Weekend Photos!

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Jan 162012
 

Here are some guys swimming in the sea at Bloemendaal.  A summer photo?

Nope.  These crazy guys were swimming this last Saturday when temps were hovering just above freezing.  You can see that by the way the horse riders are bundled up.

And here am I bundled up, in my lovely blue knitwear. :-)

We didn’t spend very long at the beach.  We walked from Bloemendaal north nearly to Parnasia, and back.  Probably 3 or 4km is all.  Afterwards we had lunch in the year round beach cafe at Bloemendaal.  In the afternoon I made some raisin date bars to take as snacks to the Vondelpark run for the next day, Sunday.

Sunday we were up bright and early, packed up and drove to Amsterdam to join friends for the Vondelpark run.  You have your choice of 1, 2 or 3 laps around the park.  Each lap is 3km.  K. and I did 2 laps.  DB did 3.

It was pretty informal and relaxed.  Here’s the start for the 1 and 2 lap run:

Here’s a photo of some random people, coming around through the park.  This is the 3 lap group:

See how lovely and sunny it was!  Of course that means it was cold.  P. sat under the outdoor heat lamp at the Blauwe Teehuis all morning, since he’s not a runner (no matter how much we encourage him), but he had to wait for us to run.  Here’s a photo of DB making his way around.  He’s fast!  He did the 10k in 48 minutes.

We went home tired but satisfied.  My run was 6.7km and K. and I ran it in 44:50.  I’m happy with that.  I didn’t kill myself for it.  Just treated it like another training day.  It’s the most training I’ve done for about a two months!  I’m glad to be getting back on track.  Ha!

After dinner we just hung out on the couch.  Bas the cat was happy that we were tired and wanted to hang out with him.

Homeward Bound

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Jun 282009
 

This is a photo of Gare du Nord, where the ‘grand lignes’ depart. We are now sitting again on the Thalys heading home, already in NL.

I WILL have real Paris photos to show you later this week. I’d like to say it was a fabulous trip, but I spent most of it sick and all day Friday in bed. We thought it was food poisoning from Thursday night’s dinner of sushi (based on the projectile way I got rid of it at both ends) but this morning DB started with a lighter version himself.

All this illness really limited what we did and saw and certainly wasn’t good for the spirits. Luckily we can both laugh at poop and puke jokes.

Having said that, we will both be happy to be home near own toilet.

I’ll be back soon with the happier side of the weekend to tell you about and show in photos.

To Paris

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Jun 252009
 

We’re off to Paris on the Thalys! More photos and stories when we get back. The house and cat are well looked after while we are gone.

Well, it’s not a great photo, but we had to be quick to make it onto the train. We’re now settled in our seats, heading south……

Two Finishes in One Day

 Haarlem, Knitting Related, sports, Uncategorized  3 Responses »
May 102009
 

The first Finish of the day was at the Lions Heuvelloop in Bloemendaal.  I was signed up to run 10 km, but since I hadn’t run a step in 10 days I decided to change that to the 5 km.  Boy am I glad I did!  This is very small race where it seemed most people knew each other.  It was the first time I., G., and I ran this one and we really didn’t know what to expect.  I showed up first to pay for our entrance and get our race numbers.  This took place at a sport center in Bloemendaal.  I asked if there was somewhere to put our packs and personal belongings during the race.  The guy working there looked around and said, “ummmm, well, most people just come from their houses, so, no, there’s no place to keep your stuff.”  It’s REALLY a small event!  

Luckily G. drove over from Amsterdam so we locked our stuff in her car.  We then walked over to the start/finish which was about a 10 minute walk.  Here are some photos of the scene, about 10 minutes before the start of the race.

What a crowd, right?  In the end there were maybe 150 people running.  The 5 km that I did wound through Bloemendaal and back.  It was VERY HILLY (“Heuvelloop” means “hill run”)!  You can see here what the elevation change was.  I managed it in 32 minutes which I was very very happy with, considering my lack of running lately.

When you come to the finish line there’s a woman with a clipboard writing down your time as you pass through:

I really enjoyed this small race and would happily do it again.  I could also bike there and back from home, which is another plus.  I. and G. both ran the 10 km through the dunes and they both liked it a lot.  We’ll all be back next year!

The second finish of the day was my first Spina di Pesce sock.  I actually finished the knitting last night, but sewed in the yarn ends this afternoon and took photos.  Here it is!

It fits perfectly and I’m really happy with it.  I’ve already finished the toe of the second sock.  I don’t want any second sock syndrome going on here!

I talked to my mom this afternoon, like I do just about every Sunday afternoon.  Happy Mother’s Day Mom.  I miss you!

MOO to You

 Amsterdam, Knitting Related, tech, Uncategorized  2 Responses »
Feb 102009
 

Last night at SnB in de Jaren there were some new people to our group.  We always welcome new people of course!  We are always talking about finding a different place to meet than de Jaren (it’s noisy, often crowded, the lighting is too dim, etc) but we never really do anything about it.  One reason de Jaren is a GOOD location is because it’s easy for new people to find us, and you’d be surprised how many total strangers come up to us and comment on our knitting and end up joining in.  It’s great KIP PR.

Anyway, the new people gave ma an excuse to whip out something new……. my MOO cards!  Here’s what the back looks like:

This is the beach near Zandvoort in September, when Mom was here visiting.  I’m so happy with these cards!  I ordered them via Flickr.  They are printed and shipped from the UK, which makes it really easy to order from Europe.  If you are looking for some cool cards, and other printed items with your own photos on them, check out MOO on Flickr.  They have great customer service too.  MOOOOoooo….

Addendum: Y is for Yes

 ABC-Along 2008, Uncategorized  No Responses »
Jan 032009
 

Last night on BBC4 there was a documentary on Prog Rock bands of the early 70′s.  One of the featured bands was YES.  I loved this band in the 70′s and this morning the album “Fragile” is playing on the stereo.  

When I was 16 and 17 this album was the standard played in the car, “The Buick”, that belonged to my boyfriend’s parents.  The car full of friends sang the lyrics while we drove to Yosemite.  It was the best time. I still know all the words.

So, Y is for YES, the band, and all their musical goodness.

Credit Crisis? What Credit Crisis?

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Nov 252008
 

Have you been affected by the credit crisis?  

My mom wrote to tell me that at Mervyn’s and Circuit City in her town there are close out sales going on.  All sales final, no returns allowed, no credit cards accepted.  They are closing down for good, all over the US.  Frankly, I didn’t understand how a town of 60,000 people could support all the stores they have there.  How can you build an economy on unstoppable shopping?  One day the bubble has to burst.

This is being written of course by someone who hasn’t lived in the US for 16 years.  When I go there to visit it’s always quite a culture shock in the way that consumerism is so in your face.  It feels out of control.  It feels like so many spoiled brats who must have what they want now.  And the chickens have come home to roost.

What really ticks me off is that it is us, the tax payers, who will pay for the unbridled greed of some people.  I didn’t sign up for a mortgage I can’t pay for.  I didn’t loan money to people who can’t pay.  I didn’t plan the strategic financial structures of a bank like so many houses of cards that with one poof come crashing down on an unsuspecting world.  And yet I will have to pay, one way or another.

I have a decent job.  DB does too.  We just bought a bigger house in August, which, assuming neither of us loses our job, we can continue to pay for.  I have no car payment – it’s paid for.  I have no credit card debt.  I guess I can count myself extremely lucky.  However, some of my retirement money, that is sitting in a life insurance policy, is probably worth about nothing right now.  I don’t want to know what it’s worth.  I can’t bear to know.  It will make me just too mad.

So, even if you don’t feel any effect directly from this global economic f*ck up right now, rest assured you will.  And for those of you out there who are already suffering, I really feel for you.  The best advice I’ve ever heard is to get educated about your own money and never trust anyone to take care of it for you, and don’t live beyond your means, no matter what.  Even if the TV is blaring at you about how you must have the latest and greatest of everything on offer down at the Mall.  Those chickens, they come home eventually.

Vacation Days Continue

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Sep 172008
 

Mom and friends are enjoying their visit to NL.  Yesterday we had a nice day visiting the Rijksmuseum, then Rembrandtplein

then we were lucky enough to be allowed into the Tuschinski and to have a look around in the main theater.  It’s really beautiful and I’m glad Mom got the chance to see it.  The people working there were very nice and took the time to talk to us and let us wander around.

We had parked at the Stadsdeel/Opera House (Stopera) and walked over the bridge, over the Amstel River:

Last, but certainly not least, we walked over to Puccini – the best chocolate in the WORLD.  It’s expensive, but worth every penny.  We bought lots.

On the knitting front, I’ve finished the back of the Sunrise Circle Jacket (Ravelry link) and have started on the first sleeve.  So far so good!  Here are a couple of photos.  I’m really happy how this substitute yarn is looking.  I was afraid it would clearly show the increases or decreases, but the stitches all flow nicely and there aren’t any gaps or strange holes at all.

New Arrivals

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Sep 052008
 

Mom and friends arrived Wednesday morning from California. Schiphol arrivals area 3 was packed and I was lucky to elbow my way to the front of the pack to get a photo:

Then we had to get a BIG taxi to get everyone home:

Now they are busy settling in and making some first visits into Haarlem:

Mom is doing good to be standing in these shoes and walking around the city yesterday.  She put her back out 2 days before her flight and she’s been hobbling around here.  None of the ladies like the stairs in our house since they are only used to single floor living, but for Mom it’s really hard.  We’ve made her an appointment at a fysio in our neighborhood to try to get her back fixed up.  We’re planning to head into Amsterdam tomorrow, but we’ll have to see how much we can actually do.  At least in the big museums they have wheelchairs we can borrow.  Poor Mom!

But, they can all amuse themselves with our computers.  They are all pretty Geeky Grandmas. :-)