Archive for the ‘General’ Category

“The Abbot of the Vale”

Tuesday, August 24th, 2010

In my last message here on my blog I told that I bought music of Tony Hazzard through iTunes. I knew his music from way back. It is great to hear that music again. Maybe not a surprise, but Tony Hazzard as songwriter wrote some very great lyrics. One of his songs about something very dear to me :P

*Sings along loud and way out of tune*

“The Abbot of the Vale”

I got a friend who I can turn too
He makes me happy, stops me feeling blue
Tells me the truth, if I wanna see
He is good friend, made to you and me

I drunk whiskey from a crystal glass
Drunk sweet water. I even smoked grass
But all these things just don’t compare
to my friend with the golden hair

He is the Abbot of the Vale
Too much of him turns white shade of pale
He is the Abbot of the Vale
Too much of him won’t live to tell the tale

I got the noonday in the white caught sun
Got my job. Got a loaded gun
I’m dying to shoot. And I shoot to kill
But my friend says no, so don’t think I will

He is the Abbot of the Vale
Too much of him turns white shade of pale
He is the Abbot of the Vale
Too much of him won’t live to tell the tale

This weekend….

Sunday, August 22nd, 2010

A bit weird weekend it is….

Last Thursday I was off work and I went with Tom to the “Sail In” to make pictures of the arriving sail boats for Sail Amsterdam 2010. A sight to see. Even made though the circumstances were bad, I made some nice pictures…

I had planned this Saturday to go Amsterdam and visit Sail there, but when I woke up Saturday morning I didn’t feel very well. My stomach did hurt a bit, a bit of a headache. So I decided to stay home.

Later in the afternoon I started to feel better again, but my mood to visit Sail was a bit gone. I went to the town of Heemskerk instead to do shop some things I wanted to have.

Marion had made a remark that having a fondue would be very nice. It was ages ago that she had one and that goes for me as well. So I bought a nice electric fondue-set (a design one even :P ). So now can we can have our fondue’s…. cheese, meat, Chinese… whatever :P .
Same time I bought two nice table candlesticks, so I can make the dinner table look really nice.

As I have now rather people over for dinner and I like to make salads, I bought a nice big salad bowl that can holds enough salad for at least 4 or 5 persons. I also got some nice some smaller bowls that can used for many things.
And so I got some other things for my house as a holder for paper napkins and luxury soap dispensers. I love to buy things for my house.

I watched some episodes of Stargate Atlantis. Talked for a while with Marion on the phone. I was happy to hear that she felt better again. Feeling tired, I found my way to bed early.

This (Sunday) morning I slept long. After waking up I made myself a small breakfast. I worked on some pictures that I want to put on the walls of my home.
Some how my iPod got problems. I have been at least 2 hours busy to solve the problems. Remembered an artist of who I have an vinyl record. Entered the name of the artist into the iTunes stores and got very unexpected a full hit. So now I have all the songs I loved of Tony Hazzard on my iPod. “Tony who?” you may say. Tony Hazzard is a songwriter who has written songs for Hollies (“Listen to me”), Manfred Mann (“Ha ha, said the clown” and “Fox on the run”) and more. But he also sings some very great songs himself.

Went for a ride on my bike and saw some part of the city of Beverwijk that I hadn’t seen before.

Tonight? Watch some more episodes of Stargate Atlantis or watch the movie 2012 that I got this weekend. Maybe playing some Everquest II.

So a weekend that went complete different as planned, but it was not a bad weekend after all :)

My parents…

Wednesday, August 18th, 2010

Lately I have been thinking often about my parents. My father died several years ago. My mother is still alive and I am sure that because I am really worried about my mother my thoughts are so often focused on my parents.

My mother is in a home for people who need extra care. My mother needs a lot of extra care. Her body is getting weaker and weaker. Her eating very badly makes it all just worse.
People around me, friends and colleagues, know how often in the last two years I all of a sudden had to travel back to Haaksbergen because the situation of my mother turned worse. Until now it all turned back to the good side. But I am very afraid that one of the days soon I will get that fatal call…
It is not my mothers mind. She is still very clear of mind. I even dare to say that she is very young of mind. She is still capable of going along with modern ways of living.
As said, it is not her mind that is giving problems. It is her body. Almost as long as I can remember my mother was suffering from health problems. But her courage to go on was always remarkable… It still is.

Of course I have many memories about my parents. Some good, some bad, some just as they are.
One of things I remember very well is that my parents never hitted me. Although I can remember one situation that I brought my father in despair very close to it. But in the end he never did.
Nicer memories are that I can remember how my father was running with me on his shoulders around the house, wondering where “Little Robje” was.

I can remember very well how my father loved it to take his family out for dinner. He didn’t have much money as factory worker, but out for dinner was something he really liked. I remember “Hotel Centraal” (building doesn’t exist anymore), “Restuarant De Bron” (this building also doesn’t exist anymore). “Restuarant De Vijfhoek” (building is still there, but that is all) and “Hotel Mossinkhof” (same here… only the building is left).

There are some other things I respect my father very much for…. his handwriting, which was close to perfect.
His work for the Dutch Red Cross (which cover the flooding of the Dutch province “Zeeland” in 1953 and the train-kidnapping at “De Punt” in 1977).
Also his work for the local areas was remarkable.

As said before, I respect my mother especially for her strong mind and her ever lasting optimism. The house were we all grew up must have been very empty after my father died and we (my brother, my sister and me) were not living home anymore. I think it was great how she managed to handle that all.
I think that she secretly loved it that when after my last relation went down the drain, I asked if I could come home for some time. Finally one person more in that big house.
And even with my job in Hoofddorp she loved it that I came home in the weekends.

And that is all gone now… My mother was taking into the home she is staying now…. I moved to Heemskerk… The elderly house is gone. So many things have seem to come to an end….

And yes, I have seen things in the past concerning my mother and my father that I didn’t understand. There were also things that happened in the past to which I have no complete answers. And maybe it for the best this way… Some things don’t need to be answered. There is no need to bring the pain of the past to the present.

But whatever…. these two persons set the markers for who I am today. And I am grateful for that

The lady is home again….

Sunday, July 25th, 2010

Late during the night of last Friday to Saturday a plane from the US landed on Schiphol Airport… and that was a wonderful moment for me!

The last Friday was a long day… it felt if it lasted forever. I just went to work as normally, but even when I managed to do a lot, the end of the working day didn’t want to arrive. When the working day at last was over I stayed to drink some beers with some colleagues as it is always possible on Fridays at our company. It was a good start of an long evening.

After I arrived at home, I made myself a small dinner, took a shower and went for nap. I knew that nap was needed because I knew that it would become very late that evening.
During my nap I waked up because I heard the phone ring. As my phone is rather an old one, it doesn’t show caller information (at least not over IP). I had to guess who it was that called me. I thought it was Tom, because he just returned from the first part his holiday.
Well, it wasn’t Tom. But as I had him on the phone we talked a bit about his holiday. He suggested to drop by for some beers, which I thought was a very good idea as it would shorten the evening for me.

By this time I knew that Sanne and Marion’s father were on their way to Heemskerk. But they would take it easy and have some breaks because Marion’s father was already tired and he dislikes to ride tired and don’t wants to be a danger on the road.

Meanwhile Tom and I had a very good conversation and some very interesting subjects passed by. But I think it was close to 2 o’clock that I felt my eyes become heavy. So Tom and I agreed on the fact that it would be wise for me to have another nap.

After saying goodbye to Tom and wishing him a very nice second part of his holiday, I dropped almost dead on my bed. In seconds I was in the land of dreams. It must have been 45 minutes that I have been asleep before I was waked up again by the intercom. Marion’s father and Sanne had arrived.
We had time for a cup of coffee and then it was finally time to leave for the Schiphol Airport and of course we were still way too early there.

I must say that I felt as young boy on his first date while keeping a close look at the arrival gateway. Many people came through the gateway, but not the one I was waiting for. Which was only logical, because as Sanne reminded me so nicely the plane wasn’t landed yet :P .

Finally we saw that the plane with Marion was landed safely and according to my feeling it still lasted hours before she came through the arrival gateway. But at last the doors opened and that beloved person walked through. I heard Sanne behind me shout of happiness, but I was already rushing towards Marion. Someone who witnessed it might have thought that I was attacking her. But oh my, it was so good to have her in my arms again. There were some tears of happiness going around. Even when he tried to hide, the eyes of Marion’s father were wet as well.

After this warmly welcome we went in the direction of my house. There we sat together and talked a lot, feeling very well. I had prepared some small snacks, because I assumed that all would be a bit hungry of all the excitement and I was right with that.
After some time I noticed that Marion started to fall asleep. The journey she made was long and the jetlag always hits her very hard. So I suggested that get some sleep, an idea that was welcomed very much.
Sanne slept as always on the couch and Marion’s father had his camping-bed (I offered him my bed, but he refused that claiming that his camping bed was more the enough).

In the privacy of our bedroom I admit fully that I enjoyed it very much watching Marion getting ready for the night. Something I have seen so many times, but still…
In bed we talked a bit more… Kissed and caressed a bit, but Marion was so tired that she soon was laying asleep in my arms.
Me? I didn’t sleep that night at all. I just watched the one who I love so much laying beside me… the moonlight entering through the windows made it almost a fairytale picture.

The next morning (to be honest, it was more early afternoon) Sanne surprised us with a wonderful breakfast. It resembled a English breakfast. As Sanne said, we all needed some energy :) .

The afternoon was relaxed and good. We chatted and enjoyed the time together. Early evening Marion travelled with her father and Sanne to the town of Haaksbergen. She longed very much for her own home, which is very understandable. The two times she was here during her US adventure she was mostly here in Heemskerk and hardly at her own home. To that she needs really some days to rest and to recover.

Somewhere during the next week she will come back to here and spend some time with me. I have her rather rested well (edit: ough, that sounds very wrong. But that is not the way I meant it).

Well, I will go tomorrow to work as normally… but as a very happy man.

Thank you, Google…

Tuesday, July 13th, 2010

There is a lot going around about Google. That they would be gather secretly or not all kind of information and endangering the privacy of people as us.

This may all be true, but Google does also a lot good… Doesn’t almost everyone use the search engine of Google?
And Google offers many more services online. Services as Google Maps and Google Earth… Translation services… GMail and a lot more.

Recently I have started to use a service I am really satisfied with… Google Agenda!

Google Agenda is online calender, which means you can access it everywhere you have Internet. That is nice, but there is more to it. I can synchronise it with the calendar I have at the company in Outlook. At the same time I can also synchronise it with the scheduler I have on my smart phone.

That is al very nifty, but there was something more Marion and I was looking for… an agenda that we could easily share together. Google Agenda offer that!
Business and private appointment I can place in my agenda and they are mark each by a (configurable) color. Marion can do the same and all our appointments show very clear up in our Google Agenda’s. We also can create a group where we both can place events or appointments in. Very handy for things we want to attend to together or birthdays.

We have looked at other agenda’s before, but I really have to say that Google agenda does exactly what we want.

Maybe not the place to enter real private information, but still… Thank you, Google!

Flowers… and something else…

Thursday, July 1st, 2010

Almost from the day I moved into my new house I have flowers inside. Some times roses or tulips… some times lilies… or as this time sunflowers.
I think flowers always add nicely to the good atmosphere of the house.

Apart from the nice flowers in my house, I have arranged tickets for Marion and me to go in January to Ellen ten Damme’s Cirque Stiletto. The seats are first class and are on a perfect spot. I will make a special day of it. After all we have something to celebrate then :) .

This is one of the advantages of living on this side of the country…. there is so much going on here :)

It is a bit weird… the contradictions…

Sunday, June 27th, 2010

Last Friday I had a day off and after doing some things I needed to do, I travelled towards the town of Oldenzaal. Once there I did meet up with Patrick and together we went to a concert in Atak.

To be honest, the act of the first band called Digidelica was a bit too much out of the way for me. But the main act of Front 242 was just great. I really enjoyed it. The music was good, the sound was good, the lightshow was good… it all just was good.
I really had a good time.

The next morning I went to see my mother. Maybe I should not say it, but I think her condition turned worse since the last time I have seen her. Maybe it is because I normally saw her almost every week, so changes were not noticed that easily. And now I haven’t seen her for a longer time and yes, in my opinion there is a big difference and sadly not for the good.
To be really honest, I have to say that it made me afraid…. Lets just hope I was wrong…

Weird how different emotions can follow up each other in just one weekend….

A nice weekend

Sunday, June 20th, 2010

Yesterday Patrick came to Heemskerk. He haven’t seen my house since I moved in. Since then a lot changed on the decoration. So it was nice to show and brag a bit about it all.

I think he liked what I have done to the house. Well, I am very happy with it and that is of course what is most important.

Patrick helped me a lot by making a good UTP cable between my network that I have at home and the new Popcorn hour. Until now I always I had to roll a cable over the floor, which of course not very handy. Now the cable that Patrick made is permanent in place and hidden from sight. It makes it a lot easier to use the Popcorn hour in combination with my network.

We had dinner here at a Greece restaurant called Olympia. It was the first time I was there and I really have to say that I like it. Think I will be going there more often.

Later on the evening we were hanging around on my balcony and chatted a lot with my neighbour Johan. It was nice and we laughed a lot. The beer flowed richly…. and for once that is no problem at all.

All with all, another weekend very nicely spent :)

Clubtour Ellen ten Damme “Durf jij”

Wednesday, June 9th, 2010

Next Friday in Paradiso… Yes!!!!

Maybe another signed CD? :P

My balcony..

Sunday, June 6th, 2010

People who know me a bit, know that I like plants. And yes, in my new apartment there are already rather some plants. But also on my balcony I have already rather a nice collection of plants…

But new is that I have there some plants that are useful for cooking (another hobby of mine)…

So there is now a red pepper-plant. There red peppers are really good. I used yesterday one with the dinner I was making and it tasted really well. Nicely sharp, but not that sharp that it destroys your throat.

There is also a plant that we over here in The Netherlands call “Paprika’, but if I am informed well enough this plant is often called “Pepper” in English en Paprika when it is processed to powder. Very confusing….
Anyway the Paprika’s (or Pepper) on this plant need to mature a bit more.

An Strawberry-plant is already there as well, but this plant still has to bloom. So I may happy if there will be one strawberry there this year. But I am patient :) .

The plan is also to raise some herbs that I use often in the kitchen. Herbs as parsley, thyme, dill and basil.

And all these useful plants are standing between very good looking plants and Fuchsia’s and Lupine. Hmm, I must have to get some Lavender as well. I love the smell of Lavender.

Who said that a balcony is useless and that you cannot do anything with it?