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. 
 

Another Celebration: Mother’s Day...

For Mother’s Day, the girls went all out to make an incredible high tea featuring blueberry scones with coconut cream, cheese scones with an incredible peanut chickpea topping, and Cruesli and vanilla yoghurt parfaits. 

I felt truly grateful to be surrounded by so much love. 

The delicious spread looked incredibly professional with the food served on giant Delft platters and our mismatched china, which we hadn’t used in years.
 

Still a Half-Mind...

After the beer break, Opee live laid the next section through Vlietland. He laid a shortcut for Slippery and her son so they could avoid true trail through the nudist beach, which was surprisingly busy. 

Eventually the trail crossed back over the Vliet and followed one of our usual dog walking paths...

…where we encountered our second balance beam. 

Once back at our house, we had a short circle with the usual beer and junk food. 

Later that night, I arranged Zoom calls with our old hash friends in Raleigh...

…and San Diego (although half of those SDH3 friends no longer live in San Diego). It was the first time we had chatted with many of these folks in years, so it was great to catch up. We especially were thrilled that Rambyte and Mainframe stayed on long after the others had faded. They were on both calls because not only had we met in their kitchen in San Diego in December 1991, but we had followed them to North Carolina after Rambyte had helped Opee find a job. It was the perfect way to end my half-mind celebration. 

 

Truly a Half-Mind...

On May 9, I hit a major milestone: I had been hashing for half of my life and thus had truly become a half-mind. Apparently this term dates back to 1978 when a New Zealand hasher was interviewed and said, “If you have half a mind to hash, that’s all you’ll ever need.” Hashers have proudly called themselves half-minds ever since.

I had originally planned to hare a prom dress hash in Amsterdam that day, but had to shift plans. Instead, Opee helped me pre-lay my trail for a small in-person hash starting at Voorschoten Station. Slippery Edge, On the Edge and their 11-year-old son came down from Amsterdam, and Start Me Up and Give It a Blow came from Hillegom. 

Start Me Up was over seven months pregnant and borrowed one of our neighbor’s bikes to cycle most of the trail. 

I was happy to be able to design a trail that greatly differed from the many trails that Opee had already laid in our area. 

Before our first beer stop, we posed for this socially-distanced photo in front of this truck with the motto: Nothing Really Matters.

We took a quick diversion to see the newborn lambs at the newly opened Van der Valk Boederij (Farm).

I was thrilled that we had recently found this new waterfront path in the field that we had been walking in for over six years. 

This was the first of our balance beam features.

We surprised the group with the arrival of Boar Whore and Tasty Piss in their boat. She even had a hash mask that she’d received in China years ago.  

Rather than join us for the trail, they brought us beer for our second beer stop...

…and then took us two-by-two across the Vliet for the next part of the trail. They then took Start Me Up and her bike down the Vliet to meet us when we crossed back over the bridge into town.