Holland Hols

The long and the short of it!

Eating fish & chips (kibel), is it me or does it sound like dog food.?

Sunset on the dunes.

Enjoying the beach party before the embarrassing mother started gyrating!

7 p.m. on the beach I love how the light reflects and just to see the girls having fun.

Smiley, happy, girlies

Exploring the town and canals.

I have no idea which bike is mine but I love the orderliness of this line of bikes!

Sand dunes that make you want to run and play hide & seek.
Can't you see the famous five hiding in the long grass?

The Iljstra Homestead

Our little detour for July 4th weekend was so worth the time and effort. The weather was perfect and our hosts went far and beyond to show us the sights. We never made it in to the city as we were having too much fun in Heiloo. So Anne Frank and Rijk museum apologies and we will catch you next time.

Let me see if I can remember all the cheeses, friend foods and cookies I consumed. Perhaps not the names but as Shakira has said before me " The Hips Don't Lie " Much was imbibed and enjoyed.

The dunes, beaches, seaside towns and just catching up with old friends was blissful. Cycling through leafy avenues and admiring the architecture with stops offs for food are all the things that make me happy.

The 80's disco at the beach was a step back in time for Flora and I and a lesson in teenage embarrassment for my chicas. A mother who knows the lyrics word perfect while the singer falters is not cool in the world of melodramatic teenagers. Mother shrieking with laughter at the backing singers who wore replicas of outfits past. Then to see your mother dancing!! Well they are still talking about the humiliation and begging me to never expose them again.

Time flew by and then off we flew to our next summer sortie.

The time with our friends will be treasured until we return to make new memories.

Thanks for your hospitality Flora & Wessel we will return :)

Bike rides.

Meals alfresco

Beach 80's disco with our kids

Texas Again!

Ladies who lunch, breakfast,wine and dine all day long!

Let's dance and swig some beers with the locals.

Photo op with a scenic view.

Rebecca Rather's bakery. A Sweet treat indeed.

Red sky at night Shepherd's delight.

Shady Arbor

Red Barn at Pepper Ranch

I know it's a recurring theme with me, Texas that is. Who knew I would miss it so much and feel drawn back so often.

For me it is the warmth of long and true friendships made there and the memories of good times.

A weekend in Fredricksberg with girlfriends is a must do for everyone.
I only hope that the trip to Red Barn will become a ritual. We are some what late comers to the theme of the Ya Ya Sisterhood but I am sure like them we feel the same kinship and need to stay connected.

Girls it was the best of times and I laughed so much and stuffed my face with way too many goodies and treats.

Here's to next time.

Dearest Ingi your Little red barn is a slice of heaven.

The Reel Club

I have found a new pastime, well maybe not so new but resurrected.

We have joined the Reel Club for weekly dance practices.
Of a Thursday evening we can be found along with maybe a maximum of ten willing, but not necessarily able participants, jigging to Scottish reels.

I am not maligning my compadres I include myself in this bunch of novices. Truth be told I am the one who causes the most uproar and confusion.

It is almost the quintessence of a British evening activity in the Village Hall with the ocassional star appearence of the Vicar and his wife. Yet the city location and mixture of nationalities makes it anything but. I do believe I am the only one who can claim to have been born on the cold, but bonny banks of Escosia!


We all turn up in the chill of the winter evening and leave looking and feeling as if we have done a full workout at the gym. I run more than most as I usually have to do several laps to the ladies room for fear I will have an accident. I just can't stop myself from laughing.


We normally only manage two dances before we all lurch towards the back of the room to share beverages and snacks. Yes, the vicar allows alcohol but I am usually on water. Alcohol, giddy spins and laughter would only add to the liklihood of me having a "little accident".


Why do I collapse in a paroxym of laughter so frequently? Often times it's the look of panic on a dancers face when they have lost their partner and wander in circles trying to find them and then the look of confusion as someone grabs and hurls them across the room to the correct position. Other times it's the sight of G.C. counting beats and pushing some poor uninitiated local chica into position. Her rhythm is faultless but perhaps better suited to a salsa beat! G.C. is concentrating so hard that the furrows on his brow cause mine to crease too, but in laughter. Occasionally it's just me me losing concentration, forgetting the next move thereby throwing everyone into confusion. Leaving the floor to use the bathroom leaves G.C. partner less and then things fall apart...

It has to be the best value for money, the simplest of pleasures and a lot of fun. One hopes by the time the November St. Andrew's Ball comes around I may be able to dance without dashing to the loo crossed legged.

Mothering Sunday

BLING!!!...........

My very shiny and dazzling Mother's Day gift. I adore it and have never felt so glamarous as when I wear it.
Many were impressed with hubby and daughters choice. Without stealing their glory let's just say I did a little window shopping myself beforehand!

Mother's Day was a very subdued and relaxing day mainly because I had been in bed most of the weekend with a migraine.


As we sat at lunch we started reminiscing of Mother's Days past. I had the girls laughing with my horror tails of gifts I had bought for my own Mother. The most gaudy one I recall was a vivid blue, cheap, glass, vase bedazzled with gold roses I bought it with my pocket money. I remember dragging my siblings around the shops and insisting as eldest I had final say and it had to be this bright and bold recepticle. Credit to you mum you used it and kept it for years.


Another bad buy were the bath cubes scented in sweet almond from the local chemist. The ones that leave a chalk like residue in the bath and do a grand job of exfoliating your derriere when you sit down in the tub. Great for removing scale from the enamel of old bath tubs!



Then came the memories of all those sweet little projects lovingly crafted at school by my own chicas little hands. I have saved some but others disintergrated over the years with moving from tropical humidity to frosty winters.

I suppose the point I am getting too is that as I get older the gifts become more of a personal choice and less of a spontanious purchase from my off spring. Books are usually top of my list of things I would like and as the girls would tell you; anything silver, anything from Pottery Barn and something a little indulgent!


I am still smiling at Bee's comment on any more bling and I shall take on the moniker of Elizabeth Taylor. Anyone know where I can find an 8 carat diamond for a good price???

Fashion

Artistes
I do not consider myself artistic more a practical person so working with artistes is new territory for me.
May 5th was the culmination of a long work in progress fund raiser.
The idea being we sell tickets to the Fashion Show, the designers get recognition and hopefully new clients, the ladies and the odd gent get a fabulous show and delicious tea at the beautiful and traditional country club. We the commitee make enough money to donate to an orphanage so 63 children will have school uniforms, shoes, christmas presents, birthday cakes and whatever else they may need to make life a little more normal for them. Through all the preparations it helps to remind oneself "it's for the children". It seems easy enough until you add in a rather unreliable "artiste".
To find out days before the show that one of the designers has dropped out is cause for concern. To hear that the promised donations amount to $$$ less than first anticipated is worrying. To be waiting at the back door for the designer to arrive with his creations an hour after the show should have started is enough to give me palpatations or a case of the vapours.
Despite all this the event went off well. The back drop, music and designs were amazing. The padre of the orphanage had front row seats and certainly got a birds eye view of some delicate skin! His speech was quiet funny as he mentioned not knowing much about fashion and how he played it safe every day by wearing classic black and white!
We got some very generous raffle donations of tickets to US/Mexico/Peru(no need to worry about swine flu the tickets are good for a year!) Hotel stays and dinner at some of the top restaurants in the city.
Guess who was the first name called out at the Raffle???
Just as well the prizes were given in reverse order. If I had won the air fare to the US I think there may well have been a riot or a demand for a re-take. I find it quite funny the attitude some have to my winning streak. It's not as if I can fix the odds in my favour, it is nothing but pure luck and it would appear I have a slightly larger portion than most. Hope I don't jinx myself by saying that out loud.

College Search

Easter Sunday found us dashing back from a restful weekend at the beach. We had a few hours to unpack, launder clothes, re-pack and then head to the airport. Us being myself and chica uno who by years end has to apply to Universities and know more or less in which direction her education will continue. So we decided a mini Uni tour would get the ball rolling and where better to start than the Big Apple.

I thought I had prepared well in advance in doing research and booking a short trip to the North East coast to take in some State, private and Ivy League schools to get a good cross section. It all looked so easy on map quest and the virtual tours I took on the web pages. We started in New York, drove to Connceticut, Rhode Island, Boston and back again. If I were to do it all again I would probably take the train!

It felt a little like the blind leading the blind. Chica one is feeling overwhelmed with the enormity of the task ahead. Not just getting good grades and writing the perfect essay but actually knowing what she wants to do and where. It all sounds good on paper, looks great on the web page but I am new to the college applications process State side and had to buy various books and swot up on lots of new acronyms.
The tours were all conducted by bright, smiling, intelligent young guns who presented a good cross section of academic and social information. The college information sessions leave one feeling as if they would love to have us all apply and how earnestly they read the applications. Then comes the shocker of cost, gulp!

Where does one begin and how to convince said chica of what a smart, engaging, young lady she is and that any where would be happy and lucky to have her enroll. Then comes the task of how to apply a modicum of reality and end by saying you need a reach and a safety school. How to bolster but not over inflate, guide not push. I suppose as in all parenting milestones she is my first so by the time chica dos steps into the arena I may yet have mastered the terminlogy and process.

It would not be a Bon Bon story if the trip went smoothly wihout a little fracas at the airport where one portly gent tried to advise me on immigration requirements. Let's just say I did not take him seriously.
The most stressful part of my trip was driving back in to New York and being side swipped by a Juggernaut. He would not stop and claimed I had run into him. Yeah buddy it's a hobby of mine running into trucks 10 times the size of me. Well now I have a bill to settle with the rental company. The probelms with that and insurance could take up pages of blogging but are too boring to repeat!

To end the story my flight was late due to storms and my flight was re-directed. It took chica uno less time to get back to the UK than it took me to get to Texas. We are still undecided on which universities. Sigh and so the search continiues........

Wednesdays with Juani

Every Wednesday morning you can find me somewhere in the school library. I first volunteered last August and have continued to show up each week. With my chica's in Middle school the need for classroom help is practically non-existant so I decided to offer myself up for other volunteer jobs.
Every Wednesday I enter the calm of the library and feel as though I am to use a Spanish expression "Estoy en mi salsa" Translation means. I am in my sauce. Or to use a Brit one "I'm at my Grannies". I feel at home, comfortable and where I am meant to be.
As I said it is only a volunteer job and mostly consists of doing the jobs no one else likes to do or has time to do. Mainly the covering of books in protective plastic. See, far from glamorous but yet the monotony of it soothes me. A gal easily pleased you think. I sometimes do inventory, read stories and try to answer questions on teen fiction. So Jack of all, Master of none!
Ms. Juani is the lovely librarian who quielty and calmly sits at the computer checking books in and out and guides me to where I am needed that day or can be of use. I have never seen her frown nor heard her raise her voice. Nothing like the draconian librarians I recall from my youth. This library does not implement the " Silence is Golden " rule. How could it with hundreds of students, teachers and parents trailing in and out all day. There are however peaceful moments between classes and I find it almost soporific.

I have my little station with books stacked all around, reems of tape in varying sizes and rolls of plastic or to give it it's Peruvian title Vinifan!!! I get to peruse all the new books and donated ones. I like the access to view just what teenagers are reading and to see how many well thumbed copies of Junie B. Jones are still enjoyed. This of course detracts from my ability to produce finished products and explains why the heaps of books never seem to go down.
With the celing fans whirring and the smell of fustiness, neatly stacked periodicals and glossy mags I settle into my own temporary little piece of manna.

The fun part is reading to the 4/5 year olds and choosing books to compliment the topic they are "studying" each term. With only a a few weeks left of the school year I can see just how far these little ones have come with their language skills some are multi lingual. They even brought me some flowers for Mother's day which brightened my day no end.

After duties I indulge myself a little and read the US newspapers and flick thru People and Vanity Fair. I come out feeling so rested and ready to get on with the days chores or activities.

My advice go forth and volunteer it really is rewarding and in my case a little self indulgent. Hope they want me back next year.