A Sunrise Photo Shoot...

I was thrilled when I saw that one of the local photographers that I follow on Instagram had arranged a special sunrise photo tour from the Grote Kerk Tower, which had just recently opened to the public. It meant getting up ridiculously early on a Saturday morning to catch a train. The Plein was empty, but nicely lit up. 

There was 11 photographers plus the tour guide who climbed up the 288 stairs to the top at 7:30 a.m. It was windy that high up, but the walls surrounding the balcony were high and thick, so easy to perch the camera on top (of course still attached to me with a strap) without fear of either me or the camera falling.

The sky was especially dramatic when we first arrived.

While everyone else used a tripod and were essentially anchored to one side of the tower, I continued to walk around for the nearly two hours that we were up there.

Perhaps it is not a surprise that it was this side facing the tall buildings of the city center that was the most popular view.

Veronica Returns...

We were thrilled when Veronica told us that her boss had approved to send her to Amsterdam International Water Week during the first week of November. Not only did we get to see her for one week, but we didn’t have to pay to fly her out.

Jimmy, Veronica and I went out for a nice vegan lunch and wandered around a little while Ashlynn was at a test shoot in Delft.

How nice it was to see Veronica leaving early each morning looking so professional. Rather than attend the student conference, she opted to attend the full conference as she wanted to hear scientists speaking about global water issues. She was excited to hear Mark Rutte, the Dutch Prime Minister, speak on the first day, and to attend a tour in Rotterdam about some groundbreaking ways they are dealing with water.

More Animal Moments...

While Kati wasn’t even afraid of her massive shadow as we walked through the farm behind a local hotel...

...this ostrich was clearly not pleased with Kati’s presence. 

These Dutch lawnmowers must have been on a break after a long day of eating grass. 

Veronica took this great photo of sweet Kati.

More Hashing Moments...

We have really enjoyed becoming more active with the Amsterdam Hash. Here is our group at a beer break on a fine fall day near the Olympic Stadium.

While much of Amsterdam is a mix of typical residential and commercial buildings, occasionally we come across some areas that are definitely off the beaten path, like these cool funky warehouses. One houses a vintage store that sells clothes by weight; another is a giant junk store that’s hard to drag Opee out of. In fact, on this particular day we lost trail after he stopped to buy a prom dress for a future run.

Honestly, it would have been better to have drunk out of my new shoes the first time that I wore them, but it took two runs before I was busted for daring to bring new shoes to the hash.

On the first Saturday in November, the FILTH was in the afternoon because the hare wanted to take us to see a small planetarium in the woods. Along the way, the runner’s trail included a creek crossing. It is rare for me to be thankful about getting lost, but in this case I was relieved as I avoided having to get soaked and was in position at the beer break to photograph Opee as he crossed the waist deep water.

The scenery just after the crossing was especially lovely.

Senior Year...

Still hard to believe that our baby is finishing up her last year of high school. Here is her Year 13 (Senior) school photo.

I’m so impressed with how active Ashlynn has become in her final two years of school. After participating as a delegate last year in The Hague International Model United Nations, she continued in the club to help train the younger students. She completed her International Gold Award over the summer during her trip to Kenya, but continued to help promote Project Africa by meeting with the Head Master, manning a booth during the Activities Fair and speaking at an assembly to younger students.

She is also co-chair of the Running Club and the Eco Committee, shown here having a meeting with local reps from WWF on ways that they can work together.

Ashlynn Throws a Cocktail Party...

After Jimmy got into making cocktails for Dutch Nash Hash, Ashlynn requested that he teach her how to make some so she could throw a cocktail party for her friends. Personally, I thought the idea was crazy, but everything went smoothly despite our house being invaded by 30 drunken teenagers until after 2 a.m. Happy to report that the neighbors didn’t complain, no one got sick and only two glasses were broken. 

Jimmy trained both Ashlynn and Max how to make four different cocktails, including one of his own invention. I didn’t get to try any of them though just in case I needed to be an emergency driver.

Jimmy and I stayed upstairs binge watching a series on Netflix, coming down hourly to check that everything was still calm. 

Ashlynn didn’t want me to take any photos, but she allowed one with her friend Rebecca, who arrived early.

Steve’s First Hash...

We first met Steve in 2004 through our hash buddies Kevin and Theresa (aka Rambyte and Mainframe). It only took 13 years and a jump across a giant pond to finally get him to hash for the first time. He had a good laugh at the bike lock securing this tiny electric car.

The trail had a lot of variety including some off-road bits through a part of the Amsterdamse Bos that we’d never been to before. Steve really seemed to enjoy it; hashing is definitely a great way to see parts of a city that tourists would normally not visit.

The unfortunate part of the timing of Steve’s visit was immediately following the hash was the annual general meeting to approve a new group for the mismanagement. Jimmy volunteered to take over as the Hare Raiser, in charge of the run schedule and recruiting folks to lay the trails. At the last minute, I decided to throw my hat in as a Co-Religious Advisor, in charge of the general merriment during the circle at the end of a hash. Clearly neither Steve nor Liam found our meeting very entertaining.

We came across this colorful fair at Dam Square on our walk back to Amsterdam Centraal.