Yesterday I arrived in New Jersey for an engineering conference of my company that starts this morning.

After work I went for a run on a small dike that separates a canal from the river, on a recommendation of a colleague. When I was halfway my run and ready to go back I took a short break. All of a sudden, a pretty big snake dropped from its tree on the ground next to the trail: I must have startled it. Needless to say, the sudden sight of a big snake moving startled me even more and I continued my run immediately with an inspired sprint.

The trail was very nice; it's well maintained and beautiful. It is part of the D & R Canal Park. It's pretty cool, so much nature in the middle of a city. I looked at the few waterlilies with some suspicion but of course there are no alligators in New Jersey.

Ettie and Gerben bought a home! This weekend their bid on a house was accepted -- a happy occasion.

Congratulations from both of us. We wish you all the best with your new home!

It's a big house with 3 bedrooms and a nice garden, in a good neighborhood in Leeuwarden. They'll get the keys early December.

Friday afternoon we wanted to go somewhere for the weekend. First we picked Atlanta but that turned out to be 6.5 hours away, so we choose a city somewhat closer. Wilmington, in the south of North Carolina, turned out to be a great choice.

We got home about an hour ago and I don't have all the pictures ready but I wanted to share a highlight of our weekend: an unexpected encounter with 3 alligators.

After visiting a mansion this morning we stopped next to the road to enjoy the view of a large lake with many waterlilies. Just when I moved the car closer towards the lake I saw 2 reptile eyes staring right at me!

An alligator was enjoying the sun in the water, and we watched it and two others for about 30 minutes (safely from the car, of course). An amazing experience!

Two of the alligators.

We're leaving to Wilmington, NC in a few minutes.

Wilmington is in the south of North Carolina and close to the ocean.

I spent the afternoon at the pool, chatting, swimming and enjoying the great weather. It's around a 100 degrees again.

Tonight I felt like eating stamppot boerenkool, a Dutch classic. Maybe it's because of the memories the red currants brought? In Holland boerenkool is served in winter, when it's chilly and a warm plate of potatoes with kale and a sausage drives away the cold, but it tastes great on a hot summer day too.

I went to Whole Foods to pick up some potatoes and fresh kale. When I passed by the beer section a young guy asked: "excuse me, do you know if gas stations around here sell beer, typically?".

It was a first year Duke student, who was apparently unpleasantly surprised by the beer selection in Whole Foods ("well, you know, something that isn't eight bucks for a six pack") and I pointed him to a store nearby that sells lower priced beers. The new university year starts next week and many students are moving in this weekend.

The other day I saw red currants in the supermarket -- rode besjes in Dutch.

We used to have many red currant bushes in Opperdoes, and a few of them in Middenmeer also. They are especially nice with gele vla, a Dutch sweet custard we would have for desert.

Of course I bought a basket of the berries. Delicious!

Yesterday Jason and I visited the Dixie Gun and Knife Show at the fairgrounds in Raleigh.

A gun show is a traveling exhibition where firearms, knives and hunting materials are displayed and traded. The Dixie show was in town for two days and I was curious what it would be like.

There were many firearms of various kinds: guns, revolvers, rifles and shotguns in hundreds of different styles and types. To my surprise there were also much heavier weapons like shotguns and assault riffles such as AK-47s. I couldn't help but wonder -- what legitimate use can there be for citizens to carry such weapons? Anyway, by far the majority of the items on sale were handguns and single shot rifles.

Owning and trading firearms is legal in the United States, but there are background checks buyers need to go through. In North Carolina, like in many states, there are additional restrictions if you want to buy a smaller weapon that can be hidden ("concealed weapon permit"). Not that I want to, but no: I can't own or posses a gun.

Over-all the audience was very diverse, with the majority of the visitors being male. There were a lot of fathers-with-sons looking for guns and hunting gear. Jason was an excellent guide (thanks!) and we had a fun afternoon.

Disturbing was a booth in the back where a guy was selling various things including Nazi paraphernalia.

Janneke and Tibor were blessed with a boy this morning!

The boy's name is Luca and parents and child are doing great. Many congratulations from both of us!

Read more on Fiona.strausz.nl.

There are no pictures online yet; here's a picture of big sister Fiona with a doll two months ago.

It's over 100 degrees Fahrenheit this week -- very hot.

I don't think it's related but we encountered two scary animals: a swarm of wasps tried to build a hive on our balcony and a snake was sort of guarding our car.

The maintenance team took care of the wasps and I evaded the snake and got in the car alive.

Saturday night Sasha and I went to a concert of Beyonce in the RBC Center in Raleigh.

The pre show by an artist called Robin Thicke wasn't really good but the main show by Beyonce was excellent. It was a spectacular show and a great performance, we really enjoyed it.

It turns out I know many more songs by Beyonce than I thought I did.