Notice that the flag is at half mast. Today was “Herdenkingsdag”, a day set aside to remember the dead of WWII. Lots of people had flags out, and all were at half mast. At 7:58 PM the whole country observed two minutes of silence. Everything stopped. We were on a train at the time, and […]

We spent the day in s’Hertogenbosch with Willem’s old friends, the Salas. I had met them years ago while on a business trip to the Tennant office in Uden, and we also saw Dick in 2014 on our last trip to Rotterdam. It was lovely to catch up with them and spend some time just […]

Walking through Schiphol reminded me of coming on business trips to Holland from Russia and feeling like a kid in a candy store when I landed. It was like being in a time warp: I got on a plane in dark and dreary Sheremetyevo and exited three hours later into the bright, colorful, bustling, cheerful […]

Left home right on time, no high-speed chases. One minor panic-ito, when Willem started to think that he might have left the Euros at home. We bought them in January when the price was low. Checked in his suitcase when we got to airport and, of course, they were there. We decided that, while some […]

Our preparations were progressing smoothly yesterday, when Willem asked if I had taken my passport out. I confidently went to its usual storage place and opened the drawer to find the empty travel wallet that I usually keep it in. I looked disbelievingly at the wallet for several seconds, examining and re-examining every compartment before convincing […]

Unless you have been under a log this week, you have been barraged with countless assessments of the president’s first one hundred days in office. According to his own estimate he has accomplished more in his first one hundred days than any other president in US history. Period. I think he has convinced himself of this, […]

Friday is the day I volunteer at the Taubman Museum of Art in Roanoke, VA. I like the idea of contributing to the community I live in and I also love this particular attraction. The private collection is solid and the building that houses it is fabulous. I applaud the community for having had the daring […]

I marked today for cleaning the downstairs. That’s where the boys live. The boys are Vanya and Vasya, two very large, Siberian beauties with lots of hair. A thorough cleaning entails vacuuming, shaking and washing the mats around the litter box, and scrubbing the residue of any hairballs I happened to miss when they were produced. […]

I had planned the week before our travel begins to space out all the little chores that have to be done before an absence of ten days. Today was the day I had set aside to clean and vacuum the main floor of the house. You see, I have this sickness that makes me want to get […]

The photo above shows the beautiful Erasmus Bridge in Rotterdam, where we will be a week from now. On our last trip we stayed in the Maritime Hotel, directly across from the bridge. This time, we were bummed to find out that the hotel has been converted to a hostel. Instead, we will stay around […]