Oeps, I skipped December

 "Time flies when you are having fun", or so the saying goes. So I must have been having so much fun in December I didn't have time for my blog. Truth is, I had time, I just didn't have the energy. In fact, I had plenty to write about, only it were all sort of irritations, Moaning Mini items which were a result of world or local news events, happenings in and around the area or just wet, dark and dismal weather influences. Stuff happens!

So here I am on the 11th of January and it's the start of another year in which time will continue to fly. The weather isn't what it used to be this time of year. Not sure whether winter will re-appear after only having been around for about 10 days early December. Maybe it won't be back at all or it won't start till spring. One of the things I am still grateful for is that there isn't a weather dial, well I tell myself there isn't one, so that humans decide on what the weather might be today or tomorrow. Although we do have an effect on the weather by the way we have treated Mother Earth all these years. But that's another moan.

I'm an early riser. In the summer that's quite a different experience than in the winter months where it's dark till after 8am. At the 'height' of winter it is even dark till 9-ish. That makes for a different experience than in summer, where I can sit on the balcony with my morning coffee and welcome the day. It does however, give me more time each day to get things done. I watch videos on YouTube I've subscribed to, there is ample time to chat with friends in different time zones and I get to read the paper and do the crossword - hot of the press so to speak all before 9am when our pensioner life gets going! As we live in an apartment I get to walk downstairs and back up thus bagging the first bit of exercise for the day. A great mini work out, we live on the third floor and there are 54 steps to descend and then climb. My iWatch is pleased with me. 

Having met my commitments to my subscribed channels I then have time to work on my own videos. Editing takes quite some concentration and dedication. The software is great but not without flaws and instabilities. Occasionally after saving my hard work only to find upon resuming the task that the files have miraculously 'gone missing' whilst I haven't done a thing to cause this. So it's back to the drawing board. These days I find myself at my desk working furiously to get the video out in a day. Once converted I am safe. Phew, neck strain, backache but a sense of achievement is soothing ointment for my wellbeing. 

And so I trundle on. I visit my bonus mother in law twice a week, I do the grocery shopping before everyone wakes. Done and dusted by 8:30- I love going early when it is quiet and spacious in the supermarket. No trolley bashing. I try to get a decent walk in each day - though the motivation is sometimes lacking. We may not have the weather we usually do but rain is not a fun weather type to walk in and certainly not to bike in. My bike will be hybernating till spring I am afraid. There is a book I am slowly getting deeper and deeper into, The Sisters of Auschwitz by Yvonne van Ieperen. Heavy reading due to the topic but fascinating at the same time. 

Plans for a break away are in the offing. Last year France was our Valhalla ( check the videos here) This year we have somewhere else in mind, plans follow in a future blog when the plan has taken more shape. 

A few invites noted in the diary and a few dinner parties in the pipeline. The year is shaping up to be quite enjoyable, Now I'd be thrilled with a large win in the lottery as there are some projects I'd like to support both near and far. 

So, 2023, I'll do my best to be a regular spiller of thoughts, frustrations and ideas. Hope the year pans out the way you, my reader, wants it to. Blessings and strengths to you all.

Be GOOD                            Be KIND                          Be HAPPY

Timing is everything- sometimes!

 

I'm not normally that focussed on the time issue ( except when it comes to appointments that is) It is just that lately we have been so busy doing so many things that I wonder how we manage it all. I seem to be getting lots more done and yet my pile of things to do isn't reducing at all. The more I do the more there is to do. Does that make sense at all? Probably not! Just a ramble that is running through my mind at the moment.

Good morning/afternoon/evening, where ever you are at, at the time of reading this ramble. I'm working my way through a few chores at the moment and they are taking longer than I anticipated. How do you cope with issues like this? I am also easily distracted for some obscure reason. Maybe I need a holiday 😂! Just kidding or am I? 

Talking about holidays, I have managed to post 7 videos so far of our Re-tour de France road trip on my YouTube channel. Such fun and good memories. Number 8 is in the pipeline- almost done. Why did we give it that title? Well because we started in the Netherlands, 'at the top' so to speak, and made a round trip returning to the same spot on the highway where we left. So we thought this quite an appropriate and fun title.

Five weeks on the road. Ten different places to lay one's head at night. All of them on my own pillow I might add. I take it everywhere. Can't sleep properly on someone else's pillow. Which brings to mind a trip to Australia I had many years ago. Yes even Down Under has seen me place my head on my own pillow. Till it became harder to get it into my overfull suitcase. 

My then wee grandson of 4 decided he wanted to keep me close each night so he confiscated my pillow and kept it for many a year on his bed. So lovely and heart warming.

Which brings me to the next subject: Where will my pillow take me to next? My last trip to visit my children was in 2019 with the intention of being back there at the end of 2020. We all know why that didn't happen. Less said the better. So it has been a struggle coping with the loss of physical contact over a much longer period of time that I ever have had away from my children. I am fully aware that there were harder, sadder and more gut wrenching struggles for many. It isn't that I want sympathy or am presenting myself as a victim. Just stating a fact. Yes, there is internet- yes there is light at the end of this long and dark tunnel. So I am now actively planning a trip to my other homeland, the one where I bore my children, where my parents are laid to rest and where a huge part of my life tells its story. 

This week will see me having a conversation with a travel agent, I am not prepared to book my own trip like I have done in the past. Too risky. It will see me blow off the dust of my pasport and relocate my NZ driver's license. It will see my bank balance shrink horrifically. It will also add another list of chores. But most of all, it will cause those pre-trip butterflies to return, those emotions of reconnecting with my own upsurge and take hold. It will most likely also cause disruption to my sleep despite my head being on my own pillow, due to the anticipation of what lies ahead. 

I guess that might just be why, I am easily distracted, can't get through all the lists like I am used to and already causing the fluttering in my being even though the ticket hasn't even been booked yet. So I am trying to keep occupied, to keep my mind on things to distract me. The editing I need to still do will be part of my therapy to keep my wits about me. The two children's books I want to complete before I leave need attention too. Plenty to do - now I must get on with them. No more rambling. Till next time.

In the meantime, enjoy the videos. It was a fantastic trip and we saw such beauty all around us. I am pleased to be able to share that with you. 

Be good    Be kind    Keep smiling

This is the link to my YT channel 

Voorpret - happy anticipation

Scroll down for the English version.

Met de datum die vast staat in mijn agenda kan ik het niet laten om alvast bepaalde momenten vast te leggen.... velen van jullie zullen hetzelfde ervaren hebben. De geplande vakantie lijkt 'lang genoeg' om de mensen te zien die je graag wil omarmen eenmaal terug in je thuisland. Ook om bepaalde plekjes te bezoeken of ervaringen op te doen. Dan is het zover, je bent aangekomen en dan gebeurt het. Tijd, dat glibberige waar geen grip op te krijgen is, glijdt door je vingers. Opeens dringen er ongedane zaken. Je wilt nog zoveel, ondanks de goede planning loopt het een en ander toch anders dan gewenst.

Nou kan ik best wel heel creatief bezig zijn. En zodra de aankomst van mijn kleinzoon nog maar een geopperd idee was, begon mijn brein al plannetjes te smeden. Nu kan ik ze bij gaan schaven en wat realistischer in pakken Want ja, hoe vaak zal het gebeuren dat mijn kleinkind de halve wereld rondreist om op vakantie te komen - en voor het eerst zijn ogen richt op Europa. Het is mijn doelstelling om hem kennis te laten maken met zijn afkomst. Dat, hoewel hij maar deels Nederlands bloed door zijn aderen heeft lopen, het voldoende is om ermee een soort 'thuis' gevoel te ervaren.

Grotendeels gedurende zijn tijd hier blijven wij dus ook in Nederland, met een uitstapje van 5-6 dagen naar Schotland en uiteraard ook wat aan te rijden bezoekjes buiten de Nederlandse grenzen. Mijn kleinzoon heeft er de volste vertrouwen in dat ik hem goed genoeg ken, en de beste keuze zal maken. " Oma, u weet beter dan ik wat de leuke dingen zullen zijn." Als ik naar mijn lijstje kijk, moet ik wel indammen. Om elke dag op stap te gaan is ook teveel van het goede. Beetje thuisleven ervaren is ook cultuurervaring opdoen. Met de fiets naar de stad, met de trein naar ....! Met de waterbus naar Rotterdam. Over de markt struinen. Kleding kopen- oma gaat hem helpen nieuwe kleren aan te schaffen die hem een gave hippe uitstraling zullen geven. Er is al een boottochtje op de Wieden -Weerribben gepland en ja, in Giethoorn laat ik hem ook wat voetstappen achterlaten. De familie roots in Fryslân komen aan bod zowel die van de 'andere kant' in Amsterdam en omstreken.

Voor het gemak heb ik de maanden op A4tjes afgedrukt en ingevuld- waar de datums wel al vast voor staan. De boot met DFDS naar Newcastle is al geboekt. Wat is die boot snel vol zeg....! Nu al voor april. Het Fantasyfest Elfia, in Haarzuilens, zal zijn ogen van wonder en verbazing doen opengaan! Ook die kaartjes zijn al binnen. Was ook nodig om dat vroeg te doen. De voorpret heeft zijn bekoring. Ik ben al tig keer in mijn gedachten met hem op pad geweest. Hopelijk lukt het ook de blokhut te reserveren voor Hemelsvaart. Ben er al mee bezig.

Het is mijn bedoeling om zijn vakantie hier vast te leggen en de blog van die periode af te laten drukken. Dat heb ik nu ook gedaan. In de kast staan al eerdere blog boeken. Zo blijft alles wat ik geschreven hebt achter voor wie van de familie er behoefte aan heeft het te lezen. My 60th birthday staat ook zwart op wit zeg maar en voorlopig nog online. Zo mooi om dat met al mijn kinderen te hebben mogen vieren. Nu, 5 jaar later, komt mijn kleinzoon hier en steken we samen mijn 65 kaarsjes aan. Hoe gaaf is dat?

It once was a dream, a wish a possibility. Now a reality. My grandson arrival date has been set. And like many fellow countrymen far away, when planning a trip 'home' lots appears possible. Seeing those one loves. Going places wanting to visit. Experiencing that what is 'missing' in ones new homeland. Then TIME happens. The unfathomable of all. Where did it all go?

I'm pretty creative. I have a vivid imagination and plans just 'happen' without too much effort. But I have to be realistic. Time too can be my enemy and I just don't want to have a list of stuff that ends up being ' wish we had..'! So, with that in mind I am now shaping this opportunity to get the most out of it. I've been given the go-ahead to select the places and events. "Oma, you know what there is for me to see and learn". So, castles and highlands, history and excitement. We are spending a week in Scotland. I had to book the ferry already as berths and car placings were filling fast. An annual Fantasy Fair, tickets ordered and received, also a very popular event quickly sold out. The other stuff, visiting places here in Nederland, well we will play it by ear. I have also had contact with a camping ground where we stay occasionally. I just hope the log cabin we normally use is still available for a long weekend mid May. Quite weird to have one's year so plotted and planned before hand.

To keep an eye on all these developments I've printed out the months on A4 paper and pencilled in where the planning is already a fact. Helps with the fringe bits and pieces. We will have time to bike into town, cruise the local market, shop, take the train to where-ever, the fast ferry to Rotterdam. Visit my dad's, mum's and my places of birth. I can fill in the gaps about who we are and what makes our family tick. It is truly a dream coming to fruition and the excitement is building as each day fades into history. In less than a month we'll wave 2017 goodbye and the magic year of 2018 will begin. What I also am so looking forward to is that my grandson and I will light the candles on my 65th birthday, some place special, creating a memory that will hopefully last him a lifetime of smiles. To help him remember I will print this blog where I'll record his time with me. So special. I feel blessed. Truly blessed.

Spending time with the grandchildren

It is summer holiday time here in Nederland. Even the politicians have called a summer halt to their activities - and rightly so. Everyone deserves a break to recharge their batteries.

It is also noticable that newspapers are thinner as newsy articles are not as prevalent as in 'working' hours so to speak! On tv there are re-runs of 'old masters' and lots of entertainment for the younger generation in the form of films and such.

This morning at breakfast I quickly snatched a brief look in the morning paper when I stumbled on a 'summer filler'. An article on grandparents who have availed themselves to have the grandchildren stay over while the mums and dads are at work.

Yes, I get a tug at my heartstrings - but this is only short lived as the reality check kicks in.

Anyway, it wasn't so much the 'staying over' but the comment at the end that was comforting to read. At the close of each interview the grandparents commented on their 'fatigue' at the end of each day having spent amusing and entertaining their grandchild/children.

When I visit my 'grandies' Down Under, I spend lots of time with them. I try to make each day count. Time spent with them is short but valuable and intense. Yes, they have their school, sports and friends activities- but there is time to just 'be' with me. Whether I drop them off, accompany them to their other activities or spend time at home with them - we can be together.

It is a super luxurious privilege that I have my own apartment where I can stay- so I too can 'invite' the children to breakfast or dinner. Another possibility is that i cook at their granddad's home- and the children all come for tea there. So much fun and gives me such a warm feeling and joy.

At the end of the day I am generally 'whacked'. Yes, I dare to admit my weakness- I am drained and weary. This bothered me for ages - but now, I am liberated. Other grandparents are tired too. Here I was thinking it was because I am 'out of practice' but it is NORMAL.

So to all you wonderful, super nans and grans, omas and opas. Enjoy, and know - you are AMAZING! And to all those grandies everywhere- enjoy the time your grandparents spend with you - they are true heros.

I am recharging my batteries - will need to be totally perked up for when my next opportunity arrises.