It’s Here!

It’s here! The new one!
My overly stuffed laundry hamper is excited
My bank account not so much, at ALL

I will be off reading the manual now… (as IF)
and taking care of the backlog of laundry in this household

Tata!

Lucky Bastards!

Apparently in the UK today is National Orgasm Day

You lucky bastards… Why don’t WE have something like that?

First one down…

OK, I did it. I put on all my new gear and after taking The Kid to school and doing the groceries… I did it… I went on my first run.

And I am still here. It didn’t kill me. And I liked it better than I thought I would.

It didn’t hurt that it is a glorious day and I chose to do my run today in between the bulbfields. And it didn’t hurt that on my first day I immediately noticed that I will run into many fellow runners, some of whom were very encouraging towards me when learning I had just started. All of whom say a cheerful “Hi!” in passing.

So there you go… I felt I could do more but the guy at the sports store warned me to stick to the beginners regimen and schedule and not go overboard. So I am not.

I feel pretty good about myself and energized, that too…

My 2nd run is planned for Friday early morning. Friday is a day off here in Dutchyland as it is Koninginnedag (Queens Day). For the first time in yeaaarrrsss I will be spending it in Amsterdam with my friend BraDutch and some friends of hers. But I’ve decided to get up early and get my run in first, before I go over there, as I won’t be able to do any of it over the weekend (as I am off to help my friend Annemieke move house)

Project Dutchy Spring 2010: Flower Parade

An extra special edition of Project Dutchy Spring 2010 on the 63rd annual Flower Parade!

Past Saturday, April 24, was the day of the 63rd edition of our local annual Flower Parade in the Bulbfield area. The weather was promising to be glorious -and it was- and so the turn out of tourists from all over was huge! Estimates right now say that over a million (!) tourists visited the several tiny bulbfield area towns to come see the parade.

Traditionally a lot of them come to my town as they combine the Flower Parade with a visit to The Keukenhof, the flower exhibition that is situated a few hundred metres from my apartment. No different on Saturday. I went outside -the parade passes right along the street I live in- with The Kid to go watch the parade and we were amazed. The town was completely p.a.c.k.e.d. with tourists. It was a joy to watch the Flower Parade and see so many happy and relaxed people enjoying it with us.

I met some nice people amongst whom a Romanian couple living in Brussels with their young daughter. We started talking and in between watching the parade and making pictures I told him a lot about Dutchyland and such and he told me a lot about Romania and living in Brussels. I still regret forgetting to exchange email addresses. We lost track of eachother in the crowd breaking up and moving out after the parade. One of the top moments in the day for me was the Romanian guy telling me “You are such a nice woman”. It’s so nice when people just dish out a compliment for no specific reason. I love meeting people from all over this way. So much fun.

So for everyone of you that was not able to come and watch the parade with me, here’s an selection of all the pics The Kid took of the parade:

Sit back and enjoy! Quite some pics… and this is only a selection of the gazillion ones he took!