This one is for mama

Dear Bloggers,

Today I will link my blog to the action of the Dutch radiostation 3FM and the Red Cross.

Timur Perlin, Gerard Ekdom and Coen Swijnenberg

3 Radio jocks lock themselves in a glass house for six nights and days and make non stop radio and out of solidarity they will not eat for six days as well. During these days the try to gather money for the good cause.

Serious Request gives me always the ultimate Christmas feeling. Yes, and what it is ... Indeed I think, a kind of typical Dutch solidarity cosiness (in a positive way of course) is also always there. All together for a good cause. Yes, that is something that I find beautiful. And not only because it is for a good cause but also because I think it's a lot of people really getting a warm feeling that they do something good and it brings us closer together.

When it would be close to my village, I would take a look several times. The last couple of years I thought it was still a little too far. I look and listen a lot via the internet and view the evening often equally to the summary. Furthermore I can watch all day if don’t need to work as I have interactive tv now with 101tv on it.

I'm still in two minds about that song I want to request, perhaps multiple ... I am not the richest but for a couple of euros you might save an other mother and child. My mom already left us but in her name I will request both songs. Every day fighting against the wounds and scars that were left by a war can link to questions, that seems to me very important to do well in your own little way

Check out the websites to request your favourite song, donate money or order something from the webshop or do a bid on the auction. Here they come http://seriousrequest.3fm.nl/ or http://www.3fm.nl/home

Have a Merry Christmas and a Good Newyear

The Old Sailor,

Our Christmas Survival

Dear Bloggers,

This Christmas, I am sidestepping as host in my kitchen and moving over to give my oldest daughter the honors of putting together her now very famous Tomato and Mushroom Soup! Being the good sport that I am, I will graciously surrender our kitchen and temporarily relinquish my right as Head Chef in my home, for one night only. Mmuahhhhhh! It’s my kitchen and I’ll cry if I want to. But together we will make the main course and I will make dessert, and no-one is going to stop me. (Not because of her skills in cooking, but timing is tough for a 12 year old girl) So there!

My daughter has become a great cook in her own right. But she has now also become my unwilling rival (I’m smiling here with oozing pride!). I learn her as much as I can although I am not the greatest cook ever. Mom is teaching her also a couple of usefull skills and at school she is enjoying the cooking lessons as well. The other family members made the ’ request, that, my daughter will make their favorite soup on Christmas dinner for the whole family and a dish that clearly only she knows how to make best. Her Fantasy Soup, thus far, is supreme, unbeatable—even restaurants we’ve sampled have yet to compare. And I am not just blowing a lot of hot air here either; this is seriously good slurping!

The flavor she provokes from this one-pot liquid wonder is, to quote Granddad, And I am NOT allowed in the kitchen while she is cooking. I am not allowed even a glimpse of how she puts together this liquid gold. Only things I am allowed to do is cutting tomatos and mushrooms. I really enjoy to cook together with her as she is as disorganized as myself. The kitchen looks like battlefield but together we have a big laugh and satisfied customers.

So I was concerned there would be much disappointment and even rioting from our clan that will be gathering for Christmas dinner, expecting a roast, our usual yearly Christmas fare. Things have changed diet wise and the others don’t want to cook. But disappointment came only from the pure carnivores in the family – only one. When we explained the menu it was not so bad and there is at least chicken or turkey on it. But that will hold for Christmas only.

So now I sit here contemplating on what will make the perfect ending to a most exquisite savory Tomato and Mushroom Soup. Hmm....... delicious!

Have a Merry Christmas and enjoy the small things in live.

The Old Sailor,

Chaos in the house

Dear Bloggers,


It’s been a busy month at our house. The main event during this hectic month that just passed is my youngest daughter’s got her second swimming diploma. We’ve been celebrating since last month when she received her diploma and in the mean time Sinterklaas had arrived. Follow that with all the end of the year events for two daughters and a wife and you can see how hectic things have been around our house. It’s a good kind of chaos though, one that I’m sure I am not the only parent to welcome.

Now, it’s on to christmas and new year! The weather has got worse. Raining, hailstones and stormy nights, actually, as we seem to be kicking off winter with a vengeance and we just about bypassed autumn altogether. We hadn’t done much with the garden this year. It’s looking a bit overgrown and neglected. What you see growing there right now is grass. They just came up on their own without any effort on our part. Not too bad, I’ve still been able to mow the lawn in November Maybe when I get finished with my projects we can finally get our garden together again. But for now, the randomness is fine. Anyway the place is still for sale.

My backyard has been in chaos since early spring as we have been again reorganizing and restructuring the backyard. One of my major projects was building a new roof on the storage house and getting rid of the old roofing that has been blown away in the last storm. I am doing all this on my own and I yes this is one of the times that I wish I would’ve had a son to help me to do the ‘man’ jobs. Don’t get me wrong here, as I am proud of my princesses and they are great helps. I think that I do a great job though, albeit slow since I also have to work in my paying job in between. No matter, I enjoy seeing the changes that I am making.

For one, I like the way the shed looks after I put the new roofing on, especially when the sun is just rising in the morning. When I look over the backyard from the bedroom of my daughter and overthink my situation.

When I have my morning coffee and look up just as the sun hits the kitchen window just right, I can see the light that soon lights up my backyard will be back in order again in a few months. Just as life, I know all the hectic activities swirling around us right now will also soon stop and I will be missing this time as I sit quietly and in peace in the backyard, watching the birds looking for food and checking out the new birdfeeding house. A quick peak and then they fly away. I will be missing the chaos because that’s just the way life is. You always want more of what you don’t have right now.

Just a few days more to overcome and christmas is on our doorstep again from that point we will enter the next year. Soon the time comes that the first one will fly out and will make her own nest. Yes, time flies when your having fun. All of a sudden I am realizing that we are getting the elder working generation. I hope everyone will have a nice chaotic and hectic time if you are celebrating christmas.

The Old Sailor,