over a tad.
So now you can only see my reflection in the window.


Idiot.


....and there we go.
Oh, and I had the privilege of getting to use the most expensive wrench ever. Sure glad I bought that one.