Care package from home.

A small box with a hefty price tag. Arrived at precisely 14:40 c.e.t.
I was expecting maybe something the size of perhaps a compact fridge when I heard it was over $75.00 to ship a box. Supposed to have taken five days. Pretty close I guess. Was shipped a week ago Monday.
Came today, that makes it six by my count.
We certainly are keeping the mail companies in business, since I just shipped off yet another box to Canada. That was only €24.
It was about the same size, just a little lighter. Somehow I don't seem to see the relationship between those two prices.
So I've had a pleasant afternoon reading a couple back issues of Fine Woodworking, and I'll let Gabe sort through the rest of the stuff, since there are a couple little items in there that she's particularly keen to get.


Meanwhile....I figured I'd post a few more pics of our recent excursion, since we came back to the Netherlands by way of Bruges.
If you ever have a chance, try to see the movie In Bruges , since quite a lot of it was filmed right in the main square of Bruges.

Mind you, the film is a wee bit violent in places, and there's no shortage of colourful language, but I could clearly see why the boss wanted to send the character played by Colin Farrell there for a "vacation".
I refuse to give away the plot.
Sorry.

I highly recommend Bruges.


Really.

(um...the place, not necessarily the movie, but it's ok too)

And not just because it's "romantic" or has neat buildings, but you just might come across something that you'd never see anywhere else.

OK, possibly this should fall under the category of, "things you'd only see in Yurp", and it somehow reminded me of my late father-in-law, since the trailer was a home made job....I couldn't help but take a picture, and I could easily imagine him riding it.

I know, has nothing to do with being in Bruges really, but it's my blog after all, and I'll stick in what ever I bloody well please.

The shopping was pretty good too. And not outrageous. But I have no opinion about that.

Here's me thinking of what to say next.
Well, either that or I'm contemplating eating that box of Belgian chocolates sitting in that bag in front of me. (although quite possibly a moment of indigestion)
There were lots of chocolate shops to chose from. In the first place I went into though, I was behind an Italian couple who thought they'd like to "sample" some chocolate. The clerk pretended not to understand, and I chose to leave. There seemed to be chocolate shops every 20 feet, so I wasn't going to stand there being annoyed by these people.

C'mon!

Pretty sure there's no "sampling".

Plus, the next place I went into, had just enough local kids to give me an idea that they might have the proper goods. Who better knows than the local kids where the best deals in chocolate would be?


Rather than head directly for the built up highway on our way home, we chose a more scenic route along the N9 and decided to stop and check out one of the many grave sites of Canadian troops, just outside Adegem.

I'll be darned if I can find a decent website, but I find this one. even though it only shows an couple more photos.

I don't remember the exact numbers (that's why I was looking for a decent website) but there are over 848 Canadian soldiers buried at this site.*


Since I chose to not end on such a sombre note, (and there's a pun in there too) I decided to upload a short video I took at our dinner table in Brussels on Friday night. The entertainment was (almost) free. Good thing too, since the food was pretty average.

*Just a trivial snippet; the Lincoln and Welland Regiment passed this way through what was then open fields on their way to Maldegem on the morning of Sept 15, 1944, along with the Canadian Grenadier Guards. This was the same regiment that came right through Delden in the spring of 1945.

It could be worse.

Like, there could have been an open window.

As it was, we were counting our lucky stars that there was plenty of glass between us and this one bug that kept trying to pound its way into the living room last night.
I think it was a big moth, but I'm not entirely sure, since I couldn't really get a good look at it. Put it this way, the buzzing was so loud we first thought it was inside.

Ya.

I have to point out that, there are really very few annoying bugs here, with the exception of the odd mosquito which of course, heads directly for Gabe, so we have to keep the place buttoned up pretty good. There were the annoying bees that kept coming in through a couple holes that the owner left in the upstairs door to the bedroom. I've since plugged those openings with some caulk.
Oh...in spite of what I just said about the lack of bugs, there was one other thing.

Once again last night, but a little later on, I actually thought Gabe had fallen down when she went into the bathroom, since she let out a sound that may very well have put the fear of God into all the dogs in the neighbourhood.

Now, I've squished a few bugs in my time, but that wasn't going to be the course of action with this one, since I would have ended up with an actual corpse.
We do tend to keep bathroom type cleaner at the ready, which seems to work fairly effectively on huge-assed spiders. Let me just put it to you this way, I went downstairs and got a pair of plyers to pick this guy up....

I've never actually seen a spider that large inside a house before. There was just that black widow* on a golf course in the Dominican Republic, but it was at least out doors.
With all eight legs completely stretched out, I'm pretty sure he/she/it could have covered the entire palm of my hand.
Might have been this guy.

While we're on the "it could have been worse" topic. I came across one other little snippit today that I need to share.

It's not that likely that we would have ended up living in this place that I'm about to point out but y'know, anything's possible.

Once again, counting those lucky stars, since when asked, at least I don't tell anyone I live in ....... (go on, click that link...I dare ya) this place

*sorry, I've been reminded that it was a tarantula.

A different perspective

Every once in a while, I can take a half decent photo with the "back-up" camera. It doesn't seem to happen very often, and it typically needs to be a blindingly bright day out, at least that's my take on the situation.
I've actually been reluctant to upload whatever was on the card from that camera, since I pretty much knew I'd be disappointed.

These two pics of one of the canals leading into Brussels are the rare exception. They're also a rare example of a nice vista in Brussels (although this is somewhere outside of Drogenbos, but let's not split hairs)



Yes, that's an actual bike path.


Out of all the other pictures on the card, there was one lucky one, which was taken in Sava, just outside of Ljubljana, on Easter Monday.

This is Gabe talking with her cousin Darja. (geez, I hope I spelled that right)

You'll notice there are train tracks right behind the house. I didn't really hear much in the way of trains when we were sitting in her kitchen though, since the walls are solid concrete and looked to be over a foot thick.

The "free" internet connection here at the hotel is making me a little nervous, and I've had to log in a few times already, so I'm not about to loose any more info.
I've already lost an entire email that I wasn't about to try and recreate, so I'm thinking this will be short and sweet.

Kind of a refreshing change.