Front Door Lockdown Portraits...

I must confess that I wasn’t excited when I was contacted by Sarah, the AWC’s new Activities Chair, to help with her Front Door Lockdown Portraits Project. As much as I love photography, I tried just about everything I could think of to get out of helping her. 

However, she’s very persuasive and generously offered to drive me to all of the appointments in the far stretches of The Hague. Sadly only six members, including Sarah herself, took us up on the offer to get free portraits taken. It was such an interesting way to spend time with members and meet some of their families and pets. Instead of her husband, one woman chose to be photographed with her bike. 

When we parked in front of Elandkerk (Our Blessed Lady of the Immaculate Conception Church), built in 1892, Sarah insisted on taking my photo. 

On our second outing, I brought along Jimmy’s mask instead, which seemed very fitting for the job. By far the most challenging session was with a couple and their three-year-old son who was in perpetual motion. 

One couple had quite an impressive collection outside of their front door of fossils and shells that they’d found while living in Oman, where the husband worked as a geologist for Shell. 

They kindly gave me and Sarah each a fossil and a geode to thank us for our efforts.  

This couple lived in an apartment above the apotheek (pharmacy) right in the city center...

…which allowed for some fun shots downtown, including one of them in a giant Dutch clog.

 

Handbags Galore...

Once again, I really enjoyed attending the AWC Handbag Auction. I was excited to win the bid on a Coach bag in perfect condition, but then realized that I actually preferred the blue one. 

Luckily for me, Terri had the winning bid on the blue one and was willing to swap. 

A few days later Ashlynn did a social media shoot for Louis Quatorze, a French maker of handbags.

As you can see, the photos would have been lovely if they’d only shown her face.

Tea with the US Ambassador’s Wife...

I was not impressed with the new US Ambassador to the Netherlands after hearing him speak at a tour for the AWC of the new US Embassy. However, I have enjoyed meeting his wife, Diane, at several AWC activities and thought it was very sweet of her to invite members over to the ambassador’s residence for tea.

While we sat around the beautiful living room, where we have had officer installations in the past, Diane asked each of us to introduce ourselves and explain how we came to live in Holland. In all my years at the AWC, we had never done this simple yet enlightening exercise.

Diane let us wonder around freely on the ground floor to see the wonderful art in the public rooms, most of which is borrowed from the artists. I especially liked this cool felt mural by a Dutch woman...

...and how it appeared in the selfie I took with a bunch of the ladies.

A Sweet Farewell...

I received a bouquet for my service on the AWC Board for the past year as the Treasurer. I was all smiles as I was stepping down from the Board. While I enjoyed getting back into accounting, the administrative tasks were overwhelming during an already chaotic time in my life.

From Warmond to Leiden...

It was strange when we entered the restaurant, found it entirely empty—and it remained empty—and was told we couldn’t sit on the waterfront side of the room because of Kati. I offered to sit separately so everyone else could enjoy the view, but they thought that was silly.

When we got to this spot, I recognized it as where we held a FILTH H3 circle in the dark after one of Celine and Richard’s hashes.

Several of the ladies caught a bus from Warmond back to the station, while the rest of us decided to continue walking to Leiden. Along the way we saw Oud Poelgeest, a castle in Oestgeest built in 1668 which is now used as a conference center.

Our path also crossed another park we’ve hashed through several times: Leidse Hout.

I took this photo when I got home to show that the leaves had finally returned to the giant tree in our front garden, but we were surprised that they grew in red rather than the usual green.

Walkie Talkies in Warmond...

Once again I joined the AWC Walkie Talkies group for one of their walks further afield. This time we took the train to Sassenheim, where we caught our only glimpse of the tulip fields on the way to Warmond.

Terri and I wore our boots and backpacks as we treated this as another training walk.

I brought Kati along, who did a great job impressing the ladies with her good behavior.

Along the way she roamed through a gnome village in the park...

...complete with this technologically-advanced gnome. 

Light Walk in Scheveningen...

When I heard that a group of AWC ladies had registered for the Scheveningen Light Walk, I didn’t pay much attention. Then I heard that Hurricane Johanna was blowing into town on her way to Houston from Saudi Arabia, and I was thrilled to get a ticket from someone who couldn’t go. 

The 7.75-mile (12.5K) walk started on the Pier with a great view of the Ferris wheel.

It was very cool that the route went through Madurodam, the miniature park, that was lit up for the holidays.

It was quite impressive how many cool light installations were set up for just a single night. I included these blurry photos to show how colorful that dark night became.

This remote control car filled with fish was especially cool...

....and so was this giant moth.

Walking with the AWC...

In mid-May, I joined the AWC Walking Group on their first walk further afield. We took a train to Woerden to do an 8-mile (13-kilometer) segment of the Floris V Long Distance Walking Route, which connects Amsterdam to Bergen op Zoom covering over 150 miles (245 km). 

We started with a quick pop into St. Bonaventura Church, which was built in 1892.

The inside was simple, but colorful.

With just a quick glimpse of Woerden, I hope to go back again to see more. Here we are leaving the city in front of a windmill that I recognized from previous cycle rides in the vicinity.

These tree trunks under a highway first looked like random debris, but then we realized that they were strategically placed to allow wildlife to cross through this busy area.  

Eventually we headed into the countryside along the Linschoten River to our final destination of Oudewater, a town of 10,000 dating back to 1265.