Back again after 6 months

It’s now about 6 months that I have not written a thing.
Have done quit a bit in this time.
Went on holiday on Good Friday. We (DD and I) went to the Netherlands.
Arrived on the Saturday and went to Lelystad, stayed there for a couple of days.

Any way we visited a lot of places. Also the places where I was born and have lived.


The street in Amsterdam where I lived till I was 8 years.

Our ancestors were living here in Appingedam where you will find the hanging kitchens

Did couchsurfing, saw the flower procession,


Flower Procession

Visited the flower auctions in Aalsmeer.



This system is so complete different to what is here. They start with the highest price and you press a button when it comes to the price which you want to pay.


The auction board.

They know who is pressing the button and when the car with the flowers comes out of the room straight away there is a strip stuck to it for who the flowers are.


The cars coming out.

On the floor where the flowers are there is a complete chaos. The cars are coming and going everywhere and crisscross over the floor. You would expect a smash but there isn’t.



At the end there are trucks waiting and then they go to the customers in the country itself or outside. They also go by plane overseas.
Have done a lot genealogy research and found a lost member of the family.
This man was born in the 1760’s, lived in Sexbierum, NL and was suddenly gone. Know he was still living when in the Netherlands they had to take on a surname in the early 1800’s, but could not find him. Well to make the story short, I found a trace of him in the Central Bureau of Genealogy in The Hague. Did also find the marriage of my DH’s grandfather' sister. She married a Major and she had 2 children with him in Indonesia and they went then back to NL and he became a councillor in Alkmaar, NL.
Found 4 sons of the grandfather of which my father in law was one.
Was very happy with my findings.

Spend some time in Italy, where we mad a tour around the Amalfi coast. It was a walking tour. Went up and down the mountains had my muscles screaming the first couple of days. After that it became easier.



We went one day to the isle of Capri and made photo's of the coast.
On the last the day of the tour I managed to fall twice. The first was not so bad only a scrape. The second time I fell was more serious, had a big lump and the skin was broken and squashed. Francesco disinfected it and put a cold pack on it,
was still able to walk. We stayed an extra day at the hotel. On the Monday we went back to Naples via Salerno by bus and flied out in the afternoon.
DD had soon to go back home again.

I did see some more people and went to Scotland for a bus trip through the Highlands.

Looks very much like the Sidney Opera House but is in Glasgow, Scotland.

Learned a lot of the Highlands’ history. We went to Culloden and walked around.

Found this hilarious "locally caught" Haggis.

Afterwards the tour guide told us about the author Diane Gabaldon. She is writing a whole series, which start 3 years before the battle with “Cross Stitch”.
You can’t stop reading. Have 6 books, nr 7 will come out very soon.

Was early June back in the country. Needed a rest from my holiday.
There were a couple of messages for me on the telephone and took care of that.
Got some electricity panels on the roof and I am now generating my own electricity. On east side of the house the soil was getting away from the foundations. Made some repair there. First the fence went out, then concrete against the house and a retainer wall so that the soil is now staying.


Working on the retainer wall.

The fence went in again and I put some ready made grass in. This was over a 6 weeks period. Most of it I did. The concreting and putting up the fence was done by someone else.
Rang the council about a tree on the footpath, they had a look and tree is going. It is rotting away and is dangerous. Got an air conditioner put in and will have by the end of this week also insulation.
The insulation is paid for by the government and you are a fool if you are not getting it. Have started painting the house. The lounge is already finished because the air conditioner had to be fitted. Had already earlier this year put in for a subsidy for a solarhotwater system and electricitypanels. The hotwatersystem was in place before I went on holyday and the panels went in after I came.


Both systems on my roof.

There is not much quilting at the present, do quite a bit of knitting. Have been knitting with the blanket of the Wolhemel. Their blocks are finished but I got patterns from internet and are knitting more blocks.

Relocated

Glad the move is over. Live now for about a month in my new home. The first two weeks I went back and forwards. After moving out of the old place there was still a lot left which had to go. Had another moving sale, what was left and still good I packed into boxes and that went to Lifeline.



Got a container and the rest went into this.




There was guttering long 7 metre, which I cut with the electric saw into smaller pieces.




Chairs underwent the same treatment. If it was not cut then it got smashed. It fitted all in a 4cubic metre container.



Have now started on a lot of repairs to the new place. First thing the locks were changed and the sliding doors checked.
Have bought some paint which matches with the colour on the inside doors. There is quite a bit to patch up.
Today the plumber changed the downpipes, which came nearly down. It is raining now, good that it is down. The roof has to be checked and get then a solar hotwater system and panels for electricity. There are so many subsidies for these. It is now affordable.