Our dog Joris is jawning, sooo boring! (picture taken a month ago, now we had to wear jackets)Last week Sunday we celebrated the last day of Menno's "birthweek". His official birthday is September 3, and on that day he became 10 years! During the whole week the guirlands were hanging from the ceiling, as a welcome to adults and children. This last day we went with a group of little friends to the movie, made cheap by the supermarket chain of Albert Heijn: for every x Euros spent, you got a free second movie theatre ticket, so we only had to pay half the total price. We watched "The Simpsons" so the adults among us had also a good time and didn't have to watch computer-made "plastic" puppets experience adventures liked by children alone. (At least it's not my first choice for a movie).
Yesterday the weather was 1st choice for a sailing day: wind force 4 and a brilliant sun, so the three of us spent the day on the water. Up to then, it was one of the nicest sailing days. Janine took sailing lessons from me and Menno kept himself busy with all kinds of little jobs such as taking care of the "willen" (cushion-like devices to protect from bumping - most younger sailors use the English word for it but the older people still use the good Dutch word for it, I forgot the English word) and other things that had to be done.
This week I have to make an appointment to have the boat put on land, at a shipyard owned by the son of the designer / builder of the boat, Lodewijk Meeter. He built only around twenty of these boats in the 19seventies, and he still has the original drawings. Then it will be much work to get the boat in a better condition by sandpapering (rust!), painting and improving the rigging! Everything advised by Lodewijk, and if craftmanship is involved, he could help us very well.
5 comments:
I'm glad you and your family had a good week. When will the weather become too chilly for sailing?
Thanks Evie, I had little time so it was only a short report. As far as I'm concerned it's never too chilly for sailing, one can always put extra clothes on, and there are simple camping devices to keep the cabin warm. But in winter and late autumn you have too many sudden weather changes here, from calm to sudden storm and vice versa. When I had my previous boat I got stuck in a small "flee harbour" along the IJsselmeer coast, and had to phone to my work that I couldn't arrive on Monday! There were no GSM's yet and I used a "telephone pole" nearby for car drivers with bad luck. That night the storm calmed down and I had an unforgettable experience in sailing back in the dark night, with the pocket-torch on the map and navigating on the buoy lights. I was on my own, and later on we had some night trips with Janine, too. But always listen to the weatherforecasts, at least twice a day!
Someone is having a great time out there...! :D
Great times! Spending time on the water must be a wonderful way to unwind especially on a perfect day for sailing.
From time to time, we get coupons from breakfast cereal boxes the allow us to go to the movies for free or for half price. When you have to pay for four children and two adults to attend the movies, it becomes something that is not a regular part our family routine.
Hi Erik:
I tried to respond to you via e-mail but it was bounced back to me.
Thanks for your on-going interest. Your comments are certainly encouraging.
I have yet to create a photo blog. I did not think that my photos were of the
quality and standard of what people would like to look at.
But...
you have encouraged me to step into it anyway. When I get home later this
evening after a meeting, I'll get started on developing a aminus3 blog. Any
pointers or suggestions would be appreciated.
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