Escaping the Commune...

It was sad knowing this foursome was breaking up. 

On May 18, Ashlynn and Bjarne celebrated their six-month anniversary by saying farewell and heading to Amsterdam for a two-night stay. 

They enjoyed walking around the beautiful and deserted city. 

They had found a very affordable AirBnB room right on a canal. Restaurants were still closed to visitors, so they ordered delivery for their anniversary dinner. 

Ashlynn knew I’d love this modern take on Girl with a Pearl Earring.

On May 20, they donned their facemasks for the long train journey to Berlin, where Ashlynn stayed with Bjarne and his parents for about two weeks. 

Their explorations included going to Potsdam...

…the Baltic Sea...

…and an abandoned swimming complex in the center of Berlin. 

 

Living with Boys...

It would be irresponsible to write a final post about Bjarne and not mention Chocolate Cruesli, which is not available in Berlin and quickly became a daily staple in his and Brett’s diet. They usually polished off one family size box each day! Even on days when we made a big breakfast, they’d still have Cruesli.

In fact, the boys liked it so much that Brett made Cruesli sushi. Bjarne was also addicted to ramen noodles; it wasn’t unusual for him to supplement lunch with a giant bowl filled with three to four packs of ramen noodles. There was no doubt that those boys were remorseless eating machines. 

Although Bjarne had hair when he met Ashlynn, he had been cutting it progressively shorter during their time together in Australia, but she had never seen him bald until he arrived here after his short time back in Berlin. Four weeks later it was time for Ashlynn to shave his head for the first time. 

Brett has a lot of curls, which Veronica enjoyed trimming several times during his stay. 

Jimmy also has naturally curly hair, but I’d never seen it this out of control as it had been over three months since his last haircut. 

While I cut his hair for years, he had switched back to going to a barber. He finally broke down and let me cut his overgrown hair. 

Frankly, I much prefer his short hair. 

 

Bjarne’s Last Night...

As you can see, Bjarne was busy doing laundry gymnastics on his final day living at The White House Commune...

…and trying again to beat Ashlynn at Rummikub, which they played daily (mostly alone, but occasionally I’d play with them). 

Jimmy made his prize-winning chili again, this time over an open fire.

Most folks would probably think that we were crazy to allow Bjarne to move in without meeting him first. Luckily from the moment that he arrived on March 20 until he left on May 18, he did nothing but spread happiness. After hashing with us six times during lockdown, he was no longer Just Bjarne, but will forever more be known as Lockdown Shag. 

Jimmy climbed the fence to have a chat with our neighbors, who invited us around for dessert the following week. It was incredible how something as normal as entering our neighbor’s house could feel so reckless. 

Here is Bjarne checking out the tight plaid trousers that he’d bought for himself, but didn’t fit.

As in many things during these unpredictable times, this didn’t turn out to be Bjarne’s last night with us after all as he just couldn’t stay away. 

 

Ashlynn’s 20th...

At first glance, you would probably assume this is a room full of teenagers on their devices, but actually they were all young adults since Ashlynn turned 20 that day. 

Per Ashlynn’s request, dinner was vegan BBQ, featuring kebabs, burgers and bratwurst. 

Bjarne helped Veronica make a healthy chocolate chip cookie cake, which included peanut butter and chickpeas.

It might not have been the rip roaring party that Ashlynn might have envisioned for her 20th birthday, but it was filled with fun, good food and love.
 

No More Teenagers in the Commune...

On May 16, it was official: there were no more teenagers in The White House Commune. Little did we know when we celebrated Ashlynn’s 4th birthday on our first trip to Holland, that we’d be celebrating many of her birthdays here. Last year she was in Australia, but this year we could celebrate together the best way we know how: hashing and having a big dinner. Thanks to our neighbors, we had extra bikes and could finally hash outside our little village (although we were still minus one bike so Jimmy ran roundtrip to our hash start). 

Veronica had the pleasure of devirginizing Brett on their six-month anniversary by prelaying an excellent AH3 trail through the wilds of Wassenaar. 

Ashlynn had hoped that Sophie and her friend George would join us, but only George showed up. He was an excellent runner and conveniently acted as our photographer. Here we are in front of the Wassenaar Stadhuis (City Hall)... 

…and at our first beer stop at a historic shell cave from 1771 at Backershagen Estate, now a historic monument.

Our Happy Hash Family

Happy Hares

Brett couldn’t resist climbing up the old brick wall.

Ashlynn hitched a ride from Bjarne across this grassy field. 

The trail led us into this enormous tree...

…where we had a sweeties stop (or in this case, a sweet and sour stop). 

I was so impressed that Veronica and Brett had managed to find spots in Wassenaar that we’d never been to. 

Of course, we couldn’t pass by the windmill without taking a selfie.