Krees goes Dutch Kiwi!

Daily Aldus: Professional training starts at home

Daily Aldus: "Chick Magnet"

I like to believe that, like his love for vegetables, he gets his sense of "style" from his father.

Daily Aldus: Vegging out

What can I say? This kid loves green beans.

Daily Aldus: Let the sun shine!

The weather was pretty poor for most of August - at least my memory of it was. We came back from Michigan to a month of cool, rainy weather more suitable to a dreary October than August. But on this particular Sunday there was a break in the gloom, and we cycled over to the park information center in Lhee for some snacks in the sunshine.

The Long Arm of John McCain

For two weeks after the Republican convention I was obsessed with the the presidential election. My mind was ablaze with skepticism, incredulity, frustration. I tried to remain level-headed, analytical, open-minded, looking at where the candidates stand on various issues, but still came up frustrated and saddened at the prospect of a McCain-Palin White House.

I tried numerous times to organize my thoughts into some cohesive arguments that would persuade other undecided, or at least open-minded, voters to check a box for Barack Obama in November, but the right words just wouldn't fall into the right order for me.

So then I decided to put my money where my words failed me and, for the first time in my life, make a financial contribution to an election campaign. I went online to www.barackobama.com, hoping that it could be used by people with better powers of persuasion than mine.

And then my bank called to verify some activity on my credit card. It seems my donation to an American political campaign was flagged as suspicious and they immediately blocked my card. It didn't take long to make a phone call and correct the situation, thank goodness. I know it's completely absurd to consider (especially since most every non-American I've talked to also wants Obama to win), but I'm still curious what might have happened if my donation had been for McCain's campaign instead of Obama's. Charles thinks I should have also told them I wanted to clear a donation to the VVD while I was at it!

Daily Aldus: Haircut!

Aldus has gotten a couple haircuts now at the same place Charles goes to, and he's been pretty good about it. I realize that most  parents are favorably biased about their children's behavior. I was just happy that he didn't bite and spit at the haircut lady like the 2 year-old whose hair she cut the previous day!

Daily Aldus: Sitting in Things (series finale)

Part III:

"Fun to be me"? Even more fun to be me in a plastic tub.

Daily Aldus: Sitting in Things (continued)

Part II:

Rubbermaid tubs are great for organizing everything.

Daily Aldus: Sitting in Things (a study in three parts)

Part I:

I was pretty excited a few weeks ago when a boxful of new clothes from Rainbowbabies arrived. Aldus was more excited about the box.

Daily Aldus: Gnome Sweet Gnome

The biennial JIVE garden party was held a few weeks ago in our boss's backyard. Aldus found an unexpected guest who was just his size.

And in the interests of international diplomacy and improving the image of Americans abroad, he promptly sucked on his nose.

Vacationing the Dutch way

The Dutch are known for going on holiday towing a caravan (purportedly already stocked with potatoes) all over Europe.

This is what Aldus's babysitter and her boyfriend towed around the Netherlands for their holiday. The tractor is his own.

And apparently they're not the only ones! We biked to Diever yesterday evening for ice cream and stopped to chat with our former next-door neighbors Rudy & Agaath. They, too, have a "gypsy caravan" in their driveway and are restoring it to take on holiday with a tractor next year!

Daily Aldus: No really, he enjoys cycling

Aldus fell asleep on the ride back from the teahouse last weekend. Not even mooing at all the cows on the ride home (and there were a lot!) could keep him from his midday nap.

Daily Aldus: Now with more Ali!

Only a week after Merrill visited, Ali came to see us, too! We took him out to see the telescope and the site of Camp Westerbork.  And he took Aldus.

Coffee I can believe in

One of the problems I have with Dutch coffee is that, not only is it usually made (nowadays) in crappy Douwe Egberts or Nescafe machines with crappy little coffee pads, but that it's only sold by the tiny little cup. I miss the days of sitting down for breakfast at Cafe Zola with a whole French press pot of Kenya AA or Celebes to split with Charles or with a larger group of friends. You just don't get coffee by the pot here.

Except at the teahouse in Anserdennen in the Dwingelderveld.

We take a nice 45 minute bike ride about 9 kilometers from our house (an hour if Maui is running alongside) to this great little spot in the woods for coffee by the pot, homemade apple pie (with whipped cream - natuurlijk!) and/or a little picnic basket of cookies and breakfast cake.

It seems to be awfully quiet now that tourist season is open, but they have a few new pieces of playground equipment for Aldus to climb on, and they'll be open weekdays through the winter.

Ladies in Amsterdam

It's been a few weeks since I went through photos, so I'm playing a little catch-up. These are the earliest of the set I'm preparing, from when Merrill came to visit us for a few days in Amsterdam and then in Drenthe. If we look a little delirious, it's because these were taken after a fantastic little breakfast of coffee and various baked goods at the Bakkerswinkel. Mmm...lekker! (The breakfast, not us ladies.)