A journey about to start

Its here, its here!

2011-09-28T16:04:00.000-04:00

Today it was finally ready.

A project that I have been working on for quite a while now.

It was scary, nerve wrecking and totally went against my Dutch nature that told me it would never work.

How dare I think that people were waiting for this.

But…I was asked to do it, more then once.

And so without further ado, here it is…

Cara by Petra Postma | Make Your Own Book

And after Irene we met Lee...

2011-09-09T00:43:00.004-04:00

While big parts of the US are still recovering from Irene, Lee came over for a visit.
And boy, is he overstaying his welcome.
He started Sunday night with rain and it hardly stopped raining until since.
Being Dutch I thought I was used to a bit of rain, but this is a bit much, even for me.

But first let me tell you, with Irene we got lucky, we had some wind, some rain, but nothing really bad, unlike a big part of the east coast. Devastating floodings in which people lost their lives, their homes, the places they earned money.

And now Lee showed up, with lots, lots of rain.
This time we aren't getting away that easy. Nothing really bad, but Lehto and Lee don't get along.
Lehto wants to go outside and play and run, but Lee won't let him.
Because, and you may not know this, 21 week old galgo's do melt in the rain.
And you better believe it, because there is no way you are going to ignore his pathetic little yelps when his earsies get wet. Or the crazy run through the house after which he tries to dry his ears by first rubbing them with his feet and if that doesn't help, rub them on the carpet.
I must say, he is getting better though after day 4 of constant rain. Whats not getting better is his behavior.
He just wants to go out, play, run, chase rabbits. And since that won't work, he pesters his sister Paquita.
Tries to eat my plants, my oven mitt, my hands and every single piece of paper he can find.

Oh, and we have some leakage, yes, also from Lehto , but also in our living room.
Its not as bad as it was 2 years ago, we had that repaired, but its at the same spot. There is a new ring appearing in the ceiling and the drywall feels damp.
In June of this year we had golfball sized hail and I am thinking this might be the culprit. After the hailstorm we saw signs showing up in the neighborhood, all from roofing companies. So after asking a few questions we found out that some people were getting a new roof. Long story short, we are getting one also, like almost 60% of our neighbors. The adjuster from our insurance had no doubt, we needed all the shingles replaced, the gutters, and also the siding on the back of the house.
Right now we are waiting for that. And I guess we will have to get some drywall and ceiling repaired also.

And we are the lucky ones, not far from us 10.000 people are evacuated, many are flooded and it looks like there will be problems with drinking water. Roads are blocked and the Turnpike is closed.

Am really glad we are on a mountainside and it is supposed to stop raining tomorrow…

Just hope Maria and Nate don't decide to drop in also.

Shaken…not stirred

2011-08-24T14:41:00.001-04:00

You probably already heard it on the news.
But 24 hours ago a huge part of the US East coast trembled and shook.
The biggest and most wide felt earthquake on the East coast for more then 100 years.
For the people in DC and New York this was a more then rare event.

And it certainly wasn't something I expected when I moved here.
In the time Jack and I only talked though the internet or on the phone, he assured me that hardly anything happens over here. Worst case would be a storm or so much snow that we wouldn't have power for a while.

Well…we rarely lose power.

But within the almost 2 years we live here, we had 3 earth quakes, several snowstorms, a hailstorm last June, so bad, we need our roof replaced and new siding on the back of our house.
We had a tornado touchdown and spent several hours in our basement with 3 dogs because of that.
That whole week we had tornado warnings and are now drilled on how to react to that.
Our garden flooded twice this year because of flash floods.
And yippie, we are supposed to get a visit from hurricane Irene coming weekend.

Nah….nothing ever happens here.

Yesterdays earth quake was scary, it only lasted for 20 to 30 seconds, but it felt like there was a big truck driving through our house.
It really is a scary to feel the earth under you move and the whole house shake. For a moment I was scared my computer screen would fall over and our new puppy (I'll be blogging about him soon) came running to see what was going on.

And we were miles and miles away from the epicenter.
But, other then in other area's around here, earthquakes are not uncommon in this area.
Dillsburg is supposedly on a small fault and we get minor quakes now and then.
And I don't like them.
You can't prepare for them, they suddenly happen unlike tornado's or severe thunderstorms.

For those we get warnings on our local tv stations. And after the tornado touch down in Dillsburg, I do pay attention to those warnings.

Anyway, nothing ever happens in Dillsburg…

It's been too long

2011-07-02T15:13:00.003-04:00

For weeks now I have been dreading this. I avoided the blog, didn't want to write again about the last 2 months.
Writing an entry would mean I had to write about losing our boy Johnny.
And I really didn't want to do it again. In these things I may be a bit different from most people in that I write about it right away, in the days after it and the more time passes, the harder it gets for me.
Its been 7 weeks now and the house feels quiet, way to quiet.

Johnny was our goofball, the one who would greet you like you were his long lost friend, even when you only went out to get the mail. He was the one making sure that we wouldn't forget to feed them, starting 45 to 30 minutes before it was time.
Jack told me why he decided to adopt him. When he went to the adoption kennels, he was the one who had spent the longest time there. He was covered in scars, his tail looking like a rats tail without any hair.
But he was happy and loved the attention. And Jack couldn't leave him behind.
Johnny was quite the character. Spoiled by Jack, he owned the couch, his side of the bed and choose where he wanted to walk. When I came in the picture, he didn't like the changes and wanted to let me and Cara know. We both didn't take his (excuse the language) 'shit' and he never tried again. Cara used him as her favorite pillow and I gained a loyal friend.
To be honest, even though he was huge, he wasn't the smartest, but sweet.
He had the most funny facial expressions I have seen in a greyhound and I loved taking his pictures.
And silently I always had to laugh when people commented on his pictures with words like handsome, gorgeous and so on and think to myself, so many people passed his kennel not seeing the beauty of this goofy black boy, all they saw were his bald spots, the scars and his black coat.
It was their loss…

He left us with a very quiet house and 3 dogs. And within days, even with our sadness, we found ourselves looking for 'something or someone' who could bring back the laughter in our house. We needed a goofy addition to our other sweet dogs.
And don't ask me how it happened, because I never intended to do this, but in 3 days Lehto will come to live with us.
He is a Spanish galgo from Asociación BaasGalgo http://www.baasgalgo.com and is only 12 weeks old!
I'll tell more about him soon. But right now we are exited and to be honest, a little nervous.
How will our family adapt to a puppy?
It will be interesting, I'm sure.

Warning, it's a dogblog!

2011-04-05T17:23:00.003-04:00

And it shouldn't be a surprise for people who know me.
After all, they have seen the updates on Facebook and have been sending well wishes for the dog going to the vet at that particular moment.
For almost 2 months now we have been regulars at the vet and I am guessing it won't be long before we get the invitation to an open house for their French vacation chalet. We probably supported enough for all the plumbing to be done by now.
I 'am' joking, but only a bit, for the last 2 months we had to visit the vet at least once a week and it all started with Johnny who seemed to have a bit of an incontinence problem. Long story short, he reacted very bad to the medication and it is only thanks to a prior experience with one of my galgo's that he got away with ' just' seizures. For the people who want to know what medication it is that sighthounds can react bad to, specially if they have high blood pressure, it is Phenylpropanolamine. Also known as PPA and given often to dogs that suffer from spay incontinence.
Johnny has had two seizures now and is on medication, for both the seizures and his bloodpressure.
In the meantime, both girls have been vaccinated and Sunday night Tex suddenly had an episode in which he totally freaked out, panicked and somehow got his front leg in the air vent. Several x-rays later he is now sporting a nice big bandage and his muzzle to keep him from chewing and licking.

One of our kitchen cabinets now has been taken over by medication for all dogs and the stuff I am using to get my own health back to where it should be and a huge jar of peanut butter. Johnny alone gets 11 pills in 24 hours.
Add to that the peanut butter it takes for him to wswallow them down, you might be able to imagine the paint peeling farts we have to endure these days.
And lets be honest, greyhound farts aren't known to smell like roses to start with.

But, that is life with senior dogs, Tex is 13 now, Johnny is 10 and Paquita turns 9 this month.
Compared to them, Cara is still a baby at around 4 years old.

Speaking of which, her pictures are selling better and better and not just that, we've been donating her prints for several auctions and they are doing very nice in bringing in bids for greyhound and galgo causes.
From tomorrow on you can bid on one of them in an auction to benefit Dr. Cauto's bone cancer in greyhounds research. More information can be found here: http://darcyswebparty.proboards.com/

If you are interested in buying one of my pictures, check them out at : http://www.flickr.com/photos/petrapostma/

I'll leave you with a Little White Monster picture and am off to put on a sweater since Spring seems to have trouble finding us.

Made some changes

2011-03-10T22:48:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow it is 4 weeks (I think) ago that I was told to make some real changes in my lifestyle or I was heading for some serious heart and vascular trouble within 10 years. (think heart attack before I would be 56)
After a bit of a struggle, we are getting there. And yes, Jack is reading the back labels of everything we buy at the Giant also, searches the web for information and eats, mostly, what I eat. And, a bit adjusted, my son does too.
These days we can be found at the organic isle, the vegetarian cooling and the (yes Mom, it is true) at the fish department.
And slowly I am starting to realize that this is becoming a quite interesting change in feeding ourselves.
Certainly after a friend suggested a book that is called 'Cholesterol down'.

This book gave us some clues on what foods are really good on bringing the bad cholesterol down within 4 weeks. Not that I am aiming on just pleasing the doctor next month, but I really want to avoid taking medication for the rest of my life.
Much to Jack's pleasure one of the clues is eating a bowl of oatmeal every day. He boils water, adds the oats and puts some honey in there. To be honest, just the sight of it makes me queasy. I 'll stick to my way of eating oats. After looking around, I found a perfectly fine muesli, add some greek yoghurt and I am happy. Other things are: eating a lot of vegetables, raw if possible and beans, kidney beans, black beans, all types except for green beans, the well known apple a day (red if possible) and with skin, adding two teaspoons of flaxseed meal, a handful of almonds and for me, adding Metamucil, a fiber, to my diet 3 times a day.
And even if this wouldn't bring down my cholesterol, we can at least heat our house with the bio gas we produce.
For once we are worse then our 4 dogs.

A good way to burn that off and recommended in the book is walking, 30 minutes a day. Now, I still have to get Jack to do that, but for myself I think I am fine in that department, going to the gym 4 to 5 times a week and every week an hour yoga should be enough exercise.
Also for myself I decided to cut out alcohol totally. But, I still drink my 3 cups of coffee in the morning.

All in all we find the new food we try tasty, I love Quinoa for example and we have no trouble adjusting to it.
The only problem for me is, if I eat everything that is recommended, I would end up eating too much and I do want to get rid of a lot of pounds. So I have to restrict myself.
And that is hard, but…I lost about 10 (US) pounds already. It is going slow, but it is happening.

I do have one complaint though.
Did they really have to deliver the girl scout cookies now?

Met de billen bloot, or…coming clean

2011-02-23T09:37:00.003-05:00

Think I need to, unless you don't want me to?

Oh, you do want to hear it? Well, only if you promise not to laugh. Really, don't.
I am so embarrassed by it, I should have known better.

Anyway, here we go.
In the 17 months we live here, I gained about a kilo a month. Around 35 pounds in total.
Totally fell into the trap that is called good food, a glass of wine and worst of all, no exercise.
Which is bad for someone like me, since I used to do everything on my bike, groceries, going to work, visit family. And besides that, I walked the dogs, 4 times a day for at least 30 to 45 minutes every walk and one of the walks would be more than an hour. And really, it is easier to eat healthy in the Netherlands than over here. Portions are bigger, a lot of food contains more sugar and or salt. And lets not forget the refills you get when eating out.

And yes, I was totally aware of this. Heck, I had to, at some point I didn't fit into my clothes anymore and we went shopping. Fitting clothes, while trying to avoid looking in the mirror.
A few months ago I got my membership to Planet Fitness and went there several times a week.
But somehow nothing happened. I still gained, a bit less fast, but still…

A few weeks ago I had my first doctors appointment. Over here you need a physical for your drivers permit. And found out I am being punished pretty hard for being overweight for about a year now.
After a blood test the doctor told me my body is totally out of whack. Blood pressure, liver, cholesterol, nothing as it should be.
I was more or less given the idea that there was no way this was the result of just 1.5 year of being like this.
Left the office wondering if I really was an alcohol or drug abuser that only ate fast food.
Soon an envelope with diet and other rules was found in our mailbox.

Basically it comes to this, avoid everything that comes from animals unless it is non-fat. Try to avoid any sugars and eat whole grains and lots of green vegetables.
Decided also to not have any alcohol and most of all, not take any painkillers for my arm.

Slowly it is starting to work.
The first pounds are gone. It was frustrating in the beginning, in the first week I even gained again, but now it is starting to work.
What helped a lot was changing my cardio work out, instead of using the treadmill, I am on the elliptical now. Also found that I love strength training which is new to me since I used to like endurance.

In April I have to get back to the doctor to check my blood again. Hope to come back with a clean bill of health.
And one thing I know now, you don't have to be very overweight to have it be a very bad influence on your health. In my case, every pound more than 140 (63 kg) is a threat to my health.

So, there it is.

You can laugh now...

Go Steelers!

2011-02-06T16:44:00.000-05:00

Another snowday

2011-01-26T17:23:00.001-05:00

They had warned us last night, from 8 am this morning we would be under a winterstorm warning.
These days we are taking that type of news with a grain of salt. Every big snowstorm you probably read about in the newspaper or saw on the news, totally missed our little spot in Pennsylvania.

It was clear that even my sons school thought this way. When we woke up at 6 am it was already snowing, but no phone call yet.

Things work a bit different here than we were used to in the Netherlands. Unless the weather was really extreme, you were supposed to show up at school, one way or the other.
Here we live in an area with hills (Jack calls them mountains), a lot of backroads and most kids take the school bus. Just like my son. And the school doesn't take any risks on the transport of the kids.
But before we got into our clothes, tv already announced closure of all schools in the York Northern school district and 10 minutes later the school called.
So that is snow day # 2. And yes, you guessed it, they will have to make up for it, probably at the beginning at their summer vacation.
During the day it honestly didn't look too bad, as you can see on the picture I took this afternoon. We may get more tonight, but I hope it won't be enough for another snow day.
But the trees in our backyard are already bending under their heavy load.

On another note, the picture on top may well have been one of the last pictures for a long time from my beloved D80. Since a few days it has shutter problems and I am fearing that soon it will need more than just a little shake to start working again. It is bad timing, the new camera won't be her for at least another month and I am not looking forward to that many weeks without my favorite camera.
The first time it had problems Jack told me I acted like someone who had stopped smoking.
It won't be that bad this time, I promise.
Because this time I have a few other things I need to focus on besides photography.

I need to study!
Tomorrow I have an appointment with our doctor to fill out the DL 180 form.
The form that will show that I am physically in good enough shape to drive a car. Yep, you are reading it right.
Moms, keep your children inside!
Because one of these days I will have to take my test to get a learners permit! Meaning I will be allowed to be on the road, with someone next to me, but still…

Where the wild things are

2011-01-15T13:37:00.000-05:00

Do you remember the pictures from last year? The two snowstorms, with snow so high that our dogs would disappear in it?
Well, in spite of all the news you may have read on snowstorms on the east coast of the US, Airports closed and so on, we hardly got any snow.
The air had been so dry, any snowflake that might have considered coming this way was killed of by the dry, cold air. And so we just were cold over here, very cold.
So cold, I had to get myself a new coat, my first down coat. Ugly, but warm enough to stay comfortable when walking the dogs.

But, in the beginning of this week we finally got a decent snow cover.
And with the snow came the wild things…

When we put out our bird feeders last year, we attracted quite a lot of little birds and so this year a few big birds decided that we had provided them with the perfect fast food place.
In the beginning it did worry me, thinking they would kill off all the little birds in the area, but all they trees in our garden provide for enough shelter in times of need.
Also, the little ones seem to have a pretty decent warning system and at times there isn't a small bird to be seen.
Those are the times we start looking out for the big ones and we have spotted several different ones already.
And when they are close enough, I sometimes get lucky.
In general they are young birds.
The one you see here is a juvenile Red-tailed Hawk.

The young ones seem to be less fearful than the older birds that I haven't gotten a chance to photograph yet. They take off the moment they see me open the door.

But this young Cooper Hawk let me come pretty close and gave me a very dirty look.

To be honest, it made me feel a bit uncomfortable. We have seen several of these predators up close now and I know to respect those razor sharp claws and the sharp bills.
But after giving me ' the look' it decided to find another tree, less close to that weird looking human with a huge eye in front of her face.

And to give you an idea why these guys are hanging around here, this is what they are looking for!

A little Bluebird

One of our squirrels

A Cedar Waxwing

Or maybe even a Mocking bird that visits our deck.

But until now we haven't seen any of the big ones being lucky. And as long as the little ones seem to get away in time, we will enjoy the beauty of the big wild things.

Hope you enjoyed them also.

Petra

1-1-11

2011-01-01T15:47:00.000-05:00

And a very happy, healthy New Year to everyone!

We're home again after a week in the Netherlands.
It was wonderful to see my parents and other family and to celebrate x-mas together.
Unlike here, there was plenty of snow and slippery roads, so we couldn't travel around too much, but that was fine. The place my parents live is beautiful and full of history and nature, so we did a nice walk every day and just enjoyed the sights and company.
And then there is the food, stoofpeertjes and rollade, stamppot boerenkool met rookworst, zuurkool met spek en Hema worst and best of all, kibbeling. Yes, I enjoyed that for sure.

In a way it was strange to go back without having my own house to go back to. 5 years ago my parents moved also, so I never lived in their house either. On the other hand, at the end of the week I was ready to go back home, to Jack, the doggies and my son.
Yep, I guess I feel at home here.

Any plans I might have had on bringing stuff back were undermined by my Dad who promised my son hagelslag. Little did I know than that that would end up being 6 kilo's of the stuff.
LOL, that is 10 x 600 gram boxes.

Add some cheese to that and the suitcases were full.

Although, at the airport I found myself a bag of these:
Salmiak kogels, love those. And since neither Jack or my son likes them, I can eat myself sick if I want to without feeling guilty over not sharing.

Also, I decided against bringing the mix for oliebollen for this year, didn't really feel like getting of the plane and start baking right away, so we skipped this year. But for next year I'll be ordering on line so we'll have some. I did kind of miss having them.

Yesterday morning we did our gift exchange under the christmas tree and I think every one was really happy with their gifts.
Unfortunately we could watch our christmas movie last night. The brand new DVD decided not to play.
Which was a bummer, but with some neighbors over we still had a great time. At midnight we stepped out on the porch to watch the beautiful fireworks the town organized. Love how we can see it really well without having to leave the house. And it is far away enough not to upset the dogs.

All in all, we started the new year really good and today isn't any different. We're enjoying a relaxed, lazy day. Tonight I will make Sauerkraut and pork, a tradition for Jack on New Year's Day, just slightly adjusted to our taste, we'll eat it the Dutch way, as a stamppot.

Again, Happy New Year, lets make it a good one!

2010-12-21T14:18:00.001-05:00

Jack and Petra

Getting ready for Christmas

2010-12-20T18:56:00.000-05:00

The worst: not knowing what you want to get your spouse since he buys whatever he wants or needs.
Second worst : a son who doesn't have a wish list.
But, I am happy to say I was done shopping last week. Last Thursday I asked Jack to drop me off at the mall near Carlisle, it has Kohls, Michaels, Target, Petsmart, Pier 1 and several other shops and I figured I could get my shopping done in 2 to 3 hours. As it turned out, I only needed an hour.
But since Jack would pick me up to get my sons present and the stuff we wanted to get at Pier one and Target for our neighbors, I was forced to snoop around at Michaels, a wonderful place that has every thing that you can imagine for creative people and after that get one of the seasonal Latte's at Starbucks.
It is funny, I would never ever order a normal coffee there, but I love their specials. Just shouldn't do it too often.

We also decided to go to the neighborhood Christmas party this time. Jack never went in the past, but I was asked a few times if we would be there and we thought it might be fun and a good way to meet some of our neighbors. Since a few months I go to the gym with 2 neighbors and we meet several others there, so I had a head start. It turned out to be a lot of fun. Santa would be there for the kids, there was a band and a buffet. Somehow I ended up taking the pictures of all the kids on Santa's lap and after they had some margarita's', a few of the ladies on Santa's lap.
The funny thing is, you will always find a Dutch connection. That night I talked to one of my neighbors who just had found out that his family moved to the US around 1600. He was very curious to hear more about the Netherlands and I didn't mind filling him in on some details.
All in all it was a real fun evening and I will surely sign us up for next year.
Now, close your eyes, since I will be posting a picture with Santa and my gym buddies.

Sunday we took it easy, had to, Jack suddenly had a bad cold and we opted to stay in for the day.
My son went over to one of the neighbors to play X-box and we had a lazy day.
But I was really surprised when we did our 6 PM walk with the dogs. A big group of kids was going from door to door, caroling.
It was great to hear and see. I really thought it was something of the past, but clearly not.
I really hope they will keep up these traditions.

Anyway, I am almost ready for Christmas, just one more package that I hope will arrive tomorrow.
That will be the last of what I need for our late X-mas celebration.
But besides that, I have to pack our bags for me and my son so we can travel to the Netherlands on Wednesday.
Right now it looks ok, but I am watching the weather over there. It is beginning to look a lot like a white Christmas over there.

I must have not gotten that note

2010-12-17T11:43:00.001-05:00

The one that says that there is a spending limit on pets.
It's something I have heard quite a lot lately, people with a sick animal that had to go to the vet and then decide, only one more time and the animal is over the spending limit, it won't be taken to the vet anymore and will die or will be re homed.
It was probably on the same note that said, once you have kids, the pets are no longer your replacement kids but 'just' pets that need less care than before.
The same note that makes pets expendable after a certain age.

I am still caught in the assumption that pets are a lifetime responsibility and that there is no need to choose either kids or animals, that they can actually grow up together with respect for each others being.
And I must be crazy probably, but I think no living being should be denied the right care when sick or old.
I don't think pets are easy exchangeable when they no longer fit your life style or gets old or even just annoying to you, I actually think, and yes I am probably insane, that every animal has it's own character, that it feels pain and experiences love when given, just like kids .
And while my kid will be always # 1, I feel my pets need the same amount of care and love.

I am glad I didn't get that note.

So there, I said it.
You can call me crazy now, I'll be proud of it.

En morgen is het 1 december

2010-11-30T23:42:00.001-05:00

Yep, voor de verandering weer eens een Hollands blogje. Om in de spirit te komen zeg maar.
En ook omdat ik 2 glazen wijn op heb en het Nederlands me dan nog steeds gemakkelijker af gaat dan het Engels.

Over 23 dagen zet ik voor het eerst sinds meer dan een jaar weer voet op Nederlandse bodem en natuurlijk zorgt dat voor stof tot nadenken.
In hoe verre ben ik al veramerikaanst, gaat mijn familie me betrappen op een aantal Engelse woordjes en zal ik me daar door onsterfelijk belachelijk maken? Kan ik iedereen en alles zien in die korte tijd.
Maar vooral, zal ik niet teleurgesteld zijn? Dat is namelijk mijn grootste angst, dat ik het niet meer leuk in Nederland zal vinden.

Waarom ik dat denk vraag je?
Easy, ik heb het hier prima naar mijn zin. Zo goed dat ik me af vraag of ik het in NL niet naar mijn zin had. Eerlijk gezegd zit ik nog steeds te wachten op de nadelen van deze oversteek. Maar tot nu toe heb ik nergens spijt van. Mijn zoon doet het geweldig hier, ik heb het naar mijn zin. Moet alleen nu en dan mijn echtgenoot even laten weten dat ik toch echt wel voor mezelf kan zorgen als Nederlandse en dat ik zeer capabel ben om mensen aan te spreken, de telefoon op te pakken en voor mezelf of zo nodig voor mijn zoon op te komen.
Tja, dat zijn van die dingen die even de kop op steken.

Natuurlijk zie ik er naar uit mijn familie weer te zien, zeker na de schrik die mijn Moeder ons bezorgt heeft. Wil hen beide heel graag weer even zien, voelen, horen, aanraken.
LOL, ben zelfs al een lijstje aan het maken van dingen die mee terug moeten.
Van die gekke dingen, zoals zoetjes, die heb ik hier nog niet gevonden en natuurlijk drop, salmiak, dat soort dingen.

Ja, ik verheug me op kerst in Nederland, met mijn ouders, mijn zusters, zwagers en kinderen.
Maar mijn echtgenoot blijft hier, met onze 4 honden en de kerstboom en de open haard.
Mijn zoon gaat mee, maar verblijft bij zijn vader.

Zucht….
ik zou zo blij moeten zijn dat ik de mogelijkheid heb om dit te doen.
Maar is het zo gek dat ik veel liever mijn eigen gezinnetje bij elkaar heb, bij onze eigen boom, met onze eigen open haard en kadootjes om te openen op kerst ochtend?
Samen, met elkaar, mensen en honden?

Nee toch?

Our fridge is taken hostage by a giant turkey

2010-11-23T08:25:00.000-05:00

There is a huge bag of cornbread stuffing blocking the opening of one of my kitchen closets and I was told that we absolutely have to have pumpkin pie for dessert.

Thursday it's Thanks Giving and I am not cooking. Phew….
Totally going to stay away from the kitchen, as far as possible. Jack can handle the beast and everything that comes with it.
I'll just eat it. Not too much, mind you, don't need to gain more than I already did.
This is a dangerous time of the year, Turkey day is the start of an eating fest that doesn't end before the next year has started.
I had kind of hoped that with losing our Sinterklaas celebration, we would skip some of the eating, but we got TG instead.
Just hope we can hit the gym 3 times a week as we do now, but with the kids having so much time off, I fear the worst.

The holidays also mean that one project has come to a short stop.
Remember the auction I put together? It was a success, in a few hours we raised over 800 dollars that will be donated. It also lead to something else. One of the ladies that encouraged me to do this came with a new initiative. A small group of artists that will jump in when there is an animal emergency. Goal is to organize fast actions/auctions to give some financial first aid.
Seems that I am supposed to be one of those 'artists'
Am curious to see if and how this works out. Might be very interesting and inspiring.
Btw, if you are a creative mind and want to join us, let me know. We are spread all over the US and Canada.

Did you know that I am still very pleasantly surprised when I find out that one of my pictures is somewhere featured? (With me ok-ing it off course)
Yesterday I heard that this picture will be todays picture on Planet Earth Daily Photo
Took this picture last Saturday. We went to the outlets in Gettysburg. ( my favorite place, Eddy Bauer, had a sale and my son needed jeans, again….) And after that we thought we might try to see if we could get a parking spot in town. It was the weekend they remember reading the Gettysburg Address and have a parade. We were in luck, we found a great spot to see the parade.
Thousands of people, volunteers, dressed up in the costumes of the Civil War. Groups representing certain divisions of the armies that were fighting in that time. All replica's that could have been made in that time, so well done.
While I really enjoy seeing the re-enactors, I have to say that I am not always so happy with how serious people take this.
Making a little boy salute all those thousands of volunteers since the little kid was dressed up as a little soldier also does make me cringe a bit.
But to each his own I guess. I didn't grow up with the admiration people here have for people who fight wars.
But the parade was fun to watch and we are certainly planning to visit the reenactment of the battle of Gettysburg next year.

See you next time, I'll tell you about the new hobby I started with Paquita and why I am thinking of adopting another pup.

Tomorrow!!!!!!

2010-11-13T12:59:00.001-05:00

Is the auction at The Little White Monster and Friends !!!

Please let everyone know, there are some great items to be had, also for non greyhound lovers.
If you are in Europe, you can also bid. To save on shipping I can bring items over to the Netherlands in December and mail it from there!
So let the distance not with hold you from bidding!

Help us help the victims of the cruelty case on the Ebro racetrack in Florida and support the group that tries to rehome all the greyhounds from this track that will no longer race.
GPA EC needs our help, so all greyhounds will find a loving home.

A good start of the day ended up being a great week

2010-11-10T09:39:00.001-05:00

Remember my last post in which I told you about winning a camera?
Last Sunday we picked it up, it's cute and I am having fun playing with it.
It is also pretty light, which makes it easier to bring with me on hikes. And yes, you guessed it, I am keeping it.

But some more things happened last week.
First of all it was the end of my sons first marking period at highschool and he got his grades.
All A's!!! I am so proud of him. Hard to believe he has been here for only a year eh? But then, his PSSA results in 8th grade were all in the advanced range.
Very proud Mom here as you probably will understand.

And on Friday I started my first Free Style classes with Paquita which was fun.
It is an introduction class of 4 weeks to doggy dancing and I am amazed about how much she still picks up at age 8. But I always knew she is a smart dog.
The group exists of 10 dogs, but only 8 showed up. I was surprised to find out that most dogs didn't respond friendly to other dogs. Which was something I had hoped for. Paquita loves interacting with other dogs. But no such luck.
It was funny to see how diverse the group was, from a big standard poodle and a pittbull to a yorkie and a bulldog.
At the end of the lesson we got our homework. We have to practice our spins, twirls and weaves.

And than the biggest surprise of the week, Jack decided that I will go home for a few days in December together with my son. It is a shame Jack can't come with us, but he has to work and will take care of all 4 dogs.
When he told me I was hesitant, didn't want to be away for X-mas, but we will be back for New Year. So a tree will be set up before we go and I can have a lot of fun decorating.

As you see, a great week.
Hope the rest of the year will be as positive.

As for this week, I hope it ends really well but it started with a horrible cruelty case at the Ebro racetrack for greyhounds.
I am working on an auction to raise money for the surviving Ebro greyhounds and I got some great donations from Greyhounds in Nood Nederland and May Schnabelreiter from www.halsbanden.com.
Both donated a handmade, leather martingale collar specially made for this auction. Also, Melissa from M.Paige Portraits donates a custom drawn pet portrait and a print of one of her drawings.
And there will be prints and other nice stuff.
The auction is this Sunday, it's just one day from 9 AM to 11 PM eastern time.
So you better be fast.
All information and teasers can be fond the next couple of days on Auction at The Little White Monster and Friends
Check it out.
I am thrilled to do it and hope it will be a success, but I need you guys to bid!

If you want to know more about the reason of this auction, check out these newspaper articles.
But be aware, the story is hard and horrible.

Cruelty case at Ebro racetrack

Trainer arrested after at least 20 greyhounds are found dead

My day couldn't have started better

2010-11-03T08:58:00.001-04:00

Usually when I open my mailbox and find a message that says "Congratulations", I hit the Spam button without opening it.
Not this time, this message came from PennCamera and I had entered one of my pictures in a photo contest.
It was a pet photo contest and since most of my pictures are pet related, I thought I would give it a try.
Not with much hope, since you had to get people to vote and I don't know that many people.
And besides, I never win anyway…

Not this time, my picture of Cara won first prize!

A brand new Olympus EP-L1 camera. Who would have thought that? Now to figure out what the closest shop is. They don't have one close to here so we'll have to figure out what the closest one is and plan a trip.

And suddenly it is November

2010-11-01T10:35:00.001-04:00

The transition from summer to fall goes so fast here. One moment I am spending a few days in late September on the beach of Cape May with a friend, wearing flipflops, shorts and a cap and a week later it is suddenly fall.
I am not complaining though, fall is gorgeous here, beautiful colors, blue skies and comfortable temperatures. That is, until the last few days, it is getting colder now, fast.
With fall comes pumpkin pie, pumpkin carving, Halloween and the smell of cinnamon at the entrance of every shop that sells seasonal stuff.
While living in the Netherlands, I loved that smell, but it is so overwhelming here, it irritates my nose and throat within a week after the stuff appeared. Yuck.
One of the fun things of the last week was our pumpkin carving party. With a few neighbors we get together and start carving. It makes for a fun display at Halloween and we get a lot of comments on how great the garden looks.
Yesterday we had 193 kids trick or treating, even more than last year. We barely had enough candy.
I think Halloween is one of my favorite holidays here. It reminds me a bit of Sint Maarten in the Netherlands, but in this case, its ok as a grown up to dress up also. Which I am having a lot of fun with.

Have to go now, need to work all the extra food from this weekend off.
I'll leave you guys with some pictures from the last 3 weeks.

Heading for the airport

2010-09-12T10:30:00.000-04:00

in a few hours to pick up a visitor.
A good friend and fellow sighthound lover is coming over for a two week visit.
It will be fun showing her around, doing DC, Cape May, Gettysburg and all the other nice places we can visit here.
In a way I still feel like a tourist when we get in the car and drive around, so it should be no problem to find nice spots and sights to see.

Just wish it wouldn't rain today.
I mean, we needed the rain, bad! But why today?
Yesterday would have been perfect also?

A little list of things that I never had, had heard, done or had seen in the Netherlands

2010-09-09T14:46:00.003-04:00

4 pair of shorts and still wondering if I should get another pair
(has to do with the first one) haven't worn jeans since May
followed by tanned legs!
ground hogs

bald eagles
squirrels racing through my garden
flash flooding
tornado warnings
more than one snowstorm in a winter
bear sightings in the neighborhood
having a campfire on a cool fall evening
turkey at Thanksgiving
dressing up at halloween
two lunch dates in a week
going out for breakfast
humming birds

above ground wires everywhere
which leads to totally mutilated trees to prevent power outages
personalized license plates

a starting business
always having your groceries bagged at the store
a garden bigger than the house
motor bikers not wearing a helmet
so many people texting, calling and driving at once
a church on every other corner
with huge billboards on the roadside
being called 'hun' or 'sweety' by waitresses
restaurants that don't have a liquor license
separate shops for beer/soda's and wine/liquor
cheese on my french fries
free refills for soda

and many many more.

Life is different here and I do like it, can you tell?

Today it is a year ago...

2010-08-31T13:08:00.000-04:00

While it was still dark in the early morning that my parents arrived to wave us goodbye.

When the taxi arrived we loaded up everything that wasn't on it's way already, a few suitcases, a few bags and two nervous dogs.

A few last hugs and we were on our way to the airport and our new home in the US.

It is hard to believe it really has been a year already.

So many things happened and time has flown by and I think we are doing fine.

To start of with the easy ones, the dogs are doing great together and Cara is even flourishing thanks to the men in this household. She loves to boss them around.

My son did well in school last year, when asked he will tell you that he liked how friendly everyone in school is and even though he had English lessens for one year in the Netherlands, his grades get better and better. It is just too bad he isn't really into the sport culture over here sine they would have liked for him to start football.

A few days ago he started highschool and that is another adjustment for him, but I am sure he'll be fine.

The one thing he doesn't like here are the vaccinations that are mandatory for schoolkids here. The last year he had a total of 5 vaccinations and at least one more to go in the near future.

He is the only one who got to go back for a few weeks. He spent 7 weeks with family and his dad.

If all goes as planned, we hope to visit the Netherlands this winter, but it isn't sure yet.

Have to say, besides visiting family I don't really feel the need yet to go back.

I think I kinda like it here. I certainly don't miss the days of rain, getting wet on the bike going to work or having to struggle with the wind 2 times a day while on the bike since the wind always seemed to change.

Off course there are things I miss but there is also a lot that I got back for it.

LOL, I was never before this tanned, even with staying inside at the air conditioning for whole days this summer. And I am certainly not complaining about wearing only shorts for 4 months now.

In general, I love it here.

Love how friendly and encouraging people are here. Love the hills in Pennsylvania and when we get into the car I still feel like I am on vacation. Too busy to look around to keep up a conversation.

I love the weather even though it can be extremely hot or cold here.

We live in a nice neighborhood with friendly people and we are working on the house to make it 'our' home.

Jack and I are doing great, we found that we love doing a lot of the same stuff and we are doing them.

We love going out, walk and see things, wether it is nature or going to museums, we enjoy doing them.

Slowly we are finding new things for our house and find we like what the other picks.

The biggest chance for me was going back to be a stay at home mom. For now it works out because it gives me time to work on my photography and it looks like it may evolve into a real job for me.

And I think that if you ask Jack, the biggest chance for him as having a family again, living together in the house.

Meaning that he has a wife that nags at times and a teenager that can be a handfull. But I have the feeling that he secretly likes that.

He'd better since I am not going anywhere, I am staying.

ps, I'll pick up blogging over the next days.

Had a bit of a blogblock I think, but can think of so many things I would like to write about, I think I am good for a bit.

Jack walking our Spanish girls in Cape May this summer.

Hup Holland!!!!

2010-07-06T16:54:00.000-04:00

We'll see you Sunday!!!

Yikes….

2010-07-06T13:37:00.002-04:00

Extreme HeatHi 39°RealFeel® 42°

So glad we have air conditioning over here!!!
My poor plants outside.

Biting my nails here...

2010-06-28T11:31:00.001-04:00

and I don't even like soccer.
But here I am, listening to Dutch radio and watching the game on tv.
Blaming it on the possibility that there is a part of me that might be slightly homesick?

Right now it is 1-0 for Oranje…

Anyway, when it gets too exiting, I walk out.
I love walking out here because there is so much I can check on in our garden.
Can pinch out flowers of the hanging baskets, or the day lilies.
Check if I need to water anything. And I do, the heat is finally becoming too much for our new planted garden. And not just our garden, when walking the dogs I can see most lawns turn slightly brown.
One thing that is growing really well is a little plant that my son brought home from school.

One of the other kids didn't want it and my son knows that I will always give it a shot.
Not that it helps, I manage to kill most plants. But this time it seems to do well.
We had no clue what it was until a few days ago.
They are cucumbers!

So we are growing our first vegetables ever.
And they grow so fast that I swear, every time the game gets to exiting and I walk out, those little cucumbers grew again!

So maybe it isn't such a bad idea to have a small vegetable garden next year?

YES!!!
A minute after I finished this blog entry the Dutch scored again.
2-0 :-)

Mag ik even?

2010-06-22T20:40:00.000-04:00

Voor de verandering eens een Nederlands blogje.
Voornamelijk omdat ik er zin in heb maar ook omdat manlief mijn gezeur dan niet hoeft te lezen.
Want, zoals Dixiechick en Cisca beide al meer dan eens benoemden, we houden ervan om nu en dan eens te zeuren.
En dat doen ze hier niet. Hier doen ze aan oplossingen en aanpakken.

Maar nu heb ik zin om even lekker te zeuren, over iets onzinnigs, iets dat ik heel goed kan oplossen, maar gewoon omdat het soms zo lekker is.
Het zit namelijk zo, het eten is hier 'te' lekker.
Ook laat Jack me kennismaken met dingen die ik me nooit kon veroorloven of niet kende.
Dat niet alleen, maar de porties zijn ook nog eens enorm.
Als ik per ongeluk laat vallen dat ik wellicht zin in een ijsje heb, dan staan we 5 minuten later bij Brusters Icecream . Niet voor een ijsje waar de chocolade hagelsslag overheen gevlogen is, maar voor een waarvoor ik beide handen nodig heb om het vast te houden en waarin flinke brokken chocola zitten.
Of halverwege de week word me gevraagd of ik geen zin heb om dat thaise restaurant uit te proberen, of zullen we naar BJ's gaan. Of hij komt thuis met een stel steaks waar je U tegen zegt en die gaan dan op de grill.
Zucht, de helft van de tijd hoef ik zelf geen boodschappen te doen en wordt er voor me gekookt.
Steak, met een baked potato en mais… of met blauwe kaas gevulde kipfilet en als dessert cookiedough icecream.

Ik denk dat jullie wel ongeveer zien waar dit heengaat.
Mijn weegschaal ziet het ook, toen ik eindelijk de moed verzameld had en er op ging staan.
Lekker eten en daarbij niet meer dagelijks op de fiets is funest.
Per maand kwam ik meer dan een kilo aan. Denk dat jullie dat optel sommetje zelf wel kunnen doen. En natuurlijk kreeg ik problemen met mijn kleding, niets past meer.
Maar ja, ook daarover kon ik niet zeuren, we gingen gewoon naar de outlets, die zijn vlakbij….zei hij.

Toch heb ik moeten besluiten om de rem er op te gooien en inmiddels is er 5,5 kilo af.
Maar lastig is het wel, behalve dat ik nu oplet wat ik eet, moet ik vooral opletten wat ik zeg.
Want voor ik het weet ligt de koelkast weer vol met lekkernijen waarvan hij denkt dat ik er zin in had.
En dat is zo verleidelijk.

Want het is allemaal veel te lekker.
Echt waar!

It really is Summer now

2010-06-11T09:58:00.001-04:00

And that means school ended on Wednesday.
I haven't been talking much about my son on this blog since I don't really feel comfortable with talking about your kids on the internet. Too many weird people around.
But I really have to let you know now that I am a very proud Mom.
In the last few years my son had to go through some really big changes and non of them were really his choice. The last one was moving with me to the US, starting school here and adjusting to life here.
A moment ago I looked at his grades. In September he started in the 8th grade, which is the last year of middle school, and you can see his grades go up over the year.
The most surprised I am by his high B for Social Studies. Which is American history and not something he had in the Netherlands.
But best of all is seeing his English grade go up from a D to a B.
Oh and I certainly shouldn't forget the big fat A's for pre-algebra, science, art, music, gym and the last 2 gradings in reading.

Next year he will be starting High school and I think he will do fine. He seems to like the way school is set up here and if you ask him, kids are more friendly. The only bad part of school is the busses he says.
Used as he was to go on the bike, he really doesn't like the bus. And if it weren't for the 15 (highway) I would let him go, but even with the traffic lights is is just too dangerous.

Anyway, I just wanted to brag a bit about my 15 year old son.
I am really liking the young man he is turning into and I am already curious to see what the next 4 years will bring.

This week I had to say goodbye to him. Right now he is in the Netherlands, visiting his father and family for the summer. He made this long flight on his own. We had done this flight several times together and I knew he is better at finding the gates and luggage than his Mom. Also, he didn't have to wait the long wait before boarding on his own, Jack got a gate pass and waited with him. But I guess I am being a typical Mom and really didn't want to let him go on his own.

It is a good thing he has 4 years of high school to go to, close to home.
Because his Mom needs the time to get used to the idea that he will spread his wings and leave the nest.

Btw, sorry for just blurting all this out, had to get it out there and didn't really worry about how it came out.

We are getting there...

2010-05-31T14:28:00.000-04:00

There was a good reason for the break in blogging.
We are very busy with a few things and most important, our garden.
We've been cutting, pulling, digging, planting, mulching, getting sore backs, splinters in our fingers and blisters.
And we are not done yet, but we are getting there.
The front and the sides are almost done and for the back we found, after a lot of research from Jacks side the exact stuff we want for our fence in the back. It was hard, because we wanted something like you see a lot in the Netherlands and couldn't find it over here. But it looks like it is coming in fashion on the west coast, so we will be able to order what we need.

Garden centers are different in the US, they don't have the variety I am so used to and a lot of the stuff looks old fashioned to me. Also plants are more expensive than I am used to.
But, we found a local place that has a lot of plants and shrubs that are, when it is the season for it, are very affordable.

Guess I'd better show pictures than words :-)

Today we added a hammock which is in the shaded area. Only, it is way too hot to use it. Actually, right now it is way to hot to be outside at all. Which is why I am behind the pc at 2 in the afternoon. We have had some real ho weather for a few days now and I have been watering everything like a madman.

Something else that keeps me busy is working towards my own pet photography business. Am using every opportunity I can find to practice and also talk to people. It helps that our neighbor got a new dog that I walked a few times, that they also have cats, like another neighbor and they are all willing to help me out by letting me take pictures. I know, we have 4 dogs, but I think you could compare them with the pillows on your couch, 90 percent of the time there isn't much movement. Also, I had my own business cards printed and yesterday we went to the Harrisburg Art Fest and looked at how people had set up their booths, what was offered and I got to talk with a photographer that had made this same step just a few years ago with her wildlife photography. She offered her help if I had any questions which I gladly accepted.

It is all very interesting and exiting. It won't be really working until I get my drivers license, but also that will be done soon.

The thing that really surprises me is how much help and support I am getting from a lot of people. It is so different from my experiences in the past in the Netherlands. It gives me a lot of confidence to start another adventure.

Blame it on the greyhounds!

2010-05-13T08:17:00.004-04:00

If you think about it, an awful lot of things happening in my life can be blamed on our (Spanish) greyhounds.
Jack and I wouldn't have met if it weren't for them.
It helped my self confidence and social skills, working in a rescue organization for these dogs.
Have a lot of friends thanks to them.
It did wonders for my language skills having to contact greyhound rescues all over the world.
I'll even blame them for giving me the courage to move to the US to them, since I knew they would be a constant factor in our life.
They also are the 'always' available models for my photography, which made me a better photographer and that gives me the courage to start my own business.

We have more dogs in this house than people. That means that a huge part of our lives evolves around them. Hard to avoid, since they are pretty big and have more space on the couch than we have.
And going away for a full day is hard, try to find someone who can walk 4 big dogs and who you can trust to not let them off leash when they go crazy over a rabbit or squirrel.
We'll have to get a bigger car because of them, got laminate flooring in the house because of them and just spent an fortune on vet bills for regular vet work for all 4 (and we're not done yet).
We're also looking into getting a fence around the backyard so they can run off their energy. Which means we will probably have to say goodbye to the grass that is still there. They also have their own room in the house, with their own couches, which is baby gated off from the rest of the house. They can still see and hear us, but it is safe when the front door is open.
With four big dogs, you also have to pick up a lot of poop. And sometimes they have accidents in the house. You have to walk them 4 times a day. They eat a lot of food. Chicken necks look really yuckie!
And I don't like the smell of canned fish when I divide the portions over the kibble.
And lets not start about doghair, I'll find one in our food occasionally. And we never have clean windows, it is dogsn'art' all over.

But I wouldn't want to miss them!
I love how Johnny now brings his pillow upstairs every morning to wake me up and show how happy he is. How Tex decided that I give perfect scritches and stand with me for a long time pushing his nose under my arm. How Cara gets more and more playful and outgoing, she makes us laugh. And how Paquita is still her sweet, gentle self and wins over so many neighbors that love on her.
I love how they all get along so perfectly and after nine months it is like they lived together all their lives.

Now, wouldn't a whippet look great with them?

Ehhhhhhhhhhhhhh

2010-05-09T23:09:00.000-04:00

just watched the news.
Just a few miles away from us, they saw a young black bear in town?

We are given guidelines:
Don't feed the bear
Take birdfeeders down
Make sure no trash is outside

And here I was, thinking Jack joked when he said they had spotted a bear not long ago in the area we went for a hike...

GIG (Going Insane over Greyhounds?)

2010-04-29T17:42:00.001-04:00

That is my version, officially it is Greyhounds in Gettysburg.
A yearly event that takes place the last weekend of April.
Last year I was here for a visit and we went to Gettysburg for a day. But I have to admit that I was too shy to talk to people that time, worried about my accent. And…it felt weird going without dogs.

This year, my accent wasn't a problem, because we were bringing Cara , aka the Little White Monster and Paquita. And I knew they would get all attention.
The Little White Monster visiting GIG didn't go unnoticed thanks to the members of Greytalk.
And it turned out to be two great days, talking to other greyhound owners, meeting with several people who we only had met on line up to now. Some of them we had talked to for years through this board.
The girls got a lot of attention and off course new collars. It is unknown to me to have so much greyhound stuff to choose from, 40 vendors!!! So now I have 2 new Fast Jack shirts next to the hooded sweatshirt that once belonged to Jack, the girls have new collars from Around the Hounds. We found the perfect little greyhound for our x-mas tree at ClayGreys (you'll have to google it and I promise it is worth it)
And a greyhound shaped cookie cutter, so every visitor of the GINN reunion can buy greyhound shaped cookies once I sent it off to Lucia.
But the best part was the hounds, so many greyhounds in all forms and shapes. But also, Spanish Galgo's.
Besides my girls, there were , as far as I know 8 other Spanish rescue's. Some from the same shelter as my girls come from. This also meant I slipped back into giving advice and tips on these special hounds.
Which, I have to admit felt pretty good.

We had such a good time, next year we'll rent a hotel room in Gettysburg so we won't miss out on the fun at night.
Anyway, time for pics.
Enjoy!

Feeling quite fancy now

2010-04-22T12:04:00.000-04:00

Cause I went out, for breakfast.
And I had 2 blueberry pancakes with syrup.

Which probably means I will have to repeat my 11 mile bikeride from yesterday. But it may have to wait until tomorrow, since a certain part of my anatomy is still sore from yesterdays ride.
You know, in itself 11 miles isn't that much, I used to do those on a daily base in the Netherlands.
But I had 8 bikeless months and they have hills here.
And I finally understand why you would have so many gears, because you need them here.
Will take me while to get used to the uphill rides, they are hard, but than, I can use the work out.

Cause over here, they go out for lunch or breakfast.
And that is fun, certainly if a neighbor who you say hi to when she walks by suddenly asks you if you want to join them. Them being a group of ladies from the neighborhood.
I don't recall being invited like that in the Netherlands, ever. Or being invited to go shopping by someone you just met. And maybe it is just this neighborhood, but I am still surprised about how friendly everyone is here. It is not that people aren't friendly in the Netherlands, but people here seem more open and easier with contacting a new person in the neighborhood.
So, I went out for breakfast with 4 other ladies.

And now I am feeling quite fancy, since we didn't even think about doing that in the Netherlands.

What I really missed here

2010-04-17T14:46:00.003-04:00

was my bike. All my life I used it to get anywhere I had or wanted to be. Not only riding because I had to, also on my semi-race bike just for fun.
I did it for so long, around 100 km per week, that my body actually needs it to keep it's weight.
Guess what happens when that suddenly is gone and instead all these new foods that you have to taste show up?
Right, almost a US pound a month, that is what happens.
And that has to end, rather sooner than later. Better get a bike now than have to buy more clothes another size bigger than I had to do last week.

So today, all three of us got in the car to Shippensburg. There is this barn filled with bikes, a young Mennonite sells and repairs them. It reminded me of those small town bike shops in the Netherlands, you hardly can walk between the rows of bikes and you wonder how on earth they can get out the one you are interested in.
But he managed without getting that dreaded chain reaction in which the whole row falls over.

There is a difference in the types of bikes here compared to the many choices you have in the Netherlands, you roughly have 3 choices, the mountain bike, the race bike or the one in between. Not many citybikes like we know, the ones you use to haul a weeks supply of groceries from the centre of town to your home.
And to be honest, I wouldn't want to try it, too many hills and highways here for that.
And, when you are lucky, the bike comes with a bell, or a lock, or lights, or a little rack to carry your bag.
Bikes are bare here, very naked from what I am used to.
Very used to the safety rules in the Netherlands I couldn't help but wonder if you are actually allowed on the road on these bikes.
But yes, you are. Because first of all, you certainly don't want to ride anywhere near dark. No one will listen to that bell anyway and since you just ride your bike for fun here, why would you need a rack on your bike.
As for the lock, they rather steal cars here. Or very expensive bikes.
And these aren't, not for Dutch standards. They are actually amazingly cheap for Dutch standards and are good quality bikes.

We could take my sons bike home right away, Jacks had to be assembled and mine does get a little rack.
Just for old times sake, so I can peddle up to the Giant if I feel the need to go for a few groceries.
For the rest, I'll have to start mapping out some routes and get back into biking, but this time, also up hill...

Yes, he is wearing a cowboy hat while riding his bike. Guess that shows how well adjusted he already is ;-)

About spring and the hard part of living on the other side of the ocean

2010-04-12T14:55:00.001-04:00

Lets just start with the hard part. One of the things that you never ever can imagine before you make the big step of moving to another country is that at some point you really want to be with your family on the other side.
Last week and now is one of those times for me.
Thursday my Mom was admitted to hospital to have surgery. We knew it was coming and we talked it through, if needed, I could be there one the first plane. But we would do that in case of emergency. My parents promised not to hesitate but let me know if and when.

Even though things looked good at first, it didn't go great and she ended up being operated twice within 12 hours.
Because of the time difference I only heard about it the next day and it looked much better after that. My sisters could visit and I get reports from one of my sisters twice a day.
Yesterday turned out to be another bad day, but again I heard the next day.
I know they are keeping a really good eye on her. My Dad is there and the rest of the family visits when they can.
But it doesn't feel right not to be able to give her a hug and tell her that she really needs to get better now.
Sending a card just isn't the same…

What I can do is take pictures for her of how Spring is in Pennsylvania knowing that she will enjoy them.
It feels good to know that both my parents were here and will recognize the things I took pictures of.
The quality won't be as good as normal since my Nikon broke down and is MIA now for almost two weeks.
Anyway, Spring hit hard here, really hard, like 30 degrees celsius hard for several days in a row. Which means that we have been wearing shorts now for almost two weeks.
Actually, my legs have more color already than they have in the Netherlands in July.

Spring here is pink and white.
A few yellow spots maybe from the daffodils, but mainly pink from the Redbud trees, the crabapples and cherryblossom trees, the white is from the appletrees and another tree that seems to be in every other garden here.
Also spring marks the beginning of fishing season.

Last weekend Jack took me to Boiling Springs to see how crazy that can be. They put out trout in the little lake there and that first Sunday tons of little boats are on it, packed like pickled herring in a jar. On the sides people stand so close together that I am surprised no one gets hurt by hooks, fishing lines or fish pulled out the water so fast they go flying.

Anyway, I'll post some of the pics here, hope you enjoy them also.

2010-04-12T09:09:00.003-04:00

There will be a blog entry later today.

Just spent...

2010-03-31T15:03:00.001-04:00

15 minutes searching for our waste container.
Yeah, found it, 3 houses down the block.

We have had a few days with some wind, nothing really extreme, had to peddle my bike into worse in the Netherlands, but….

Strong winds aren't an every day thing here, wind in general, isn't an everyday event here.
Thus, nothing here is built or made to be up against a bit of wind.
And as you guessed, neither are our waste containers.
First of all, ours don't have a lid, which means that the empty plastic bottles and all paperwork that you dare putting in the recycling container get blown out just as fast as you threw it in there.
I am guessing that on windy days, it is better for the environment not to recycle, since he neighborhood looks like a dumpster when it is windy.
Don't really have that problem with the other container. Everything is in bags and unless you make a mess yourself, it shouldn't be blown all over the place, even with out a lid on it.
With that one the problem comes later, when it is empty and without any weight to hold it down.
Than the container catches wind and goes on a trip around the neighborhood.

Am still waiting for the day we get new traffic signs here.
Careful, crossing waste containers.

Bit melancholic today

2010-03-31T13:14:00.000-04:00

I love green...

2010-03-26T17:52:00.000-04:00

in all kinds of ways, but right now, green cards are my favorite.
Today, after a lot of worry from my side, my sons green card arrived also.
It is hard to explain how relieved I am, but the people who went through the whole visa route or are still busy, they do understand.
No more worries for a year and 9 months, than we start the whole thing again.
Yep, that is right, we have to do it again.

Oh, and that green card, it isn't green.
Want to see mine?

Isn't the picture horrible?
Not that I care, those have to be ugly, it fits to the one I have on my passport.

Yesterday we enjoyed another type of green.
The weather was very nice and with colder weather coming, Jack asked if I felt like going for a hike at Pinchot State Park.
It is one of my favorite places over here. Yesterday we tried another trail and found out pretty fast that it was too wet to do an actual hike, still, the temps were great and we enjoyed the budding trees. At some point we saw 3 Kingfishers chasing each other. Not close enough for a picture, but we know where one of them nests now, so we may go back. After that we walked around at the beach a bit and enjoyed all those busy birds. Was amazed to see so many Northern Flickrs, we have one in our garden that I really would like to get on a picture, but they are really shy.
This might have been our last walk, hike, for a few days, the weather changed today and it is cold now.

A down point to this great weather is that a lot of trees are in bloom, way more than I am used to in the Netherlands. But it has a big effect on two members of our family.
Jack has started sneezing and getting trouble for about a week now, but also Cara, our Little White Monster is having problems.
This did confirm that her red, itchy eyes are the result of environmental allergies.
She is getting eyedrops twice a day now to make her eyes less itchy and red.

Monday is my last photography class, I will miss it, it was fun to do and I can't wait until I have my drivers license. Than I can do the follow up class on lighting.
Sunday we will be painting eggs at our neighbors. (Is Easter that close?)
And we have a vet appointment set up for Tex the week after. He is the oldest of the two boys and is in need of a dental and a good look at his joints. I have the feeling he is in pain when getting up. Not good when you are a 12 year old greyhound.

Anyway, that is it for now.
Not much to tell besides every day stuff besides that we will be looking in to plane tickets for my son.

Thats it, see you all later.

Who's dunnit?

2010-03-23T14:53:00.002-04:00

I used to think Chipmunks, squirrels and bunnies were cute…

Things done

2010-03-22T10:08:00.005-04:00

since my last blog:

Visited the Antique Auto Museum at Hersey
We went to see Paula Poundstone in York
Enjoyed the gorgeous weather we are having, like over 20 degrees Celsius
Got a tan
Took several nice walks
Went out to lunch a few times
Practiced Photography
Went to class and enjoyed it very much
Got a new window in the car
More golf practice for my son
Took long walks
Sowed sunflowers and Columbines to plant in the garden later
Planted perennials in front of the house
Thought through our plans for fencing in the backyard (hopefully up next month)
Made a long, long what to do list
Bought curtains for my sons bedroom but haven't hanged them yet
Went to get my social security number which I could pick up today, but have class tonight
Had to get new t-shirts because thanks to, amongst other things, the lunches, my waistline is gone. Waistline? What waistline? Did I ever have a waistline?
Decided that selling my pictures might be a good idea
Than decided that that last thing is very scary, who would buy them?
Am still liking my not so new anymore Dyson

and lots more…….

Also, for the people who follow it.

Last week my Green Card arrived, so from now on I am official a resident of the US.

But…no word on my sons application yet.

We got a RFE (request for more evidence) thanks to a slip up I made on one of his papers.

When writing the date on something, I always have to think twice, since here it is the month first, than the day. I must have missed once….

In spite of writing it the right way several other times and the fact there was a copy of his passport with all these papers, they wanted a new birth certificate and a translation.

They must have received those last Friday, so for now we have everything crossed in hope they will send him his card very soon.

Update:

Received an e-mail, minutes ago, from the USCIS that my sons card production was ordered!!!

With much happiness

2010-03-05T12:39:00.001-05:00

I present to you our newest addition to our household.
You may remember this blog entry
Well, this week there came an end to my agony with the arrival of this sweety:

And believe me, she is what her name says, an Animal.
She gets anything that is in her way and doesn't need to be lifted onto every carpet but hops on and proceeds her way like it is nothing.
She will go any way you want her to go, rounds corners like a pro and is able to dive under the couch.
She doesn't flip over and tries to bite my ankles but keeps herself upright like a real lady.

And she is even pretty to look at.

Yep, she is a stayer. We officially adopted her.

There is one down side to it...
I have absolutely no excuse anymore for doghair flying all over the place.

This is it: "Dog Blog"

2010-03-03T09:42:00.000-05:00

Okay, as promised finally a proper introduction of the four legged members of our family.

Some of you may know that Jack and I met through Greytalk
Both of us joined several years ago, we both had greyhounds and it is a good way to get some info about the breed, the background of these dogs and for me it was a way to get the word out about the galgo's in Spain. The board has members from all over the world, but most members are American people.
Anyway, you all know how this contact developed.

So now we have 4 dogs together.
Johhny and Tex, both greyhound males and belonged to Jack. Paquita, the lurcher and Cara the galgo, both females, belonged to me.
And from the first introduction on in September they get along really well.
Johnny thought he had to show that he actually was ' the guy' in the house, but he found out really fast that Cara wasn't impressed by that type of behavior. And since than they all sleep in the same room, on the same couch if there is space, though Paquita prefers her own dogbed.

Tex is the eldest. He is about 12 years old and an ex-racer. He is a very sweet, gentle dog that loves to have his butt scratched and his ears rubbed. He will make the most funny faces when you do that. He spent a long time at the track and it looks like that left its marks on his back.
He is the only one who has trouble with our pergo floor, he slips now and than, which makes him scared.
It took me quite a while to get decent pictures of him, he doesn't like the camera and looks away.
For the rest, I have the feeling that he rules the roost. But in a quiet, not in your face way.
He also has the softest fur I have ever seen on a greyhound.
For the rest, there isn't much to say about him, he is as I said sweet, quiet and handsome. One of those dogs that is easy and great to have around.

Johnny is the biggest one of them all, matter of fact is, he is huge, meaning tall. He always is on the skinny side. He is one of those dogs that have a hard time keeping their weight. He is about 10 years old now and one of those, in your face dogs. Actually, he is a bit spoiled by Jack. If you would ask Johnny, we are here to serve him. Add his size to that and you understand that with him it is important to let him know that we are in charge, not him. He is also very funny and very happy every time you come home.
He will let you know by running into you, pillow in his mouth and tossing it in the air, pouncing on it and running around.
He also is a former racer, but wasn't adopted out right away, he ended up as a coyote dog. (used to hunt coyotes) This isn't without danger for the dogs and he when he finally ended up for adoption, he was covered in scars. He was Jack's first greyhound and it turned out he had huge separation anxiety. Which is why Jack adopted Tex. Johnny is the type of dog that you can tell tons of things about because he isn't the brightest bulb. But he also is very cute and sweet and it is hard not to give into him if he wants something.

Paquita is a galgo border collie mix (lurcher) which I found at the Scooby shelter in Spain almost 8 years ago when I was there as a volunteer for Greyhounds in Nood Nederland. She was only a few weeks old at the time and she grew up with my son who she bonded with.
She is one of the sweetest and softest dogs I know if it comes to character. She is also very sensitive and will react to whatever mood there is in the house. She puts herself in lowest place in the group and is comfortable with it. She also loves her people, and the people she meets and the dogs she meets.
She is also too smart. I took her to three courses and she loved learning the tricks, but don't let her off leash. She will have a great time, will come when called, until the moment her galgo button gets pushed.
Banana's start growing out of her ears in an instant and she takes off.
So she rarely gets let off leash. In a way that is okay, since the others can't be off leash at all. But in the rare occasion she can be let off leash at a save place, you see how much she adores playing and running around with other dogs. Anyway, even though she now is the oldest of my own dogs, she will always be my baby.

And last, but certainly not least, we have Cara, aka the Little White Monster. She also comes from the Scoobyshelter in Spain, adopted through Greyhounds in Nood Nederland and I am not really sure what her age is now. I had asked for a steady, quiet, grown up dog to accompany Paquita after my two old dogs past away. What I got was a bit different.
She was not even a year old and a lot more scared than she looked at first. She had lived in a group of males since she was a puppy and decided she didn't want to bond with any female dog. She more or less ignores Paquita, but is very happy to have the two big males around now. From the first moment on she choose Johnny to wrap around her paw. They are funny to see together. Where Johnny lies, she lies and usually with her head on his butt. Most of her fears are slowly going, she decided within two weeks after moving here that Jack was ok and will lie on his lap if she feels like it. This after being scared to death of him every time Jack came over to the Netherlands, he couldn't even pet her. She also is our wild child, she races through the house and has a huge prey drive. Which is fun with all the rabbits and squirrels here. She still has quite the bit of separation anxiety, but is getting better these days.

Sooo, that is a bit about all of them.
Off course I could tell a lot more about them all but this is it for today.
But if it weren't for these guys, Jack and I would have never ended up in this adventure together.
And that makes them a huge part of our lives.
Love them all.

Not a dog blog

2010-02-28T18:06:00.001-05:00

Sorry for the ones who had been hoping for one, but I hope you will forgive me another ' normal' blog entry.
Can give you a teaser though…..
How about this:

Do hope this will get you guys going for a few more days.

Anyway, the reason for a normal blog is the fun evening we had last night.

The highschool my son is going to next year had organized a basketball game to raise money for the girls basketball team. For this they had invited the Harlem Wizards over. They are a show team and they did a pretty good job.

Originally this would have taken place on Friday, but because of the weather it was moved to Saturday.

Which was the reason we hadn't gotten tickets yet, so we had to get in line.

A long, long line. And as we all know, there is no fun in waiting.

At least, that is how I always felt in the Netherlands. Sometimes here it looks more like an opportunity to meet people. As happened again last night.

The nice thing about the schools here is the amount of things they organize make it easy to meet people from your own neighborhood. And that was what happened last night again. It was fun to get acquainted

with a few more neighbors and it made waiting a lot easier.

The game was fun, the Wizards put up a great show and involved the audience. They played games with the small kids and some times it got funny enough to laugh out loud, even for a 15 year old.

After the show we still had to eat. Before we left I had cut up a lot of stuff and gotten things ready, so it was pretty easy. Normally I wouldn't mention dinner, but for the people that know me, they know I don't like fish or any type of seafood. But because we all could loose a few pounds (ugh, ugh) we decided to try to eat healthy. And that includes fish.

Sooo, yesterday we had cut up vegetables with Talapia on top. The whole things goes into the oven for about 20 minutes. The trick is: Cajun seasoning.

This makes fish ok to eat even for me.

For today we hadn't planned much, but Jack mentioned that we could do a Barnes and Noble visit.

Which is always fine with me. But this time we wanted my son with us. He has started reading and had ended his last book, the Road. He does have a few Dutch books left, but wanted English books because to him reading in English is more fun.

I am not totally sure if this has to do with the fact he is dyslectic, but fact is that he finds reading in English a lot easier.

So, off to B&N. It was hard to find something to interest my son, he just started and doesn't like the vampire stuff, Harry Potter or the reality books. But after talking it through a bit we found a Tom Clancy and Dan Brown book he wants to try.

Next to B&N is another favorite of mine. Pier One Imports, they remind me of Xenos, but a lot more expensive. This time I found a nice oil lamp, something I had wanted to get for quite some time now.

I have to say, it is quite funny to hear your son say: Jack, make her buy it, she likes it but never gets it.

So, now it is Sunday evening, I am typing away here, Jack is making taco's, son is playing games and the hockey game between Canada and the US is on.

Jack is for the US, I want Canada to win.

And Canada wins!!!

One last thing, yesterday, before the highschool event it was the first time I witnessed the standing up for the national anthem. Something that hadn't happened yet to me. Remember, I am a stay at home mom right now. My son gets that every morning.

I have to say, it was strange to experience it. We live here.

Exactly 6 months now, but it isn't home totally….yet.

I was rooting for Mark instead of Shani.

But it was funny to see take Jack his cap off, it is one of the rare moments he will.

It can stop now, thank you very much...

2010-02-26T10:48:00.001-05:00

Don't need more snow, we have had plenty.
And certainly no snowstorm with high winds.

Yep, that is right, we are having #3. Not a lot of snow this time, but high winds that are howling around the house and resulting in weird noises coming from the roof and windows.
Son is having another snow day because they can't get all kids save at school 'cause of the drifting snow. So this is day # 3 that he will have to make up for during vacation time.

Guess the only one not being phased by the storm of today is this little guy.
No matter how much the feeder swings in the wind, every time he falls off, he jumps right back on.

But for me, it can stop now, had enough and will never ask for a real winter again, promise!
It is time for other things, like for example our green card.
We did have some , probably, good news, our case was transferred to California. This means we may get our green card without having to do an interview.

Also have the feeling that if they needed more information or are missing paperwork, we would have had a request for it by now.
But, you never know, it is the USCIS we are dealing with.

And something else that I am really excited about. Monday is the start of photography class. I am doing this with a neighbor and it will be 9 weeks in which I hope to learn the technical basics of using the camera. It also means meeting new people and getting out which will be fun.

Now you know also why it has been pretty quiet on this blog. Being stuck at the house does make me , not depressed, but somehow it feels like I am glued to my chair and it is hard to get myself moving.
It also makes it hard for me to sit down and write here. But with things to look forward to I am ready to write again.

Part of the excitement we did have recently, wasn't fun. The new dishwasher started leaking and water ruined our new pergo floor. It took several phonecalls, a visit to Lowes and people coming to the house before we had the floor replaced and payed for by the installer. But it finally got done last Saturday.

And than yesterday… highschool parent orientation meeting.
Yup, Dear Son is going to highschool after the summer. And by the time I finally get what they were talking about last night, I'll let you know. Diving into a new schoolsystem is confusing.
But also exiting. Specially since DS is doing so well. Until now his grades are great and he seems to pick up the language pretty fast. At least well enough to start highschool at academic level.
Proud Mom here!

Next time will probably a dog blog, think it is time to give the four legged side of our family a decent introduction.

Snowmageddon, the sequel

2010-02-10T13:52:00.019-05:00

an they are calling it already.
Another major snowstorm is hitting us and we are stuck.
Interstates are closed because of the danger and no one should be out if at all possible.

And by now, it isn't funny anymore.
Last night we already got a phonecall from my sons school, they are closed today.
By than it had already started snowing and it looked like we would get a fair amount.

But I didn't expect this.
Since we were getting nowhere I got to sleep in, when I woke up around 9-9:30, we already had close to a foot (30 cm)
It is now 1:30 pm and it is still snowing. But we will leave the measuring to someone else.
Unless we have to, we are not going out.
The wind is starting to blow the snow into dunes and I can now believe that people can get lost near their homes.
When we took the dogs out some time ago, we couldn't see a thing at moments.

And to think I used to hope for this type of weather every winter.

A few pics from our yard, since I am not taking a camera outside right now.
Hell, I am not going outside unless one of the dogs is in danger of exploding.

blik op ons stroompje

onze achtertuin

vanuit de voordeur gezien. (net geschept)

Video van vanmiddag

Video van vanmiddag waarin de vogeltjes ondanks de storm blijven vliegen.

Snowmageddon

2010-02-06T18:42:00.004-05:00

or in plain Dutch, 'n bult sneeuw. Article in Algemeen Dagblad
A whole lot of snow and to be honest, I am impressed. We still have electricity and our little circle is already cleaned from the mess on the streets.
When it started last night I didn't expect it to be this much. I mean, those American weather people don't differ much from the Dutch, usually they are kind of wrong. I think you know what I mean.
But this time they hit the nail on the head.
We were going to have a snowstorm and we got it.

Just before 6 this morning Jack woke me up, not sure what to do.
The dogs needed to go out, but stepping of the porch was nearly impossible.
At that point the snow was up to half a meter. No sighthound in it's right mind would step into that.
Now, Paquita would be another question, but we had 3 others to consider.

The solution came from the dogs themselves, they peed on the porch.

Anyway, since I was awake, I got out of bed and after breakfast Jack started digging a path to the road.
By this time it was around 7 or 8 (I forgot) and the snow plough came through our street once already.
So the dogs could be walked, phew….

LOL, Cara and Paquita looked so small in the snow.

At that time it was still snowing, and it kept snowing, until around 1 this afternoon.
We ended up with a huge amount of snow. Jack measured 28 to 30 inches on our deck, which is 70 to 75 cm. Have to say I am glad the roads were taken care off really fast here, it meant we could more or less take the pups out. But besides that, we had nothing else to do than keep our driveway clean and relax all day. (And off course take Paquita out for an extra walk, she loves the snow)
We were downright lazy and tomorrow will probably the same until the moment we have to go to that superbowl party. Oh, another reason I am really glad we didn't lose power, I got to bake brownies and a lemon cake for tomorrow.

In a few we have to walk the dogs again, it is dark already and they say the temperatures are going down well below freezing point. Not looking forward to it, it will be slippery.
But at least the sky is clear now, so no more snow.
And we had a pretty sunset. Here seen from our kitchen.

And a few more pics from today, the house, our deck and our little stream. Enjoy. We are going to walk the dogs and than sit in front of the fire, having taco's for dinner.

Ohhhh, for the people who are following our Visa Journey?
I got an e-mail, our case is transferred to California.
Normally, that is good news, they want to speed up things and we might even get our green cards without having to do an interview...

Silence before the storm

2010-02-05T08:41:00.001-05:00

Right now I am enjoying my breakfast. Coffee and an onion bagel.
Yummie, not my normal breakfast. But we went grocery shopping yesterday and got some extra yummie bagels for the occasion.
Normally we do our groceries Friday afternoon, never a problem since these places are so huge, you always can find a place to park and never have to wait long in line for checkout.
This time it seemed wiser to go on Thursday and for the first time I thought it was busy at Giant.
We had to park beyond the place we return the carts and that was a first.

Reason?
2 things, first of all, it is Superbowl weekend. Meaning that Sunday everyone will be sitting in front of their widescreens, watching the big football game, stuffing their face with wings and other goodies. Or, they will have a superbowl party, in which case a whole group of people that doesn't have to be related, will sit in front of the widescreen tv, in the meantime stuffing their faces with , you guessed it right, wings!
A lot of those wings are bought at our local Giant, reason #1 to shop early.

Second, we have a snowstorm coming.
Sounds like it may be a big one this time, they are showing us the storm warning since yesterday.
Newsshows are talking about nothing else and tell us to make sure we have enough food, water and batteries for our flashlights and cellphones.
The snow is supposed to start falling around 1 pm here and there should be between 1 and 1,5 foot 930 tot 45 cm) when it stops tomorrow afternoon.
Schools are already announcing early dismissals since late last night and some schools are closed already. Ehhhhhhh, I haven't seen a snowflake yet?

Anyway, we stocked up on our weekend supplies and I got an onion bagel out if it :-)
Jack will try to get home early so we can bring enough wood in to last us for quite some time, just in case we loose power and I filled all birdfeeders to the rim, to make sure they can have their own superbowl party. It already is very busy at the feeders, birds seem to know when the weather is going to change.

Sooooooo, we are ready. My camera batteries are being charged, I expect my son to be home early from school and hope Jack can get away early too.

I am off now, have to make sure I have everything to make dessert for the superbowl party with the neighbors. Hope we can get there Sunday, I may end up digging out Jack's old ski's.

Update on our Journey

2010-02-02T15:40:00.002-05:00

First of all, today is our 3 month wedding anniversary.

It also means we are living here for 5 months now. Hard to believe it has been that long already.
For some reason time is flying and I have the feeling we are running after it, trying to catch up.
In itself that is a good thing I guess, don't they say time flies when you are having fun?
And it is true, almost every friday I am surprised to find out it is weekend already.

But last week wasn't one I would like to repeat, our new dishwasher started leaking, which I didn't know until the moment our new pergo floor started to curl up on the edges of every board.
The floor is 3 months old and is ruined. So we dropped in at Lowes on Sunday to complain and have them take a look at it.
Yesterday someone came over to do so and now we are waiting to hear when they will be over to replace the whole kitchen floor. Luckily we don't have to fight over it, they agreed very fast that something went wrong with putting the dishwasher back after installing the floor.
Still, I am not happy about having the mess of replacing the floor again.

Something that doesn't go fast enough to my feeling is our Adjustment of Status. Which hit me in full force last week also. With a friend in trouble and finding out my Mom is going in and out of hospital for medical issues I really would like to be able to travel to Europe.
Up to now, my son and I can't, we have to wait for Advanced Parole which will allow us to travel outside the US until the moment we get our Green Card.
All the paperwork is sent and the money for the procedures is payed. But as usual, things with USCIS go slow and we don't know anything yet. So were are more or less stuck here for now, even in case of emergencies.

We did get an appointment to have our biometrics done and that was scheduled for today.
So first thing this morning was a trip to York where we had our fingerprints and pictures taken.
LOL, I felt like a criminal. Not because of the people there, they were very friendly. But it all was done next to the York prison.

I did learn a few new fact from the lady who took our biometrics. Did you know for example that it is harder to get fingerprints from someone who works on the pc a lot, or does a lot of texting on their phone?
Or that the same happens when you work with cleaning stuff or other chemicals? And that for women it is usual the pinky that gives the biggest problem and with men the thumbs?
All useless trivia, unless you decide to move to the US.

How stuff works: fingerprinting

They are kidding, right???

2010-01-29T10:25:00.000-05:00

Last night I heard about this on the news and so I tried to find a bit about it. A State Firearm?
Really, I am still having a hard time grasping the fact that more than a few people over here feel that owning a gun is a right and no-one should dare taking that right away from them.
But to live in a state that has a senator that actually thinks that we should have a state ' gun' would make me laugh, it it weren't so scary.

Some things are too different from what I am used to.

Walks away now, speechless , shaking her head...

Het voelt anders...

2010-01-20T11:52:00.001-05:00

5 graden boven nul in Nederland of hier in Pennsylvania voelt echt anders.
Het zal aan het gebrek aan luchtvochtigheid komen en het feit dat het hier veel minder waait.
Maar zometeen ga ik dus echt even op ons deck zitten, zonder jas, om van de zon te genieten.
Dat heb ik in Nederland nog nooit geprobeerd en had ik het gedaan dan was het me waarschijnlijk op een flinke verkoudheid komen te staan.

Je begrijpt, we hebben even een break in ons koude winterweer en het lijkt wel lente.
Heerlijk, want we hebben nog een paar flink koude maanden te gaan. Zelf had ik gedacht om de hondedames even mee te nemen de golfbaan op voor een flinke wandeling de heuvel op, maar helaas, de eerste golfers waren er al te vinden.

Aanpassen aan het klimaat hier vind ik erg meevallen, de hitte in de zomer is goed uit te houden met behulp van de air conditioning en eigenlijk vind ik die warmte wel heel erg prettig. Herfst en lente zijn vaak prettig warm en die paar maanden winter zijn dan ook wel te overleven.
Wel kan het hier gemeen koud zijn in de winter, tijdens een van onze tripjes deze kant op herinner ik me dat we een week lang amper buiten kwamen in Januari omdat de lucht zo koud was dat je neusharen bevroren zodra je je neus buiten de deur stak.

Voor de honden is dat minder prettig, zij moeten nu eenmaal een paar keer per dag naar buiten en met dat dunne velletje van hun is dat echt niet leuk.
De beide greyhoundheren zijn dit gewend en zorgen dat ze voor de straat uit zijn alles gedaan hebben wat ze moeten doen en keren dan resoluut om.
Cara heeft het er ietwat moeilijker mee. Dit is haar eerste echte winter en geloof me, ze vind het verschrikkelijk. En dacht ik er goed aan te doen om speciaal voor haar een jas uit Nederland le laten komen, mevrouw heeft besloten dat dat ding best eng is.
En tja, als iets eng is dan gaat automatisch die lange staart tegen de buik en dan is het verrekte lastig plassen als hond zijnde.

Maar ook Cara geniet dus nu van het iets warmere weer, hoewel ze ook nu staat te bibberen als een rietje als we langer dan 2 seconden stil staan, maar wat wil je ook, ze ligt elke avond languit gestrekt voor het haardvuur.

Voor het kleine witte monster is het dus aanpassen. Paquita heeft geen enkel probleem met de winter hier. Met haar dikke vacht geniet ze volop van de sneeuw en de kou. Wat haar betreft is er geen enkele reden om de wandelingen in te korten als het koud is. Jammer genoeg voor haar geldt dan de meerderheid.

Over mijn zoon zal ik het maar niet hebben. 15 jaar oud en een echte puber, dus hij loopt dagelijks in een t-shirt en gaat het liefst in zijn spijkerjack naar school, ook al vriest het 20 graden.....
Daar in tegen zal hij deze zomer als het ruim 30 graden is enkel na zware dreigementen in shorts te krijgen zijn.

Goed, ik ga even de vogels een schrik op het lijf jagen en lekker genieten van het zonnetje.

How cows are treated like dogs and pigs sleep with kids

2010-01-16T20:39:00.003-05:00

I have to update you guys on two trips that we did this week.
Last weekend Jack asked me if I was interested in visiting the Pennsylvania Farm Show. More or less expecting I wouldn't be. And that might have been the case, if he hadn't mentioned there would be thousands of animals there. That always gets my attention.
We did ask my son if he wanted to go, but hey, what interest does a 15 year old have in cows, tractors and other farming stuff? Maybe when it is a game on the pc, Wii or whatever these things are called.

This meant we were free to go during the week. So Jack took monday off from work and we decided to go a bit early.
It was huge, halls filled with machines, food, exhibitions that showed the winners of the quilting, baking, photography, flower arranging competitions. Cooking demonstrations and, what I loved, presentations of nature preserve organizations. That last one had several birds of prey they showed and gave info about.
You do have to look very closely though, some of these nature lovers tend to show their love by killing all kinds of animals with a gun. Hunting is big over here but not my cup of tea.

Anyway, we went for the farm animals. There were several arena's in which animals were showed.

And what do you know, the pigs were the biggest attraction that day.
Unfortunately we missed the horses, but we got to see cows, tons of cows.
The first ones we saw were Angus cows and believe me, compared to the Dutch cows, these look exotic.
Beautiful black fur, thick and soft .
How they got it that way was something we saw later. LOL, those farmers are almost as bad as the poodle owners on a dog show.

To fluff them up, you use high pressured air. And from what I saw, the cows love that part. And they get brushed, brushed and brushed again. Take it from me, these farmers don't leave home with out a full hairdressers equipment. Comb, scissors and razors are used to give the animal the exact right angle on the butt hair or keep the edged straight at the ears.

They don't need that much stuff with the pigs, all need are brushes to keep them clean and some glittery spay to keep them shiny. I think it was the first time I saw a golden brown, red pig. But most of the others were really pink.

We spent hours and hours there, it was fun.
The animals looked like they were treated really well. Off course, most are bred to eventually be eaten.
But since I am still no vegetarian, who am I to say something about it?

The rest of the week was pretty slow, a few days back the temperatures went up, so I removed the Christmas decorations and most of the snow melted, kind of boring.
So when Jack suggested to do a trip to Waggoners Gap to check it out, I was all for it.

Every time we went to Carlisle I could see that ridge of mountains and it looks like there are some really high spots up there. Also it is a really well known spot for raptor watching.
The whole ridge is known as Kittatinny Ridge and forms a natural fly way for a lot of birds during migration.
Unfortunately, since it was the top of the mountain, there was too much snow around to walk to the top.
But we will surely return, the views are beautiful from there and we might even see a few big birds.

From there we drove on, through Perry Country. A beautiful area but also clearly poorer than where we live. But the area still has several covered bridges of which we found three on our trip.
We drove all the way to Tuscarora State Forrest but ran into the same problem as on Waggoners Gap.

Too much snow that made it impossible to get into the woods. But we will surely return there.

By now it was lunchtime, so we started looking for a place to have lunch. We found a little family restaurant that looked pretty busy and as we found out for good reason. They served some real good stuff there. We settled for a grilled sandwich with ham, sauerkraut and cheese. Yummie!

After this we were ready to drive a bit more and Jack wanted to check out a place in Bigglerville.
There is this warehouse that has a sign up that says they were in several magazines and is 100 years old.
I had my doubts, but this was fun. The place was old, crammed with all kinds of stuff from years and years ago and we were welcomed by a little old lady (she was at least 80) that wanted to know where we came from and kept telling us all kinds of stuff from her past.

This was the second time I was in a place like this and they are fun.
If you ever get the chance to go into a place that looks like it should belong to "malle pietje" (this is for our Dutch readers) than go for it, you will have a great time remembering how your grandmother used to have similar stuff when you were young.
If you are ever in Bigglerville PA, it is worth an hour of your time. I mean, even president Eisenhower spent a happy hour at this country store.

Ohh, and before I forget, Jack and I both fell in love with these guys. Alpaca's.

So I have done a bit of reading, if we ever decide to move, we should have a few. They are so easy to keep, intelligent, gentle and social.

And you can drown in their eyes...

Who needs TV!

2010-01-08T11:05:00.000-05:00

When the sun is out, there is a fresh layer of snow and the birdfeeders are just filled with all kinds of goodies.
You probably guessed right, not me. I should be doing my work out now, but I am having a blast looking out the window, watching our yard and deck.
If I had more of an imagination and felt less guilty over not exercising right now, I could write a whole soap opera over what happens during a morning in our backyard.
The players are 3 squirrels, some Blue Jays, 2 male Cardinals and tons of Dark Eyed Junco's, Starlings and other birds. One of the squirrels, I named him Shorty, lost more than half of his tail last October and I have been keeping an eye on him (or her).
Its nest is in the top of our big tree in the back and together with two others, they seem to be our main squirrels. Some days I can see them chasing other squirrels off that dare stealing nuts from our yard.

Anyway, here are the results from this morning.
Enjoy.

Balloons, cake and golfballs

2010-01-06T13:09:00.000-05:00

Yesterday my son celebrated his 15th birthday.

It must have felt strange to him that there were no visits from grandparents, uncles and aunts or nieces and nephews.

Monday we went out to find some garlands and other stuff to decorate the house.

Unfortunately I couldn't find garlands in the way we are used to, but we found balloons and some banners that made the house look festive.

Some days earlier Jacks stepson had called and they would come over for dinner and bring a cake.

On request, chocolate, filled with chocolate and chocolate frosting. Notice a trend here?

Since I had wanted to make oliebollen, we now could use the deep fryer for french fries and wings.

An easy dinner, but very much enjoyed by everyone I think.

We had mayonnaise for the European part of the family, ketchup for the American part.

As a birthday gift, Jack had suggested to get him his own golf set. Looked like it was the right gift. That is, when I look at the big smile he had when unwrapping it.

We live next to the course and the two of them have been going out a few times to hit some balls. My son seems to enjoy it and since it is so close by, we want to encourage him to go.

And who knows, maybe I will borrow the set sometime and try to hit some.

This fall, when my parents and sister were here for a visit, they also tried it and seemed to have enjoyed it very much.

Hard to believe that he is already 15 and it will only be a year before he can legally learn how to drive...

I think I prefer him learning how to play golf instead.

No need to grow up that fast.

Nieuwigheden en tradities

2010-01-01T17:07:00.005-05:00

2010

Het is even wennen hoor.

Maar net als met heel veel dingen zal het ook met dit nieuwe jaar wel weer lukken

Net als Engels als hoofdtaal, geen vuurwerk met oud en nieuw en de gewoonte van Amerikanen om oudjaarsavond, New Years Eve te noemen.

Of het feit dat voetbal nu soccer heet en geen footbal en we in plaats van naar het schansspringen in Garmisch Partenkirchen, nu naar Pennstate kijken die in een regenachtig Florida spelen.

Wel genieten we dank zij een pakketje van mijn ouders sinds gisteren van oliebollen, maar voor dinner hebben we straks Pork en Sauerkraut.

Als gezin proberen we nu onze eigen tradities te maken, een beetje Amerikaans hier en een beetje Nederlands daar.

Het afgelopen jaar is voor ons een jaar van grote veranderingen geweest, via dit blog hebben jullie daar voor een groot gedeelte van kunnen mee genieten.

Een aantal dingen houden we graag voor onszelf, zoals bv onze trouwfoto's.

Maar stoppen met dit blog doen we niet, hoewel Jack het inmiddels volledig aan mij overlaat.

Onze Visa Journey, is nog steeds niet ten einde, we zitten nog midden in de papierwinkel en dit zal ook nog enige jaren duren. Wel is onze aanvraag voor een verandering van onze status gedaan. We hadden gehoopt dat hierin inmiddels vooruitgang geboekt was, dit zodat we toestemming zouden hebben om het land in en uit te reizen, maar net als in Nederland werken de ambtelijke molens hier traag.

Ook moeten we nu toch echt een social security nummer voor mij aan gaan vragen. Voor mij kan dit inmiddels, mijn zoon kan deze pas krijgen als we onze voorlopige greencard hebben.

Jullie zien dus, we hebben nog genoeg te vertellen, over groene kaarten, over het dagelijkse leven hier in Pennsylvania en als jullie het aandurven, over enige tijd mijn rijlessen.

Ook zit een fotografie cursus in de pen en vrijwilligers werk hier in de plaatselijke bibliotheek.

Tot we onze groene kaart hebben mag ik nog niet werken, maar vrijwilligers werk kan natuurlijk altijd.

Ook ben ik inmiddels om hulp gevraagd door een ' echte' fotografe die mijn foto's op Flickr zag. Ben heel benieuwd wat daar in de toekomst van komt.

Zoals jullie zien zijn we geen goede voornemens nodig, we krijgen het zo wie so druk genoeg.

Alhoewel, die Wii Fit is er natuurlijk niet voor niets gekomen.

Maar dt komt morgen, nu eerst een paar foto's van vanochtend. We zijn even in de auto gestapt nadat de ergste gladheid over was en hebben genoten van de mooie omgeving.

Enjoy!

boerderij

Mist in de dalen

appelgaardenjonge appelbomen

en als laatste, deze knapperd.

Dieren met maanogen hebben een streepje voor bij mij.

Maar dat zal bekend zijn.

Happy New Year!!!

Short hair pics and guess what...snow

2009-12-20T18:10:00.001-05:00

Risking you guys running off screaming and getting severe hick-ups after looking, but here are the pics of my new shorter look.
Sigh, really have to start losing weight soon. Sportschool is scheduled for January. Because I gained several kiloos since moving here.
Anyway, make sure you sit down....

Btw, it is really short on the back.

Ok, everyone survived?

Than we go back to our regular stuff, like snow!!!

Just like the Netherlands we got hit with a good amount of snow.

It snowed all day Saturday and we shoveled the driveway at least 8 times to keep on top of it.

Since we didn't need to go anywhere we just sat back and relaxed. We had gotten enough wood on Friday to keep us warm for quite some time, we had our groceries in and didn't have to go anywhere but across the street for a visit with neighbors in the evening.

We ended up with just over a foot of snow and it looks like a winter wonderland now.

Today the roads were clean enough to go x-mas shopping with another neighbor and I had time to soak in the beauty of snow in the mountains. (That is how Jack calls them, I think molehills is more appropriate)

I know, they look far away, but believe me, you don't want to run the roads we drove today, too hard for us flatland people.

Also made a few pics while it snowed.

My son shoveling, he better get used to doing that.

And this girl is waiting for her warm wintercoat that I ordered through this place in the Netherlands. The proceeds go to the Spanish galgo's and I have gotten to know the owner, Elsbeth, as a wonderfull person.

And this is how the house and the yard looked today, enjoy!

(Going to hide under a chair now)

Ohhhh, and I really want one of these...and I have the feeling my son would agree;-)

Short, shorter.....

2009-12-18T11:21:00.003-05:00

After pushing it ahead of me for weeks, I finally made an appointment with a hairdresser this week.
The number had been given to me by a friendly neighbor after my first experience which ended up in (as it felt to me) a disaster.
Jack, happily unaware of the fact that getting a haircut at the local Holiday Hair might be a good idea for him, no appointment needed, walk in, sit down and be out again in 10 minutes, but for me it turned out to be a bad experience.
I mean, when you know nothing and don't care about nothing, just want it out of your face, than it is fine.
But I need some input, not a bored face and a young girl who cuts of exactly an inch from ' almost' every hair I have.
I need advice and someone who looks like she knows what she does.

Unfortunately, I knew of no hairdressers in the area at that time.
2 days before our wedding....
How I have regretted going there. The girl probably did her best, but I have never had such a bad haircut. In the weeks after, I kept finding longer strings of hair that somehow showed up miraculously and had to be cut off.
Sigh, I should have given myself the 16 dollar it costs.
Which in itself should have told me enough.

So now you probably understand why I had to gather all my courage yesterday to go to the new place.
First impression was good, there were plenty of cars in the parking lot...
Second, it looked like a salon.
Third, they were friendly even though the ladies behind the counter were very busy with their cellphones.

In comparison with the other place, it looked expensive.
And with a difference like that, I started to worry about how much it would cost this time.
And when I was taken to a chair and had my hair washed without asking, it made me even more worried. But, since I was already there and really needed the haircut, (no one would have a space this close to X-mas) I sat tight and hoped for the best.

Even worse, after talking to the girl for a bit, I decided to give her a free hand and let her do what she thought would look good. And, I went a lot shorter this time.

Now Jack keeps telling me that it looks good.
I still have to get used to the new look, no more curly layers, but styled and cut, close to my face.
Somehow it looks really American to me. It is more styled than I am used to and I will not get away with letting it dry naturally after washing.
But I kind of like it.

And much to my amazement it was still a lot cheaper than in the Netherlands.

Sooo, I have found myself a hairdresser.
Who would have thought it was going to be this much of an adventure.

Getting comfortable

2009-12-12T16:52:00.006-05:00

Als er iets is waar ik geen moeite mee heb in dit land, dan is het wel het gemak waarmee de Amerikanen het zich gemakkelijk maken zodra ze hun werk kloffie uit kunnen trekken.
In de paar maanden dat we hier nu wonen ben ik me te buiten gegaan aan super zachte sweatpants, cozy sweaters, snuggly socks.
Vanmiddag nog heb ik geen nee kunnen zeggen tegen een paar knalroze, super zachte sokken die je onmogelijk in je schoenen kunt dragen.
Voor het eerst in mijn leven heb ik me pyama's aangeschaft, simpel omdat ze zo superzacht zijn.

Nu beperk ik me tot het dragen van dit soort kleding tot ons eigen huis maar ik kijk er al niet meer van op als we tijdens onze wekelijkse boodschappen mensen in hun sleeppants zien lopen. Maar ik moet zeggen dat ik toch even twee keer moest kijken om zeker te weten dat de dame achter de kassa bij Old Navy echt waar in een pyamabroek liep. Dat schijnt niet ongewoon te zijn, maar ik moet er nog even aan wennen.
Wel weet ik inmiddels dat er hier in de buurt niet opgekeken wordt van een pyama broek als er iemand aan de deur komt of als je in sweatpants en een t-shirt je boodschappen gaat doen. LOL, over make up hebben we het helemaal maar niet.

Maar goed, dat gaat me iets te ver. Ik beperk me tot het uitlaten van de honden in sweatpants. Maar in huis, daar geef ik graag toe aan de verleidingen van de zachtheid, knuffeligheid en comfort van de kleding verkocht in de amerikaanse winkels.
En als er aangebeld word, dan doe ik rustig open in mijn sweatpants.
Maar geef me nog even de tijd om te wennen aan het dragen van sleeppants in het openbaar...
Hoewel, ze zijn zacht, flanel en warm....

Het is nu echt winter!

2009-12-07T08:45:00.006-05:00

Toen we zaterdag ochtend wakker werden leek het nog op typisch Nederlandse sneeuw, gesmolten voor het de grond raakte. Maar terwijl wij van winkel naar winkel reden om kerstinkopen te doen werden de vlokken steeds groter en groter.En ja, dan blijft het op een bepaald moment wel liggen.
Met als resultaat dat het er zondag morgen zo uitzag:

De sneeuw had een leuke bijkomstigheid. Eindelijk lukte het me om de Northern Cardinal op de foto te krijgen.
Een tijdje geleden heb ik een aantal voedingsstations voor vogels opgehangen die een flinke hit zijn bij de plaatselijke vogel en eekhoorn populatie.
Ze worden druk bezocht en met een gids in de hand kan ik de meeste nu identificeren.
Jammer genoeg hangen de ' feeders' te ver weg om een goede foto te kunnen maken.
Dus togen we onlangs nog een keer naar Lowes om nog 2 te halen. Een daarvan hangt nu aan de reling van ons deck en ik kan de vogels zien vanuit het keukenraam en het raam van de pc kamer. Maar tot afgelopen zaterdag werd deze alleen maar bezocht door verdwaalde koolmeesjes. Deze heten hier trouwens Chickadee's.
Maar zaterdag was het dus feest, we hebben 3 Cardinals in onze tuin en samen met een heleboel andere vogels werd er flink gebunkerd van die ene feeder en kon ik er lustig op los fotograferen.

Santa drives a Toyota

2009-12-02T09:38:00.004-05:00

And if you don't believe me, here's proof.
We spotted him in November around Harrisburg on the highway. First thought was:"Anyone can get a plate like that".So we decided to check out the driver. Unfortunately I don't have a picture from him, but believe me, it was Santa.

I probably needed this wake up call, since I had more or less my doubts that this younger nephew of our Sinterklaas was for real. But there he was, in his pre-December clothes, driving this bright red Toyota. What more proof does one need.

And how convenient, since we didn't want to ask Sinterklaas to come all the way to the States, we can easily swap him for Santa. Lets just hope we will be forgiven for preparing for X-mas before Sinterklaas left the Netherlands.

Yesterday we took of the Thanksgiving decorations and started out Christmas decorations. We aren't done yet.
A few power cords need to be replaced for proper outdoor stuff en we don't have a wreath yet for the frontdoor. But we are getting there.

The whole street here looks like a fairytale. Sunday the weather was so nice, most people were taking advantage and started decorating in their t-shirts
Quite a difference from today since there was ice on the car this morning.

Well, we are almost done and hope to get our tree this weekend.Which will look nice next to the fire place that we had burning for the last two nights.
LOL, we actually may get some snow this weekend.

All that is missing than is eggnog, and that is easily fixed.

I should have

2009-11-25T22:35:00.003-05:00

blogged about a lot of stuff.
We had a few very busy weeks and I have neglected our blog.
I could have written about:
-My families visit for over 3 weeks
-Our wedding
-Our visit to Cape May
-How I suddenly felt the earth open under me and I still have nightmares about it
-How I finally seem to find my way around here
-How even the day before thanksgiving people stay polite in the markets
-Visiting towns like Intercourse, Bird in Hand and how we got some waves from a few Amish
-The fact my son got his first leather cowboyhat
-And how we both dressed up for Halloween
-We have a real soap opera in our garden with the squirrels and birds since we put up feeders
-I really was shocked to find out Sinterklaas already arrived in the Netherlands and I still can't believe it is November
But...I will have to get back on you for those.
For now I wish all of you a very Happy Thanksgiving.
Tomorrow we will cook our first turkey together and I am still figuring out how to fit it into the oven.
And we are having pumpkinpie. Never thought I would like it, but I do and also sweet potatoes, yummie!

Anyway, I will get back to you guys soon with all kind of stories.
But for now, we are celebrating everything we are grateful for tomorrow.
And believe me if I say I have a lot to celebrate tomorrow,

Happy Thanksgiving.

Edited to add a picture of the turkey Jack cooked.
It tasted really good.
Now we have to find out what to do with the left overs.

Honest

2009-11-08T22:11:00.002-05:00

We didn't disappear from the face of the earth.
But my parents are visiting, we got married and we are enjoying these great temperatures we are having.
Today was close to 25 degrees celcius...honest!
We have done so much already, today we were in Lancaster for example, saw Amish on skeelers.
Honestly, I can proof it once I can get to my pictures.
Later this week we hope to drive off to Cape May, New Jersey for a few days.
Just need a dog sitter for the two boys. We need a bigger car, so they all can come.
Also, today we saw Santa, HONEST...it said so on his license plate and once we overtook that car, there he was. White beard, bold head.
Too bad I only was able to get a picture of his license plate.

Oh, and we had sweet potatoes today, first time for me.
Never thought I would find the taste of hutspot in an ugly looking potato.
But the best thing was, never thought I would like them, I mean, who would like a root that is named Yam, but I did.

But, what I wanted to say, we will be back soon.
Sigh, hard to belief tomorrow is already our 1 week anniversary.

See ya,

Peet

Sooooo much going on

2009-10-28T14:25:00.003-04:00

First of all, I had a major breakdown, or as we say, een dippie.
With everything going on I felt like being stuck in the house, all I did was being busy with the house and that was it.
Even for a little thing as a carton of milk, I had to ask Jack to get it on his way from work.

Those are the joys of not having a drivers license or a bike.
Honestly, I miss my bike the most. Giant and Dollartree and a hairdresser are close enough to get there on the bike. But there is this nice highway in between.
Oh well, effe doorbijten, soon we can start lessons.
LOL, Jack still thinks he can teach me.

Also, we have a new floor downstairs, it is beautiful but takes a bit getting used to, specially for the dogs. They have these long legs and no traction on this floor...

And, Monday we are getting married. In Gettysburg in a nice little inn.
Turned out it was not easy to find someone to marry us in the place we wanted without getting religious parts involved.
But, we found a bhoedist priest who will, hopefully give us a nice ceremony. We have a very good feeling after meeting her.
Getting our marriage license prooved to be harder.
They had never mentioned that they needed a certified translation of the divorce records until the moment we came in to get our license.
So we had to find someone to translate and put a nice seal on it.
Sometimes I wonder if that is all they are looking for, something shiny that gives them the feeling it is official.
It took a few days before we had it, but, it arrived just in time.
So now we have permission to get married, LOL.

Right now I am waiting for Jack to come back from the airport. If all went as planned, my parents and one of my sisters landed just a few minutes ago.
Just in time to celebrate Halloween with us.
We had so much fun getting the house decorated and what is even more fun is that my 14 year old son decided he wants to dress up for handing out the candy during trick or treat.
Don't have pictures of that yet, but I will make sure we will get plenty.
Do have a few of the house already, so enjoy.

In the meantime, I will get ready for the visitors and will talk to you soon.

6 Hours ???

2009-10-14T20:17:00.004-04:00

That is the difference between the Netherlands and Dillsburg Pennsylvania.

But some times it looks years in stead of hours. Like last week, a windy day.
A very windy day and that means power outages...
At least two and both of them lasted for more than an hour.
Fall only just started, not really looking forward to real winterweather with icerain.
Reason is the American habit of having all wiring for electricity, phone and internet for example, above the ground. A drunken driver can cause a whole neighborhood to loose power for hours. Sigh, with bad weather you can at least predict a possible outage.
Now, mind you, we live in a pretty new development, all wiring under ground.
But...only in the development, the lines leading here are still above.

And that isn't the only thing I feel like I stepped back in time.
Looking for having one of my pictures printed on canvas turned out to be rather expensive and not yet widely available.

On the other hand,people seem to put an old fashioned effort into cooking and baking.
Which puts me into a bad spot, I am a horrible cook. But, in this case, I am willing to learn. So many good looking receipts are to be found everywhere, that I already had to try some.

For the last few weeks we have been looking at replacing some stuff that Jack has.
Like forks, spoons, that kind of stuff, some nice lamps were on the list and with our new laminate floor installed next week, we needed some carpets.
And don't tell Jack, but the kitchen is out of date and has some water damage.
So I had been keeping an eye open when at Lowes or Homedepot.
But man, that is scary stuff, so old fashioned.
Just like much of the furniture we saw or the tableware.
So I had to put my foot down on some stuff, we were gonna wait for our trip to ...

Ikea!!!

Ha, Jack thought we would be done in a morning.
Yeah, right. Anyway, last weekend we went to Baltimore, a drive, just over 1,5 hours.
Do-able, specially when you are in dear need of a Europe rush.
And that is what I got, honest, the meatballs are the same here as they are in Groningen.
Jack got a culture shock...but in a good way.

After 4 hours of shopping, we will combine the old fashioned, but sometimes charming American stuff with some real modern European style.
Jack is in awe over how cheap some of the stuff is, I am just very happy with the straight, simple lines and the fact I can pretend I am in Groningen when I am really desperate and go for a trip to Ikea.
Because Ikea is like Mac Donalds, they all are the same.

Fall in Pennsylvania

2009-10-08T08:31:00.011-04:00

Deze keer weer een Nederlands blogje. Veel foto's om een beetje een idee te geven van de omgeving.

Het begint hier zolangzamerhand herfst te worden.
Qua temperatuur overdag zitten we nog niet op Nederlandse herfstwaardes, maar 's nachts begint het toch behoorlijk fris te worden. Dus laten we de ramen nu iets minder wijd openstaan.
Herfst in PA betekent oogst tijd, we zitten hier midden in appelcountry en een van de grote appelharvest fairs word hier vlak bij, in Adams County gehouden.
Vorig weekeinde was het zover. Van verre ruik je de cider die gemaakt wordt en zie je de rook die onstaat als giga stukken vlees op de bbq's liggen te garen.
Het was er smoor druk, iedereen kwam om zich te vergapen aan de rijen standjes met kitscherige artikelen, in perfecte staat verkerende stoommachines en glimmend gepoetste oldtimers. Ondertussen werden de vele voedselstandjes aangedaan.
Alles op het gebied van appels was er te krijgen, taart, lollies, moes, cider en vele soorten appels in natuurlijke staat.
Maar ook de meest bijzondere voedsel combinaties, zoals gefrituurde uien en bloemvorm, gefrituurde oreo koekjes.
De democraten verkochten fudge en even verderop werd reclame gemaakt voor bijbel en hun specifieke interpretatie ervan.
Mocht je niet geinteresseerd zijn, dan kon je nog altijd je eigen vogelverschrikker bouwen of een ritje maken op een pony aangesloten op een systeem dat het enkel toestond een klein cirkeltje te draaien. Of je ging naar de petting zoo waar een 5 dagen oud kalfje in een hok van 1,5 bij 1,5 m lag naast de kittens die in een draagkennel zaten.
Mochten jullie het idee krijgen dat ik dit gedeelte van de fair minder aangenaam vond dan hebben jullie gelijk.
Maar verder was het leuk, mensen kijken op een heerlijke warme dag eind september , wat wil je nog meer?

Verder zitten er bij de foto's een aantal die een idee geven van de omgeving hier, van ons uitzicht als we 's avonds op onze frontporch zitten. Jaaaaa, nog steeds.
Dit weekeinde schijnt het zelfs weer warm genoeg te worden voor shorts.

Maar nu de foto's:

Relationship problems

2009-09-28T11:04:00.005-04:00

I do not say this easily, but my relationship with one member of this household is forever down the drain, over, finished.
I can officially state now that there is one thing I hate...

And that is our vacuum.
It is too big, to heavy, too noisy and gives me a backache while trying to use it.
Not sure if it is just this one, but if it were just me, I would never ever get an upright vacuum again.

With 4 dogs and 3 people we need a good vacuum, but from the start my relationship with the resident vacuum has been troubled to say the least.
And I am not on my own, both female dogs in this household run, hide with their tails tucked to their bellies from this loud monster.
So maybe it is a female thing, since Jack praises it ability to get the rugs in the house clean.

I don't know, when I try to vacuum the rugs, I have a hard time keeping the vacuum from eating them.
But when I try to vacuum the linoleum, it seems to have lost its appetite and it won't suck up a thing.

And than the problem I have with keeping it upright, there is a hose attached to it that I need to use for the couches. Constantly I forget that this monster is upright on its ' thing' and not on 4 comfortable little wheels that make maneuvering around easy and simple.
It reminds me by falling over on a regular base and usually hitting me on the shins.

Honestly, I think this type of vacuum was invented by men.
No way a woman could have created such a monster.
That, or this particular one hates me.
But, it is still working and since I am Dutch, it will stay around until it drops dead but forgive me if I am in the meantime eying those slender, elegant and light vacuums and daydreaming about one day maybe owning one again.

Btw: the shown vacuum isn't ours. It only looks similar.

Creepy crawlers, oftewel....

2009-09-23T14:26:00.006-04:00

Beestjes, allemaal beestjes.

Behalve voordelen, heeft een grote tuin met een waterpartij (stroompje) ook zijn nadelen.
Beestjes en in een ander land ook nog eens andere beestjes dan we gewend zijn. Hoewel, dat 'tje' in veel gevallen weg te laten is.
Behalve een mooie bruine kleur, kreeg ik hier ook binnen een mum van tijd bulten, niet een paar, maar mijn armen, benen en andere aan de buitenlucht vrijgegeven huidoppervlaktes zijn gesierd met tientallen jeukende, rode bulten.
Op dit moment zit er zelfs een net onder mijn wenkbrauw. Ik probeer hem ongelofelijk hard te vergeten om te zorgen dat ik deze ook niet open krab.
Voorlopig zal dit ook wel even zo blijven, want we zijn hardop aan het werk om afgebroken takken en woekerende struiken te verwijderen.
En ja, ik draag handschoenen en ben erg voorzichtig ivm de poison ivy die hier ook lustig groeit.
En ik stap ook niet in het water zonder laarzen aan, volgens zeggen zijn er hier haast geen giftige slangen, maar ik loop liever niet het risico om tegen een hapgrage waterslang aan te lopen.

Vandaag heb ik voor het eerst een praying mantis gezien. Wat een ongelofelijk gaaf beest is dat. Het exemplaar dat hier naast de voordeur zat was minstens 10 cm groot.
Moet zeggen dat ik me toch even ongemakkelijk voelde toen mijn camera piepte en 2 ogen op mij gericht werden.

Verder leven er hier in de tuin ook nog bulten konijnen en eekhoorns. De laatsten zie je op dit moment constant met noten in hun bekkies lopen, leuk gezicht.
Een andere knager die ik nog niet gezien heb, maar zijn aanwezigheid duidelijk kenbaar maakt is de chipmunk, het exemplaar in onze tuin heeft een duidelijke voorkeur voor mijn pas geplante herfst astertjes. Zoals te zien op de foto is inmiddels een struikje volledig ontdaan van zijn bloemen.

Wat het nog grotere spul aangaat....
Op de golfbaan aan de andere kant van de straat leeft een coyote.
Zoals onze buurman vertelde, denk aan een magere herders hond met een heel slecht humeur.
Reden voor mij om nog eens met zoonlief en Jack de veiligheid van onze honden door te nemen. Overdag is er niets aan de hand, maar zou een van onze honden ontsnappen en dit exemplaar tegenkomen dan is dit einde hond. En een kleine 5-tal km hier vandaan leeft een teef met puppen, het mannetje is dit voorjaar afgeschoten. Maar ook beren en bergleeuwen schijnen hier niet onbekend te zijn.

Het verhaal over die roze olifant heb ik mijn twijfels over, of zou het toch....

Busy weekend

2009-09-21T09:45:00.005-04:00

This will be mostly pics, hope you enjoy them.
Besides hiking with Cara, finding a new vet for the dogs, we also went to Woofstock in Harrisburg,worked in the garden, got ourselves a new patio set with 6 chairs, visited several neighbors and I baked an apple pie.
LOL, reading this one might get tired already.
Anyway, here are some pics to enjoy.

We went to Kings Gap for a hike up the mountain, It was colder than we expected though. Should have brought a sweatshirt.

Cara turnes out to be a great hiker and climber. She loves this and it gives us the opportunity to give her and us, some more exercise.

It won't be long before the whole area will be colored bright red because of the autumnleafs

Hunting can't be avoided overhere.
And these warnings you find everywhere. If we want to keep going to these trails, we better get a few of these bright orange coats and one for Cara soon. Think deer season starts in about two weeks?

Yesterday we went to Woofstock in Harrisburg. A great event that combines music and a lot of animal rescues presenting them selves.
It was very busy, we took both girls and they behaved very well, just like all those other dogs there.
I have never seen so many pittbulls, chihuahua's and great danes in my life.

Paquita taking a moment near the Susquehanna.

The event was on this riverside, stretched from this bridge to the other.

And our new deck furniture. Hope we will get a bit more use out of it this season.

That is it for today, time to enjoy the weather, they say it will change soon.

Er is een oorlog gaande,

2009-09-17T09:43:00.005-04:00

in onze tuin.
En wij zitten eerste rang. Nu en dan branden onze oren vanwege de snelheid waarme de projectielen om onze oren vliegen of schrikken we op van een mislukte poging om tijdig te wenden voor de ramen geraakt worden.

Nooit geweten dat kolibries zo territoriaal zijn.
Nu ze een beetje wennen aan onze aanwezigheid is er geen reden meer om niet in volle vaart acher de tegenstander aan te gaan en deze zo snel mogelijk van de voorraad suiker water te verwijderen. Nu het iets kouder wordt en ze gauw zullen vertrekken lijken de gevechten zelfs heviger te worden.

De afgelopen tijd heb ik echt genoten van deze vogeltjes die zo verbazend stil in de lucht kunnen staan. Nog leuker wordt het als blijkt dat ze je accepteren als deel van de omgeving en ze tot op een paar centimeter van je gezicht komen en daar nieuwsgierig blijven hangen.
Ze zijn zo klein dat je het gevoel krijgt ze weg te kunnen blazen.
Helaas heb ik nog geen fatsoenlijke foto kunnen maken maar daar zal ik volgend jaar genoeg gelegenheid voor krijgen denk ik.

Het territoriale gedrag dat ik de laatste tijd zag is een bijzonder schouwspel, zeker als ze je om je oren vliegen en ze je haren zelfs laten wapperen. Omdat ze zo ontzettend klein zijn is het lastig om ze te volgen, maar lukt het dan is de wendbaarheid en snelheid verbazend.
Hun vleugeltjes gaan zo snel dat je ze amper ziet, maar het hele schouwspel doet me denken aan die scenes uit Star Wars waar in Death Star vernietigd wordt en de kleine, wendbare gevechts vliegtuigjes elkaar op hoge snelheid achtervolgen binnen in Death Star.

Volgend jaar zullen we wat meer voedingsstations ophangen, misschien dat we dan meer kolibries kunnen verwelkomen.
De vogeltjes die we hier zien zijn niet zo kleurrijk als in warmere streken, maar zijn minstens zo leuk om te zien elke avond.
Dit is ons porch genootje:

Meer over kolibries:Hier

Random pics

2009-09-14T09:57:00.011-04:00

Not really back to making pictures, mainly since I don't have a decent pc to work with.
For some reason I have a hard time with the screen that is connected to this pc.
Can't see if the photo's are sharp, not sure if the colors are ok, so, if I show some strange pics, that is why.

We are doing fine here.
My son went to school for his second week and he seems to have a good time there.
This morning we walked him to the bus stop, first time for him.
Off course we didn't walk up all the way with him, I mean, come on, he is fourteen.
But we pretended to walk the dogs.
Sure hope he remembers where he has to get of the bus when he comes home again.

We have taken it pretty slow this weekend.
Did a bit in the garden. Went for groceries, found a garden center, big but still not what I had hoped for. But I guess that is more me being spoiled.
Also took Cara for a hike to Pinchot State Park. She did great on her own and I have a feeling she will turn out to be a perfect hiking buddy for Jack and me.
Yesterday we got in the car and went into the mountains (still think they are hills :-) )We drove on dirt roads for a long time. Scary at some points, but also saw some very pretty sights. There is a lot of forest here and you can drive and walk around for hours.
Although we will avoid that particular part next weekend, the army is having an exercise there and the public isn't invited. Duh.
On the way back we drove through fields that had apple trees heavy with apples.
Right now the peaches are being picked and since shopping hours are broad here, we could pick up some local peaches, yummie.
Anyway, for the people interested, here are a few pics.

De Mums op onze porch

Cara tijdens onze hike

In de heuvels dicht bij huis.

Locally grown, lekkerder is er niet?

We made it, oftewel, we zijn er.

2009-09-06T14:56:00.002-04:00

Daar gaan we dan, op verzoek van een aantal mensen voor een keer op zijn Hollands.

Vreemd hoor, daar zit je dan op je porch, te wachten tot het laat genoeg is om op traditionele wijze het Laborday weekend te vieren met een cookout.
De kolibries vliegen me om de oren en de temperaturen zitten dicht tegen de dertig graden aan. Vanochtend hebben we, op zondag, de schoolspullen voor mijn zoon aangeschaft.

Het is allemaal nog een beetje onwerkelijk. Jack heeft de afgelopen week thuis gewerkt en daardoor zijn we nog niet gelijk in het diepe gegooid, het voelt toch nog een beetje als vakantie.
Alhoewel, ben al flink aan het poetsen geweest, Jack's huis is de spreekwoordelijke mannenhuishouding met alle gevolgen van dien.

Dinsdag, na Laborday zal het allemaal een beetje gaan normaliseren.
Mijn zoon gaat vanaf dan elke morgen naar grade 8. Afgelopen week hebben we een aantal bezoeken aan school gebracht en is getest of hij hulp nodig heeft als anderstalige. Maar zijn Engels bleek ruim voldoende. Alle leraren zijn ingeseind en hij krijgt een buddy om de eerste tijd te kunnen wennen aan het nieuwe systeem, maar bv ook straks als hij met de bus naar school gaat.
Hij is al blij met de meeste van zijn vakken en bv het feit dat hij volgend jaar gitaar les kan gaan krijgen. Ook zal hij straks beginnen met cross country lopen, maar eerst een lichamelijk onderzoek. Dat kan nog even op zich laten wachten, het schijnt druk te zjn.

Ook de honden hebben inmiddels hun plaats gevonden. Zal nooit iemand aanraden om de lange vlucht te maken met wat angstigere honden, hoewel ze er beide op dit moment goed over heen zijn denk ik. Op dit moment heeft enkel Cara nog last van verlatingsangst. Verder gaat het wonderbaarlijk goed tussen alle vier. Na een dagje aftasten vinden ze het nu allemaal gewoon.

Inmiddels heeft Cara ons al een doodschrik bezorgd.
Tot het moment dat de tuin afgeschermd is dachten we de honden een plezier te doen door ze mee te nemen op het deck achter als we daar zitten. Helaas iets te veel plezier voor Cara met al die konijnen in de tuin, ze wrong zich tussen de sijlen door. Nooit gedacht dat dat haar zou lukken.
Nog minder verwachtte ik dat Jack over de railing zou springen...
Tot mijn grote opluchting was er niets anders beschadigd dan zijn ego toen hij op zijn achterwerk landde. Cara kon ik in iets minder beschadigde toestand binnen 5 minuten weer invangen met de hulp van een paar hot dogs. Gelukkig was er net op dat moment geen konijn te vinden.

Gisterochtend zijn Jack en ik even naar Harrisburg gegaan waar een art festival/fair werd gehouden. Veel fotografen, handgemaakte potten en sierraden.
Gehouden naast de rivier de Susquehanna, onder de bomen was het heerlijk om er een tijdje rond te lopen. Een van de standhouders had haar toko Stijfselkissie gedoopt, dat vroeg om uitleg en ja, een van oorsprong Nederlandse antwoorden na meer dan de helft van haar leven in de VS gewoond te hebben, op zijn Hollands.
Ze vertelde dat het een van de beste dingen was de ze ooit had gedaan. Ze vind het hier heerlijk.
Precies het tegen over gestelde kreeg ik te horen van een Oostenrijker, geboren aan de Millstatter See, die het de "biggest mistake" van zijn leven vond. Maar terug kon niet, zijn Amerikaanse vrouw wilde niet weg.
Grappig om twee zo uiteenlopende ontmoetingen te hebben.

Maar goed, ik heb beloofd een boterkoek te bakken, dat ga ik dus zo maar even doen.
Vanille suiker heb ik nog niet gevonden, maar zonder gaat het ook lukken.

Dutch or English

2009-08-26T04:27:00.009-04:00

Is this my last entry from over here? Quite possible, since from today on it will be busy, busy, busy.
I do have a question though or rather, I would like some opinions.
Up to now I wrote here in English, at least, I tried so that Jack could also read my entries and I could practice.

Sunday we will get on that plane and from than on I would like to write Dutch updates also, that way my parents can read it. Hmmm, it does mean I have to watch my language from than on.
Let me know if there are more people who would like an update in Dutch now and than.

As for the rest, I am busy packing.
Although, everything that goes with FedEx is in the boxes. It is amazing how easy you can decide on leaving things behind. Although I do find things now that I would have liked to bring, but tomorrow these 12 boxes will be picked up so they are closed now.
Keeping my fingers crossed here that the box, filled with Lego will stay in one piece and customs doesn't decide to open it up. Maybe I should have put the Lego in bags, but didn't think of that before.

Friday morning my furniture will be picked up by a second hand shop and Saturday the last stuff will be moved out.

This week I also picked up the info from our dentist, doctor and some other stuff.
Went to town hall to inform them of our immigration. And thus cutting our ties with this country.
Ever where I come they talk about how exiting it is and a huge step to start living in another country. Up to now I hadn't had that feeling yet but this week it suddenly is there.
Mainly because we had to let go of our health insurance over here and step into the US system and there we had my first culture shock.
And believe me, I am still shaking.
We will have insurance now, but not nearly the full coverage that is so normal over here and the costs are insane.
And honestly, that is the type of excitement I don't need.

Also on another item my nerves are having a hard time.
Both my dogs, will they fly with us or not, do we have to decide to leave them behind for about a month. It all depends on the temperatures this Sunday. Those need to be below 85 degrees Fahrenheit, which is around 29 degrees Celsius. And right now the temperatures fluctuates around 85 degrees, the magic number.

Ok, enough time wasted now on the computer, time to go back to packing and making decisions, LOL.
Maybe I will write another up date from here, maybe not, if so...
I'll see you from the other side.

Packing

2009-08-18T03:58:00.002-04:00

Ok, after much consideration, we decided to use FedEx to send over most of our stuff.
It seemed insane to get a container or a moving company for the few things that we will bring and than pay around 3000 euro's for it, but slowly I am starting to wonder if it wouldn't have been worth the money just to reduce stress.
LOL, off course I can do this, but we are dealing with the Dutch and US offices right now and they are giving us conflicting information.

Arghhhhhhhhhhhhh.

So, now that I let that go, it is time for coffee so I can think things through.
Already mailed back to the Dutch office that the forms they sent me are so different from what I got from the US that I am wondering if it all will be ok.
I mean, before you know it you have to pay a lot of tax when the stuff crosses the border and since we are moving, it is all my own and not for sale or something.
Now the Dutch part wants me to write down every single piece of clothing I put in there, determine what fabric it is, what color, size and men or womens clothing.

Weird, don't expect they want me to know that when I am at the border with my two suitcases.
Ma'am, what fabric are your boxershorts made off, and is it a man's boxer or a womans?
LOL, I think my coffee is working now.
So I am going to wake up my son, he can help packing and later get me some more
duct tape.

Thanks for listening...

7 months...

2009-08-10T07:52:00.004-04:00

exactly,is how long it took to get our visa's after sending in our application.
And I guess I should be telling you everything about how the interview went, how we picked up Jack from the airport and he got to join us while we had the interview.
This even though he had to bring his suitcase and laptop, which caused him to wait outside for a bit longer while we got to go inside already.
And I should tell you about how easy it was, how friendly and helpful the people in the Consulate were. And how we now have another 'between us' joke about how we received our visa's over a Jungling beer I tasted in Gettysburg.

How we had a cook out on the Saturday after with friends, family and lots of doggies.
And how some people managed to get me all emotional over a photoalbum they made that I will cherish for the rest of my life.
How the house was decorated with the Stars and Stripes and Jack a bit worried was over how people would react to that, while I wondered what on earth he was worried about?

Or I should tell you about how Jack spent a whole morning tearing out my carpet in the living and dining room and ended up with blisters all over his hands.
Or how we went to Bourtange with my Dad and Jack got to set foot in Germany also.
And how much Jack liked the old town with its history and how I never will forget his face when I bought some zoethout and started chewing on it.
I think he thought I lost it there, chewing on the twig of a tree.

But...I am not.

Instead I am going to tell you that our flight is booked, the rent on my house is canceled and I am busy packing.
There is no way back anymore, sooooooo
ready or not, here we come!

Today is the day

2009-07-26T18:28:00.003-04:00

In about 13 hours we have an appointment at the American Consulate in Amsterdam.
Also, around this time Jack's plane should be leaving Philadelphia and arrive around 8:30 Dutch time.

And I should be sleeping, because at 7 we have to get on the bus to go to Amsterdam to meet Jack at the airport.
But instead I am behind the pc, as usual I should say, and am talking to you guys.
It won't come as news to you when I say I am hyper, I normally am when Jack is coming over, don't like the flight, makes me nervous and I get busy with all kinds of stuff I suddenly decide needs cleaning.
This time I am just nervous about the flight, not about the cleaning, to big of a task this time.
And I will not go to bed before I see the plane left.
Right now I am nervous as hell that more will go wrong, don't they say everything comes in threes?
Well, as far as I can see we had two really bad ones this time.
Paquita needing an operation and than last Friday, the sewers in my street couldn't handle the rain. And the sewer water needed to go somewhere.
Turned out that somewhere was my kitchen sink.
days before Jack arrives, a few weeks before we move and a week before we expect around 35 guests, my living room, kitchen and dining room were flooded with the most thinkable icky water.

Instead of packing boxes to send to the US, I have been cleaning, instead of ordering drinks and food for the party, I was cleaning and on the phone with the insurance company...and the company I rent my house from... and the people in charge of the sewersystem.
The rest of the time I was praying for better weather for the time I have left here.

Talk about bad timing.
But, it took my mind of the interview, bit drastic, but it worked.

Anyway, in 12,5 hours we have an appointment.
Guess I better try to get some sleep.
According to the website, Jack's flight left on time.

I'll be ok, once I have him close and in my arms.

They want to know everything!!!

2009-07-19T06:34:00.005-04:00

Even how I look on the inside.
So, last Wednesday my son and I took the train, and the bus, and the tram to Amsterdam.
See? We were there, took this picture at the Museumplein.

For a change, that is the only picture I took. I know, it had been almost 25 years ago I think. And I would have liked to walk around a bit more, but my 14 year old son isn't a fan of cities, not even Amsterdam.

Anyway, we were there for our physical examination and for my chest x-ray.
All in all, it went pretty well, it was mostly waiting a lot and walking a lot.
The good thing about the Internet is that you can find out exactly what tram, train or bus to take, when to be there and how much time and money it costs.
It makes traveling a lot easier, even when you go to a city you don't know.
Still, we managed to get lost a bit, 5 minutes from the place we had to be, but we were really early, so no panic.
We found it. We were even so early that we were sent out again to get my x-ray done first. Which was a 10 minute walk and 30 minutes wait.

For me it was a trip back into time, the doctors office reminded me of the time I was living in Groningen, our doctor was also in the inner city, in an old building with little space. Here it was the same. The place the x-ray was taken was more like a trailer behind a beautiful old building.

The people at the dr. office were really nice and my son got some nice compliments.
They made another hole in my skin again. A blood sample was taken to check for HIV and Syphilis, together with the x-ray and the vaccinations I had for this, I should be good for at least 10 more years I think. Jack doesn't have to worry, I bet I come with some kind of guarantee now.
We did find out that my son will need a series of 3 vaccinations for Hepatitis B once we are in the US. That is the only one the kids here don't get on the regular vaccination plan. And he is lucky that he isn't a girl, or he would have needed another series of 3.

On our way back we saw the American consulate where we have to be in a week.
Tall, black fences and security all over the place.
I am glad Jack will be there with us.
Before we go to the consulate, we will pick him up from Schiphol where he will arrive a few hours before we have to be there.

In a few weeks we will celebrate together

2009-07-11T05:57:00.003-04:00

United breaks guitars

2009-07-10T09:02:00.003-04:00

Having flown several times now I am surprised that up to now my luggage always was ok.
But after seeing them drop my suitcase on the ground in Harrisburg I make sure nothing really expensive is in there.
And for a good reason it seems.

Love how this guy handles the situation.

It doesn't stop

2009-07-04T04:54:00.003-04:00

There is so much to do now that I felt guilty having the flu the last few days.
So what I did was sit down with a few boxes and sort out what can go and what I want to bring with me to the US.
Pretty brainless work I thought, but as it turns out, not something you should do with a non functioning brain.
I may have thrown out more than I realized.

Also getting estimates on shipping what is left. First of all, I don't have much.
Furniture and so on can stay behind, there isn't really anything in this house that I am attached to. Now, my books is another matter, just like my son would like to bring his Lego and his pillow for example.

Anyway, those estimates arrive in my mailbox now and it is like they are speaking another language.
Cb meters and groupages, 20ft containers (yikes, that is way too big), THC costs, insurance and a lot more that takes me 3 or more looks before I get a grip on what they mean .
Maybe I should let that go until I get that flu out of my system.

One thing that is pretty straight forward is surviving this warm weather we are having right now.
Even the girls won't come of the couch during the day. I can get away with dragging them to their pee spot and they are good for another nap on the couch. We all just decided not to move too much, which suits me fine right now.

Our interview date is getting closer and we have decided to throw a farewell party the weekend after that. And this Monday I can call to make an appointment for our medical. It is going to be pretty busy the next few weeks.

For the ones who asked, Paquita is doing fine.
Still tired from the anesthetic but that is normal, certainly with this type of weather.

For our readers on the other side of the big pond.
Happy 4th of July

Not my best day

2009-06-24T04:34:00.004-04:00

so far I have dropped my coffee, managed to 'almost' get hit by a car and it is only 10:30 AM.

Am having a day off today because last week I found a little lump on one of my dogs. Normally I wouldn't worry and wait, but this little lump was on her trachea.
With the upcoming move to the US in the back of my mind I didn't want to take any risk and had it looked at.It is benign, but in a rotten place.
So today her surgery was scheduled, as a matter of fact, it is taking place right now.
Things like this turn me into a nervous wreck and it shows in the above stated little accidents.
Think I will try to stay in the house as much as possible today.

And there is plenty to do.
Started checking the closets last week and threw out a lot, clothes, blankets, shoes and other stuff I don't need to drag with me to the US.
It is amazing how much you gather in just 2 years time.

Anyway, every thing is done now with the move in the back of my mind.
Started cleaning the bathroom and kitchen thoroughly so that I just need to wipe off things when I get out.
Also am making a list of things that I have to cancel and when. Things I need to change.
Enough to keep me busy at a day like this.

In the meantime,Jack's office moved again and that kept him really busy. Which is why we don't see him on the blog very much.

The both of us are exhausted at the end of the day and I wonder how long we can keep up. 4,5 more weeks to go to the interview and I hope we can move soon after that.
We are both so looking forward to relax for a bit.

And we have a DATE!!!

2009-06-18T16:07:00.003-04:00

When I came home from work today I found another envelope, our fourth package.
In it another envelope that I am not allowed to open and our interview date:

27th of July 2009

Will we really be moving within two weeks after that date???

DS-230, DS-156, DS-156K, DS2000, I-134 and more

2009-06-14T05:21:00.002-04:00

The moment I opened up the envelope, I totally freaked out.
All these forms to fill in, most of them twice and than for me and my son twice also.
In that first phonecall with Jack after I received the envelope he must have thought I was losing it.

It took me two days to figure out what they wanted from me and I had it: 'op een rijtje' as we say here.
And Sunday evening I mailed the first forms back to Amsterdam. In the same time Jack had sent me other forms I needed to proof that we won't become a public charge to the US. Those papers and a lot of other things I had to sign off a checklist that I had to send back to the consulate as soon as I had it together.
After they receive that they will schedule our interview.
Could send that list last Friday.
Not bad eh? LOL, for a person who freaked out I mean.

One thing that isn't mentioned on all the papers is the fact that I need permission for my ex to take my son with me. And my guess was they would like to see something at the interview.
Since the consulate only takes phonecalls in the morning, I had to take a day off work and call them. They were so friendly and gave me all info I needed.
And yes, I need some proof, so next Friday it is off to the notary for the signing of a letter of consent.

Really, I am so grateful on how smooth things go with my ex, I can't imagine how horrible it must be if you have to fight for every little thing if it concerns the kids.

And since I had the day off...I decided to get my vaccinations done also.
Boy, that turned out to be a scare initially. After calling the pharmacy they told me the BMR (MMR) would cost me 193 euro's.
Luckily that turned out to be a little mistake their side, for both vaccinations I ended up paying just over 50 euro's. I even may get some back from my health insurance.
Getting the vaccinations was no fun, I know now why little kids cry with the BMR, it hurts, but the other one DTP, is mean afterwards, right now my right arm has a nice lump on it and feels pretty sore.
But hey, the things we do for love...

Anyway, a whole lot got done this week, a lot of money spent also for birth certificates, pictures, vaccines and other stuff, but for the moment I think I have things ready.

Now it is up to the consulate again to provide us with our interview date.
And please, can that be halfway next month????

Papers arrived in the Netherlands

2009-06-06T03:33:00.004-04:00

We owe you guys an update because a few important steps have been taken the last one and a half week.
First of all, we finally got our second NOA, it was in Jacks mailbox the 28th of May.
What it means is that we were approved and that our application was sent to the American consulate in the Netherlands.
Much to my surprise I found a thick envelope on my doormat exactly a week later containing a lot of forms that I need to fill in and a list of stuff I have to gather for our interview and physical.

The envelope is on my desk for two days now and I have to admit, I am a bit scared of it.
I looked it through several times now and I am having a hard time understanding every thing they ask for or want to know. But we'll get there.
Today Jack and I will go over them, seeing what exactly they need and than see if we can get everything together within a week.
I would like to have all papers back at the consulate at the end of the week so they can schedule our interview.

It also means I need to get vaccinations for myself, my son had everything.
Need to get special sized photo's for the both of us that we need to go to Groningen for. Need to provide evidence of the relationship Jack and I have, which shouldn't be a problem at all :-) and a lot of questions need to be answered on the papers I got this week.

From now on we are going to be very busy with preparing for the interview and our move to the US which we hope will be somewhere around the end of the summer vacation.

Yikes, we are talking weeks now instead of months...

(btw, I hope to do a blog entry about our last visit to the US soon. Have been too busy since I got an official job recently)

A Walk in the Woods

2009-05-18T05:52:00.004-04:00

It's been a long time since we have posted so we need to get busy and update what has been going on.

We had a wonderful visit together and did many things, traveling to Washington DC and the Shenandoah mountains as well as a very important meeting with the local school system to plan for Petra's son to attend next school year. Now we are both getting very anxious for word from immigration on moving to the next step. Every day seems to bring the hope and then disappointment if there is no news but we just have to be patient and wait for our turn.

We did decide that one thing we would like to do together as a family is hike through the abundant forests and natural space we have in and around here. We both enjoy it and there is a large trail system here that makes taking hikes an easy weekend adventure. One of the most famous hiking trails in the US runs right through the area, the Appalachian Trail, and the opportunity to explore parts of it are endless. The AT runs from the state of Georgia to Maine and is approximately 3500 km long almost entirely through forests and mountains. I took a look at what was around the stretch of it that runs through here this past weekend. I was amazed at how little I knew of the beauty that is waiting out there for anyone to enjoy.

There are many rock outcroppings that are very spooky when you come upon them all of a sudden. Waterfalls are common and I hear that there are some spectacular falls if you hike further into the forest.

One very interesting site is the ruins of a building built during our Revolutionary War period around the 1770's

A very little known site is the remains of a top-secret prisoner of war camp that held mostly German UBoat officers during WW II. I can see how they kept it secret because it is out in the middle of nowhere and even with directions, it took me a couple of hours to find it. LOL One prisoner etched his name on a bridge that crosses a small stream.

The forest was full of blooming flowers.
I came upon this lake that was deep in the woods and not a soul enjoying it but me.

I even made a new friend along the trail. LOL

I went out to explore some of the trails we can hike when Petra and her son move here and found that we will have plenty to keep us busy in the woods. I just hope the waiting game is over soon so we will have that chance this fall.

And than the fun of spring suddenly ends

2009-04-20T16:53:00.002-04:00

Was it only a week ago that I talked about the beauty of spring, how happy I was about the sunshine and how everything is in bloom?
Well, that ended one or two days later.
For, maybe the second time of my life, I suffer from hay fever.
And what a bad timing to get a sore throat, itching eyes, a cough and a stuffed head.

Must be an empathy thing, Jack has a pollen allergy problem also.
By the time we get over there, the season for that will just have started for him.

Anyway, we have started packing.
2 more days of work and school and than it off for 9 full days together.

Happy Easter or...miracles do happen

2009-04-12T05:40:00.002-04:00

First of all, Happy Easter!
Hope everyone is enjoying these spring days. I sure am, did we have snowfall last year, this year we are in luck with sunshine and good temperatures.
The last few days I have seen lambs, foals and storks outside in the fields. Spring flowers are in full bloom here, trees are getting that hint of green over them.
Well, you get the picture.

And to make things even better, on my last day at work, before Easter break, I was offered a contract for a year.
My job situation, or rather the lack of having a real job was a big worry for me.
Lately I was on some kind of trial, payed through welfare, in a place to find out my abilities. This situation would soon stop and after that it was really unclear what would happen. There was talk about an education, but because of trouble with an hurt arm thanks to an accident I had, time ran out.
Not knowing how long it will take before we get our visa's I figured I would have to try to get cleaning work through the employment agency for those few months.
But to my surprise they offered me a contract for a year in the place I am now.
They know my situation, I get a chance to work and learn and get out this situation as much as I can.
LOL, who would have thought I would end up in an office environment and actually know what I am doing.
And the best part....no more welfare!!!

Am I That Predictable?

2009-04-06T09:00:00.003-04:00

I am way past due in posting but I have a good excuse. I have been busy getting ready for Petra and her sons visit.

I have been doing the normal cleaning but also freshening up some parts of the house with a new coat of paint. I am odd in that I really like painting and find it very relaxing and it is always nice once you are done to stand back and see the results. Petra may find it strange that if she would like some painting done that I will be more than happy to do the job. LOL

The other thing that I have been doing is working in the yard and garden area. I have been planting flowers and bushes that will add color to our garden, hopefully some of them blooming when they are here.

The funny thing is that every time my neighbors see me hard at work in the yard they joke to me about it by saying, "You can tell Petra will be here soon, Jack is busy cleaning everything up." Eeeeks, I didn't know that I have become so predictable. LOL It's not like I ignore my garden or don't clean the house on a regular basis but I guess I do extra things that give me away. Well I have to say that I do enjoy it and it will be even more fun when we can plant our garden together.

Not a worry in the world...

2009-03-23T18:45:00.005-04:00

lately I have been more or less accused of taking this upcoming move too lightly.
It is on purpose that I say 'accused'. Dutch people do have a tendency of looking at things while coming up with all possible ways why it might turn out to be a disaster.
And the Dutch love sharing those possibilities. Best part of that is afterwards coming up with the sentence: "I don't want to be the one telling you afterwards I told you so, so you better be prepared for it, because it is very possible it all may go wrong...."

And I have been hearing that too much lately. All possible scenario's came up already just to make sure I will be prepared for the worst.

Turns out that the effect is the opposite from what seems to be their goal.
I will not share my concerns with them, but will tell them that we will do great, we won't miss the Netherlands, my family will come over and there hardly are any differences between PA and my part of the Netherlands.

Well, bullsh.. of course.

Leaving the country you were born and lived for 45 years isn't easy and will be very hard at times.
Of course I have my worries, mostly for my son who will have to get used to a whole new life without his family, without his schoolmates and in a country of which he doesn't speak the language very well yet. He will have to go to school in a system he doesn't know on an age that usually isn't the easiest part of life.
Still, I know my teenager as a wonderful smart and intelligent boy that adjusted to some big changes the last few years and all I can do right now is hope that he will do well. He has the right mindset and wants to come with me, has had the opportunity to look around a bit already and until now liked what he saw.
He is still at the age that it is easier to adjust than when you are already set in your ways.

As I am....
Over the last few months I realized that it is usually people younger than I am who jump into deep water. And several of those have had it really rough getting adjusted.
There are certain things I will miss very much, there are things that I worry about if I think about. The biggest one is not having the freedom of getting to know the area by myself, go out and about since I don't have a drivers license and getting on the bike to go groceries shopping won't be an option.
After living on my own for some time now I love my freedom to go as I like.
I have very much enjoyed my adventures getting on the train and traveling to the other side of the country without having to depend on other people as I had to do for 20 years.
I worry on how I will handle the fact I will have to depend on Jack for every step out of the house for a while.

I also worry about my family, if they will be able to come over to visit.
And to be honest,I doubt if any of my sisters will be able to come over and visit us.
I worry about keeping in contact with them, since it already seems to be very hard to keep the contact going now. It will be hard missing them even though we don't seem that close.
I will miss my parents visits when they have been shopping in town and drop in for a cup of tea, it won't be that easy anymore.

And there will be many little things, like 'nasi kruiden', yoghurt that is different than I am used to, having to get used to Fahrenheit and ounces instead of Celsius and grammen.

There will be times that I won't be able to find the words to tell Jack why I am mad, or happy. There will be times I won't be able to explain why I feel like crying when there seems no reason.
There will be times that I will show signs of being homesick.

But do I have to make that a big deal now?
Do I have to start saying to people: Yes, you are right, it will be hard, maybe we shouldn't do it, because maybe it might not work?

Nope!

Because knowing there may be hard times is something else than giving up before it even started. It is totally different from having faith in the future I feel we have as a couple and a family.
We are leaving a lot behind, but we are also gaining a whole new life.There will be wonderful times ahead also, we already know of many things we do love when we are there. We will be fine. We love each other.
And fully counting on Jack's support and help to guide us, you might actually wonder who should be worried here, us, or Jack, LOL

So there, I said it now.
You can stop coming up with all kind of doom scenario's.
Because we are going, no matter what you come up with.

We are planning a wedding

2009-03-20T19:32:00.004-04:00

Eeks, I know, I am in shock also.
But I guess we are, actually planning a wedding.

If you want to find out more about white dresses and flower arrangements...
Don't look here.
We'll do it our way.

More to follow soon.

60 days

2009-03-15T16:03:00.004-04:00

Exactly 60 days ago today we got our first NOA.
And in those 60 days every bit of information we got on the procedure, the length of it, changed.
We have seen people being approved in less than 90 days, which makes you wonder, how close are we getting?
Will we be the lucky ones that get it all done fast and without too much trouble?
Or will we be like those couples who are waiting for 6 months now on their approval.

In the meantime I am just trying to get ready for it from my side, Jack from his side.
Most things have to be done here, but with a visit coming up, Jack made the appointment with the school my son will be going to.

One of the hardest things I had to do up to now is giving up most of my volunteer work.
Since I was in the board of GINN, it wasn't something I just could drop and walk away from. Some time ago we were so lucky to find someone who would be doing great taking over the lead, so we started working together and 2 weeks ago she officially took over the job.
After 9 years of volunteer work, of which around 5 years it was an almost full time job, it feels strange to come home and not turn on the pc because I have to.
Believe me, I still do turn on the pc, out of habit.
But instead of 50 to 80 e-mails to answer, there are maybe 10 a day now, of which 3 at least are spam.
LOL, I shouldn't complain, GINN is in great hands with a wonderful board, people who over the years became friends to me.
But the last week I did get a touch of the empty nest syndrome.
Which got worse since my right arm still is pretty useless.

I need to find stuff to do. First I tried watching tv, but I found out that even though the amount of channels may have more than doubled, 2 times nothing is still nothing.
And the news still is just as depressing as it was 5 years ago. Unfortunately reading isn't working either since my eyes aren't what they used to be.

Sooooooooooooooooooooo
I'm playing Bubbels
Left handed. And I am getting pretty darn good at it.

Oh, and Cara found the covers I put in the flight kennels today and decided that it makes a good place to curl up.
She is also getting ready.

Can't keep up

2009-03-08T11:51:00.005-04:00

There is so much going on right now, I am trying to take it one at a time.
First of all, it doesn't help that just over 3 weeks ago, my bike went down on a concrete parking lot, taking me with it.
After gasping for air for a few minutes, I went back on the bike thinking that would be the last of it.
Why I ended up asking my Dad to drive me to the hospital last Friday?
Well, just over a week ago, my right arm that had been painful for those weeks, got slammed against a car door. The pain in my arm doubled fast after that.
Which is why they had to make sure nothing had broken inside the elbow.
Anyway, nothing is broken, but something is hurting pretty bad, so I am looking at therapy now.

In the meantime, I wasn't able to work. Which makes the time frame left for the course I was going to take, too narrow.
Would have had to start much later and it looks like our Visa may be adjudicated a lot earlier than was expected at first.
Right now, we may expect approval from the USCIS the end of May, beginning of June. Soon after that things will start rolling here in the Netherlands, meaning we have to get our stuff ready for that.

Moving in the last weeks of my son's summer vacation looks like a real possibility now.
If VSC (Vermont Service Center) keeps up the good work, than the date we get our visa may even be a bit earlier.
On the other hand, we also might turn out to be one of those couples whose visa journey takes a year instead.

This is why I have two huge kennels in my living room right now, so the girls can get used to them already. They arrived last week.
Regulations to bring dogs over looked pretty easy at first, but it turns out to be quite a challenge.
Both my dogs are sight hounds, meaning they are lightweights, with pretty long legs and necks. This caused some confusion over the kennels we need.
KLM wants a kennel high enough to have 10 cm above the dogs head when it is standing up.
If we would have gone for that, we would have had to have kennels made. Very expensive. And they would have been so huge, 3 of my dogs would have fitted into the kennels.
But it is already clear the dogs won't fly through KLM, they are so much more expensive than most airlines. After looking into it, it will probably use an American airline flying from Brussels.
The kennels I have are the biggest most airlines allow. Common sense tells me they are to big, but after reading through the guides of different airlines, this was the best option.
And these are IATA certified.
Now my bank account needs some time to recover.

Because the next step will be vaccinations...
Not for the dogs, nah, my turn.
For some reason my records are gone and since I am too old (ugh, ugh) the records weren't kept at the GGD.
I will have to get my shots, just like the dogs....
To keep the costs at a minimum, my own doctor will give them to me, instead of having them done at the medical in Amsterdam.

And in the meantime, I am selling stuff that I won't take with me.
So if anyone wants a pair of leather pants in perfect shape, or a good leather jacket...saying good bye to memories.

So much going on and so much more to come.

Expect the Unexpected

2009-03-04T10:11:00.003-05:00

It seems every time we plan a trip we encounter unexpected issues that could potentially change our plans. We both have had dog babysitting issues, I had the company I worked for get taken over by another and that caused some panic. We planned a trip during soaring oil prices and air tickets were going through the roof. Now, it is just the general world economy that has everyone scared. Through it all it always seems to find a way to work out and to be very honest, we have been very fortunate that we have been able to be together as much as we have. Petra has been in the US 4 times, 3 of them with her son and I have been to the Netherlands 3 times all within the past 19 months. Pretty good I think.

Now we have our latest trip planned for the end of April. Petra and her son will be coming over for the first time during the spring season. We need to meet with the school that her son will attend here and start to get those arrangements made. We will find other things to do also. I checked what is going on here during their trip and was happy to see that there are a couple of things locally that I think we could enjoy.

Greyhounds in Gettysburg is being held during that time so that is an obvious one for us. I think Petra will be very interested in seeing how these events are held over here compared to what she is used to in The Netherlands. And yes, they do dress the dogs up for a parade. LOL

Another local event is the annual Apple Blossom Festival near Gettysburg. That area is one of the largest apple growing regions in the USA and the trees should all be in bloom and covering the hills and valleys for as far as you can see. It's an old fashion country festival and should also be pretty interesting for them to see if for no other reason than to get a good laugh at all of the ways apples are used in food. My favorite is the apple dumpling.

Since we are only about 1 1/2 hours from Washington DC I hope we can go there as well and see the Air and Space Museum and other Smithsonian museums.

We'll all survive this terrible economy we have currently and our plans will move forward. No one ever promised us that something so good would be easy. These vacation trips have been great fun but I can't wait for the day that we plan them together from the same place.

Things are moving up

2009-02-23T07:07:00.004-05:00

On the 22of January I wrote this: "we got an estimate on when to expect our NOA2: "Based on timeline data, your I129f may be adjudicated between July 3, 2009 and July 20, 2009*."

From my visits to Visa Journey I noticed that Vermont is picking up speed.
And here was what I saw this morning:

I'll update later today with some other things also I hope, but just had to share.
Just in time since we needed something positive to keep us going.

Greyhounds, tattoo's and scary ideals

2009-02-17T16:02:00.004-05:00

all I wanted was another tattoo.
And at some point, it looked like everything came together beautifully.

Some time ago Jack and I decided it would be best if we would do another trip to the US. We needed to get everything together for a smooth transition to my son's school and a meeting with the new school would be good.

While we are working on that, Jack found out GIG, Greyhounds in Gettysburg would be at the same time. An event I had heard about a lot already on a big greyhound message board that Jack and I both visit.
And to make it even better, a new tattoo artist was being promoted at that same board.
It sounded like it just couldn't get any better.
The examples of the art work shown were wonderful and close enough to what I wanted.

I showed Jack, I showed friends and I was in contact to set up an appointment.
And as usual, than I started digging.

and than I found it.
Pictures with on the back ground propaganda flyer's from the second world war.
Someone was really into the Nazi regime and I feared it might be the tattoo artist.
When I asked the contact person, I got the most disturbing answer.

Yes, the artist was into that sort of thing, he even was a member of 'the party'.
But I shouldn't worry, besides that, he was friendly, polite and they were friends for several years now. He didn't impose his believe on others and was just interested in the history and the good parts of those 'believes'. And because of his believes he had to give up on the right to have a passport and other 'freedom' rights.

I felt sick to my stomach, but, with the help of Jack I kept digging.
Turns out that the party, would likely be the American Nazi Party.
Didn't think I could feel any sicker, but there it was, on their main page they sell Mein Kampf.

When a grown up becomes a member of that group, I stop believing the part about it being for 'just' the historical reasons.
And I don't care if it is someone that is very polite to ladies.

It also is someone who supports the believes of the same regime that killed so many people during WW2. Only because they were born as a Jew, a Roma or maybe born with a handicap.

It is people with those same believes that makes it necessary for us to have the 4th of May so we won't forget what ideals like that can cause.
It is the reason my son is right now learning about years of war in Europe and why we visit Westerbork, the place Anne Frank waited, locked up, for that train that took her to her final destination, Auschwitz.

My mail back was very clear in how I would have felt if I had found this all out after I had been tattooed by this guy.

To my surprise I was ridiculed and told that freedom comes with a price.

I do believe that: freedom comes with a price and in Europe millions already payed that price. And if we keep closing our eyes for people like this, we will one day pay that same price again.

I won't get my tattoo, that is a price I pay gladly now.

But it saddens me that someone can choose to overlook these facts and hide behind thin lines like: it is only historic interest, he focuses on the good parts, he doesn't deny bad things happened.

On January 27, 1998, Yehuda Bauer said this:
"thou shall not be a perpetrator; thou shall not be a victim; and thou shall never, but never, be a bystander"

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Memorial Center Camp Westerbork
Anne Frank Museum Amsterdam
Nazism-on-Wikipedia

Silver lines to a bad day

2009-02-07T15:42:00.005-05:00

And a bad day it has been.
But that is not what I want to talk about, I want to talk about the silver lines, or rather, the newspaper article that I read in todays paper when I had to wait in my vet's waiting room.

One of the nice things of going to my vet is that I can count on getting up to date with todays news. Being really honest, one of the worst things of not having a job, is having to go without a news paper. I used to spell every word, and when I get a chance, I will get totally lost in a paper on occasions like this.

Today I went a step further, I actually went out and bought it.
Why you ask? In todays edition they had a 2 page article about Philadelphia.
Pictures, maps and info on a place I visited only once, but totally fell in love with.
It talks about the Historic District, where Jack and I spend hours about the lines in front of Pat's King of Steak and Geno's steak. And I realize, I saw that, people standing in line around noon, long long lines for a Philly cheese steak.
It talks about Elfreth's Alley, a wonderful little street that takes you back to Ireland.
And in between all those words, it has this picture of those old, orange, yellow colored buildings and behind those the deep, dark blue new buildings of the inner city.
The first sky scrapers I ever saw.

It is hard to explain how you can fall in love with a city, how to let others know that you like the difference between the old and the new which is so apparent
in this town. How surprised I was by all the historic buildings and how well they are kept.
And how you will find little hints to the Netherlands on so many occasions.

For some funny reason it made me feel proud when I found out that the Netherlands was the first European country to have a consul in the US after the Declaration of Independence was signed.
Although...can someone tell me why it was J.H.C. Heineken?
Doesn't matter, we beat the French by a week.

But best of all to me was walking by the river. Philadelphia is a harbor close to the Atlantic. And I can't wait to go back and enjoy walking by the river.

For the rest, the article mentioned the great shopping opportunities.
Maybe we will get to that next time, just like the many museums. There is one that I absolutely want to go to.It is called the Mutter Museum. If you can stand it, more info can be found here: http://www.collphyphil.org As they say, it is disturbingly informative.
Anyway, time for me to leave and find some pictures to add to this story.

For the people who want to know, the article can be found in Het Algemeen Dagblad of Saturday the 7th of Febr.

Public transportation

2009-02-03T15:05:00.004-05:00

Nope, not done yet with our trip to Philadelphia.
As you could read in my last blog entry, it was only about 15 minutes later that we arrived at the Philadelphia train station.
Again a huge building with high ceilings.
Here I didn't have the urge to whisper, it was more busy than Harrisburg and you could hear a lot of noise from everywhere. The big hall was one level up and in the middle a huge information desk was available for people to get info about traveling but also about the city itself.
A beautiful Christmas tree almost got lost in the space.
The other thing that stood out was the amount of security people walking around.
I am still not sure if it gave me a safe feeling or the other way around.

Anyway, the whole time I was too busy to look around because I was keeping a close eye on Jack, since finally we were in the 'big' city and I had no clue where we would be going next.
I am not a city person, I love living in the small villages and the few years I lived in Groningen don't count since that is such a small city, it took me 10 minutes on the bike to get outside the city borders.
And from what I had seen when I flew in to Philadelpia, the city is huge.

It turned out that Jack wanted to take the subway into the inner city. Great, another experience with a new transportation system.
Fully expecting that Jack had done this before, I followed him towards the underground where we found the place where they were supposed to leave.

There we met a little problem, Jack didn't know how it worked either.
After some hassle with a lady behind a desk who wasn't too helpful it turned out that we had to get some tokens to get through the entrance gates.
All in all, I think this was the first time we met someone that wasn't helpful.
But Jack figured it out and we went through the gate.

There we met our next challenge.
When you aren't used to it, it is close to impossible to figure out what subway to take. the signs look more like math to me and as clear as Chinese.
The subway station, which is underground is the total opposite from the train station.
No luxury, dirty and noisy. And the smell, yuck.

And as it turned out, Jack didn't exactly know where we had to go either.
So again we had to ask, the answer wasn't exactly as we hoped, but we got on one and got out at a place Jack thought was the right one.
Boy, was I glad to get out of there.
And when we got out we found ourselves only a block away from the museums and information centers.
Right in the middle of Philadelphia on a beautiful sunny day in the middle of winter.

Tickets please!

2009-01-31T15:44:00.003-05:00

Not having a drivers license, I am used to travel by train and bus.
Sometimes taking the train can be pretty convenient when traveling to bigger cities, but it can also be a huge pain when you miss connections after a train or bus is late.
Over the years I learned to not worry too much because usually 'something' happens.
A train is hit by lightning, a technical problem or sometimes a train that is just too late. It all happens here, you get used to it and when it happens you better relax. Eventually you will get there. Unless you have a plane to catch, than it does get a bit nerve wrecking.

Besides that, traveling by train is pretty easy, the train stations are open and after getting a ticket at the machine for any place you like, you jump into a train that is standing there with open doors, hoping you picked the right one.
The station is a noisy place, you hear whistles, trains coming in and leaving and the bus station that is always close,you smell coffee, French fries and now and than you get a whiff of the place the homeless people use to relieve themselves or that typical smell of a joint that has been lighted after the stuff to built one was just bought somewhere around a corner.
By the time you find a place to sit,when it isn't too busy, you hope you aren't driving backwards. And that you get a spot for just two people, otherwise you may risk an awkward feet dance with your neighbor and all his or her bags,who is sitting opposite of you. This can be a challenge when you have two dogs with you.

Yeah, the joy of traveling with the Dutch NS.
Still, I do like it, train stations are lively places and I could spend hours just watching the people.

And than Jack decided we would take the Amtrak to Philadelphia...
Talk about culture shock.

First of all, it was a good thing that Jack knew where it was, since there were no huge roadsigns showing the way to the station. (In the Netherlands train stations have their own sign which will show you the way through every city towards the station) But we found it without too much trouble.
And yeah, it looked like a train station. But where were all the people?
It was very quiet and when we entered the big hall where they sold the tickets, I felt the need to start whispering. So clean, so empty, so much open space. The station in Harrisburg is a nice building on the inside though. For some reason I felt like stepping back in time and I wouldn't have been surprised if a steam loc
would have come through, blowing its whistle.

Getting tickets took quite some time, we had to wait in line and a real person helped us out. Turned out I had had the right idea by carrying my passport that day.
Every ticket was by name and we had to show ID. That already gave me the giggles.
You can imagine that it took a little before we had our tickets.
You better not arrive late at these stations, you will, for sure miss your train.
But after getting our tickets, we could go to the waiting room.
I do have to say, that is a lot warmer that sitting on a cold bench on the Dutch platforms.
But again, I never dreamed of someone opening up a door, allowing people to walk down the stairs towards the waiting train.
Geesh, I felt like the Queen herself.
The train in itself was really nice, comfortable seats and from what I could see around me, all modern possibilities provided.
And soooooooooo clean, sigh, really clean.
After our entree, we found a good spot to sit and the train left after our tickets were checked and a sign was put above our seats that we were aboard and sitting where we sat.
And still, I felt the need to lower my voice and keep our conversation as soft as possible.
Since we had to get up early for our day in the city I choose to look outside, enjoy the views and yes, sit close to Jack.
The part of the US we drove through is beautiful, so looking outside is no punishment.

By the time we came close to Philadelphia, our energy supply seemed to have a little problem.Our neighbor had a few problems with his laptop.
And than suddenly the lights turned down and the train slowed down.

Now, you expect this in a Dutch train, but not here.
But, immediately we were told there was a problem with our power, they had to look into it, wouldn't take long.
Everywhere in the train you heard people whisper and the whisper got louder.
LOL, finally I got the feeling I could talk normally.
Until the next message came. We were told there had been an explosion in one of the power houses.
I had something like, yeah right, they must have known I am in the train, since I am so used to that kind of stuff.

Just forgot that I was in the US...
Forgot the fear that is so all around.

I remembered when suddenly after that message almost everyone in the train got his or her cellphone and called home.
I think I heard the word a bit too often that moment. It showed me how deep the fear is.
Suddenly the fact that I had to show ID to get a ticket made sense to me.

Luckily it turned out to be a minor problem, faster than expected we could drive on and we reached Philadelphia only about 10 to 15 minutes later.
Which would be a minor delay in the Netherlands.
But even though I would like to laugh it off as Americans being Americans.
I won't, for some reason I suddenly got a bit of an idea of what happens when a country lives under a threat.

I will make fun of things in the future, when I think they overact.
But I do realize that there is a reason for it.
A good one.

News!!!

2009-01-22T17:36:00.003-05:00

The story about our train trip to Philadelphia will have to wait for the moment because....

We got great news this week, we received our NOA1!!!
So now our petition is in their system and this part of our journey has officially begun.
As I said, I got a bit nervous about not hearing anything yet, so Tuesday Jack decided to call the bank and see if the check was cashed. And it was, even more, it had our case number on the back. As it goes with this kind of stuff, off course the message was in the mailbox also the same day, but hey, who cares, it was great to enjoy being happy together for a few more hours extra.

Also, from now on we can check our status on line with the USCIS.
And through Visa Journey we got an estimate on when to expect our NOA2: "Based on timeline data, your I129f may be adjudicated between July 3, 2009 and July 20, 2009*."
This may go faster or slower, mostly depending on luck I guess.
So maybe if you guys just keep your fingers crossed, it might go faster.

Which would be nice, since I would like to use these for what they are meant to be, our wedding rings.

Hot coals

2009-01-17T13:45:00.004-05:00

I feel like I am sitting on them.
Why? Well, we sent out our application for the visa ( K1 )on the 30th of December and we should be getting our NOA1 any day now.
Too be honest, I am already starting to wonder if something went wrong because we know the package was delivered in Vermont only a few days into January.
Do I sound impatient? You bet!!!
That is the problem with Internet these days, there is so much information and it is so easy to find people who are doing the same thing at exactly the same time, that comparing situations is too easy.
Still, if it weren't for a few websites that we found, we never would have figured out where to start our journey.
The best site was this one: http://visajourney.com
It gives clear information and really helps to figure out things.
You also find a people there that go through the same process, which helps a lot, but, like in this case, makes me a bit nervous also.
Like the couple who sent in their package later, to the same place, but got their first Notice Of Action already.
Right now I feel like sending Jack out to his mailbox about 6 times a day.
(Don't worry, not doing it, but I sure would like to)

Just good that I don't have the time for that.
Think I owe you guys an explanation also for the fact that I don't write as much as I used to.
It is actually pretty simple, I am too busy these days.
Half way December I was given the chance to learn and work at the same time.
In the past I earned my money by cleaning but when I changed from being a stay at home Mom to being unemployed, I wanted more than the cleaning business and I was lucky enough to be given the chance.
Right now I am working and learning in an office for HR.
It is very challenging, exiting and also scary.
And by the time I get home I am glad if I find the energy to walk my doggies.
But...slowly I should be getting used to this and find the time to write for our blog again.

Because I do need to tell you about that time we went to Philadelphia and there was this explosion while we were on our way with AMTRAK...

Good Dog.......Bad Dog.

2009-01-06T06:08:00.004-05:00

Not really. They are both great dogs but I had to post this picture that Petra made of my two boys because it captures their personalities better than any picture I have seen.

Tex, the white one, is easy going, never in the way and takes things as they come without any fuss. Johnny on the other hand, is the pathetic one, LOL. As you can see in the picture, he is afraid that he is missing out on something. He is the one that is glued to your leg with every move that you make and if there is just the slightest amount of space to lay next to you, he will find it.

I love this picture Petra.