Despite having an annoying ear infection for most of my time in Holland, I did enjoy my holidays and the lovely winter weather. A few days of frost and the Dutch massively come out with their skates. This is a picture of the ice rink in my hometown IJsselstein. It doesn’t get any more Dutch than this, there is even a windmill in the picture!
We had to baby sit my brother’s dog and look at his dog treats! We fed him a lot of love, actually! He is a lovely dog, with very sharp puppy teeth chewing on your toes when you got out of bed in the morning.
He was easy to please just let him lay on your lap and he was fine. He is really tiny so it’s not a burden to have him lounging on your legs.
With his huge ears he reminds me of Yoda. And this photo also really shows how I feel on my first day back in the office. “Bored to death I am …”.
I also spend some nice days in (a very remote part of) Ireland where they, on New Years Eve did not fire a single piece of firework. Quite remarkable. Now I am trying to get back to the pace of life in London, which is a bit of a culture shock but I am sure I am used to it again in no time.
And as a last – Happy New Year to all of you out there! I hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Year.
May 2009 be a great year filled with exiting things and lots of love, actually!
(NOTE: A part of my non-xmas-cards is slightly delayed (in fact I will post them latest tomorrow), but I can guarantee you that they will come to you soon! I have already received the first bunch of cards in return and they are lovely and definitely made me smile, so thank you very much!)
Happy New Year to you, my dear! Good to have you back.
Very Dutch indeed. I haven’t skated for years but there is nothing like skating on a real frozen pond for sheer exhilaration (and fear!)
Happy New Year to you.
I miss outdoor skating on natural (dutch)ice.
Whenever I see articles/filmclips like this I get jealous:
http://www.dvhn.nl/nieuws/video/article4212215.ece/Schaatsen_met_een_rollator
The lady is 71, the son of her neighbour adapted the gizmo (walker)to be used on ice. Fancy
Did you do any skating yourself?
Ohhh, he is soooo lovely, so cute ;o-))
Happy new year to you, too :) That little fella is one of the cutest dogs I have ever seen! My cousins just got a schnauzer puppy and I am so jealous but he is a little bitey.
Happy New Year. I got your card last week, so my wishes are on their way to the UK. I hope it fits in your mailbox.
Yes, it’s quite a winter here in Holland. You won’t see me on skates but I’ve already made pea soup with lots of ‘rookworst’ in it.
@Joachim – no did not do any skating this time unfortunately!
@Anna – this one is very bitey too! And those puppy teeth are so sharp :)
@Pedro pea soup – that is so very Dutch too, forgot all about that! I ate boerenkool with “rookworst” when I was in Holland, my favourite dish :)