Even though I wasn't feeling to good (cold coming) I got up and using Louisa on my Tom-Tom GPS drove about 15 minutes over to this neighboring town. Surprisingly, the car worked just fine. No sign of the lack of power from the day before. I hate that sort of thing.
Eugene greeted me and listened to me retell the string of events from yesterday and this morning. He said he would put the computer on it in the afternoon and check it out. Off I went in a small Nissan.
Neighbors, Margaret and Andy, came over at 11:00 for coffee in the garden. We try to get together at least once during each visit. Nice people who speak English very well because they lived in Canada for at least 10 years when he worked with a gas company in northern Alberta. Andy had 3 brothers, two of which, spent some time in a German concentration camp for spying. It changed them quite a bit. One ended up committing suicide. WWII is a lot more personal for the Dutch than Americans. We had soldiers die but they had soldiers and civilians suffer and die. It must have been a really horrific time.
We just found out that May 5 is celebrated as the end of the war in Holland. Also, there is a new plaque embedded in the side walk around the corner commemorating a Jew who was taken away in 1943 and never returned. This last May 5th (a few days ago) flowers were placed on it.
Later in the afternoon, we drove over to Soest Zuid to try to schedule an appointment with a reflexologist when we had used last year, but it was Monday and the store was closed. Luckily the liquor store was open and I bought some vodka to have with my homemade tacos for my belated birthday dinner. I had a discussion with the owner about Ketel One. The original Ketel 1 was actually jenever (sp?), a traditional Dutch alcohol something like gin. Apparently, there was so much competition that no one could make any money, so they switched to distilling vodka and changed the name slightly. I had no idea that Ketel One was a Dutch vodka but its great to be drinking it in the Netherlands. It almost feels like I'm being patriotic. Support the locals - I love it.
Ate tacos and drank vodka for dinner. Very nice. Linda ate leftover fish from the day before. Later I coughed my lungs up all night.
Tuesday I felt worse and slept in. Later, we drove back over to the south side of town and made reservations for foot sessions for both of us later in the week.
We came "home" and Linda created a really nice soup with vegetables from the refrigerator and leftover taco meat. You know soup is good for colds. It went down really well.
Wednesday we both felt better after lots of pills and honey and lemon in hot water. We drove over to Spakenburg because Linda thought they might have a market, but they didn't.
After walking around the boats, we drove over to Amersfoort for a pedicure. Louisa got lost but we figured it out eventually and found a perfect parking spot about one block from the main square and the nail shop. The only problem was that when we returned, we had a 90 euro ticket on our windshield. That was a shock. There were no signs around but maybe it was an area reserved for residents.
I went first with the pedicure and then sat outside at a pub next door and had a beer and some fries.
We both enjoyed the foot work and the massage chairs that even worked our butts, just not the ticket.
On the way home, we stopped at a garden center and bought and then Linda planted two begonias in the front pots of the house. Linda promises to water it daily so hopefully it won't die.
Later, we drove over to see Duco play ball again. His team won by one run.
He came over after the game to talk about the game. He showed us how he plays Monument on the iPad until his dad came to take him home. Its a school night and he still had things to do. Cute kid. He is getting more confident with his English. More words, less hesitation.
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