I'm not good at

bowling...I discovered again yesterday. As part of an off-site team building activity for work, bowling was on the agenda. I normally never bowl and that was clear. Also clear was that I have no natural talent in the bowling department whatsoever.

And I didn't mind one bit. I am normally quite a competitive person and when I engage in an activity or sport, I want to be good at it. Funnily enough, it didn't phase me that I stunk at bowling. I actually thought it was funny. Not sure why. Maybe it was the fact that my boss was even worse at it than I was, or the fact that my team just won the mobile scavenger hunt (an earlier team building exercise), or maybe it was the Corona that took the edge off....no, the scary thought is that maybe I'm growing up and I don't care as much about who wins and who doesn't ....maybe the team-building exercise actually worked....scary

The sun also rises

.....getting up late Sunday morning. Sun shining. Slight breeze combatting the touch of humidity in the air. Shower. Freshly baked croissant brunch. Flying kites with son & hubbie in local park. Fun with son on playground. Sitting on deck next to son splashing with sprinkler, waterhose and buckets. Comfortable belgian dinner of twice fried 'frietjes' with stovers. Glass of red wine....

...feels almost like the Ernest Hemmingway novel - 'the sun also rises'-...mindless, carefree wandering through the day, going through the motions, aimed purely at self-satisfaction....

...love the feel of it at times.... but couldn't imagine it day-after-day...too much isolation, too much selfishness, too little involvement...

Familiar Surroundings

Just returned from a last-minute business trip to London. Felt like coming home after a long time. Everything was so familiar. The squares, vistas, the 'tube', the British pound, the accents, diversity of restaurants, black cabs, driving on the left, prawn chips, play houses, dress code, .....It was a strange feeling on one hand. I didn't have to wonder how to arrange things, how to get places, I just knew. I didn't feel like a visitor at all, but not quite like a resident either. More like I was wandering in a very familiar fairy tale that I hadn't heard in a while.



I didn't have much spare time during the day - busy at a trade show and with work meetings - but had the good fortune to spend most evenings with my best friend in London. We went out to a middle-eastern restaurant one evening and just chatted for 5 hours straight over dinner and wine. We covered about everything from family, work, getting older, changing life expectations, philosophy, ambitions, vacations, cultural differences and plain old silliness. It was great.


It's always amazed me how there are certain people that you just 'click' with. No matter how often or seldom you see them, the moment you meet up again, you can take right up where you left off. You are simply on the same wavelength.

And strange enough too, I don't see these friends very often - one lives in London, another in Belgium and one in Atlanta, so none of them exactly live next door. Maybe it is related somehow, that the bond feels/is stronger because of the distance.

Regardless of which, it made my trip over more than a business trip, but a chance to connect again and refill and rekindle the batteries of a very special friendship. Made me wish I lived closer though.....

BugFest

Vandaag was het weer BugFest in Raleigh. Ongelooflijk leuk, zowel voor kinderen als volwassenen. BugFest is hier een jaarlijkse traditie, waar men de mensen al spelender wijs wat bijleerd over 'bugs', dus spinnen, kevers, schorpioenen, kakkerlakken, bijen, vlinders en wat al niet.



Zo vind je er glazen kijk-kasten waar er bijendemonstraties gegeven worden (je weet wel, mensen met bijenbaarden en zo), heb je vele kraampjes waar je kevers, wormen, etc. kunt aanraken en voeden, het je 'koken met bugs' demonstraties, 'anthropod olympics' voor de kinderen waar ze ondermeer, zoals mestkevers, met strandballen moeten rennen, het je 'bug' knutselkraampjes, en nog veel meer.



Kevin jeunde zich erg, al denk ik dat de kever en bijen demonstraties hem minder interesseerden dan de schorpioenenlolly. Ik heb er zelf voor het eerst 'bugfood' geprobeerd: three bug salad, antchilada, wax worm quiche, stir-fry cantonese crickets on rice, hush grubbies, bug bite cookies...en ik moet zeggen, het smaakte niet slecht. een beetje crunchie textuur, maar best lekker, en blijkbaar vol goeie proteinen ook.



Ik weet niet of ze in Belgie ondertussen al een 'bugfest' equivalent hebben. Toen ik er opgroeide bestond dat althans nog niet, maar misschien is dat nu al opgericht. Zoniet, dan zeker een aanrader voor een ondernemingsgezinde bug lover.

Hide & Seek

Kevin has come a long way the last couple of months. From a toddler who constantly wanted to be entertained, he's now entertaining us. He loves to sing songs, plays with play dough, makes us (pretend) lemonade and coffee, draws pictures for us, makes hats with paper and glue and borrows my shoes to try them out, ...even my high-heeled ones. Probably a safety-violation in eyes of many over-protective parents, but oh-so cute to see as he teeters in them throughout the house.

My favorite part is playing hide and seek. He just caught on to the concept...well, almost at least. He gets the counting part, he gets the running away part...he's not yet quite understood the actual hiding part. Whenever we play and I look for him, I'll put on a show and say 'waar is Kevin nu? Nu zal ik es zoeken' (where's Kevin. I'll go look around). Inevitably, he'll shout from his 'hiding' place (usually next to the sofa) : 'hier mami. ik ben hier'..and then burst out in massive giggles....who cares if not quite 'hide' and seek, it definitely is fun..

Frack

I must have been watching too many DVD reruns of Battlestar Galactica (the new series - with female Starbuck and hot Gaius Baltar) or they must have more of an impact than I let on (admittingly, I'm still a scifi-fiend), as I've caught myself off guard today....I realized I'd forgotten to do something and I was silently cursing and mumbling to myself: "Frack, I can't believe I forgot".

Frack ? That's just too scary. That's not even a proper word, just the F@%! equivalent used on Battlestar Galactica. Clearly I need to get my priorities adjusted when I start using scifi language over real English..

Painting. Paints. Painted

Arms sore. Back sore. Legs sore. Neck sore.
In a nutshell: we (I) painted virtually the whole weekend....it is amazing how much time it can take to paint just 3 rooms: bathroom, toilet and bedroom. Mind you. the rooms are large here and you do need 2 coats for a good result. Still.

My husband and I did split the work well. He did most of the prep work, and I did most of the painting. On Saturday I painted for about 5 hours and on Sunday, I painted about 8 hours. I didn't mind as much while I was doing it. It had a surreel Zen-like quality, but now, my whole body aches. Guess painting-muscles aren't the ones you usually use...need some downtime now.