Having had a lovely drift down the Rhine, I then hung out with a college classmate (and fellow widow) in The Hague for a couple of weeks. We have a nice time, basically being roommates in her spacious row house. Some days we do stuff, some days we just loll around the house. A REAL vacation! And the rose bush in front of her window was having a spectacular year.
We did pick up some culture; an exhibit of photographs by Robin dePuy was interesting at the Fotomuseum. She was able to borrow a Harley and a cinematographer and ride across America for several months, shooting portraits of people she met along the way. If you like portraits, keep an eye out for a chance to look at hers, she has quite an eye.
The chauffeur who picked me up at the dock turned out also to have an Indian-cuisine restaurant (just a short hop from his Pakistani heritage). We went there for dinner one evening and it was quite a treat. Look up "The Clay Oven" if you're in the area, you won't be disappointed!
Another afternoon was devoted to visiting with a friend who's a crafts artist. Right now she's making embellished rubber gloves and a wide variety of useful cloth "pockets" and tote bags. Just the thing to slip a book or other small gift into for a pretty and useful presentation. We had a lovely tea and cookies chat, overlooking her flourishing garden.
Of course, we made a trek to the fabulous kitchen store downtown (we met up with this marching band while waiting for the bus to get home), and the fabulous sweet shop in the neighborhood, and the fabulous yarn shop which has expanded to include quilting & other craft supplies, and the fabulous pedicurist who's married to the podiatrist -- so no need to wave off the nail enamel, just whisk away the tired old calluses. Heaven!
We made some dinners from spice assortments I'm receiving in a subscription from the Raw Spice Bar, based in Los Angeles. Each month you receive several spice packets and recipes that use them, themed to a particular country. Excellent spices, and very fun recipes. If you're looking for a good remembrance for a foodie ... check them out.
The funniest thing that happened was Bruce Springsteen. He had a HUGE concert in an outdoor venue just a few bus stops away from the house. Once he was well underway, we went outside for a few minutes to pick up some of the tunes. He came through pretty well, but even better were the tens-of-thousands of fans singing along ... QUITE the accomplished backup singers, indeed.
After these weeks of adapting fully to the laid-back pace and small scale of The Netherlands, it finally was time to go on home. It's much louder, both on a noise and a visual basis, here in the States.
I mentioned the cross-stitch...an seemingly-endless project by a very talented designer. It's ridiculously complex, but is coming together as a beautiful piece. Here are the before and after images ... looks pretty good, but there's an entire border to go!
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