I am multi-tasking again, watching a digital training while checking in. I have had a week of meeting really interesting people and having conversations that have my brain popping with ideas. As of this week, I think I have ended up finding several new projects that will ultimately help empower women and other people that are normally outside of the work market. I like to do this stuff, it gives me a way to put my gratitude into practice.

Last night I also got a phone call from Marum. It was the archivist who had some information to tell me about my mom and her family. I am so appreciative! He send me some things last night, like the original house cards that show when the family came to Marum, etc. He’s also started asking people in their 80s if they will share any stories they have regarding our family with me.

Tonight it is off to Sjoerd and Marieke’s new house to celebrate their move. I have picked up some desserts from Tout and it looks like it will be a great evening to sit outside in their new garden and enjoy it.

I hope you are well 🙂

It really is, a little windy, a little sunny and every evening a quick rainshower. It also directly contributes to my staying up and out late! I mentioned that I was going to try the 10 PM bedtime this week. I managed it for three days but after that, I am afraid that my nocturnal side took over. The good news is that I can always try again.

This morning I am multitasking. The wash is running, the last load is drying outside, I am upgrading another computer, waiting patiently for Lientje to crawl out from under the bed so she can take her medicine and typing away. I managed to catch Moortje already and he’s had his two morning syringes. I look forward to the day that my cats just wake up, open their mouths and swallow the stuff. I don’t think that is likely to happen but it is good to remain optimistic.

I went out for dinner last night with the women from the meetup. There were more new people this time which always makes things interesting. We had a really good dinner with lots of garlic and small plates – not exactly the best recipe for social success and from there we met up with a larger group at Cafe Saarein in the Jordaan. I enjoyed it, the discussions were lively and it feels good to be able to hang out socially with people you don’t know or know well and there’s no pressure like one on one meetings. One of the women passed along this link. If you have ever wanted wondered if there is a difference between Holland and the Netherlands, here’s your chance to find out.

Around 1130, I decided to cycle back to my neighborhood and spent the last of my wine budget for the month sitting on my favorite terrace. Which only involved more good conversation and so it goes. It sounds so dramatic to say my wine budget, really it’s my dinner out/travel/wine/miscellaneous budget but wine budget is shorter 😉 Tonight I will meet up with Renee, who is back from Australia, and we will sit on the “beach” over in Oost (East). Renee is still our housesitter when I am gone and I am looking forward to hearing the stories about her travels.

We also have a trip to make to the park so the boys can get their sillies out. I think we will go in an hour or so. And then I am going to work on tidying up the garden. No one tells you that hortensias can get so messy and straggly. It turns out the my landlord will be returning to the Netherlands in August so we will definitely be moving. In the meantime, I will enjoy our little house and be open to the idea of what our next home will be like!

Here’s hoping your weekend is a good one 🙂

I am back in Amsterdam after spending a too short weekend in Groningen. I had signed up some months ago for a yoga camp at my favorite mineral baths in the North. Unfortunately, I was very late getting out of Amsterdam on Friday night and so missed the first day of camp, dinner, etc. However, I like to think I made up for that for being extra in need of meditation and inner peace on Saturday and Sunday 😉

The yoga was good and not the competitive bikram style I am used so it was extra challenging for me since it focused much more so on the meditation and mindfulness aspect. We all know shutting off my brain is difficult for me. I reached a milestone for myself during the second session Saturday evening. It involved the color orange and two words by which I want to anchor my actions and words in this lifetime. When it happened, I was so surprised. I had the equivalent of “Whoa, where the hell did that voice come from? Is there someone else here?” I think I had my first successful meditation ever! Usually, I spend all my meditation time just counting in between breaths so I don’t get distracted.

In between the yoga sessions, I spent time in the mineral baths, got sunburned from sitting out reading, moved to reading under a tree, took a nap and tried to just be calm. Of course, the grounds have a bathrobe park meaning you can walk around the park in a bathrobe if you choose not to wear street clothes. It has all kinds of places to sit and paths. I had found a place on a bench under a tree since I was sunburned. Along comes a fellow park visitor that understands the rules of the park. He is wearing a bathrobe. However, he isn’t wearing anything under it and he hasn’t secured the bath robe. He is literally flying in the breeze. Okay, I think, do your thing, man and I will try to get that image out of my head. However, he is also apparently training for the Olympics so he is walking laps and laps around the park to build his conditioning. After the third time he passed me and spoke, I decided it was time to go for a coffee and rest my eyes!

I also stopped in at the little cafe where I had met so many people in times past. Everyone, including the owners, were sitting on the terrace, so it was an evening full of laughter and catching up on the stories of the village. It was pretty late by the time I returned to the hotel, midnight. 😉

On Sunday afternoon, I left and stopped in at Marum on the way south. The church was open so I took a look inside and took some pictures. On Sundays in July, old churches in Groningen (the province) display different kinds of art. For Marum, it is the work of glassblowers. I didn’t break anything luckily. I was obviously a stranger and taking pictures like a tacky tourist so the lady in charge asked me if she could help me – right after she caught me sticking my head behind the church organ looking for the staircase to the tower. When I told her that I was going to visit my mom and that I had family from here, she called her husband over who is Marum born and bred. He talked with me for a good 30 minutes about the family history that I know and wrote it all down. He’s going to give it through to a recently retired worker from the Groningen Archives. During our conversation some other older people came in and he asked them. Turns out the man knew mother’s name and knew where the family used to live but didn’t have much more information than that. However, once a month, there is a group that meets to share the stories from the past 100 years of Marum history. Perhaps I will find more out there. I would love to hear more stories of my mother and my family. That’s one of the hardest things, I don’t have any more new stories about her now.

I met Marianne last night at the Gelato Festival. I think it was probably alot busier on Saturday when it was not overcast and windy. However, since we are highly efficient types, we went from gelato tasting to a gin & tonic and then on to Chinese food. And all in a 50 meter radius – who says you can’t travel the world in an evening! I am taking some Marianne advice regarding sleep. I am experimenting this week by being in bed by 10PM. It is not even dark yet at that time! Which makes it seem even more unfair. However, I am trying it out to see if I can improve my sleep quantity and quality. I do have a waiver for weekends though 😉 With the fact that it stays light here so long, it really makes it difficult for me to go to bed before 1AM. It is not just the light that makes it difficult, it usually has to do with the fact that I am sitting somewhere, writing reading or chatting.

I went to another meetup last week and there’s one on Friday night I am going to – see above weekend waiver for 10PM bedtime 😉 I do better at some of them than at others. The important thing is that I am trying and working on my shyness. I think that’s about it for now. Happy Monday!

Funny, as I started typing this, I just got a call from the castle. It turns out I left my card case that has my OV chipkaart (for all public transit systems in the Netherlands) behind so castle keeper was calling to find out how to return it to me. I have been wrestling with this page for a good 30 minutes trying to get the images to display the way I want them to. It looks like that is not really possible in bulk so I guess I will do it one at a time.

Saturday really was a fabulous time, despite the incredible heat. Between 1000 and 1430, I had already walked 10K steps exploring Maastricht. It is an incredibly charming city and these pictures are just highlights. I had walked through the little village to the nearest train station and caught the stop train into Maastricht proper. I wanted to see the city with the exception of where the concert would be held. I wanted to be pleasantly surprised in the evening and see it for the first time. As I wandered down the way from the station to the center, it was a mild 93 degrees F already.

I did stop for a bit at the Onze Lieve Vrouweplein to rehydrate and have some lunch. The cafe I chose was in a building standing since 1655. I chose them because they had 8 veg options on their menu which was unusually high for Maastricht. The Burgundian way of living rules here in Maastricht which means people eat all kinds of rich foods and lots of meat. Essentially they enjoy themselves alot.I felt somewhat like I was in a different country. I heard later that that’s not such an unusual feeling when you come to Maastricht from out of the north of the Netherlands. I figured out pretty quickly that my relaxation abilities are not quite up to Maastricht and I need to work harder on them!

I had a good time wandering around and taking pictures. I was also pretty good at resisting the urge to shop for anything other than bottles of water. I said pretty good, which means I did stop and buy two dresses. Yes, you read that right. They are not made out of camping or outdoor style fabric either, Marianne 😉

I needed to get back to the castle on time since I needed to change for dinner which was going to be at another castle. Dinner was scheduled for Chateau Neercanne . And you certainly don’t want to be late for that kind of experience! We started with wine tastings inside the mines that the stone for the castle was carved from. Now it is all wine cellar. It was pretty cool. I did notice however that I was the only person there by myself. While this doesn’t phase me, it makes other people somewhat awkward. Especially women of a certain age. It is like there still remains a social stereotype that single women are always on the hunt. I can, with 100% certainy, state that I was not on the hunt to catch myself a man of a certain age who enjoyed Andre Rieu concerts!

Once we arrived at the square where the concert would be taking place, I walked around taking even more pictures. And at one point, I was standing less than 10 feet away from Andre Rieu himself! It was a really wonderful performance, complete with fireworks which my mom would have used as evidence that it was her birthday being celebrated by everyone 🙂 Everyone really does link arms and sing together just like the concerts show on PBS. I learned something from watching the locals. They don’t buy tickets, they make reservations at one of the cafes on the square and then spend the evening eating and drinking while enjoying the performance. I am going to do that next time!

I held Mom’s ash the whole concert and struggled a bit with all of the emotions. By the time I got back to the castle, I was still trying to work through all of the emotions so I sat on the terrace overlooking the valley until about 230 in the morning, with the full moon and the sound of the nearby waterfalls for company. It was a lovely experience. I probably would have stayed there longer but I knew I had to get up at a decent hour.

Overnight there were also thunderstorms which made the tower rumble and shake. That was cool!!! It was easy to imagine that it was cannons. I was sorry to leave the next morning.

Today my banjo teacher taught me a waltz so I can amuse myself by playing along with Andre Rieu and his orchestra. I’ll let you know how that turns out!

I have tons more pictures of Maastricht and the surroundings so if you want to see them, let me know and I will send you a link.

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It is certainly warm tonight. Something they didn’t mention in all those shows about castles is that tower rooms can be very, very warm. I guess in the old days, towers weren’t really built for comfort purposes but rather to give a view over the land, a defense post or a place to house your irritating relative, neighbor or treasonous high born conspirator. My tower room has three levels, an entry with the bathroom, a middle floor (where I am now) that is a sweet and spacious living area and the top floor where eventually I will sleep. The top is quite literally under the eaves of the tower, you can only stand up very straight in the middle of the room. I have windows everywhere and I can see the countryside for miles. And there are no bugs, rats, molding bones or other things to take away from the experience. I had booked this stay because I wanted to surprise my original traveling companion with an experience that you couldn’t really replicate in the US. I did on their behalf and I probably would not have done it on my own. However, being here and having so much fun with this has taught me a good lesson about doing things for yourself too, and not just to surprise other people. I am pretty good at arranging fun things for other people and not so good about doing it just for myself. I am learning though and this was an important training exercise 😉

We are in the middle of a heat wave in the Netherlands. NO, I don’t mean it has reached 70 degrees and panicky Dutch people are fainting from the unexpected sun 😉 I mean that the past couple of days it has easily hit the 90 degree mark and doesn’t cool off much at night. There’s not alot of air conditioning here either, much like Seattle. We’ve had about a week of this kind of weather and it doesn’t show much sign of letting up. It makes me glad I let Robert convince me to fix Astrid’s air conditioning when he was renewing her interior. I remember laughing at the time that I would need air conditioning. Well, I used it today during the last 40 km to Maastricht when it just got to be too much! I expect I will be glad to have it when we are going to Italy in August too.

This weather makes you not want to eat and only drink. I can say that within the first 30 minutes that I was sitting outside this evening, writing away in my journal I drank an entire coffee milkshake (i thought iced coffee was Seattle style, it wasn’t) a liter bottle of mineral water and a very cold Brugse Zot beer. And I never had to pee, that’s how hot it was. That’s alot of liquid for you non liter using readers 😉 And right now, I am drinking another bottle of mineral water that I raided from the tower mini bar.

There are people here from all over the world to see Andre Rieu. I heard Australians tonight. I am looking forward to the concert tomorrow night. I have my portable Mom ash with me and will be bringing it and I have her serious camera so I can take good pictures. Oh, and the castle is for sale, which seems only fitting because as soon as I walked in the door, I heard Mom in my head saying her famous “I could live here”. Unfortunately, 2 million is a little out of my budget. Although I am sure they would be open to negotiation.

I had one of the greatest experiences this week. At work, we had an opportunity to spend 1:1 time with a young person who is what they call far from the work market. This means that they have a physical or mental condition or both that makes regular employment probably an incredibly long shot for them. I had a great afternoon working with an amazing young woman. She was 21 and has big plans. I worked with her to help prepare for the process of an interview, what to ask, what to expect, how to carry herself with confidence, to believe in herself. At the end of the day, we were not even done. I asked the organization to keep me posted and let them know that I am open to meeting with her again and helping her. I hope they will contact me. Her dream job means she will need to go to school and that’s not always easy to do if you don’t have people along the way encouraging you that you can do it, especially when your Statistics class SUCKS. We fit well together because I don’t have a traditional path to where I am now either. I didn’t get my bachelor’s until I was 36. I hope that we will be able to work together again.

Talking with her reminded me all over again of the importance of gratitude. I also just finished reading Amanda Palmer’s The Art of Asking (which was fabulous) and had the connection message jumping all over the place in my brain. I do have difficulty asking. Which is what made the book so interesting to reading. I don’t think I will become an expert in asking for help overnight. I do think I will ask for it more often though. So if I ask for you something, let me stumble my way through it, because the trust it requires for me to do it is something that I want to recognize and cultivate.

We had a vet visit this week for Moortje. I am pleased to report that the medication to lower his blood pressure is working very well. He’s down to 130. He was at 240 which was NOT good. It is nice to know that even if my cats run away from me because they do not want to get their medication twice a day, it is helping. Now if I could only get them to understand that. Henry went with to get his nails trimmed which he absolutely fought. The vet and I were both wrestling with him to get it to happen. This is the vet that works with the lions in the Amsterdam zoo. Henry wasn’t impressed. However, he is walking much faster since it happened. Sometimes I wish I could speak to the pets in a language they would understand.

Wow, it is 1130 pm nearly. I guess I better get some sleep if I plan on exploring tomorrow before it becomes wickedly hot. The forecast is for 93 by noon. Oy.

Hey, thanks for reading, by the way. It means alot to me that you do.

Yesterday I made it to 20,000 steps before switching to the bike. I am happy to report that the Fitbit did not blow up. It was a really sunny day yesterday and I forgot my sunscreen. So, I left Rotterdam with a pretty good sunburn. It was such a great day! We started our trip having coffee and cake with Ageeth’s parents and catching the metro from their house. Her pWarents are darling.I wanted to shrink them down and store them in my pockets like good luck charms!

We walked 13 kilometers yesterday. In that distance, we walked through the harbors, crossed the Willems bridge, past the Stadhuis and the few buildings that remain from pre bombardment Rotterdam. We had a wine on the terrace of the Hotel New York which is the old Holland America Line HQ. We took a water taxi to cross back over to the other side. We went to markets and photo galleries.It was a super day 🙂

After getting home at 9pm and quickly feeding the dogs, it was off to a meetup. I was really nervous going there. I even parked my bike a block away so I could think about not going in. Eventually I kicked myself in the butt hard enough and went in. I am glad I did. It was super awkward at first. Of course it was! However, I did finally meet some interesting people and break through the early awkwardness. We ended up staying there until the bar closed. After that, it was on to another terrace until they closed. I got home at 5am because I ended up walking two people home across West since one was not able to ride her bike anymore and couldn’t even remember where she lived. By the time we had an address to work with and gotten there, the birds were already singing. Pedaling home through the city in the early morning was beautiful. However, I was so tired, I knew I wasn’t riding properly. I actually wanted to fall asleep on my bike.

Anyway, point being, I went to a meetup and I went to one of Amsterdam’s oldest bars for women. And I survived and didn’t cause any accidents 😉 so that’s two important social milestones achieved yesterday.

Wow, I just read the news tonight. Pretty big decisions from the Supreme Court. On one hand, I am excited by the rulings on both on healthcare for everyone and marriage for everyone whether you are hetero, homo or somewhere in between. Maybe the US is finally moving forward when it comes to real equality for everyone, not just those who can buy it.

In between the pride in the decisions today there is mixed the disappointment that with the next administration, there will probably be more attempts to just turn all of these things over again, that it took so many years for this finally to be decided on by the Supreme Court and the disbelief that it took so long for a nation that touts it’s horn about equality and freedom to get to these rulings. I think this is a result of a two party political system. It remains too easy to polarize people against each other, politicians and others don’t have to work together because there is an “us vs them” mindset. In a multiparty system, groups have to work together to form consensus.

I am glad that these decisions have come to life. The Netherlands was the first country to expand marriage to same sex couples. All the way back in 2001. Guess what? The world and Dutch society did not come to a burning halt or fall into the sea. I hope that sort of common sense is also found in the weeks to come in the US instead of people freaking out and turning on each other, whipped up by inflammatory political campaigns and slogans. I have seen that one Republican presidential would be is already calling for an amendment to the US Constitution in order to override the decision… and so it continues.

As for me, it has been a busy couple of days between unpacking suitcases, trying to get the cats to like me again, finishing out the work year, looking at houses and catching up with a week’s worth of missed people. I cut the trees back tonight that were coming over the fence and repaired the top rails. I also decided that in my next garden, I wouldn’t have terrace stone with all the baby rocks in it, I would have smooth stone – much easier to sweep clean. The vegetables are growing quite well. The plants anyway. I am not sure if I will see any vegetables themselves. Actually, in my next garden I am also going to have grass. It doesn’t have to be alot of grass, it can be like a Zen size corner. Just enough to say it is there.

I looked at a really great house this week but in the end decided not to make an offer. Two reasons – the design of the bathroom was backwards and if you used the shower the water would go straight out under the door into the hallway. I would have switched the shower and the bathtub but the contractor obviously had his own ideas. It also didn’t have a kitchen, you would still have to put one in and it had two offers already over the asking price which was already at the top of the market. I am not worried, I will find the right house. I am just glad I started looking now. If it gets to be too much, I can always move out of the city and into an old farm 😉 I can just see the dogs learning to herd sheep!

Tomorrow I am off to spend the day in Rotterdam with a born and bred Rotterdammer. Ageeth and her husband own my second living room and she invited me to spend the day in exploring Rotterdam with her when she heard I hadn’t ever been out of the train station or the Ahoy stadium. I am looking forward to it! Tomorrow night, I am going out with some people from a meetup so that should be an interesting experience… I hope interesting good.

Here I am, sitting in the KLM lounge in Terminal 5. In front of me I have an espresso and a sparkling water. I’ve got a window seat that lets me watch the big wide bodies being loaded. Alitalia is first up. I might have mentioned a time or two how watching airplanes being loaded makes me both wish I could do it again and then again glad that I have a different job now. Things I miss are the precision with which planes are loaded, the feeling of being physically tired when you go home, the super jolt of power when you are pushing back a big plane and those highly paid pilots have to listen to the ground monkeys while the plane is still hooked up to the tow bar and repeating all those moments all again. Things I don’t miss include doing your best in the worst weather possible, never quite getting the smell of Jet A out of your hair and clothes and the management structure and hierarchy. Now of course, most of the baggage handlers are contractors which is also the result of all of those management structures and changes. I have nothing against the people who are working as contract employees. I am sorry that they are not paid what they are worth and rarely have benefits. Not to mention that they don’t get to experience that sense of ownership that I think every airline employee needs to have. I also think they have a right to much better wages than what they get. I am definitely proud of the fact that I was a Ramp Rat. In the end, that pride and time served didn’t matter and I have gone on to other things after the last rounds of layoffs, pension defaulting, etc. I don’t ever regret the time served though. And believe me, if you knew some of the individuals I worked with, you would understand why sometimes it felt like time served. As much as I was a strange animal for them, a woman throwing luggage, some of their concrete mindsets and attitudes made them an unusual animal for me to be around.

I got here very early today because Cedric’s flight was at noon. It was hard to say good bye to him, Rupert and Meredith. I think that is the worst part about visits. We decided yesterday that we will make this an annual event. We’ve already done it two years in a row so we’re committing to it now. It has been a really fun and relaxing week with some important time together building memories. From our bike ride from downtown to Montrose Beach to go to Mumford & Sons to going to see the awesome 80s band 16 Candles at the Pride street fest in Boys’ Town and having an Indonesian dinner together on the balcony, we did pretty well with each other.  No one got punched or arrested and no one did any punching. For us, this was progress 😉

Dylan left yesterday to go back to Cleveland which meant that Sunday night, we went to Giordano’s for pizza. Dylan had some difficulty at 16 Candles at first but after a few beers, he stopped worrying and got into the music. It seemed then only fitting that we should further push his boundaries with the fully carb loaded stuffed crust pizza from Giordano’s! There’s moments I feel sorry for him, since he looks at the world in a very black and white way. I used to have moments were I felt compelled to try and break though some of that concrete thinking. However, I have realized that’s not my responsibility, it is his and only if he wants to do that. If he likes his life the way it is, that’s his business. He’s still not invited to stay at my house again. However, if he had been more like this in Amsterdam, it would have been a much better visit.

Then there’s Cedric. My brother that reminds me so much of my mom, I want to kick him sometimes. I am sure the feeling is mutual. I am hoping that he will come and visit soon since he is the only one who hasn’t been to visit me yet since I moved. Cedric is a good egg. I have to wait him out a lot, conversation is definitely slow. He is my brother that I can sit next to for hours with neither one of us talking and it is just excellent. We went to the Chicago Diner last night – it is one of my favorite veg places in the world so far. We did this the last time we were in Chicago too. He’s off home to Charlotte, back to the 100 degree heat and his dog and his ridiculous work schedule. I missed him before we even dropped him off at Terminal 3.

Yesterday afternoon I watched Rupert and Meredith’s wedding video, complete with the rehearsal dinner and the reception. It was a difficult thing to watch because I remember where I was with my mom on that day. We watched the wedding ceremony on a borrowed iPad via FaceTime. It was really hard for my mom. I had never seen the rest of the celebration. I am glad that they were surrounded by so many people who love them. I can see why. I feel that we are exceptionally fortunate that there is a Rupert & Meredith. I have learned a great deal from them about communicating, acceptance and the importance of having fun. I hope that for all of us siblings we find our partner that embraces those things and their priority in building a life together. Knowing that it took R&M four years makes me feel a little more confident that we can all do it. I wish my mom had had more time with them.

I’m going to miss my family. However, now that I know we are going to do this annually, I can start planning 😉 I just watched my airplane come in to the gate. I am flying an airplane that is named for the City of Jakarta (Indonesia). It reminds me that I am going home. I know of Jakarta from Mom stories. Sitting on the upper deck again. I liked it so much last time that I switched my seat so I could do it again. Oh my goodness, they have horses coming off. They just opened the cargo doors to horse transport containers. Okay, that is another thing I miss about being a Ramp Rat! I do think all the Reese’s Peanut Butter cups in my checked luggage for my pet sitter and other friends are definitely melted. Okay, I am going to watch the unloading… I know, I am a dork 😉

Working my way into being far more relaxed. I can say that for the past two nights, I have slept really well. No waking up countless times, a bed to myself and getting up with the light from outside. Okay, so I wake up at home with daylight too. I am not sure what it is, I think perhaps just the sense of comfort that comes from being with Rupert and Meredith.

Cedric arrives today. I am really looking forward to seeing him since it has been almost a year.

Last night I finally saw the classic movie “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”. I had never seen it before and it was showing outside in the park. We went over there about dusk and watched from the steps of the Chicago Museum. I have to get the soundtrack, so many great 80s songs.

We had originally planned to see Mumford & Sons at Montrose Beach last night but the rain postponed the concert until Friday night. This will be great since i would have missed them at home since they were playing the same night as Andre Rieu. What fun to discover that Rupert and Meredith also have an appreciation for the banjo 😉

I brought my banjo board with me. Basically a banjo head without a neck so I can keep increasing my picking speed while not making any noise. It is very useful and only looks slightly weird. I think the same sentence could be used to describe me 😉

Tomorrow night, we have a family dinner with our Aunt Sharon and her daughter and son in law. We are eating before the senior rush, at 5pm! It will be good to see my Aunt again. She’s an interesting woman. She is always very happy to see us which seems hard to believe when I think of what a bunch of hard headed siblings we are. Eigenwijs is the Dutch word for it. Literally you own wisdom. Henry is very eigenwijs!

I miss the pets. However, they are all doing fine per Nikah. 80 degrees today and 100% humidity so it is probably a good thing that they are not here.

Meredith and I are off to get our feet glamourized!

I am having a very Austin Powers moment sitting here on the upper deck of a 747. I always wanted to do this. I feel like running around and saying “Shagadelic” ! And dancing to funky music. In the interest of my fellow passengers, I will refrain. Last thing I need is to get in trouble and be a candidate for the Darwin Awards.

I snuck out of the house, hoping the pets were too occupied with their bribes to notice me. I will see them again in a week and they will be okay while I am gone.

The open house was a disappointment, especially for the price. The garden was lovely but the house itself needed a ton of work and the master bedroom was only 2 meters wide. Yep, roughly 6 feet wide. So, on to the next. Bummer because it was right around the corner from where we live now.

Time for us to fly… Yeah, baby, yeah!