I worked from home today and at noon I went for my run. It snowed, for the first time this season. The ground is warm and nothing stayed so it was a little slushy but not slippery and the run was great.
Nora and I went for a run together. I hadn't really planned running tonight -- I've been running in the mornings the last several weeks -- but I needed to clear my head. And the weather was great! Nora wanted to join me. We hadn't done run together in a long time and it was great to be out with her. She didn't even need a jacket, it was so warm. Running is great.
Yesterday Sinterklaas arrived in the Netherlands. We watched a little bit on YouTube. First a small part of the 2013 event but Nora is too little far all that so we switched to Sesamstraat's intocht from the early 2000's and that she liked.
We've been reading Sinterklaas books for a week now, and yesterday evening Nora put her shoe near the fireplace.
Over the past 6 weeks I've been working on our deck. In July I fixed the lower part of the deck by replacing all the boards, but that wasn't really needed for the main deck. Nevertheless, there was a ton of work to do. I flipped over about 20 boards, power washed and sanded everything.
I took a day off on Thursday and applied the stain. It's an oil base stain (Armstrong Clark) and it was easy to apply. I started at 10.00 am and by 2.30 pm I was done.
We unexpectedly got some rain Thursday night but with an oil base stain that isn't as much as a problem and except for one or two minor spots that I'll redo, everything looks great.
I still need to finish the railing and balustrade, but at least the deck itself is ready for the winter now.
I stained the deck yesterday and it looks nice. We had some rain a few hours later and everything needs to dry before we can walk on the deck again, so I left through the front door. It was chilly -- 43 degrees or so -- and I ran with my new warm shirt and jacket.
Our friend Esteban came to visit us from London, a very nice surprise.
He emailed me on Monday that he'd be in town for a conference, and it was great to have him over for dinner and introduce him and Nora to each other. She was listening intently to him, describing his son Tiago who was born a few months after Nora.
Today was my birthday, the 36th. A great day with a lot of love. We didn't have time in the morning so I there were presents in the evening, and then we went for dinner.
We went to Ray's the Steak, a very nice experience, and Nora enjoyed the New York strip with Black & Blue sauce. Such a richness, going out with two girls like these.
Thank you everybody, for all the phone calls, and emails, and Facebook and WhatsApp messages... it really made my day!
A sweet little book. Memoirs by a highly acclaimed Dutch children's book author, describing her life until the 1950's and in particular her childhood in Zeeland.
She was born in 1911 and World War I even plays a small role. One of the events is a visit to Den Haag by the family where they see electricity-powered lights and appliances for the first time. While she is growing up, she's looking forward to wear the traditional costume but once she turned 16 it had completely gone out of fashion.
She is a very gifted author and this is a lovely book. My grandmother grew up in Zeeland -- she was born in 1926 -- and it was nice to read about that area.
This was one of the books I bought in October 2014 from the Netherlands.
Yesterday Sinterklaas arrived in the Netherlands. We watched a little bit on YouTube. First a small part of the 2013 event but Nora is too little far all that so we switched to Sesamstraat's intocht from the early 2000's and that she liked. 
Over the past 6 weeks I've been working on our deck. In July I fixed 
Our friend Esteban came to visit us from London, a very nice surprise. 
Today was my birthday, the 36th. A great day with a lot of love. We didn't have time in the morning so I there were presents in the evening, and then we went for dinner.