Monday, 31-May-2010 - Veghel - Living in the Netherlands, it's not in my morning newspaper. It's not on my kitchen calendar. It's in my heart, mind, and soul. God bless America--remembering those who have sacrificed to keep her free.
Monday, 24-May-2010 - Veghel - It was a beautiful, warm sunny day. It was Day 6 of our house painting project, and start of my second week of vacation from work. We had a watermelon break when Rosan was peeling potatoes. After supper, Marij and I watched an André Rieu concert on TV.
Tuesday, 18-May-2010 - Boekel - After a good spaghetti meal, I rode my bike to Jan's place. I watched his cats while I waited for him to get ready. We once again had a good turnout. Annie came over to say hello. It was three weeks since I'd been in Boekel--and I felt it. Gerard turned up the pace. I had to drop back out of the second group a couple of times. It was a great evening for skating. 23 skaters--good for 20 km.
Sunday, 16-May-2010 - Oss - The weather forecast was good. When I got to the carpool meeting point, the sun was doing its best to break through the cloud cover. Today Fun-on-Wheels had 22 skaters and Toon, our faithful last man on the moped. The route took us over and along the beautiful Maas River (photo), as well as right next to scottish highland cattle in the Maashorst Nature Park. We had a great day of skating--good for 40 km. When I got home, I cut the grass, and helped with dinner--peeling potatoes and white asperages. Yummy!
Saturday, 15-May-2010 - Veghel - It started out sunny today. it had been two weeks since I last skated. I wanted to thoroughly clean my skate bearings, but they had pressed on shields I couldn't get off. I settled for removing them from the wheels and brushing off the dirt. There were eight skaters today--four men and four women. We took time to practice some downhill braking (photo) for the upcoming skate weekend in Paris. We had fun--I guess we put in about 15km.
Wednesday, 12-May-2010 - Veghel - Marij and I went to notarize bank papers today. Just like the historical building (Airborne Headquarters), the seal was a work of art.
Wednesday, 5-May-2010 - Veghel - Flying the flag at full mast, the Netherlands celebrates the liberation of of the Netherlands from Nazi German occupation during World War II.
Tuesday, 4-May-2010 - Veghel - Today, people of the Netherlands remember those who gave their life since the onset of World War II during combat and peace-keeping missions. At 2000, there's two minutes of silence all over the country. I watched the ceremony in Amsterdam on TV. A disturbance caused a panic situation, injuring 63 people. The Queen was quickly ushered to safety; showing great courage and leadership, she came back within minutes to resume the ceremony. Chris came over later with his dog Fester.
Sunday, 2-May-2010 - Veghel - Fun-on-Wheels got rained out today.
Saturday, 1-May-2010 - Veghel - The day started out nice, but the sky became threatening in the afternoon. It didn't look hopeful for skating, looking at the weather radar; then the sun came out, so I quickly got ready. On the way to the Sligro meeting point, I rode by the site of the old vocational school (Chris learned bricklaying there). Fun-on-Wheel sponsor Van Mensvoort was handling the demolition. Seven people showed up to see if it would stay dry enough to go skating. We decided to give it a go, but we broke it off after about 20 min when it started to rain.
