I have so many stories that are bubbling up to be told that I think I will stop thinking about the order and just share them freely. You can rearrange them as you like. I am home again and sitting directly next to my laptop is Moortje. The boys are tucked around each other in their poofy basket on the floor next to my desk. The wind is noisily making it’s way through the street and it sounds terribly dramatic. I had put the laundry out to dry last night on the terrace and this morning the racks were everywhere like someone had just picked them up and thrown them around while having a temper tantrum. Overnight it also rained which was a substantial setback for the drying process.

I need to say that if I get one more email about Mother’s Day tomorrow and the last date for guaranteed delivery of flowers, fish, whatever, I think I might scream. I would prefer to ignore that it is Mother’s Day tomorrow entirely. The question I really want to ask is can they guarantee overnight delivery to the after life?

Today is five years (also on Mother’s Day in 2010) that I lost my dragon cat, Mikha. Mikha was 18 by that time and had mellowed a bit to being likely to only remove one of your fingers instead of her whole hand with her jaws of terror. Mikha was my perfect companion in the sense that she was snarly, didn’t think much of being socialized, could carry a grudge and didn’t really want or need anyone else. We had alot in common!  Mikha chose me when I was 19 and determined to have a cat in my dorm room despite the rules to the contrary. Mikha was a New Jersey cat with all the sort of attitude that implies. I remember driving down the highway to get home over school breaks and Mikha would be howling the whole way as she was perched on top of piles of dirty laundry and school books. At the time, Ramona was my Saab. Ramona was a white 1982 four door 900 Turbo with a gypsy red interior. She was my first car. Mikha would sit on the dashboard and try to stand on the turn signal indicators so as we would be driving the left, right or hazard lights would randomly signal according to her mood.

I was Mikha’s Person to be Tolerated. I think Mikha accepted my mom as a backup for that position but further than that, she had ZERO interest in doing anything social. When Mikha was 7, I bought my tiny little house in Seattle and we moved in. She had a house and a yard. A few months later, Lientje came to live with us as a kitten. In retrospect, it was not my brightest idea ever. I do have a picture of the two of them sitting together, back to back in the nursery window frame so I do know they didn’t hate each other entirely. Other cats would cross the street to go past our house instead of walking by even if Mikha wasn’t outside sitting on the front porch. That’s how strong her reputation was in the feline community.

I miss her.She was one of the constants in all those years that I had growing up to do. Mikha and I knew each other longer than I have known anyone who wasn’t a relative. And in some cases we knew each other better than those relatives. I would like to think that Mikha and Mom have found their way to each other, with Mikha not being afraid to take a swipe at Ninja’s nose, claws out, and remind him that “cats rule and dogs drool”.

The past week gave me alot of time to think and reflect. So did the wrong way detour I took yesterday that nearly put Beatrix and I on the highway! I really need to take a crash course in understanding the Dutch method of road signage. Yesterday was not the first time that I have nearly entered the highway while on my bike! I am not sure about the depth of my thinking since my language lessons consumed a considerable amount of brain cycles. I do know that I loved being outside of the city and sitting under the sky until late (1130 but that is LATE for Vught) at night. One of my fellow students said to me Thursday evening as we crossed paths at the hotel entrance “Are you going to sit outside on the terrace again the whole night?” with a faint whiff of disapproval in her voice. To which I cheerfully replied “Absolutely! And I am going to enjoy it!”

I did exactly that, sitting outside in the dark, looking at the stars and chatting with the people who work at the manor. It was so relaxed. Someone asked me why I didn’t just move to a place like Vught if I like being outdoors with peace and quiet so much. Two reasons, I really am a city person. I like to go to the country and spend time there to recharge but I love Amsterdam. The second reason is that I think I might get very easily bored in Vught. It is very homogenous. And I am not that good at fitting in, nor do I want to be.

George was really happy to see me yesterday when I came home. Henry was playing “deeply traumatized by abandonment” for all it was worth. Which I let him do because he has to work through his own attitude adjustment. Marjo came and brought me some soup. She’s on a 30 day vegan challenge and while I can’t say how it is working for her, I can certainly say that I am benefiting from all of the kitchen experimentation she is doing! We had a long conversation over good wine and Henry made a definite point to sit in her lap and stare at me from across the way. George is George and he just curled up next to her and started snoring. As I reminded Henry, I am the only one bringing home the proverbial bacon in this household so when he is willing to make a contribution to the bills, he can certainly have more to say about my schedule 😉

The coming work week is a short one, due to Hemelvaart. My religious background is skimpy. The literal translation of Hemelvaart is Sailing to Heaven so I guess in English that is Ascension Day? Anyway, it means that the office is closed Thursday and Friday so we have another long weekend! Now if only the weather would cooperate so I can transplant my tomato seedlings and the pepper plant!

This past week, I had three excellent teachers. The way the process is works is that you have 4 sessions per day with a teacher one on one, then four periods in between of multimedia or self study. What this means is that you are doing your assignment for the next teacher led session. This is personalized for every student. They base the teacher student matching on personality, learning style, etc. When you get the chance to learn something from someone who is committed and passionate about their subject, it is a gift! I look forward to seeing them again next time. You know I am going to go back next year, right? I want to sit for the native speakers proficiency exam so I need at least one more round. I did go up a level during this week so I steadily made progress.

My second teacher of the day had given me a self drawn diagram of the Danger of Prepositions. I will call her Madame Schematica because she would illustrate every lesson and topic with a schematic (Dutch for diagram) and it helped me visualize and learn. I never thought prepositions could be dangerous. I knew I often put them in the wrong place in a sentence but how harmful could they really be? Thursday afternoon I was sitting at the lunch table with a group of the Dutch students who were learning German. I was telling a story and got the point about taking off my shoes. I said something about je moet je schoenen aftrekken (you must take off your shoes) and the entire table fell on the floor laughing. I didn’t understand what was so funny. I mean, I am funny but this was like gale force hilarity. One of the students saw my confusion and said “Do you know what you just said?” And I said “Yes, you have to take your shoes off” She said “No, you didn’t. With shoes it is uittrekken. You said something entirely different”  They couldn’t stop laughing and then I got it. I think I went way beyond red and turned maroon. Uittrekken (take out) is correct for shoes, aftrekken is otherwise known as masturbation. Yep, that’s exactly what I said “you must masturbate your shoes”.  Never a dull moment with learning a language!

Time to run some errands and go to the park before wind changes to add rain!

It is Tuesday and I am back at the manor. I am having a tremendous time. Don’t get me wrong, it is not that I am not overstuffed with rules about perfectum, imperfectum, hoofd zin en bij zin, conjunctions and spelling. I do feel that the more time I spent studying one subject, the more I forget it. However, I have faith that since these methods have worked for many more students then me, I can make it through. Today one of my writing assignments was to write my first blog post in Dutch. Never fear, despite the sweat, blisters on my thumb from the pen and the hair standing up from the amount of times I pulled my hands through my hair to make the thoughts come easier, I am not going to be publishing that one any time soon. It did take me nearly an hour to write a page and a half long hand.

So what is different this time? Mostly, me. I have stopped worrying about whether or not I will learn all the Dutch I need to by the end of the week. I have put my out of office email on with the message that says “I am studying this week. I am certainly not available by telephone”. People respect this. Whereas last year I was still trying to do my job and learn because I am just that American that letting go is difficult. I also am sitting in the massage chairs at least twice per day and have convinced the other new and nervous students to do that too. Beatrix and I make the trip in 8 minutes from the manor, which is a lovely way to start and end the day. As a matter of fact, tomorrow morning I have a bike commute date with one of my teachers from last time. I am enjoying the yummy vegan food the kitchen is going through all the trouble to prepare for me, even the snacks at the end of the day before the last study session.

Today is Liberation Day. Yesterday evening during dinner we had two minutes of silence to remember the Netherlands victims of WW II. Sitting at my table was a German man of a certain age. He didn’t understand why we were silent and thought at first we were praying. So, he was twiddling his thumbs, drinking his wine and asking me why we were doing this. After the two minutes were up, I had the slightly awkward task of explaining to a 70 year old German that we were honoring the Dutch war dead from the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. He went on to whip out his iPhone and show off pictures of the hotel he is staying at, waxing on about the amazing conference facilities. Like beyond the level of the average guest. Turns out, tonight, as we sat at the same table again, I learned about his past as a paratrooper in the German army in 1965 and then his career in conference management facilities for Esso in Europe – that was his career. And hence his passion over his hotel. Listening to him was interesting. It also made me realize how very different the countries in Europe still are from each other. He’s there to learn Dutch by the way since his wife made him move here because his 91 year old mother in law refuses to give up her driver’s license and apparently terrorizes her fellow Dutch motorists frequently. I made a mental note to be careful when driving around Amersfoort, where they live!

I have collected some other little ducklings, all of whom are learning Dutch for the first time. And I have even invited two of the Amsterdam ones to the birthday party so they can meet new people. I remember how difficult it was to meet people and make friends of them when I first got here. What can I say? I think that you never know how someone might impact your life and it doesn’t cost me any effort to share my experience or make things easier for someone where I can.

I heard from home today and all the pets are doing well. The 100 Whimzee sticks I ordered for them have arrived so they are very happy. These are veggie dog sticks that I always used to get in Seattle and bring back. Ironically, they are made here but you can’t get them. I finally found a farm supply store that would sell them to me at just over wholesale sale prices. It seems that the things that used to tie me to the US are becoming less and less. I am not quite sure how I feel about that.

We had a tremendous thunderstorm here this afternoon, which dropped the temperature from 71 degrees to 61. This morning it felt like Hawaii and with the humidity to match. I could completely hear my mom making the remark about knowing that it was going to rain by looking at my hair. Which I always used to reply to her that she was just jealous of my curls.

Tomorrow is the short day. We only have class and dinner until 1945. I would like to say I would be heading out to the local disco but there isn’t actually one here. I have plans to make the most of the sunlight and ride around to the woods and see some of the historical sites. I won’t be doing homework. That reminds me that I still have some to do so I better hit the books.

Beatrix and I made it safely to Vught. Of course, it would start to rain this afternoon and it didn’t show any signs of letting up so around 1515, I had an Elvis moment and said to the boys “It’s now or never” and got out the bungee cord to secure my suitcase to her basket, with my laptop bag underneath, hoping to keep it dry. With a hat on my head so that I could see in the rain since hoods always fly off, we were off. The boys were a bit clingy all day. I tried to keep them from seeing my pack but they were having none of that.

I caught the Maastricht bound train at Amstel and there were only two train cars for bikes. With the three bikes in one car, we made it work. Forty-six minutes later and it was time to get out at s’Hertogenbosch station. The nice thing about travelling with your bike here is that people recognize how unwieldy it is to lift a heavy bike out of train car and down two steps to the platform so they hold doors for you. They don’t always do that if you don’t have a bike which proves the importance of the bike in the Dutch consciousness 😉 Here’s my girl before heading off to Vught. And if you are wondering what is in the orange bags, I carry the standard equipment of a plastic shopping bag, bungee cords, my Great Pumpkin rain cape and a couple of rags. And today a bottle of SPA.

From the station, it was about 5 km to Vught. Unfortunately, it was raining so I didn’t get a chance to take pictures. I will try on Friday when I head back because it is beautiful here and in a very different way than Amsterdam. Eventually, my rained out and no longer freshly pressed self arrived at where I am staying for the week.

However, since I am American, I am staying in the coach house where all slightly unruly guests belong in the old rooms of the grooms and the coachmen. The tiny window on the top right is my room.

Not bad digs at all! I can still smell the horses a little and all the hay from over the years. I think it is just settled into the building’s very walls and bones. It is super cute and I love the fact that the bathroom has radiant heat flooring so I can dry all my clothes from the journey. I feel certain I will crack my head against the beams at least once this week. The room is literally built into the eaves of the roof so there are not so many areas that you can actually stand up right. Maybe I should have brought some reflective tape to mark of the beams. It is completely charming.

Tomorrow morning, my day begins with a grammar lesson at 0800. We are at the school from 0800 to 2100 every night except Wednesday when we are finished at 1945. And Friday we are done at 1745. At they do not mean a minute earlier if I remember correctly from last year.

Today is the anniversary of Opa’s death. Tomorrow is Herdenking Day or Memorial Day for all of the victims of World War II. Then Tuesday is Bevrijdingsdag which commemorates the Liberation and how important it is to celebrate freedom and honor the costs of it. This year marks the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the Netherlands in WW II. I am sorry to be missing it because especially in my neighborhood there are places you can go to meet with the people who lived through the war and hear their stories one on one. The generation that experienced it first hand is getting progressively smaller and their stories are so important. I wish I had more of my Opa’s stories and of course, more of Mom’s.

Speaking of family events, last night was the jazz concert. My aunt has a rollator now and she is quite speedy with it. She says it helps her walk a lot easier. And we all noticed that it has a insulated cooler pack built in so we were teasing her about bringing the beer from now on. We had quite a nice time together and next month when Dylan is here for three days we will gather together again. My aunt was intrigued by my Fitbit so I might have to get her one 😉 it might motivate her to start walking more!

I went to yoga this morning, thinking it would be a nice and easy class. Okay, no, it was tough and following along in Dutch was comical. I am going to do it again though but this time I will know that it is still a workout delivered in that no nonsense Dutch style rather than hippie love and gentleness! It wasn’t a bikram class and yet I was still sweating like it was. Thank goodness I didn’t eat garlic yesterday!

Marianne and I are celebrating our birthdays on the 30th of this month. And apparently I have been slightly behind in sending out my invitations. Oops. That scheduling a month in advance thing is still hard for me. I guess I better get busy with that. Otherwise, I am sure I will get some teasing about it. I really don’t know that many people yet so perhaps I should put it on LinkedIn 😉

This is a great place to stay. I wish Mom could be here to see it. When I go to celebrate her birthday in Maastricht with the Andre Rieu concert, I am staying in a castle! I think that is one of the great things about the Netherlands, there are so many old buildings to stay in! I don’t have princess issues, I just have history issues 😉

Wish me luck this week. I hope I will meet interesting people. After all, I met Eliza here last year. I will miss the pets a little but they are in good hands.

While I am still listening to Melissa and enjoying the few minutes of peace since the boys are out with Kate, I would be less than truthful if I didn’t say that I am worn out. Emotionally, my batteries are on the 1% level. I am having a hard time channeling the necessary energy to be supportive, social, warm and wise with the world outside my front door. And this is also the week that I chose to jump off my anti depressant. You know, I never really only do one thing at a time 😉

Leaving on Sunday for Vught and while I know it will be mentally exhausting, confronting and frustrating – I still expect to find a away to regain strength and patience while I am there. Perhaps because I am not under any pressure to do anything there but learn Dutch and absolutely not use English. Perhaps because I am staying in an old manor house and will be able to bike around the area. Or perhaps because I will finally be able to get an original Bossche bol like this one

For those of you pastry purists, a Bossche bol is covered in pure chocolate which is what makes it stand out from creampuffs or moorkoppen.

I will use the time to build up my reserves again and recharge the introvert battery. I would like to take my banjo, having just learned Dueling Banjos in yesterday’s lesson. However, dueling by definition means there is someone else involved 😉

Work is very, very stressful at the moment. As much my own as absorbing other people’s stress. Today I was in the Hague for a meeting and driving on the way back, I was tempted to take a turn off into the polder and disappear into a meadow amongst a herd of cows. I had a feeling that lying in a meadow, curled up against a cud chewing cow was a good way to disappear from the rest of the world for a bit. And an opportunity to collect cow manure first hand!

Tomorrow there are more meetings, more people stressing out. I will see Eddie tomorrow evening which will help. Saturday night, I am going with my Aunt, Jo, Pieter, Sjoerd and Marieke to see Tuck & Patty at the North Sea Jazz Club for dinner and a concert. It was a 75th birthday gift to my aunt from all of us because there’s nothing she likes better than going out to dinner with everyone and dressing up. I am my Aunt’s date if you were unsure of the order 😉 I am not really sure who Tuck & Patty are, other than older than me, so I think I will just not look up their music and prepare to be surprised.

I am aware that the overall quality of my life is very good and I am grateful for that. I don’t want to convey the impression that I don’t recognize it and appreciate it. Just lately, things have been piling up and at least I know now when I need to take a break from the outside world. If I don’t post for a few days, don’t worry. If you don’t read anything for a few weeks, then that’s something else entirely.

I am still singing along to the incredible Melissa Etheridge concert last night! It was just her and her 9 guitars in the Tivoli Vredenburg, in a concert room that holds 2000 people. It was by far and away the best way to see her ever and I shall be quite spoiled now and find bigger concerts lacking. Perhaps I can show you!

See what I mean? It was 2 and a half hours of ROCK GODDESS! It was a good thing that on the way home from Utrecht, we found ourselves in a Stilte (silence) car because I think I needed some time to process and absorb all the incredible feelings from the performance. And I learned that Marjo has difficulty in the Stilte car which I will file away for future reference.

Listening to some of the songs last night and the observations she shared with the audience got me thinking. Well, so did the crowd demographic of what looked like most happy couples. I realized that at some point, if I ever want to be one of those happy couples, I am going to have to listen to both Marianne and Marjo and dip my toes into the dating pool. This doesn’t precisely thrill me since it has been a very long time since I needed to do that. I can only hope that it comes with complimentary swim floats. I’ve spent alot of years of one-sided waiting. In retrospect, I can put on the proverbial boots and kick my own ass for being blind and blindly optimistic. Or I can go Zen and recognize that the choices I made at the time taught me an awful lot about my own capacity and needs in a partner. I think I will probably end up somewhere in between, depending on the day of the week and the amount of sunlight available! We’ll see how this goes, now that I have admitted that I need to take some action if I want to get to that state where there is someone else to take the dogs out in the morning 😉

Speaking of the dogs, George is in a mood today! He’s got his troublemaking trousers on for sure. I nearly fell over him this morning and broke us both when he was so underfoot trying to convince me to feed him an early breakfast when I was trying to get everything organized. And then I discovered that he peed against my purple chair from Mom. Oh, and then there were the remnants of the aluminum container that their dog food comes in, shredded in bits all over the couch and in their blankets. So now I have to worry about George recycling his own food containers through his digestive system. See what I mean? Of course, now they are curled up here in the office like angels.

I have a banjo lesson this morning and then off to the office. And tonight, we have a customer facing event over in Amsterdam Noord so I will be riding my bike to the ferry and taking the 5 minute crossing over the river IJ. Even though it is only 5 minutes, it feels like going somewhere far away. And I have to remember to get stamps to mail my property tax payment back to Seattle today. Tomorrow it is off to the Hague and I forget where I have to be on Friday. In other words, business as usual 😉

The good news is that yesterday afternoon I did indeed jump in bravely and make my own tortillas so that the dogs would have a steady supply for the next couple of weeks. Things I learned during the process: volkoren (full kernel – whole grain, I think) flour doesn’t make the sort of junk food flavor tortillas but rather the wholesome flavor kind, rolling pins are not as easy to use as they look, cooking them takes patience in terms of not letting yourself get distracted in the two minute window that they are done.

I admit to being a little disappointed. I had visions of being my own tortilla factory with the boys dancing around the kitchen, out of control, while hoping I would throw them the irregular ones. Yesterday with the doors open to the terrace and the sunlight streaming in, they were more interested in baking themselves in the sun than what I was doing – on their behalf, I might add! I also expected them to be completely over the moon and begging for tortillas. Well, let’s say that while they didn’t spit them out, they weren’t as crazy about them as they are over the ones that I get from the store. When George doesn’t grab a tortilla out of your hands with a look of sheer joy on his face, it can be a little confidence shaking as a cook!

I will try again next time with different flour and hopefully more rolling pin skills so my tortillas look less like random shapes and more like the perfect circles you see in the store. They are not bad, just healthy tasting – which is not always what you are looking for when you eat tortillas so I understand the boys’ restraint.

I did have a Mom moment in the kitchen. I was worried that I didn’t have nearly enough water for that bowl full of six cups of flour. I went back to the recipe three times and realized that my liquid measurement math was bad. I assumed that it was 1/3 a cup of water per two cups of flour when in reality it was 2/3 of a cup. This made me laugh because my mom used to love to tell how my liquid measurement skills were lacking – making brownies in 7th grade where I was convinced that 1 cup of water equaled 16 ounces, not 8 and proceeded to pour that into the batter. The batter never got better, it stayed the consistency of a puddle.

I didn’t go out for King’s Day. I wore my orange when I walked the dogs but I couldn’t face all the celebrating people. I wrote, I cried, did lots of things around the house, hugged my pets and thought a lot about my mom. Since King’s Day will always be on the 27th (since it is Willem-Alexander’s real birthday) I think I can anticipate that it will probably not be a day that I really feel like being happy. Maybe one day it will grow easier but for now it is too close to home.

Tonight is Melissa Etheridge in Utrecht. I am looking forward to seeing her on stage. It has been a couple of years. The last time was at the Woodland Park Zoo.

In the meantime, like the motto of the Netherlands Je maintiendrai, I will maintain and hope that the days get a little easier.

This morning, I am listening to Sinead and enjoying yet another good cup of coffee. The boys are out with Kate so they will be back this afternoon around 1400. This means that for a few hours, I can work without the watchdog services of the dynamic duo. When they are in the office with me, they are very vigilant and very protective. To the point that anyone lingering too long on the street is subject to a dose of “Get away from our house” barking delivered dachshund style. George just sounds angry, like he might blow a gasket whereas Henry has this enormous bass bark that sounds like he is at least the size of a Rottweiler. Naturally, I appreciate their dedication to their work. It is only when I am in the midst of thinking or on the phone that it becomes a bit too much. Fortunately, our work culture is mobile so I am not the only one who shares an office with canine colleagues 😉

I must say I absolutely love Sinead O’Connor. Have for more than 20 years. It doesn’t matter which album it is, I can always fall into her songs and her voice. One of my all time favorite songs is “Last Day of our Acquaintance”. I remember when I was younger thinking it was kind of an odd song. I didn’t really get it. I will say that it is a song that the understanding is improved by life experience. I was talking with Eddie last week about this song and how I really get it now. Whenever I have a conversation with Eddie, I end up learning something, whether it is about music, terrible off color jokes, musician’s tips or a bit of emotional introspection and growth. And all of this accomplished during an hour of massage – which is how we met more than a year ago and formed the basis of our friendship. Of course, Eddie is also Irish so he gets double points for musical interpretation.

It is grey and overcast today which also suits my mood nicely! Too much sunny weather and I might stop being the Queen of Darkness 😉 I believe it is against the QofD charter to have any sun exposure at all, much less enjoy it. Which I do very much. Yesterday I was walking back from the grocery store and I took the long way and just sat on a bench for a good ten minutes, eyes closed, absorbing the sun. I could call it meditation but really it was just enjoying the sunlight and building up my vitamin D.

I just finished printing out my list for tomorrow. At the conference, I have 29 speed dating rounds scheduled. Oy. I am getting introvert panic just looking at the list. They are all strangers to me so that means with every round I will need to start from scratch. Fifteen minutes per round is 435 minutes of talking. Well, at least my math is not introverted.

Coffee is empty so that means it is time to go back to work 🙂

to going to torture myself with another week of stringent and intense language classes delivered in the methods of the Nuns of Vught. I made the final payment yesterday. And while I was doing that, I thought “Ï could be booking myself a little holiday in Turkey for one third of this cost”. I did the responsible thing though and completed the transaction. So, 3 May I am on my way to Vught via the train.

This did get me thinking about other goals I have though. This year would have been Mom’s 75th birthday and as you know, by coincidence (or not) Andre Rieu is playing in Maastricht on her chosen birthday. I will be going to that and staying the weekend in Maastricht to celebrate her properly. While that is pretty excellent tribute to Mama, there’s one more thing that she always wanted to do and talked about. That was visiting Ecuador. Well, to be honest, she was thinking of taking George and moving there, she already had her Spanish school picked out! I am going to do that next year, go to Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands. That means in addition to saving for the cost of such an adventure, I am also going to learn to dive in the mean time so I can not just snorkel but dive. It promises to be a life enhancing experience 🙂

Friday night I am off to Rotterdam to see Russell Peters. I think he is hilarious and I am looking forward to hearing something all in English 😉 And Tuesday night next week it is Melissa Etheridge in Utrecht. Which reminds me that I need to buy my tickets for Garbage. I like going to concerts here. Partly because they are more reasonably priced than in the US and because it is a treat. In September, Lollapalooza is coming to Berlin and I am thinking of going. I am still muddling on it because I am not quite crazy about big festivals. Speaking of festivals, we just got a notice through the letterbox that there will be a big electronic music festival at the RAI on the 27th. That’s King’s Day so if last year is anything to go by, there will be floods of orange wearing folk all coming to Amsterdam. I remember last year that there were so many people coming through the park that I wondered if there was anyone left in the rest of the Netherlands! Last year Eliza and I sat on terraces for nine hours during King’s Day. Of course, they were terraces in many different places!

This week I have a technology conference to go to in Utrecht which means that I will have to do a lot of talking to strangers. I think I have something like 12 individual conversations scheduled with attendees. This is the Netherlands so of course, conversations are scheduled in advance for conference attendees 😉 That will take a lot of social energy. I should probably start meditating now to build up the introvert reserves. This will be the second to the last conference of the year. In May, we have a two day one. Perhaps I should just bring my banjo along to recharge – that will certainly create a wide circle of open space around me!

Okay, my second coffee is finished which means it is time to go to work!