Winter Boating...

We started the New Year the right way: a boat ride on January 2. 

It was a cold winter's day, but luckily not brutally cold. We met up with Reinhardt and Inga for our first group boat ride since becoming co-owners. The goal was to bring the boat to Voorschoten so that our neighbor could help transport the floor planks in his car to our house so Jimmy could strip and varnish them over the winter. 

We were thankful for no wind, which kept us warmer and meant I could catch some decent photos. 

Jimmy managed to prove to them that he was a good skipper. 

This photo shows how calm everything was before things got crazy. Jimmy pulled the boat into our neighbor's slip and the dock was covered in algae. Inga stepped out first, her foot slipped on the muck and she fell into the canal. Her only concern was her phone, which was luckily safe in her pocket. She quickly managed to pop back out of the chilly water. She and I then walked about 10 minutes back to our place to get her a change of clothes. Despite her tiny body frame, she had big enough feet to even be able to borrow shoes.  

On the way back to Leiden, I took this photo of one of Voorschoten's fanciest restaurants; we've only been there once when our former next door neighbor invited us to his 50th birthday party.

About 30 minutes after her plunge into the cold water, Inga was all smiles. 
 

Meanwhile in Exeter...

The girls made sushi for their New Year’s Eve dinner.

They used Mibo to meet Brett on the island.

They had fun dancing in the kitchen...

...the living room...

...and outside at midnight after finally meeting Veronica’s neighbors for the first time.
 

New Year’s Eve in Holland...

Since it was pretty cold, Jimmy set up his paella kit inside.

As always, his paella turned out great!

I was so surprised when Carlin presented me with this beautiful infinity scarf that she had knitted me. 

Technically, we were only allowed two visitors for New Year’s Eve. Since we couldn’t exclude Mark or Kent, we just made sure not to hang out by the front window. 

Mark went home after dinner, so it was just the four of us who toasted at midnight and walked around the neighborhood to check out the fireworks. 

Despite firework sales being banned in the Netherlands due to the pandemic, that didn’t stop our village from blasting a surprising ton of big fireworks... 

...and from lighting some bonfires.

It was hard to tell if Kati was barking or howling to the moon. 

 

A Most Unique Hash Circle...

Instead of the usual Zoom call for our hash circle, Boar Whore and Tasty Piss had a special surprise for us: a private island for our group to hang out in. When we first arrived, we were in a cave. 

Each person was supposed to be on their own computer in order to access Mibo, a Dutch video conferencing start-up that allows guests to interact individually or as a group (the free version allows up to 12 users). However, my PC was too old to have the necessary video card, so Opee was in charge of moving us around. 

When we exited the cave, we entered the old bar.

Along the way, folks stopped to pick out hats. 

We didn’t actually play cards, but just hung out for a short time....

...before heading towards the beach where we happily ran into Comes Too Soon and Strap Me Down, who hung out for just a few minutes.

Eventually we gathered on the beach where we were able to have a real (albeit virtual) circle. Our singing still was not synched, but it was so much more interactive than when we have a Zoom circle.

As the finale to our circle, we recreated a rainbow.

We ended our gathering by hanging out in the ocean. What a great way to end a crazy year together but apart.

 

 

Final 2020 FILTH Hash...

The final full moon was on December 29, so we once again set off on our own virtual FILTH trail.

This time we had an extra special guest follow us around when we ran outside of a local children’s zoo.

Mama’s Bitch was surprised to realize that this turkey was running with us...

...or perhaps he was actually chasing us. Either way, it was so entertaining that we did an extra round around the fence. 

FILTH trails are known for having good beer, but ours just had Heineken from the local snackbar.
 

Meeting Pippen...

On December 13, we met nine-week-old Pippen, our next door neighbor’s puppy, for the first time. 

She seemed to like our baby gift.

Jimmy was very happy to meet her...

...but Kati wasn’t as enthusiastic.

Two days later we caught Pippen crawling through our hedges.

On Christmas we tried getting Kati to pay attention to Pippen, but she wasn’t interested in playing along. 

Kati was much happier when we finally ran into her two buddies, Nina and Pedro, in the field for the first time in over nine months. 

Meet Coda, an Australian Kelpie (we suspect Kati is part Kelpie). We see her periodically in the village carrying a basket of goodies and Jimmy approached the owner to learn more. Clearly she is not only smart, but also very photogenic.