a brew fit for a bishop

Now this is what I call inspiring - naming a beer after the Dutch/Belgian version of Santa Claus! Just heard of this from my friend/former student Rob, who takes his brewing seriously enough to deliberate for weeks on end as to what to call the concoction (see bottle date). Will he follow up next season with a bottle called "Zwarte Piet"?

For a funny take on Sinterklaas, tune into the audio file by David Sedaris, which my friend Laura found and turned me onto thankfully! Scroll down to 12/02 or search Sedaris. Once you click, an audio box should pop up with an arrow for play. Sit back and enjoy!http://www.scottmccloud.com/comics/mi/mi-blog-2004.html

boxes

What I love/hate about this time of year are boxes. If you're like us and live a ridiculously long way away from home, then you manage most of your gift giving/receiving with the help of the brown box and your friendly (or unfriendly) postal service. If you're lucky, the boxes arrive while you're home and you don't have to pay any steep tarifs, but I'm seldom so fortunate. Today I was lucky though and got two packages in the mail - it was great! Somehow I'm supposed to wait til xmas to open them, but that hardly seems fair given I've waited already 356 days for xmas to arrive!

Drew these boxes as part of an assignment on perspective last week in my drawing class. Idea is to create depth on a 2-dimensional surface, which sounds easier than it is. First, I drew the boxes sitting on a table on a piece of white sketch paper but wasn't thrilled with the table. So decided to cut out the boxes and set them on a black background that I colored with waxy pastels. It looks a bit collagy, but at least the table is flat and looks more interesting.

To take my mind off of opening the boxes that arrive between now and xmas, maybe I'll just practice drawing them! I could use that idea for the kids too, since they're far worse than I am when it comes to opening anything that comes through the door. And maybe instead of "color Santa contests" we could have "draw the box contests"! Now there's a thought that will get me nowhere.

De Sint is jarig!

Sinterklaas (Saint Nicholas) had a birthday today! He and his zwarte Pieten (yes, black Piets) live in Spain and spend the whole year preparing for this big party. They travel by steamboat with a cargo filled with snoepjes and cadeautjes (candy + presents) and arrive late November in Holland and Belgium. Kids fill their wooden shoes (in Holland, at least) with briefjes (letters) or tekenings (drawings) and leave koekjes en melk for Sinterklaas and his Pieten, along with wortels (carrots) and suiker klontjes for Sinterklaas's horse. No, he doesn't have reindeer, elves or ride in a sleigh.


The kids have seen Sinterklaas twice already! This morning he made an appearance at their school and gave them all snoepjes. And they also saw him 2 weeks ago at a Dutch party, where he gave each child a present and told them whether they'd been naughty or nice. This Sint was dressed a bit alternatively. I've never seen one wearing purple gloves!

The second the kids got home from school today they were busy writing briefs and making tekenings. Phoebe brought home a shoe she'd decorated as zwarte Piet at school. Oh, and they made sure the flue was open so the Piets could get down the chimney (Sint leaves the dirty work up to them).

Now I better get to bed since I know they'll be up at the break of dawn wanting to read the letter(s) left by the Sint and find any goodies he left behind. Stijn, I could really use you right now for the early morning shift! It's payback time!

boot nazis strike again

Mom we want to tell you that we don't like those bruin shoes. Love, Alex, Phoeb Thijs

This was the first note (w a few Dutch or hybrid words thrown in) I received from the boot nazis a few weeks ago. They were sending a clear message that they didn't approve of the new Ecco boots I'd purchased at a shoe store in town. I didn't expect it to go any further than this, but pretty soon they were hiding the bruin boots they didn't like and putting in their place a pair of black boots w heels that they DID like. They hid the bruin boots so well I couldn't find them! But then came a second note ...

Goed moring mom!
We want to tell you that kan you please put pretty clothes on for the 3.00 theahtre (a play in Alex's classroom). Love, Alex, Phoebe, Thijs
(look on back)
If you want to put on boost (black boots, that is) I woud like that please? ansser heer ____________________________________________

Okay, now it's not just my boots they're censoring, but also my choice of clothes. I can't take this. If it isn't enough putting up w stares from the towns people (yes, I know I dress casual and why not? I'm not working full-time!), now I have to put up with criticism from my own kids. I think I'm losing it! But then the threats came ...

Hi Mom Good Moring!

If you don't wear boost some times to school and back I and Phoebe will take the boost some times and play with them! But they miht not go back!

love, Alex and Phoebe

P.S. ansser here _________________________________________________ Sorry mom, we want you to look pretty!

Enough is enough, I thought. This has gone too far. Before you know it they'll be confiscating my possessions (like they've done w my makeup) and I really won't have anything to wear. So let's turn it into something positive. "Okay kids", I said, "what about this". "If you rewrite all your notes and use correct spelling and grammar, then I'll wear the black boots to school and back sometimes and dress pretty", I said. Do we have a deal?

I'm still waiting for an ansser.

happy birthday mom!

Hey Mom! John, Carter, Beau and I want to wish you a happy birthday (Dec. 2nd). Happy 70th birthday, that is! And we just want to thank you for everything you've done for the family because thanks to you (and dad gets a little credit too) we didn't turn out that bad after all. But really, we can't wait for the next opportunity to come home and spend some time with you and dad. Miss you already. Hope you had a fantastic day!



This has been an amazing year, with grandma Phoebe turning 100, grandma Mimi turning 90, and now mom and opa Harry turning 70! And this photo was taken at Grayton Beach, Florida, where we celebrated mom and dad's 50th wedding anniversary. It'll definitely go down in history as the year with the most family reunions. I don't know if Italy can top our week at Grayton, but we can sure give it a try!


"Happy 70th Birthday Nana!" - Lang zal ze leven, lang zal ze leven, lang zal ze leven in de gloria. In de gloria. Iin de gloria. Hiepbedepiep hoora, hiepbedepiep hoora, hiepbedepiep hoora! We miss you! Love you! Alex, Phoebe en Thijs

Cheers Robin! Sorry Jayne's not in this photo - she's probably getting a refill margarita so we can make a toast to your health, although you don't really need it cuz you can outwalk us ALL anyday - HA, HA, HA! But hey, we're catching up with you on the tennis court! Cheers Big Ears! Same goes Big Nose!