July

A lot has happened in July, still I didn't post on my blog. Why, you ask? Lots of reasons, all nonsense, all excuses... So better late than never, here's July in retrospective...

Ron and I went to Heartbonds Festival, a small-scale spiritual festival. Ron is part of the organizing team; he did practical things like first aid, electricity, technical stuff, etc. We arrived at Wednesday with the dogs and our new tent. Well, second-hand but new to us. ;-) Unfortunately Ron made a wrong move while lifting a table and he hurt his forearm muscles. He is right-handed and it was his left arm, but still he was very inconvenienced the rest of the festival. He still is now unfortunately...
Nevertheless we had a wonderful time with lots of old and new friends. The weather was great, sometimes a bit too hot for me but good for the festival. I attended several workshops, there was a labyrinth, an archery-range, market-stalls with great stuff, live music in the evening, great food and sooo much more. If you want to get an impression, just take a look at our pictures of the festival.

Of course we supported the Dutch national soccer team in the WorldChampionship 2014 in Brazil. A lot of people were very pessimistic, but our team did great! Louis van Gaal made great decisions and the team won a lot. My favourite was Arjen Robben, but of course Robin van Persie made the most beautiful goal of the tournament (see pic). We ended up 3rd. I think the team deserved more, but I may be biased...


And then there is the incident with Flight MH17, that was 'supposedly' shot down by a missile that was launched by Ukranian pro-Russia separatists. All people and animals aboard died; 195 of the 298 people were Dutch, so our nation is mourning... A lot has been written about it and I have my own thoughts about it... I think our government did its best to get the bodies over here to be identified and returned to their loved ones. A lot of coffins with remains arrived over a series of days. the victims and their next of kin were honoured in moving ceremonies that I watched in silence. On Wednesday July 23rd we had an official national day of mourning for the first time in decades.  Still, not all remains are recovered,  identification and investigations will probably take months. I sincerely hope investigators get the access they need and as much as possible can be recovered and investigated thoroughly. The next of kin need closure, and so does the rest of the world. My heart is sinking, but I can only hope for the best....

Weather Wednesday

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Kickin'It Old Skool, Day 4
Today we talk about the weather. Wherever we are, whatever we do, we all experience the weather. It's one of the ways we connect to nature and often to one another when we first meet and engage in casual conversation. It's such a part of where we live and even who we are!

~*~*~*~

If you know me (or even if you have only been reading here for the first KIOS-days), you know that I love winter weather: snow, ice, cold.... Yay!

I'll quote a part of my column in PaganPages about the seasons (read the whole thing here):
"Even as a child I had a preference for cold over heat, hence winter over summer. Even though I could handle heat much better than I’m able to now, I loved winter more. Cold, ice and… snow! Playing outside in the snow, ice-skating on the frozen waters… A healthy Dutch winter girl! We had longer and colder winters back then, some 35 years ago. When everybody was fed up with it after weeks of snow, I only wanted more. Well, nothing has changed there!"

I just made this my new Facebook-cover:

source: Desktop Nexus

It shows my favourite weather: sunny, blue sky, snow and icy cold. :)

Every year when it's getting colder, the speculations start in The Netherlands whether it will be cold enough to have an "Elfstedentocht" (Eleven Cities Tour) this winter. It's a 200 km long skating tour (a speed skating match and a leisure tour) on natural ice in the province of Friesland. It's a huge event and I'd love to see it again. The last one took place in 1997, so it's about time we get a new (16th) edition this winter! *fingers crossed*

Winter Olympics closed

Wow, what a two weeks we had! I really need to kick the habit. I especially followed the speedskating, which was mostly at an unearthly time for me. Perhaps it's not the wisest thing to go to bed around 2-3AM and later almost every day when you're chronicly fatigued, but it was worth it.
The Netherlands didn't do bad; we are 10th in the medal count:

• GOLD Nicolien Sauerbreij - Snowboard - Ladies' Parallel Giant Slalom
• GOLD Ireen Wust - Speed Skating - Ladies' 1500 m
• GOLD Mark Tuitert - Speed Skating - Men's 1500 m
• GOLD Sven Kramer - Speed Skating - Men's 5000 m
• SILVER Annette Gerritsen - Speed Skating - Ladies' 1000 m
• BRONZE Bob de Jong - Speed Skating - Men's 10000 m
• BRONZE Laurine van Riessen - Speed Skating - Ladies' 1000 m
• BRONZE Speed Skating - Men's Team Pursuit

The Dutch men's bobsleigh turned out to be a disappointment; the 4-men sleigh didn't even start. The 10000 m men's speedskating should have been gold for Sven Kramer, but the much-discussed wrong lane-switch caused a disqualification. He didn't take his revenge on the Men's Team Pursuit. Bad communication cost the men the final. Although they are the best by far (note the olympic record in the bronze final), they failed to prove it.

Nevertheless there was a lot to cheer about and party in the Holland Heineken House, where all the medallists were honoured. The double gold on the 1500m (men and ladies) was a surprise. The gold by snowboarder Nicolien Sauerbreij was the onehundredth gold medal for The Netherlands in olympic history. The first one was for the men's sailing in Antwerp 1920. :-)

I know I have neglected blogging during the olympics. I'll post about some "old" things in the coming days.

TT #87: Olympic Games

Thirteen memorable facts about the Summer Olympics Tomorrow is the start of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China. I'm looking forward to a great sports event. Although I sympathise fully with the protests surrounding these games I hope the sports won't be outshone by politics. After all, the goal of the Olympic Movement is to contribute to building a peaceful and better world by educating youth through sport practised without discrimination of any kind and in the Olympic spirit, which requires mutual understanding with a spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair play. 1916 — Games cancelled due to World War I. 1940-1944 — Games cancelled due to World War II. 1936 — The Olympics were coming to Berlin and Adolf Hitler viewed it as a golden opportunity to showcase his country and prove to the rest of the world that his Aryan race was superior. He viewed African-Americans as inferior and chastised the United States for stooping to use these "non-humans." Despite the endless racial epithets and the constant presence of the red and black swastika, Jesse Owens made Hitler eat his words with four gold medals. 1960-1964 — Ethiopian Abebe Bikila was an unforgettable sight running along the ancient Appian Way during a warm evening in Rome. The skinny Bikila, running barefoot, flew by the soldiers standing with flaming torches along the darkening course that evening and slowly pulled away from his Moroccan opponent before crossing the finish line at the Arch of Constantine in a world-record time of 2:15:16. Bikila would battle back from an appendectomy to repeat as Olympic marathon champion four years later in Tokyo, becoming the first ever to successfully defend a marathon gold medal. 1968 — American sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos bowed their heads and raised their black-gloved fists while on the medal podium in Mexico City, marking one of the most famous photographs from any Olympics as well as a memorable milestone in American civil rights. While the protest seems relatively tame by today's standards, the actions of Smith and Carlos were met with such outrage that they were suspended from their national team and banned from the Olympic Village, the athletes' home during the games. The protest had lingering effects for both men, the most serious of which were death threats against them and their families. 1968-1972 — Before the 1968 games in Mexico City, American swimmer Mark Spitz predicted he would accomplish what no one else had: to win six gold medals. He ended up with two team golds, plus an individual silver and bronze. It's tough for someone to be disappointed with four Olympic medals, but Spitz was. He spent the next four years at Indiana University, winning almost every conceivable award, setting almost every world record in existence, and preparing himself for the 1972 Olympics in Munich. At Munich, not only did Spitz win the six golds he predicted four years before, he won seven! And not only did he win all seven, but world records were set in each event. 1972 — Eight Arab terrorists broke into the athletes' compound in Munich. They killed two members of the Israeli Olympic team and took nine others hostage, demanding the release of 200 guerrillas held in Israel. Israeli leaders denied the release. When both sides agreed to let the terrorists and their hostages out of West Germany, shots rang out as the terrorists walked the hostages onto the jet. It's unclear who fired first, but once the fighting began, the guerrillas killed all nine Israeli hostages. Five of the terrorists were killed. 1972-1976 — His long-distance performances in Munich '72 and Montreal '76 gave Lasse Viren sporting immortality. The Flying Finn completed an unprecedented and unlikely-to-be-repeated ‘double double', taking gold in the 5000m and 10,000m at successive Games. Viren originally only intended to run the 5000m in Munich. He had hardly shone in the previous two years but began to peak at the right time. It was a dramatic 10,000m that brought the first of Viren's four gold and the one he most savours to this day. 1976 — During the Summer Olympics in Montreal Nadia Comaneci, a 14-year-old, 4-foot-11, 86-pound Romanian became the first male or female to ever receive a perfect 10 score in a gymnastics event. The 14-year-old Romanian dazzled the judges to the point where they couldn't help but give her a perfect 10. And they didn't stop there, for not only did Comaneci receive the first perfect score, she then proceeded to get six more! 1980 — The U.S. Hockey team scored a major upset by beating the heavily-favoured Russian team, in what came to be known as the "Miracle on Ice." Sports aside, the game held much more meaning, being played at the height of the Cold War and on U.S. soil in Lake Placid, N.Y. The story was later made into the Disney movie "Miracle." 1988 — Jamaica entered the bobsled event, marking a first for the sunny Caribbean country. However, during a run in the '88 games, their sled flipped onto its side, thus eliminating them from contention. The story was later made into the Disney movie "Cool Runnings." 1992 — British sprinter Derek Redmond returned to the Barcelona Games in 1992 after having to withdraw in 1988 due to injury. He entered as one of Britain's favourites to win a medal, and easily won the first round and quarter-finals. But in the semi-finals, his hamstring snapped and Redmond went sprawling to the track. It was what he did afterward, though, that cemented him in Olympics lore. Redmond got up and began hobbling toward the finish line. Unable to continue very far, he again fell. A moment later, his dad appeared at his side, at first to talk him out of trying to continue. But when Redmond still tried to get up and keep running, his dad put his arm around him and helped his son around the track. The race was long over, and officially he got a disqualification, but the crowd gave Redmond and his father a standing ovation as he completed the remaining distance of the race. 1996 — It was a small event, but impacted and touched many observers. When former boxing champion Muhammed Ali held the Olympic torch at the opening ceremonies of the Summer Games in Atlanta, Georgia, it brought tears to many eyes. Visibly shaking from Parkinson's disease, Ali lit the cauldron as the arena chanted his name over and over again. Paralympics —The Paralympic Movement started in 1948, when a sports competition was organized for persons with a disability during the London Olympic Games. In 1960, two weeks after the Rome Olympic Games, 400 athletes from 23 countries participated in Olympic style games organized for the first time for the disabled in Rome. These were the first Paralympic Games. The Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games will be the 13th Paralympics. Today, the Paralympics are elite sport events for athletes from six different disability groups. They emphasize, however, the participants' athletic achievements rather than their disability. On 19 June 2001, an agreement was signed between IOC and IPC securing this practice for the future. From the 2012 bid process onwards, the host city chosen to host the Olympic Games will be obliged to also host the Paralympics. sources: Fox News , Infoplease , Associated Content , The Street , Times of India , Paralympics 2008 , Official Site Beijing 2008 ~*~*~*~ Links to other Thursday Thirteens! ~*~ Chelle Y. ~*~ Anthony North ~*~ Nicholas ~*~ Claudia ~*~ Sandy Carlson ~*~ Lilibeth ~*~ Lori ~*~ Meju ~*~ Lisa ~*~ Yasmin ~*~ Adelle ~*~ Danielle ~*~ Nina ~*~ B Boys Mom ~*~ Marcia ~*~ Kristi ~*~ I Must Confess ~*~ Carol ~*~ Tempest Knight ~*~ Dera ~*~ Chris ~*~ Heather ~*~ RaenWa ~*~ storyteller ~*~ Puss Reboots ~*~ Elaine ~*~ Gayle ~*~ Get the Thursday Thirteen code here! The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! 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Anno Domini 1408

I'm way behind in things I want to share, but I'll catch up in my own time. ;-) I'll start with the trip to Luxemburg (from Thursday July 24th until Monday 28th).

Ron and I met the other four in Nieuwegein. We drove with two cars and left around 2pm. After a few hours we stopped at Slavante on top of the St. Pietersberg in Maastricht, a Grand Café and marl caves. We decided to go for a walk there first. IJs had been there before and could tell things about the surrounding area. Marl winning, tower ruin of Lichtenberg, caves, Our Lady of Lourdes chapel, hills and so much more. After that we drank something at the Grand Café and continued the journey. We stopped at Baraque de Fraiture in Belgium where we ate chips. It was too fat and later on I had to throw up; not nice, but a relief to get rid of it!
We arrived at 10 pm in the Youth Hostel in Luxembourg City, only to discover our room had been given away! When he made the reservation Marco had passed the message that we would be there late in the evening. Somehow the Youth Hostel messed up. Marco showed the manager the confirmation e-mail (luckily he had it on Gmail). At first the manager wasn't that friendly, but now we got excuses and something to drink. Then finally things were rearranged and we got our six-bedded room with its own shower and toilet. Everyone was irritated, angry and very tired. What a way to start the vacation... We put our stuff in the room and went to bed.

Friday we had a whole day to spend for ourselves. We decided to visit the Casemates. There are two series of casemates open to the public, the Bock and the Pétrusse. We did the Bock first. Those were individually accessible. Very interesting with amazing views. The weather outside was very warm, but the casemates were cool. The lower we came, the colder it got.
We walked to another side of the city to go to the Pétrusse casemates. This was a guided tour and we had to wait some time for the next tour. These casemates were different, but very interesting too. I liked having a tour guide, because that way we learned a lot more of it. There were a lot of steps. At the end I was knackered, but it was worth it.
After rest and a lot of drinks we decided to walk back through the gardens below. Soon I had the idea we were going a wrong way. I didn't pay attention to that, because my (non-)sense of directions is well-known. I started to worry though when Ron got the same feeling! To cut a long story short: we walked a looooong time, up and down and up and down. I was completely exhausted and dizzy when we finally reached the youth hostel.
We had dinner in the hostel: enough choice, cheap and amazingly delicious! Ron took the entrecote and I had a yummy lasagna bolognese. After dinner we went into the garden to do some archery. Afterwards the others went up to the city again, but I decided to go to bed to recuperate after a very tiring day.

Saturday was the first day of the medieval festival Anno Domini 1408. Ron wore his black shirt and I my blue medieval dress. A bit of a confrontation, because it fitted me only just. :( Again the weather was very hot, so I had to rest frequently and drink a lot. The market was smaller than last year, but still very nice to roam about. Artists like Melania, Die Streuner and Die Irrlichter brightened up the streetscape. Ron assisted strong man Georges Christen again. On the podium were performances by Poeta Magica (great music, as long as the female singer kept her mouth shut) and of course Omnia. They were performing twice. Ron and I bought their new DVD "Pagan Folk Lore". At their first performance I had to stay in the shaow, because it was too hot. For their second I had a seat under a parasol. During that show the weather got darker. Suddenly a flash of lightning and the thunder rolled. Within seconds it poured down, first rain than hail! Omnia continued to play, but all of a sudden the thunder and lightning hit somewhere and everything on the podium got dark. My back wasn't under the parasol, so it got wet and cold. After a while I started to shiver, I wanted to go home. The thunderstorm and rain hadn't stopped yet. IJs offered to get his car and pick Ron and me up, so I didn't have to walk down cold and wet. In the youth hostel I took a warm shower and felt somewhat better. We had dinner in the youth hostel again. We sat outside for a while. I decided to go to bed early this night too, the others watched the Omnia DVD.

Sundaymorning we sat on the terrace of the hostel, when we witnessed a van overriding a little pole. It got stuck under the van. Ron and IJs went over to help them and in the end the van got free.
It was the second day of the medieval festival. A lot of the stalls had damage from the thunderstorm, but they all stayed. A lot of us didn't wear medieval clothes, I didn't feel like it. Luna had asked us to buy a lambs skin. They were cheaper because some had become wet the night before. We bought one for ourselves too and a set of little lambs skin slippers for Dominique (to thank Monique for caring after the dogs and cats at home).
Omnia' performed like nothing happened the first day. Afterwards I asked them to sign our DVD and of course they did. Ron's knee ached and I was very tired, so we decided to leave the market somewhat earlier and go down to the youth hostel. Marco joined us. In the lobby I watched the final of the Tour De France and saw Sastre winning the yellow jersey. The Dutch rabobank team had the green jersey. I followed the Tour as usual, but missed the last stages. At least I could see the final.
When the others came down we went to the dining room. This time I took the entrecote (done) and it was very good. I needed some red meat. After dinner the others wanted to do archery again. Ron took a nap and I played some games on the laptop. I went to bed early.

Monday we had to check out before 10am, so we had breakfast early. Ron and I wanted to make a stop on the way home in Lier to visit our friends in the cottage where we stayed a few weeks ago. the others wanted to go abseiling first, but decided to go with us. We were all welcomed with drinks and cake. We had a great time, but Ron and I wanted to be in The Netherlands before the traffic jams would start. We were home around 6pm.

You can see all of our pictures in this album.

Some YouTube video's:
Melania with music
Omnia - Etrezomp ni Kelted
Omnia - Saltatio
Omnia - Fídhe Ra Hurí
Poeta Magica
artists together on podium

European Soccer Championship

The day we left for Belgium, June 17, was also the day of the last group match of the Dutch soccer team against the Romanians. We only had Belgian tv stations and they didn't broadcast it. Pity, but fortunately the results wouldn't matter that much, as The Netherlands had already reached the quarterfinals. We got the news through sms and phone: we had rounded off an impressive campaign with a third successive victory: 2-0. Okay, good news!

On June 21 we definitely wanted to see the quarter final against Russia. We went to Lier where several cafes had screens and/or televisions to watch the match. The first half we watched in a pool cafe. There was a big screen in the back, but in that area the music was too loud. In the front was a normal television, but we couldn't sit very comfortably there. The barkeepers weren't very sociable. In the break we looked for another place to watch the second half. Just across the street was another cafe where we were warmly welcomed and gladly watched the rest of the game. Well gladly... not about the game of course. Much to our regret the Dutch lost 1-3... :-( Disappointed we headed back to the cottage. The rest of the time in Belgium we didn't pay any attention to Euro 2008.

Tonight is the final between Germany and Spain. My bet is on Germany. May the best team win though!

Update 22.40u:
Wow, Spain is the new European Champion! Not undeserved I must say. It was an interesting match until the last second. It ain't over 'till it's over; you never know, especially with the German team. Schade Deutschland, alles ist vorbei... They earn respect though for reaching the final!

Netherlands - France 4-1

The Dutch supporters again had enough reason to cheer!! After the worldchampion we also beat the vice-worldchampion. Fair is fair, France didn't play bad at all and there were thrilling moments throughout the match. Ribéry was dangerous and of course Henry. He made the only French goal in the 71st minute, but he couldn't enjoy it for long: within a minute later Robben made the third goal for the Netherlands. The other scorers were Kuyt (9'), Van Persie (59') and in the extra time Sneijder made the last one. Robben entered the field for the second half, remarkably quick after his injury. In the last phase of the match he didn't look very fit; I hope he didn't stress and overwork himself. All in all it was another great match to watch!
The Netherlands is groupwinner and therefore certain of the quarterfinals. Yay!

~*~ HUP HOLLAND HUP !!!! ~*~

Netherlands - Italy 3-0

I hardly ever blog about sports even though I love to watch the big tournaments: tennis, Olympics, speedskating, cycling and... soccer. Tonight I just have to blog!
The Dutchies played their first match in the 2008 European Championship. The opponent was Italy, the ruling world champion. It had been 30 years ago that we beat the Italians, but as always the hopes of the Dutch supporters were high! The whole country is decorated in orange, streets were empty during the match. Expectations were around 7.5 million people in The Netherlands (half our total population!!) would watch.
Well, the match was amazing! Italy didn't play bad, but the Dutch were better. If you want a full report, look here. My favourite player, Ruud van Nistelrooy, scored the first goal; Sneijder made the second (on his birthday!) and Van Bronckhorst finished the job. That last one played an awesome match, but I think the whole team did. :-) A very promising start of the tournament!

~*~ HUP HOLLAND HUP !!!! ~*~