Haarlem | under dutch skies

Peace

Today I went into Haarlem city center to do a little shopping. It’s raining cats and dogs lately and I need some new winter boots. I was really tired from a busy week and not enough sleep, but this was my one chance this week to shop. I also needed some groceries for the weekend.
The [...]

Another Pause

Last night we had a very exciting thunder and lightening storm. The wind howled and the rain fell in buckets. I love these summer rains. I stood in the open back door just taking in the smells and sounds. The cat laid at my feet, doing the same.
This morning, early, we headed to the beach. [...]

Hell on Wheels

This is my new speed demon bike. It’s a Jan Janssen, model Racerox. It’s considered a “hybrid” bike because it’s got racing AND city equipment. It has 15 gears, which is quite a lot of overkill in flat NL. It is SO LIGHT that I can easily pick it up and carry it around, [...]

Once a Year

Friday was my birthday. It was a pretty fine day.
It just happened to be one of my normal Friday’s off work (2 per month) which was handy. I went for a little jog in the morning, then DB and I headed to Amsterdam for the afternoon. We went to see Hinke’s showing at the Weterings [...]

Letterenloop 2010

Today was the Letterenloop in Haarlem. No, I didn’t run. I was the supporter this time. Above is the group I supported. They all did very well!
The Letterenloop is a run for/by/sponsored by - writers, journalists, libraries and librarians, artists and such folk. Here’s a quote from their web site:
De Letterenloop staat voor hardlopen met schrijvers, [...]

Walk on the Wild Side

Today I went for a walk out to the polder past Spaarndam. I went looking for wildlife. I was pretty disappointed.
Last year I ran in this area regularly. I saw so many ducks and geese and swans and other water birds! It was wonderful. I watched their young grow. I watched them migrate. Now that [...]

Bloemencorso in Haarlem

This afternoon DB and I went into Haarlem city center to see the flower floats that were part of the parade yesterday. This is called the Bloemencorso in Dutch. Yesterday the parade route took these floats all through the main flower bulb growing areas of western Holland. It’s high season for flower watchers. Today the [...]

Look Who Grew UP

Stella has flowered into a lovely young tree. I’m a proud caretaker.
Stella arrived at our house in December 2008. That winter she looked so forlorn and miserable that I knit her a sweater. Her first summer here she had only leaves and no flowers at all. She was too young.
Now, a little over a year [...]

Beauty and the Beach

As you can see, it was a beautiful sunny calm day today. We left the house around 9am this morning to head to the beach for a short run. It was so lovely outside! And at this time of the morning there’s hardly anyone around.

This time we ran (2 min run, 2 min walk) x [...]

Running, yes you heard me right

This morning DB and I went running on the beach. Yes, you heard me right. RUNNING. OK, it wasn’t a lot of running, but still. We did (1 min run, 2 min walk) x 5. My knee, and the rest of me, felt great. The only thing that kept me from doing more was some [...]

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