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!

Thijs Augustinus Henricus Verschuuren turns 4

 

the passing of a modern muir

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.

school starts tomorrow

The kids had a looooong break from school and tomorrow that's about to come to an end. Notice I didn't say summer because that doesn't exist in Belgium, at least not in Brussels. Temps. barely reached 20 celsius (70 F.) in August, and it rained at least three times/day, esp. when you needed so desperately to get out of the house!

Now I understand why everyone jumps ship in July/Aug. The weather is deplorable, the slugs grow to monsterlike proportions and consume anything they can slime onto, and nobody is here. There were times when it was a struggle to find friends for the kids to play with. Everyone was on vacation for 3-4 weeks!

We've definitely learned our lesson. Next year we'll navigate these months with much better planning and use of Stijn's hard-earned frequent flyer miles! I don't regret the summer we had (lemonade stands in the rain, cycling in the mud, creating fairy camps in our garden to make up for the friends that were all "weg", swimming on the trampoline). It's just that I don't want to repeat it, necessarily!

zeeland

I watched shorebirds in Zeeland, NL, with a Flemish bird group last weekend (Oost-Brabant Vogel Werk Groep, Natuurpunt). Imagine 12 spotting scopes set up all in a row and names of birds being called out right and left (in Dutch of course). It was incredible!

Long waves of 100's of shorebirds constantly landed in the diked wetlands and you could barely identify them fast enough before the next wave of species arrived (8 m below sea level on coast).

I've never seen so many oystercatchers, golden plovers or sandpipers before in my life - it was unbelievable. The Kluut, or Pied Avocet, was one of my favorites because of the striking plummage and stunning bill. Was fun to watch it forage.

I saw 29 "new" species but was too busy trying to keep track of them that I didn't keep a trip list. Am sure it was double that. By the end of the day, I was completely spent but satisfied. Below are my "new" birds, although some I've seen in the Americas, like the Fulvous Whistling Duck, Northern Pintail, Ruddy Turnstone, Sanderling, Whimbrel and Common Snipe. For info on this bird club: see http://www.natuurpunt.be/vogelwerkgroep-oost-brabant. One birder has a life list w 3000 species - now that's supreme!

Little Egret
Eurasian Spoonbill
Fulvous Whistling Duck
Northern Pintail
Eurasian Wigeon
Western Marsh Harrier
Hobby
Grey Partridge
Pied Avocet
Common Ringed Plover
Grey Plover
Eurasian Golden Plover
Red Knot
Sanderling
Ruddy Turnstone
Dunlin
Temminck's stint
Little stint
Wood sandpiper
Green sandpiper
Spotted redshank
Common greenshank
Bar-tailed Godwit
Eurasian Curlew
Whimbrel
Common snipe
Ruff
Lesser Black-backed Gull
Yellow Wagtail

Colibri in Durbuy?

This was the subject of a French email I received yesterday after joining a French bird discussion group. I'm learning more than I thought I would, and this is my first interesting discovery. If you know Colibri, you know it made my heart stop! It's the French name for HUMMINGBIRD!, and someone thought they saw one in Belgium (where they don't occur).

Well, the bad news is that it turns out it wasn't a hummingbird. The good news is that it was a hummingbird moth (or maybe a sphinx moth). I didn't actually see a photo so it's hard for me to decipher the species of moth due to my limited French.

At any rate, it's thrilling to discover that these beautiful winged creatures grace this bourgeois landscape. That a birder thought it was a MOTH is kinda funny, but at least I learned that there's a chance I'll see one here in the future.

Bonnes obs!

a good judge of character

Was driving Phoebe to her pony class the other day and having a talk in the car. Our best talks usually happen in the car when it's just me and her. Otherwise, she's always competing for attention. She mentioned she liked the Johnny Depp version of "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory", which we'd watched the night before.

So, I asked her, "did you like Sjakie?" (the Dutch name for Charlie, since we watched the video in Dutch, which made it seem even wierder to me than it probably was). "Who was that?" she asked. "That was Charlie", I replied. "Oh", she said, "he's the one who didn't have any problems". I couldn't have said it better. Charlie may have been short on money + food, but he was long on love + respect.

We hadn't even talked about the movie up until this point, but she was able to come to this conclusion all by herself. I know kids have a sharp intuition, but sometimes we need moments like this to help us appreciate just how together are kids really are.

I loved watching this movie as a kid, but it's even better to watch it now with my own kids. It makes my heart glad to see them enjoying the silliness of it all but also learning an important lesson - like don't forget to brush + floss!

mom, it's not about THE BIRDS!

... Alex yelled as she tried to recover from a foiled attempt to pee on the side of a road. She's tried several techniques in the past, but each time she ends up getting more wet than the ground she's urinating on. (Maybe girlscouts would be a good idea after all!) At any rate, this attempt was no exception, and by the tone of her voice, I could tell she was about to crash bigtime.

I had an equally or more important task. Just as we pulled off the side of the road in Wallonia, a pair of gulls flew overhead with black backs and wings - one juvenile and one adult. Of course, I was trying to figure out if they were greater or lesser black-backed gulls (grote of kleine mantelmeeuw), and with just a few microseconds I would've had it. But no ...

"MOM, it's not about THE BIRDS - it's about ME!", and then I knew I had to abandon my mission and help my 9 year-old go potty. I should've been happy that the kids agreed to join me on a bird-chasing expedition in the first place, but I was still disappointed. We didn't see any new birds, but we did manage to find a really HOT shorebird migration stopover site (Boneffe, BE).

But therein lies a parent's dilemma: spending time w family vs. spending time doing the things that keep you sane. It's hard to find the right balance, but it's so important to keep trying. When Alex made her proclamation, little did she know that she nailed the big issue in my life!

emperor dragonfly

One Anax imperator staked out a territory in our yard, and it's the coolest dragon I've ever seen. It's huge and brilliantly colored.

I stop everything I'm doing when he shows up cuz he's so fun to watch. Kids love him too. Wish I could say I took this photo, but he never sits still long enough and I don't have the patience!

Don't fear - I promise I won't touch him, but boy would I love to have one for my collection!

hummingbird moth

Finally saw one of these guys in Europe - in southern Bohemia to be precise - on a farm with lots of pretty flowers and rolling hills. Made me think of the ruby-throated hummers that came to my feeder in Ohio every year, as well as the hummingbird moths that visited our flowers ... and how very, very much it sucks not seeing them in Belgium.

chasing birds in French

Il arrive parfois d'observer des groupes de Martinets tomber des nuages juste avant ou juste après (suivant le sens du vent par rapport au sens de la migration) de recevoir une forte pluie. Je l'ai encore observé il y a quelques jours et c'était malheureusement (pour moi) avant !Je pense qu'ils tentent de l'éviter en volant au dessus des nuages quand c'est possible et que dès qu'ils l'ont dépassée, redescendent afin d'avoir moins de vent. Du coup,s'il est impossible de l'éviter ou d'en profiter pour se nourrir, je pense qu'ils l'affrontent (tant qu'à voler, autant aller plus loin !)@+ Nico.

This is what you get when you log on to a birding discussion group in French! Est impossible!

one year to date in Belgium

Exactly a year ago we landed on Belgian soil, not having a clue what we were doing. We faced a lot of challenges with everything being new (home, friends, school, the milk!, the food!, the birds!, language, viruses, culture).

Nobody wanted to play with the kids at school, they were constantly getting sick, and schoolwork was a challenge, esp. tests in a foreign language, which Alex failed miserably at first. Friends of mine already moved away. Parents of 3 new friends died. It was one hardship after another.

To boot, I missed my friends and family something terrible (hence, the reason for this blog!), and the 6 h time difference didn't make it any easier to stay in touch. I just wanted to live on the telephone, but it never seemed to ring. But thank you, sincerely, to everyone who called.

Now, 12 months later, I can confidently say that our ship has landed. We all call this place home, even though I'll always feel like Belgians look at me like I have horns growing out of my head, which is their problem, don't you think? Dad seems more relaxed than ever, which is directly correlated with being closer to family and farther from headquarters. Mom's learning how to relax, through her birdwatching (100 EU birds), yoga, tai chi and drawing. Alex and Phoebe have become best friends wout knowing it, and Thijs is beginning to assert himself. The bottom line: life is good.

And how did we celebrate this day? After a trip to Boudewijn seapark (http://www.boudewijnseapark.be) to celebrate Alex's 9th birthday, we drove north to the coast of Belgium (Blankenberge), where we found a little hole-in-the-wall eatery in the dunes and devoured bowls of spaghetti while watching a lightening storm. When the storm cleared, we walked on the beach and played in the surf (where photo taken).

It might sound funny, but I think both Stijn and I really needed to see the coast ... and walk on the wide-open beach, feel the stiff ocean breeze, hear the crashing waves, and (for me, at least) get that last no. 100 bird! You see, although Stijn isn't a birder, he's sympathetic to my bird-watching passion. So off I marched with my binoculars (verrekijkers), and before long I saw it flying over a marshy field as I walked over the dunes -- the Blauwe Kiekendief, or Northern Harrier.

Finally, I reached my goal of 100 new EU birds. Everyone was happy. What a way to end the year.

is alex doing what i think she's doing?

Like the typical Verschuuren conversation (read on), I didn't mean to capture this relatively common but not so flattering moment on film, but unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your perspective) that's exactly what happened.

Alex will hate me for posting this photo which may come back to haunt her, but I actually think it's a sweet, spontaneous shot of her and her cousin Marlies (both flower girls in the wedding) in Spanish dresses given to them by tante Sandra.

The two cousins were inseparable the entire evening + weekend, and it's nice to see that our move to Europe has given them some time to be silly young girls together for as long as it lasts.

the glass plate

Phoebe wasn't nervous at all about being one of the ringbearer's for Lucie's and Thomas' wedding in Carlsbad, CZ, but I became more nervous when I saw that the ring was on a very delicate glass plate. (No, they don't use pillows in Europe - nobody was familiar with that tradition, albeit more boring but also more practical.)

The chic & modern plate made for a beautiful presentation of the ring, but nevertheless, it was G-L-A-S-S, which from a mother's perspective equates with D-I-S-A-S-T-E-R. Wouldn't a silver platter do, or for that matter, something indestructible like plastic? I know it wouldn't be as elegant, but this is a barely-5 year old we're talking about, and 1 bump from an unsuspecting onlooker could send the plate (and ring) flying. My adrenaline was surging.

Luckily, Phoebe and I were able to sit in the front row, and I plopped her right on my lap, w my hands within easy reach of the plate should it manage to take a tumble. She never let loose of the plate, but she did tip it enough that the ring almost tumbled off a dozen times. When the time came for her to give Lucie the ring, I took a deep sigh of relief and could finally relax. The wedding was beautiful, spectacular really, and the food and drinks never stopped coming. The Czechs really know how to throw a party, and we're glad we didn't miss this one. Congrats. Lucie and Thomas!

Phoebe marks the spot

I have no idea how she did it, but Phoebe managed to lodge her bouquet of balloons on top of the castle tower, signalling where the wedding of Thomas & Lucie took place in Karlovy Vary, Czechie.

You see Stijn and his brother Willem having a lot of fun with this, definitely one of the funniest moments of the evening. Phoebe was the ringbearer for Lucie, and Max (in background) was the ringbearer for Thomas.

Stay tuned for more silly but wonderful stories from this unique wedding.

a typical Verschuuren conversation

Now you see what I have to put up with. In Stijn's family ... everyone talks BUT nobody listens. Even Stijn is sitting there, not paying any attention to his father, mother, brother or niece, who all appear to be talking at the same time. His sister's bent over in the background, supposedly talking to his brother Thomas, who's looking off into space.

This photo might make more sense if everyone was singing a song, or proudly saying the national anthem, but given that the Dutch frown on overt displays of patriotism, the chance of that happening is slim to nonexistent. So what was the topic of their conversation(s)? I only wish I knew.

Coincidentally, this happens to be the best family photo I was able to take of the Verschuuren family. Thus, it will serve as the OFFICIAL 2006 Verschuuren family photo.

greetings from the Grand Duchy

That's what they call Luxembourg here, perhaps because of the Grand Duke Henri who rules this small but prosperous country. We spent last weekend camping in a national park in the Ardennes region (northern part), with lots of hiking trails and beautiful rivers and lakes (and towns too, of course). After we hiked to this lookout point, we took a dip in the river. I'd forgotten how nice it is to swim in open water and probably enjoyed that part of the trip the most. And best of all, there were no noisy jet skis -

It was our first experience camping as a family in Europe -- we chose a small, private campsite w Dutch owners. I must admit it was funny to be surrounded by Dutch campers, but they were very friendly and the kids made friends in no time. There were fun activities planned for the kids (kiddie karaoke, pyjama disco, craft activities, etc.), so in no time the kids were racing around w their friends like they were in lala-land. They always liked camping, but now they LOVE it! 

What the Heck does this mean?

 

riding ponies

The kids spent 3 days riding ponies this week at "Het Gulden Spoor" (the golden spur) and learned a ton. By the end of the week they could tell you everything about the 8 ponies, including their colorful names, like Einstein, Edison, Galileo, Freud, and Noble. In this photo, Phoebe is with Newton and Alex is with Tom.

Phoebe is the horse lover in the family and has been dying to ride for a year, but we had to find a club that had ponies since horses shouldn't be ridden until kids are at least 7. You can see here that she's in heaven with Newton. She never stopped talking to her pony, even when she was riding him, and also when her teacher was trying to give her instruction!

Alex is a little more nervous around ponies (and animals in general) and learned a valuable lesson. When she's nervous the pony can sense it and won't listen to her. I'm hoping that after another week or two with the ponies, she'll be able to get over her fear and enjoy the ride. Then she should be able to move on to riding horses. Pretty soon they'll be talking 3 languages: english, dutch and horsey!

the Willis cousins

L to R:

John (7)
Paige (13)
Sophie (1)
Phoebe (5)
Kim (11)
Katie (14)
Alex (8)
Thijs (3)
Catesby (11)
Scott (11)

the happy couple

As we chugged down margaritas on the beach the memories of mom + dad's wedding on June 30, 1956 began to pour. It was a double wedding ceremony, with my mom Frances and her sister Barbara being wed to my dad John and his brother Mac.

The bridesmaids wore wide-brimmed hats and the men wore white summer suits. The wedding was the talk of the town and it all took place at Camden, a historic Virginia plantation home where my mother once grew up. They honeymooned in the Virgin Islands.

My oldest brother John made a movie that highlighted the last 50 years and we all sat down and watched it together after Jodie's phenomenal stuffed pork dinner and some nice words said by mom and dad. It was great to see the old family photos that we'd grown up watching in slideshows and also to see our own families grow and multiply.

It's also interesting to see history repeat itself. As I watched the pictures of my beautiful young mom flash on the screen, two things came to my mind. One is that Katie, the oldest niece in the family (daughter of Carter + Debby) , looks so much like mom did in her twenties. Their resemblance is striking - must be those dominant Pratt genes! And the other is that Alex definitely gets her fashion sense from mom (at least she got it from somewhere). You should've seen mom in the dresses and swimsuits she wore on their honeymoon - she was stunning! Mom's always had an art for looking good.

Now with Dad in his 70's and mom fast approaching they're still looking good! It was wonderful to be with them in one of the most beautiful places on earth to celebrate their time together. They've been an inspiration to us all.

manneke pis

Thijs has already picked up an unfavorable Belgian MALE trait, which is to feel free to drop your drawers at any time, any place in order to relieve yourself. He does it occasionally in our yard, and here you see him doing it in nana + grandaddy's yard in Florida.

There was no warning, which is atypical for Thijs. Normally he broadcasts in a loud voice, "pee-pee doen", which means "i gotta pee" in Dutch. Maybe he sensed we were too busy saying goodbye to my brother Carter and his family and just decided to take matters into his own hand, literally speaking! Luckily Debby was spot on him and captured this moment on film.

I'm just glad he got his pants down for a change, but I sure hope he kicks this habit. I think it's one of the rudest behaviors I've seen in Belgium, and I can't stand it. Once, I was watching a pair of mandarin ducks in the park, and a jogger stopped exactly within my line of view, turned around and took a leak. I felt infuriated because I couldn't continue watching my birds without him also being in the picture. He spoiled my precious moment to commune with nature! 

my sangreal

There were some 400+ photos snapped during our vacation in Florida, but in my opinion this one best captures the essence of our week on the beach. A totally casual, relaxed time with the family in what has to be one of the most beautiful places on earth. In fact, Grayton Beach was voted as the most beautiful beach in America in 1980-something.

This is also my favorite because I took a similar photo of Stijn 18 ya on a similar stretch of beach when I first took him home to meet the parents (during Thanksgiving). Back then he had more hair (it was wild!) and a better libido (ha-ha), but little else has changed since then. He still has a smile that won't quit, a dry sense of humor that works (for me, at least), holy socks and underwear (the reason for Father's day, please excuse the pun!), and an unshakable confidence and spirit that have only grown stronger with time. 

sophie's shoes

I have a special affinity for Sophie and Catesby (highlighted in next post) as they're goddaughters of ours, on my side of the family that is. Sophie is my brother Beau + Jodie's daughter, and you can already see her Aussie upbringing shining through -- notice the wide-brimmed hat and solar shirt, which no Aussie would go without for fear of developing skin cancer, which is so prevalent in that part of the world.

Sophie exhibited so many cute mannerisms during our week on the beach (June 23-30, 2006), but the one captured here was my favorite. She kept picking up shoes, especially flip flops, and wearing them around. Her favorite flip flops were Phoebe's pink ones from the movie Madagascar. She carried them with her everywhere and wore them constantly. As it turns out, Sophie has a shoe fettish!

Little does she know that she shares the same trait with her cousin Alex. When Alex was but 4 years old, we took her to Australia to celebrate Beau and Jodie's wedding. When in Melbourne, what does Alex want to do but shop for shoes! A 4 year old! Whenever we replay the scenario over in our head it seems absurd, but there it is. These cousins may just turn out to be the best of friends! 

she's off to chicago!

Catesby has boarded the plane, ready to fly to Chicago to compete in the Nationals for tumble track. She did so well at regionals that she qualified for 3 events: tumbling, trampoline, and the double-mini. She began competing this year so to imagine even making it to nationals is just amazing. We're all so proud of her! When she competes this Friday you can bet I'll be phoning her mom Jayne every 15 minutes for an update. Alex is pretty excited too and asked me if the meet would be on TV!

dynamite disco

Is Alex auditioning to be a disco queen? No, Alex celebrated her 9th birthday with a disco party at our home this past weekend. She invited 7 friends who would undoubtedly be on vacation this summer during her real bday (Aug. 9th), and we celebrated early.

The kids were thrilled with the sparkly costumes and makeup, and they learned an entire dance routine in less than an hour. The parents showed up early to watch the kids perform, and they actually looked really good! Phoebe and Thijs even kept their positions!

Alex is already feeling the pressure that comes with age. She told her dance teacher she was 10, since at that age you're allowed to ask when you can go on "point" (use toe shoes). She also told a fellow dancer she was 10 since she didn't want to be the youngest in the class, where most of the kids are 10-13 years old. I told her she should be proud to lie outside of the mean. That's the goal of statistics, and it's what makes each of us unique. She just looked at me and then did another handstand. 

Golden Anniversary

This is a BIG year for my family. Mimi (mom's mom) turned 90, grandma Phoebe (dad's mom) turned 100, Carter & Debby celebrated 25 years, and my parents are celebrating 50 years of marriage.

Just thinking about it amazes me. Their relationship survived life in the military, 4 kids (3 boys!!!), moves every 3 years which comes to a total of at least 9, 2 overseas assignments, rip-roaring hurricanes and lots of tropical storms.

But they're in their prime, hiking 10-20 miles a day on walks like the Coast to Coast in England and the Compostela de Santiago in Spain. They did some big walks, the names of which escape me, in Italy and New Zealand. The Dordognes in France will be their next adventure, as well as a hike around Tervuren Park when they visit us in Belgium this Fall!

But first we'll see them and my family in sunny Florida, where we'll spend a week on the beach to celebrate their golden anniversary. It should be great fun -- 20 people under one roof -- 2 post-reproductives, 8 reproductives, and 10 pre-reproductives. Never a dull moment will there be, that's for sure. I can already hear Jodie's incessant laughter and camp director Debby spurring us to go, go , go. Camp Willis -- here we come! 

a day in Brugge

Thijs loved the boat ride. Phoebe, our adventure seeker, wanted to know why the boat didn't go faster. Alex loved the frites (french fries with mayonnaise). Stijn was happy we didn't get stuck in the mad rush of cars heading back from the coast after a holiday weekend. I just enjoyed getting away for the day and having some fun visitors! Brugge has been called the Venice of the north and has spectacular architecture. We lucked out with sunny weather and not too many crowds. Could easily spend a week there touring the museums, looking around and just getting lost in it all ... 

our social butterfly

Phoebe bonded to Nicole so quickly that Nicole didn't have a chance to suffer jetlag from her flight from Miami. They were inseparable the two days that Nicole and her mother Marcela visited and they had a great time together. Nicole is a wonderful kid. She has a good head on her shoulders and is very conscientious. She'll be studying international relations at the U. of Florida in Gainesville this Fall, which is where Stijn and I met more than 18 years ago. It was nice to see her and her mom and take them for a little sightseeing. They enjoyed walking around Tervuren and seeing Brugge, and they took a bus tour around Brussels. Plus, as an added bonus they got to meet Stijn's parents and Willem and his family! Marcela brought English muffins and Stijn made eggs benedict, which she remembered having for the first time when she visited us in Kent!