Merging two life’s into one, the past catching up with the present

You will have noticed (just a rough guess) that we haven’t posted any updates last week.
This doesn’t mean we are living a boring life, far from it! Life has been a little busy….

Apart from the usual jobs (in and around the house, work) we have been out and about like a visit to the doctor (Tjep all of sudden has a lypoma/lipoma of the size of a half golf ball on his shoulder. But lypoma’s aren’t doing any harm but they can become a nuisance) and I have “ring worm” (a harmless virus infection I once got when treating a calf with this virus, a long time ago).

My Mum passed away in November 2008, her house is still for sale. We all know this is a very difficult time to sell a house, even when it is in the very green and picturesque village of Suwâld (or Suawoude). The first village on this planet with a solar ferry for pedestrians and cyclists. It has its own little harbour at a crossing of two canals, a school but no shops. Still we think that is one of the charm of this village. I lived there for 9 years and if there would have been a house for sale at the time we were looking for a house, we would have lived there still.

Mum collected dolls, tea pots and much, much more. Her house was her little castle (not that big though!). But now it is up for sale, it needs to be cleared which is a time consuming and a sad job. Going through all the things she loved so much, often brings tears to our eyes.
Last week we spent quite some hours doing right that. On Saturday my brother and sister in law came down from Germany for a helping hand. The house is not empty but at least ready for viewing without attracting hoarders in stead of buyers!
If any of our readers is interested in Mum’s house or knows anyone who might be, please contact us!

In Friday we went to see one of Tjep’s friends who retired.
They met being members of the Kiwanis NL (more info in English). We drove all the way to Montfoort where we met a happy hero of the feast and his wife as well as many, many other friends from Tjep’s ‘past’
Some of them I met before on our wedding party or when they visited us in the North.
It was a true pleasure to meet more and to catch up with news with the others. They all smiled when they saw Tjep; handshakes, a pet on his shoulder and many happy memories of funny events,
I listened and listened. Tjep often told me about these happy times and I feel fortunate to become a part of it too.

We left around half past 7, drove straight to home to joint the birthday party of our neighbour. We did not stay too long; around half past 10 we noticed that it was a huge job to keep our eyes open. Yes, dear readers, we are no youngsters anymore…..

There is more to tell but we will do that in a separate post in the near future, keyword “chamber pot” Stay tuned………………..