I learned something new about Word Press today. Saving something as a draft doesn’t mean it will. I had written this post originally on the train returning from Venlo. The internet connection on the train was wobbly so I decided to save a draft and go back to watching the countryside go by. Well, the draft it saved contained the title and lots of white space.

Anyway, I went to Venlo today to give a lecture on software testing to the computer science students. Their professor made it a mandatory attendance which is always fun to know your audience is captive. I like to think that I entertained them and gave them something to think about. For sure, at the end several of them told me they were highly skeptical of getting any value out of this lecture but with mandatory attendance they didn’t feel they had an option. And they told me they were quite surprised and they thought it was the best lecture they had all year. I guess I would have to say it was my Game of Thrones references that really worked. Or as one of the professors said (in Dutch) to me “You really like to entertain. That’s a very American thing, isn’t it?” They gave me a bottle of wine afterwards, as a “thank you”. Venlo sits all the way in the eastern part of the Netherlands. It is a couple of hours by train. It is equivalent, scale wise, of travelling from Seattle to Tennessee. Not quite all the way out beyond the borders but close. From what I understand, Germany is 5 km away from where I was.

It did give me some things to think about on the way back to Amsterdam. One, I really love the fact that my employer gives me a first class Dutch railways train card for these kinds of trips. I felt very Ms. Fancy Pants sitting in the First Class cars. It is just more space and they are silent cars, meaning no cell phone conversations. Two, I do like to entertain – I like to talk to groups of people and learn from them. I think information sticks better when you make it relevant and interesting. Who wants to be bored during a presentation? Whatever else happens career wise here, as long as I stick to what I really like doing – problem solving with people, I’ll be okay. That doesn’t change, regardless of location.

Some very good news came out of Seattle this morning. Mom had wanted a Sleep Number bed for a long time. Last year, before we knew she was sick, I told her after my annual review, I was taking the pay raise and getting her the bed she wanted. I took Lawyerella along to pick it out because as I have been told “you don’t know really know anything about being comfortable”. This is very true. Well, we picked the right one and it was delivered to the new house in time for Mom, when she came out of the hospital/skilled care. She loved that bed. I slept next to her on it every night and I can tell you that there were many nights I would wake up because she was changing the level of her feet or her back, etc. I think it made her somewhat more comfortable. And I put it right in the living room so she wasn’t isolated, she was the heart of our family and belonged in the heart of the house. After she was gone, I told Rupert that I wanted the bed to go to someone else who could benefit from it, either because they couldn’t get a hospital bed or because they had to spend a lot of time in bed. We were in agreement on this. I didn’t just want to put it on Craigslist or blindly donate it to Goodwill. During this move process, it remained in the house, one last unfinished thing and I was getting worried about what to do. Well, today it went to someone with ALS. ALS is also known as “Lou Gehrig’s disease”. The ALS society picked it up and they were driving it straight to their client. It appears the family had been looking for a bed like that for their loved one for a while now. It seems like the intention was answered, it just took a little longer. So that feels really good.

For all of you headed to Thanksgiving tomorrow, be safe and enjoy yourself. Over here, it’s a regular work day and then tomorrow night, I am taking myself out for Indonesian food – to start a different kind of Thanksgiving dietary tradition.

Oh, and for Nespresso fans, there’s a new campaign with George Clooney all over it. I took a picture of the ad and put it in the folder. I think it’s pretty funny.

How exciting! Tomorrow morning, between 830 and 930, our stuff should arrive. My goal: tomorrow night, I will be sleeping in my bed. It will also be very nice to have something to sit on. Yesterday, I made a desk out of the radiator. It worked for awhile but I kept banging my knees into it. So much of the furniture I have was either my mom’s or her parents. A good portion of it came from the Netherlands, from my Oma and Opa’s house. Including their radio which will now work. Everything that is coming has either a memory or a purpose. I owe a thanks to the Move Goddess for giving me those two baseline criteria to use to decide if I keep something. I also have a lot of things that my mom saved for each of us. I brought those things too and they will go into long term storage until my brothers decide what they want to have. Sometimes I feel like an archivist. I look at it as these things were important to my mother to preserve and care for and so I will continue to do so. And there are some things I am just not ready to let go of.

I made a decision, in the early days after she was gone, to go through at a high level and donate things that I knew would be of use and that it would make her happy to think of where they ended up. With all of her beautiful yarns and knitting needles and things like that, I gave to the women who came cleaned the house every week, allowing me more time with my mom. I gave most of her regular clothes away, things that she didn’t wear often because she was saving them for some sort of occasion. I gave all of the special food and vitamins to the Food Bank. Things like that. But after going through the first layers, I stopped because then it was things that really reminded me of her or that she had made or worn to certain events. In my carryon bag, I packed her last hairbrush and the super soft slippers that Lawyerella had given her and her purse with her lipsticks still in it. And the pillow which I used to tuck under her head to support her just right. Those things all came with me.

Something else that is coming tomorrow is the little pewter memento urn I have of her ashes. It wasn’t allowed to fly because the TSA can’t see through it or some such nonsense so I had to trust it to the movers to pack properly. Which they did. They put it into a kitchen box, figuring that it would be one of the first things I would unpack and drew a big heart on the box so I would be able to notice it right away. I have been worried about it since it was packed really.

I guess this would be a happy entry but I’m crying pretty hard right now. It is like all of a sudden her death has happened again.

Well, tonight I made a slight dent in the sprouts. I think I still have about 1.75 pounds left. I also learned how the oven works. This might seem like a no brainer activity but since it actually doesn’t come with any information knobs, you do have to read the manual. I am really grateful that the owners left all of the appliance manuals behind. You should have seen me trying to figure out how the dryer filter needed to come out and where the hell the condenser was. I am an old pro at emptying the water condenser out now but without the manual, I would have been either waiting for spring to dry laundry so I could hang it outside or I would have been looking for a Laundromat. I roasted the sprouts with sesame seeds, potatoes, shallots and the special Provence herbs that really did come from France (via Jo) and it came out pretty tasty. Of course, in the last 10 minutes, I threw some really aged Bastiansen cheese on top and mustard and I think that did the trick for sealing all of the flavors together. I have PLENTY leftover so there’s dinner for tomorrow.

Today was also the arrival of Sinterklaas and Zwart Piet into the Netherlands. Since Sinterklaas Day is celebrated in early December rather than Santa coming at Christmas, the festivities are underway. Of course, they arrive by boat into the canals and then switch to horses and they ride through the city. I was thinking about going but decided to wait until next year. I knew there would be a big crowd and it felt like something that would be more fun to do with other people rather than going by myself. Overall, I am okay with going most places by myself but this was a celebration and I felt like it should be shared. So, I will wait until next year.

Instead, I took the boys to Beatrix Park again. Conditioning, right? Well, George got much closer to the water this time, like right up to it. And there’s lots of groups of people doing group exercise training so he felt that surely he should join in and run with them. It was hilarious to watch and so typical George thinking he is being helpful. They did really well with other dogs today in the park so maybe this will work. As soon as they go back on the leash though, they go right back to being little thugs. I am always apologetic to the other dog owners when the boys go into thug mode but so far it seems like it is not a big deal. Everyone has been very cool about it. It just seems to be one of those things that is no big deal. Dogs bark at each other. Hmm, maybe all three of us have to learn together to chill out…

I went on a quest today to secure a handset for the home phone. I know, in this day and age, who has a landline? Apparently, I do and the cable company keeps sending me reminders that I haven’t connected my home phone or my television yet. Well, there’s an easy explanation for that – I don’t have anything to hook up. So, I went this store called the “KijkShop” literally translates to the “LookShop”. And that’s exactly what you do. Everything in the store is behind a locked glass case. You go through and browse it and when you see something you want to buy, you write down the article number, price and quantity on these helpful little forms. Then you go to the cashier and you give them the form and gnomes send your order up from the basement. Well, I don’t know if it really gnomes, it could be people. Unfortunately, the basic house phone handset that I wanted was not available so they had to make a reservation for me to pick it up. However, the dog poop bags at 3 rolls for 1.29 euros were so I didn’t leave entirely empty handed. It is kind of a strange experience, like browsing a museum. If the display cabinets are ordered by importance, the first cabinet is all coffee machines and the second is all home deep fryers. I have never seen so many choices for deep fryers in my life. If I find that I will need one, I know to go to the KijkShop – where the slogan is “Nu of nooit” – “Now or never”.

I also went to the HEMA and secured a pair of mittens in a more reserved color, turquoise. They were 2 euros. They are a little more upscale than my bright green ones and more durable so I will save them for when I need to go to work meetings and whatnot. But the rest of the time, bring on the dayglo. And I got some little dishes so the dogs and cats can have their own, instead of eating off the people set. I did manage to resist the various “good deals” in the middle of the store. It is easier than I thought, probably because I don’t have anything really in the house yet, and I kind of like it that way. And because if I am worried I missed something, I can always walk right back down to the HEMA.

Before heading back, I stopped to have a coffee and read the paper from cover to cover. I was having a Mom moment. Even more so when the weekend section in De Telegraaf had an interview with Andre Rieu. My mom loved Andre Rieu. We saw him together at Key Arena and then when he was at Key Arena again in March, I took the memento urn of her ashes that I have with me to see him again. I think I cried the whole concert through or very nearly. In case you didn’t know, Andre Rieu is Dutch, from Maastricht. And there’s these two PBS specials with him, one is a concert from Italy and it is gorgeous and the other is from the town square in Maastricht. Equally gorgeous. Mom used to watch those, they always came on during pledge season. She would talk about how she would love to see one of his concerts in either (or both) of those places. I am definitely going to do that. The other musicians she had a thing for were Roy Orbison and Canut Reyes (the long haired Gipsy King until recently). Well, Canut Reyes left the Gipsy Kings this year. Much like my mom left this year. And there were no Blue Angels in Seattle this year, which she also loved and would always say that “once the Blue Angels have been here, you better get your fleece on, winter is here”.

And I cleaned house and did the laundry. I have a hard time being still. Apparently that hasn’t really changed much yet. Tomorrow back to work. I am trying very hard to not work on the weekends. One step towards chilling out at a time.

Well, it seems I am the only one awake at the moment. We just came in from our night walk twenty minutes ago and there’s a choir of snoring going on. Henry is buried under the comforter, George is lying under my computer and Moortje is curled up next to me. Lientje is maintaining her safe space distance from the troublemakers in the other room. She seems a little off today, just staring at her water dish and making weird little meows. I am not sure if she is just having her own sort of episode and trying to adjust or if there is something wrong. Of the four, she is the one who is the most sensitive to changes. Any change sends her hiding. Of course, she grew up with Mikha, the original Dragon Cat, so she is probably more traumatized than most. If she’s still weird (more than usual) by Monday, we’ll be going to visit the vet that we are registered at. Here in the Netherlands, you are supposed to register for medical and dental care (people and pet) with the practitioners in your neighborhood. So, conveniently, their pet clinic is next door to the Italian restaurant from the other night’s festivities.

Early this morning, I took the boys back to Beatrix Park. If I can get them used to the idea that going to the park means going off leash, they might do better with other dogs they see when they are on the leash. They did very well once we got into the park and they were off leash. George made a few moves toward different bodies of water and I could see his little brain working “She’s not looking, I bet I can get in there” but he came back when he was called. And then he decided to chase the flocks of pigeons and crows that gather on the ground looking for food. He will never actually catch any but it is fun to watch him try. I think we can go there again safely now that I know George won’t automatically throw himself in the water, he will think about whether or not he will get caught first!

I went to the market at the Noordekerk with Marianne. She introduced me to Winkel, which apparently has the best apple cake in Amsterdam. Judging by the number of people inside and outside, I’d say their reputation was justified especially since most of the crowd was Dutch. Of course, after eating a big wedge of it, I am inclined to say it was pretty damn good. The market was great, all kinds of small farms and craftspeople. I went a little crazy. I bought a kilo of Brussels sprouts. That would be 2.2 pounds of them. That’s a lot of sprouts. You can imagine that for the next couple of days, I’ll be roasting and experimenting with them. I will remember to be more mindful of lighter weight things when I buy them. I also got potatoes, red cabbage, tomatoes, cucumber, greens, sweet potatoes, cat nip, funky sea berry jam and cheese. I know, I just tried to stay strong and watch Marianne buy cheese and get a vicarious thrill but I couldn’t do it. I got some too. It’s the amazing vegetarian rennet organic milk cheese from Bastiansen – the green pesto and cumin kind. And it is green.

Speaking of green, my first purchase was a pair of gloves. And they are a green that is so bright that Marianne reminded me not to wave my hands around too much or the airplanes flying into Schiphol might be distracted and try to land. They are the color green of a dayglo nightstick. Which I find funny and of course, they won’t disappear into the bottom of a dark bag. They were, however, only 1.50 euros so they won’t last the winter.

On my way back from the market, I stopped at the American Book Center in the Spui to pick up a copy (and get it signed) of the book “Stuff Dutch People Like”. If you get a chance, it’s a hilarious blog to read. And if you don’t, I have copy now for all my houseguests. That part of the Spui is lined with bookstores, all kinds. It makes sense because the University of Amsterdam is right there. It is in the Grachtengordel (literally the Canal Girdle) and the architecture is stunning. Lots of people only want to live inside the Grachtengordel which I could understand from a historical and beauty perspective but for me, our neighborhood is great. And I have canals too, even if they are named after farmers instead of Princes and Kaisers 🙂 I added some pictures of what I saw today to the folder.

Reading the paper is getting easier. I read it cover to cover except for the sports section. Now if I could just learn to write in Dutch more quickly!

My brother, Cedric, called last night via Skype and he said that I sounded more relaxed than I had for a long time. And that made me think about how I am feeling about being here. I so miss my mom and being here doesn’t bring her back but as much as I can be at the moment, I am happy here. This was a good move for me. And I am reminded of her in so many ways every day, which I am so grateful for. I am looking forward to Thursday, when our furniture arrives and I can hug the purple chair and think about the fact that I am sitting in something that she made for me, here in this city that she loved and in an house that I would hope she would have said “I could live there”.  

The 11th of November is Sint-Maarten here in the Netherlands. Okay, also in France and parts of Germany and Belgium. Everyone celebrates it a little differently. Here in Amsterdam, the school children make lanterns and learn songs. In the evening, they go door to door and show their lanterns and sing a song. In return they get some candy, an orange, what have you. I don’t remember celebrating this as a child so it would have completely skipped my awareness had Joanne not advised me of this very Dutch holiday. I had offered her the dogs and she insisted that they should remain here until after Sint Maarten. I have some experience in how the dogs are when people come to the door so I took them for a walk, fed them an early dinner and then closed them into the bedroom/office/mission control. Earlier today, before going to the office, I stopped by AH and bought five bags of candy. Now these were Dutch bags of candy so they had 14 pieces in them each instead of the giant Halloween bags. I thought I would be okay and I purposefully bought candy that I would have zero interest in eating. With my highly elegant IKEA dish box, err candy bowl, I sat on my front stoop and waited for the kids to come by. They did. The deal is no candy before the song. I ran out of candy so I went tearing through the cupboards looking for anything at all. Well, I can’t really pass out packets of Starbucks VIA to little children or Nespresso capsules. I had a package of speculaas and a mandarin. It was completely okay for the kids to each take a cookie from an open pack and eat it right then and there. None of their parents freaked and no one was worried about what might be in them except one little boy who had a nut allergy – he was thrilled with the mandarin. It was such a nice experience, that you could give something out of your cupboards without anyone being worried that there was something dangerous underneath. I really enjoyed it and the songs were great. I know for next year to have even more on hand. And the boys did pretty well, they only barked a few times.

After I ran out of speculaas, we went for a long walk because the theory is that a tired dog is a happy dog. I am not really sure Henry agrees with that and I think George could just keep walking forever. Every time a tram passes us by, George stops and looks at it as if to say “Shouldn’t we be getting on that one?” I bet that one day I will find George with an OV chipkaart of his own, so he can travel wherever he pleases.

The weather has really taken a turn for the chilly. I am already regretting the fact that I sent all my winter coats in the shipping container. Today when I was going to the office, the wind was really sharp at Schiphol and it ripped right through my fleece. When Mom and I used to fly into Amsterdam, I always wanted to work on the ramp for KLM. They had these bomb turquoise jumpsuits and foul weather gear and they had every kind of airplane, including the 747s that went around the world. I used to think that if I could be KLM ramp rat, I would have it made. And I loved Schiphol. There were trips to the Netherlands that Mom and I lived almost entirely in Schiphol – it is a city unto itself. We would take day trips out of Schiphol but that’s where we would keep coming back to at night. And here I am now. If I go into the office, the building is on Schiphol grounds and I can watch the planes take off and land from anywhere in the building. Different industry and very different skills but still at Schiphol. I walked past a KLM ramp rat today and wondered if I could get one of those parkas secondhand? They strike me as incredibly useful for on the bike and when the rain comes down here, like the day I got so soaked, my laptop shorted.

The cats got more of the tuna and shrimp tonight. Which they then promptly threw up. And George got into the cat food bag yesterday, including the bag itself so he’s had some violent digestive fury. And I am not sure what Henry ate but he’s pretty questionable at the moment as well. So, all the way around, I should probably dose them with Petpo-Bismal. Hopefully, tomorrow will be better otherwise I might open a side business as a biohazard specialist.

I promised to get organized and post some pictures. I started to do that today and I will keep adding as we go along. You can find them here and that is where I will keep adding them.

When she was last here, Jo had the good sense to put two of the garden chairs in the shed to dry out. I decided that today they were dry enough and I have moved them indoors. So, tonight, I actually ate dinner at a table, instead of standing up at the kitchen counter. The table is a green plastic folding table that Jo and Pieter brought me. It really reminds me of my mother. My mom seemed to have this magical attraction for tables. She was always finding them next to someone’s garbage, in Ikea’s dents and dings department and in antique stores. For the longest time, she had this round outdoor plastic table in the same shade of green as her kitchen table. With a table cloth over it, it worked just fine as long as you didn’t put anything in the middle where the hole for the umbrella pole was.

The camping out doesn’t really bother me. As you can see, I obviously come from a line of practical people who make things work. The only reason I wish I had furniture at the moment is so that if people come to visit me, they can be seated comfortably. And I would like to have the dog beds so they have a place to call their own. There is a perfect sunny corner for it in the living room and at the moment, we are using towels and blankets but they have let me know it is not quite up to their standards. Today I had fun vacuuming the wooden floors. George was convinced that the vacuum is some new kind of game that he has to dance around and avoid. Henry and the cats ran towards the Belgian border.

We took a long walk this morning, to the Albert Cuyp market in the neighborhood called De Pijp. It is a great neighborhood, we stayed there in April when we were here for Mom’s service in Marum. It is a very busy neighborhood. It is one I like to visit but I am glad I don’t live in. The Albert Cuyp market is open everyday, except Sunday so it was unusual to actually be able to walk down the street freely. On the way home, I stopped for an olieball from the outdoor baker. You can only get them from fall to New Year and they are delicious. I prefer the old fashioned kind with raisins and currants. Some of the “new” olieballen stands make them with banana and pineapple and all kinds of modern flavors but I like them best old school.

Something I find fun about living here is that I can take my trash and recycling out everyday. There are containers on the street and they are labelled according to what they accept. Not having to wait for once a week service is something I really enjoy. I took pictures of how they empty them. A great big truck comes on Fridays and pulls the whole canister out of the ground and then dumps it in the trash truck. It is super cool to watch. I can recycle paper and glass but not plastic. In the paper this week, Amsterdam is finally moving to collecting plastics for recycling. And today, I found one of the big bins! It’s about four blocks away, going towards De Pijp. You have no idea how happy this made me!!! Now if I could get something for food waste, my garbage needs would be complete!

We took another walk this afternoon along the canal that runs behind the street behind us. Having learned my lesson from yesterday, George stayed firmly on leash. Despite his best efforts to go in, I managed to keep him dry. In the summer it won’t be such a big deal but it is in the mid 40s right now and that’s a bit cold for wet dogs. Probably in an hour or so, we’ll take another walk. I am doing laundry right now and I don’t want to leave while the dryer is running. Can I just tell you how fortunate I feel that our apartment has all of the major appliances? As helpful as George tries to be, I can’t really see him helping me carry a basket to the Laundromat.

I was thinking about why I am writing this blog. The most important reason is that it helps me not to miss you all quite so much because I have the idea that I am still talking to you, regardless of distance. So, thank you for being part of my life and for reading.

Vrijheid is the Dutch word for freedom. Today we took some pretty important steps towards it. We were fortunate to have clear and sunny weather around noon. So, it seemed like a good idea to put the boys in their sweaters and head towards Beatrix Park, around the corner. I have mentioned that the life of the dog here is more free than we are used to. It is very common to see dogs walking unleashed, next to their owner’s bike, etc. Boy, does this type of trust make me envious. I know that the dynamic duo are more fierce and protective when they are on the leash. And i know that no one ever gets better at something without practice. Today I put all three of us to the test.

We went to Beatrix Park. When something is forbidden here, the sign will show the item forbidden with a big red circle around it. Silly me, I thought that meant it was permitted so I took us to an isolated area, thinking to try the boys off leash. Luckily, I prefer to read rules and read just outside the area that dogs are forbidden in the medicinal garden, not permitted. So, the red circles mean “No”. That left us with one choice. Off to the main park, where they were allowed. This is also where there were tons of other walkers, dogs and people going bout their business. And then it was time to take off their leashes and hope that they would be friendly. George right away began scouting up ahead while Henry stayed nearby in case he was needed. They actually did pretty well. It is going to take some time for Henry to stop thinking he has to boldly charge every dog. I think i was more anxious than they were. I don’t want them to get hurt or to hurt another dog.

So we enjoyed ourselves in the park. However, freedom comes with certain responsibilities. Near the end of our walk, we  were along one of the paths that goes near a duck pond. Before i could even think, George goes flying over the small fence and lands with a giant splash in the middle of a group of ducks. While wearing his brand new sweater. To his credit, he came out relatively quickly when he realized he couldn’t swim very well but he was completely soaked and in the cold. No ducks were harmed. Of course he did this with an audience.

We hurried home and he got a shower. At the moment, he smells heavenly and I am watching him closely for sneezing and coughing. Henry is delighted that he escaped a bath. I am pretty sure he told George “neener neener, i don’t have to take a bath and end up smelling like lavender”.

Moortje went outside today too, in the garden. The cats are coming out now so I think everyone is adjusting.

It is cold and rainy tonight. I am going to have to get some gloves. This time of year, my mom would always buy 20 pairs of those gloves at Bartell’s.if she could find them for 3 pairs for $5, she would be thrilled. But she would never wear two matching unless she was going out to Cactus or somewhere fancy. When i was packing up the house, I would find all these single gloves. They are coming with the furniture but that might be a bit long to wait. This week, I think I will head over to the HEMA and find myself the brightest pair I can.