serious bulbs

How many people take the time to look inside a tulip? Maybe that's what the creator of this bulb was thinking, so they splayed out the petals so you'd have no choice! And the result is a set of spectacular organs! 

Keukenhof

Last weekend we visited the Keukenhof, a spectacular display of spring flowers near Amsterdam. Even though it's touristy and requires enduring traffic and lines to get in, I think it was definitely worth the effort. It's unlikely you'll ever see a greater quantity (7 million) or diversity of bulbs. The aroma of the hyacinth was intoxicating, and we could NOT stop smelling the flowers.

The kids still talk about it. Phoebe said she likes flowers more than princesses now -- mission accomplished! Thijs was in his own little world and never stopped running, much to the chagrin of the serious tulip-goer. They liked the windmill and the playground, and the Tom & Jerry's ice cream was a hit.

An hour later by car and we were sitting in the backyard of Stijn's sister Liselotte and family. Isolde had just turned 4 years old, and we stopped by to wish her a happy birthday. The kids had a great time with Isolde and Linde and of course did NOT want to leave. But with 3 more birthdays fast approaching, there's a good chance we'll be seeing them again soon. Come to think of it, are we living TOO close?!

get well Max!

Here's a photo of Max and the kids on our trampoline on Easter day, just before the bicycle accident. It turns out his left arm did require surgery, but it went well. Hang in there Max - we're wishing you a speedy recovery!

P.S. For my birding friends --- the berry bushes in the background have attracted some beautiful birds, including the Eurasian Bullfinch, Goldcrest and Blackcap. 

spring has sprung

Yesterday we heard more bad news. Our nephew Max (Willem and Sandra's son) fell off his bike on his way home from school and broke his arm. The spill was in such a way that it required surgery, which was supposed to happen today. Stijn talked to Max earlier and he was in good spirits. Let's hope this is the end of bad accidents!

On a positive note, spring has arrived in Belgium! The weather is noticeably warmer and the leaves are finally coming out. A beautiful forest flower called the wood anemone bloomed last week, and today I saw my first Egyptian geese chicks.

Shorebirds are moving through as well. I saw the Little ringed plover and the Common sandpiper, but not until I ran home to get my binoculars. It figures that the birds show up when I go for walks without my bins! Luckily my favorite waterbird pond is just 5 mins. away by bike so I was able to zip back before they flew away. But they weren't the only good finds: Two White wagtails, a Grey wagtail and 2 Lapwings were feeding nearby, and a blackcap was singing it's heart out in a bush just behind me. The birds were happy the sun was out too!

Great crested grebe, Little grebe, Canada goose, Mandarin duck, Mallard, Shoveler, Tufted duck, Pochard, Common shelduck, Mute swan, Coot, and Moorhen rounded out the waterbird list. It was the kind of day where you never wanted to go inside.

a moment to reflect

Yesterday we heard some very sad news about the family of Darryl Jones, a colleague of Stijn's who lives near Cleveland, Ohio. The family was involved in an accident just outside of Youngstown, Ohio (where we used to live) in which his daughter Alexandra and mother-in-law were killed. The particularly painful part of this story is that her 15.5 year old sister was behind the wheel of the minivan. The mother-in-law was visiting from Utah during the spring break.

May you take a moment to reflect on this tragedy and keep the family in your thoughts and prayers.

Our hearts go out to the Jones family.

Vrolijk Paas!

This year we celebrated Easter with Stijn's brother, Jan Willem, and his family (Sandra, Max and Marlies). They live in Rotterdam, a short 1.5 h drive, and came over for the day. It took all of 2 seconds for the kids to reacquaint themselves, and then they were off racing around the house.

Donned in mudboots and costumes (Marlies as Jasmine, Thijs as Simba, Phoebe as a ballerina, Alex as a streetdancer, and Max as Max!) the kids found the plastic easter eggs filled w/ chocolate in the garden and were buzzing around like bees and bouncing on the trampoline for the next hour. This presented a rare moment for the parents to catch up and enjoy a Leffe or Duvel on the patio. Our typical Belgian weather day was topped off with typical Belgian food . . . frites, krokette, sla - smakelijk! It wasn't your standard Easter fare, but it did the trick and sure tasted good. Hartstikke Leuk as the Dutch would say!

hawks - 0, thong - 1

As part of our stateside visit last week, we hooked up with longtime friends from Ohio at Hawk Mountain Sanctuary near Allentown, PA, an area that's well-known for the spectacular migration of raptors each Fall. Pictured from the right are Arrye, Ethan, Jonathan, Nathaniel, Phoebe, Laura (what's w the face?), Paul, Jackie, Courtenay, Stijn, Thijs, Rochelle, and Alex (John took photo, Trish and Scott not pictured, Tom not present). Notice the crystal clear airways behind us, with no raptors in sight.

Well, we didn't see a single hawk, or other raptor for that matter. However, a few turkey vultures did manage to grace the airways, but the thrill wasn't enough to make the kids go "WOW". There's no doubt that splashing in the pool, jumping on the beds, and eating pizza left more of an impression on them than most any raptor could have. They were easy to please.

As for the adults, apparently I was a source of entertainment as my friends kept pointing out again and again. No, it wasn't my command of the Dutch language or the fabulous Belgian chocolate, although the boxes were opened before I could say "enjoy!". It was my clothes. I was wearing a pair of low waist Levi's I bought in Europe, along with a thong (about all you can wear with jeans that low), and as thongs go, it just would not stay tucked in. When you're the one wearing the thing you don't notice it. But my friends would not let me get through the evening without pointing it out, as if I didn't know. All I have to say is, if it works girls, then try it! Maybe instead of bringing Belgian chocolate next time, I'll bring extralight undies! We'll start our own club and call it onderbroek EL (onderbroek is Dutch for undies, EL=extralight) just so nobody will know what we're talking about. What's the stigma about thongs, anyway?

So what was the end result of our little reunion? It didn't matter that the final bird count was way <10 species or that we were in a remote area that stunk from the farmland manure. In a split second with my friends I was brought back down to earth, and that's exactly what I needed.

God bless oversize check-in

GBA on pizza boxes! Talking overdose - how about the view from our hotel in Fredericksburg, VA- no less than 14 flags (14!) with SEVEN (yes, 7!) on the fast food chain nicknamed by the Swiss "BIG American Tits" (aka McDonalds). Proud to be American, but this is just a little too much. (Can you tell this is Stijn talking?)

We just returned from a visit to the states, which included a weekend adventure with long-time friends at Hawk Mountain Sanctuary (see Laura's complete writeup http://transition2NY.blogspot.com) and a family reunion in Fredericksburg, VA, centered around the celebration of the 100th birthday of Grandma Phoebe. It was fantastic to see family and friends. I didn't realize how much I missed them and needed to see them again. For the past 8 months I've been trying to settle into a new culture and haven't had time to digest all the changes. But when I saw friends and family, a flood of feelings came rushing back. It's all about the history of experiences, the things we share in common, the familiarity, the language, the history! I cannot deny how difficult it is to be apart from them. It's something I'll have to learn to deal with or else I'll be spending all my time on the blog, which I'm afraid is already the case.

The other realization I had was that I don't miss a life dependent upon automobiles. The dependence on cars creates an incredibly stressful lifestyle. It's not just the traffic jams that are stressful, but also just knowing that you have to get in the car to get anywhere. For instance, from our hotel in Fredericksburg, you couldn't safely walk to the Appleby's across the street. There were no zebra stripes and there were too many lanes of traffic. American cities weren't designed with pedestrians in mind, and it's just getting worse. As we drove through the VA countryside (what's left of it), there was a sign for 17 new developments (yes, 17!) and at every intersection there was a new strip with Target, Lowe's and Kohl's. It makes one wonder where America is headed, and WHAT the leadership is doing about it! Maybe a little more GBA is needed now than ever.

But getting to the point of my story . . . we arrived at Dulles Airport in Washington, DC with 2 h to spare and a mile-long line for international check-in. It was taking folks 1+ h to check bags and 45 mins to clear security, and I was beginning to worry we wouldn't make our flight. While Stijn walked all the way to the back of the line, I remained with the kids at a half-way point and happened to notice another mother with kids doing the same thing. A few minutes later, a curbside check-in clerk brought her luggage tags and passports and checked in her luggage. I quickly approached the curbside clerk to ask how this was possible (after hearing from the clerks outside that it was NOT possible) and he replied, "I'm very busy at the moment, but if it's worth my energy then I can help you". After assuring him that it would be worth his while, he lifted our bags and said that one was oversized and he couldn't help us. However, he directed us to the oversized luggage check-in and told us that if we could pay for the extra weight there, he'd be able to help us afterwards. Turns out the oversized luggage clerk was able to check all our bags, and we then zipped through security and made it to the gate just in the nick of time. In case you never heard of oversize check-in, now you know. Maybe it will save your flight in the future like it saved ours! God bless oversize check-in!

phoebe III turns a hand full!

A week after Grandma Phoebe's birthday (phoebe I), the youngest phoebe in the family celebrated a birthday as well (phoebe III). Today she turned 5 years old. Get it, a hand full of fingers? Thanks to a joke from Oma Els!

Here are two of the phoebes in the family, donned in pink and wearing their birthday headdresses (phoebe II not pictured). The Belgians have a tradition of making birthday crowns (generally for the younger generations) and we couldn't resist. Our Phoebe wore her crown the whole way back to Belgium, and was so happy it had a flower on it. She's infatuated with flowers and can't understand why the neighbors won't let her pick flowers from their garden, which is so manicured you can tell if a mole pokes its nose out of the ground. Now she's on a mission to plant flowers in our garden just so she can pick them. It might help if we had a little warmth and sunshine -- and less rain!

Grandma Phoebe is a centenarian

A small group of family members gathered at Uncle Mac and Aunt Barbara's house to celebrate grandma becoming a centenarian last Tuesday. Her birthday cake was decorated with a 25 y old photo of her (see previous blog), and it was perfectly beautiful. The great grandkids were thrilled to help Grandma blow out her candles and eat a piece of this incredibly unique cake.

As for me, I felt very fortunate to be able to spend time with grandma again and to be a part of this extraordinary event, along with my family. Grandma had a glow about her the entire evening, just like she does in this photo, and I'll always remember her that way.