skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Last Sunday was one of those rare days you wanna bottle up and put on the shelf. It was a warm and sunny day in the medieval town of Brugge, and I had my parents all to myself! When does that happen? I can't think of the last time I was alone w my mom and dad doing something cool. Would it be Mexico? Ireland? the Sierra Nevadas? That was over 20 years ago --- this was definitely overdue.
We explored back alley ways, toured the canals by boat, ate baguettes and Belgian waffles, talked about climbing the 300+ steps of the church tower but decided to drink beer instead. In fact, if you look closely, you can see the cafe on the lefthand-side between the buildings where there's an outdoor patio (above dad's shoulder). Tasty beers on tap and a view of the canal made it a good choice. Plus, it was nice to escape from the crowds and tour groups and catch our breath. Remember this place, my friends - it's a gem.
This morning at exactly 5:15 am they were off again for 24 days in France. They walked to the tram station (13 min. by foot) w their ultralight packs, torchs and walking sticks, prepared to do the bulk of the trip by foot and w public transport. They'd rent a car for 2-3 days, but that's it. This is what you call slow travel, and it's popular (and possible) in Europe. Will be fun to hear about their adventures when they return - they really are an inspiration! 
Today was not a typical day in Belgium. Thijs turned 4 and the SUN SHINED! It was actually so hot we played w water balloons in the back yard instead of going to the park.
Four little friends (Jean, Milena, Fynn, Kaylin) joined us for spiderman cupcakes and popcorn and WALAH! - we had an impromptu party.
It'll probably be the last year I can avoid throwing a real birthday party for Thijs. It was lovely -- stress-free, low budget, less mess, you name it.
But as soon as he gets invited to his first birthday party it'll all be over. He'll be asking me for the real thing, and I'll be cringing at the thought of having rough little boys tearing the house apart. Maybe a scavenger hunt in the woods would be my ticket for sanity. They'd enjoy it more anyway!
At any rate, happy birthday THIJS. How you've grown this past year!
Sometimes you don't realize how deeply someone touches your life until they're gone. That's how I felt yesterday when I heard about Steve Irwin's untimely and freakish death. I'd never seen more than a handful of his shows, but there I sat at the computer, with a huge lump in my throat and tears streaming down my cheeks. Like everyone else, I was in total shock.
It wouldn't hurt as much if he wasn't such a passionate conservationist. He put his money where his mouth was and bought wilderness around the world to protect the animals he loved from developers. He truly was a wildlife warrior, and he used his celebrity to convince others to join in his crusade to buy wildlife habitat before it was destroyed.
There will never be a crocodile hunter quite like Steve, but hopefully someone will come along soon to fill the void. The world needs educators & entertainers like him. I don't think we can survive for long without such a passionate advocate for wildlife conservation on the air.
The first carfree days were in 1973/74 during the oil crisis. Now, as many as 1000 cities around the world host carfree days in an effort to promote more CO2-friendly ways of transport. We biked to downtown Brussels (Montgomery Square, where this photo was taken) on Sept. 17th and it was nice not to compete with auto traffic for a change (http://ec.europa.eu/environment/news/efe/14/article_262_en.htm). You do still have to take caution as cyclists did not always heed traffic rules or use common sense. Unfortunately we witnessed a very bad bicycle accident, and the poor girl involved had to be whizzed off in an ambulance. I was hawking over my kids after seeing that! Overall it was a great experience and it made me realize I'd like cities a lot more if it weren't for the cars.
