Few more 2022 pics

Joe made everybody nice pancakes for breakfast before some of us went for a 5 km walk along Lake Huron. It was a nice belated Christmas day (on Boxing Day) in Bright's Grove.

Reading while cuddling with Poncho (while Hilary explores the South Island of New Zealand). Shayd enjoys spending some time again with his mother and sister.

December events

Parker, the middle son of Marcy & Joe, works as conductor for CN Rail in BC and now misses most of the annual family events. He was over in Ontario for a week and with two of his Sarnia friends stayed over for a night. He stopped to see his grandfather, Opa Vandenboom, who is still looking very good at the age of almost 93.

After the early December Christmas dinner when Hilary and Shayd were here, we had another one with Roos, the older sister of Ralph. A snowstorm prevented us to go to Sarnia that day....

With all the snow, stormy winds and artic cold outside, it was a good moment to start another puzzle, one which was gifted to me by Carly & Mark for my birthday. The different phases of the process starts always with sorting of all the 1,000 pieces and coming up with a system of attack...

All the while with Poncho semi-hibernating under the blankets in his favorite spot. On boxing day (in Holland called "2nd Christmas Day" (tweede kerstdag), the weather allowed us to drive to Sarnia.

Opa in the front passenger seat with me in the back with Poncho bundled up in a blanket...

A third family Christmas dinner this year - this time in Sarnia - and an evening full of card and other games. On to the last few days of 2022; it has been a nice year...

Updates

In Holland, Monique and Marco got officially married (in the presence of Ger, Bert, Sascha and Berry) so to see in a very artful place. For both of them it is their second marriage and together they now take care of four kids; a busy household...

During the past two and half weeks, I have watched almost all the games of the group phase and the round of 16 of the current World Cup Soccer. The men in orange made it to the quarter finals (or the round of 8) and will face the always strong team of soccer-crazy Argentina on Friday....

With Hilary and Shayd taking off to New Zealand for the next three months, Mary and I will take care of their dog Poncho. This morning I walked Poncho over to Opa Vandenboom. Something we will likely do quite a few times as long as the sow is not too heavy...

Hilary and Shayd visiting

Hilary and Shayd are visiting again so we did an extra early Christmas dinner at the house of Susan and Ralph. Everybody was there except for Parker who works for CN Rail and was still in Kamloops, BC. Shayd and Hilary prepared lamb while Susan, Ralph and Mary made several side dishes. Afterwards we played a few games. A very nice family day. Hilary and Shayd will leave Poncho with us after this visit because they will travel to New Zealand and stay three months there. Shayd has not been able to visit his mother, family and friends there during the past four years. Hilary can continue her work on-line; Shayd will do some jobs with old friends, and they were able to rent out their condo in Vancouver. The modern world! We will enjoy taking care of Poncho during that time.

Home sweet home

Tuesday night a nice "last meal" with my sister Han: an Indonesian "rijstafel" (rice table with all sorts of side dishes). Five weeks flew by with so many fun reunions with old friends and former colleagues. Wednesday back on the KLM flight to Toronto, where the first winter snow here awaited....

Last few days in Holland

One of the last train rides here in Holland during my five weeks here, was to Den Haag (again). At the Central Station - like in most of the larger cities - you can rent "OV fietsen" (public transport bicycles) to facilitate the use of clean transport. A fantastic cash-less system. My former study friend and house mate Cathrien had an OV fiets arranged for me and off we went through the city....

Cathrien and her husband Auke treated me on a nice lunch in the forest area near their home and from there we cycled to a museum in a beautiful setting with interesting art...

One of the (according to Cathrien famous) artists had an exposition of his masterpieces all based on his observations in nature. Can you see Auke at the end of these tree trunks?

Auke showed his cooking talents that evening making very special pancakes. Common friends Coen and Anne Marie (see also earlier posts from this trip) joined us to test out his recipes.

The next morning, I joined Coen to see one of his sons (Paul, 30) play soccer. He plays in a competitive league together with a son of Joost and Lies who were also house mates in Delft and who I had already visited a few weeks ago (see earlier post). Back in the train to Soest to pick up my sister Han to go to Utrecht to enjoy the Tina Turner Musical.

We were early in the theater where we had a good view of the stage. It was not allowed to take photos during the show, but it was a spectacular performance with an ending whereby all the audience got on their feet. An evening well spent. On the way back we had an hour delay with the train, but we had some additional entertainment with a soccer fan (of one of the clubs in Rotterdam, Feyenoord).

And today Han (76) - and her dog "wifi" - accompanied me for another visit to our sister Ger (78) and her husband Bert (80). We started these five weeks with such a visit when Ger had her birthday on October 15, and we ended my memory lane tour today with it. Bye, bye Holland, it was great!

Study friends in Amsterdam

One of my good friends in Amsterdam is Gert-Jan. We lived for 7 years together during our university time in Delft, first in a house with 14 other students and later a year in Den Haag. Afterwards Gert-Jan always lived in Amsterdam and offered me hospitality many times during my visits to Holland. Thirteen years ago, I was here with Mark a few nights (when Mark was 15; that trip Mark and I also visited Paris in France for a few days). Last night the guestroom of Gert-Jan and Hollis was waiting for me again. This morning I walked a few blocks to the house of another friend from Delft, who also listens to the name Jos. He is an avid collector of art. It is always a feast to visit him and hear about his acquisitions and his experiences with artists from around the world.

The stairs - as in most older houses in cities like Amsterdam - are quite steep, but also full of books. Along the wall one painting - based on a famous older Dutch artist - is complemented by a bag that Jos once received from the "Rijksmuseum". Look carefully at the next photo...

The bathtub is also used for art storage. In fact, every room is a mini museum. A tour of the house by Jos is always fascinating. Every item has a story, such as this unique collection of small hats...

It was nice to visit his house again, a place where I stayed overnight frequently during the years when I was setting up MSF Canada and visited the MSF Holland office in Amsterdam a couple of times each year (1991-1992). The offices of MSF Holland were then located a few blocks away from the house of Jos in the building below (the upper level of that office building in the heart of downtown Amsterdam).

Next to that office building is the large "Vondelpark" (kind of a smaller version of Central Park of New York City). During the years I lived in Amsterdam (1995-1988 when I worked for Fokker Aircraft), I did many runs in that park during evenings and weekends. Close to the Vondelpark are a few musea, among them the "Rijksmuseum" and the "Van Gogh Museum"...

In the background of the photo above, one can see the "Concertgebouw" (Concert Hall), a classic building in the city. Next to the concert hall is a small restaurant where I met with two other friends from University, Hester and Pieter. They came especially for me from their hometown of Wassenaar to Amsterdam to meet up with me. One of their sons - Wouter - studied an "in between year" after high school at Niagara College in one of the Business Diploma programs (before he started a study at a university in Holland). Pieter and Hester - accompanied by their daughter Pauline - dropped Wouter off in Niagara about fifteen years ago. They promised to come for another visit to Canada soon...