An Engagement Shoot...

On June 19 we took the train to Hillegom and then walked through the village...

…on our way to Celine and Richard’s for a yummy vegetarian BBQ and an engagement photoshoot. Dylan was very cooperative...

…but didn’t star in all of the shots. The first set of shots were taken in their front yard...

…with the rest taken in a nearby field with poppies.

One of the neighbor kids was intrigued by the funny guy with the strange camera perched very high.

On our walk back to the station, we spotted a reflection of the church in the center of the village...

…and a monument to the Beatles, which was unveiled exactly 55 years after they played in Hillegom in 1964. 
 

More June in Voorschoten...

We were surprised to see firetrucks on the cinder track behind the farm. Apparently a woman tried to rescue a cat that was stuck in a tree and then needed rescuing herself. 

Luckily this bozo didn’t need rescuing after getting too close to the new beehives at the farm. 

We were all smiles, but were actually sad to host Carlin and Kent for dinner for the last time before Kent moved back to the England.

None of us knew at the time that Carlin’s UK visa would be so delayed that they’d have to live apart for over two months. 

The locally grown peonies were very amazing this year. 

It was surprising to find a big banner across one of our usual walking paths. Apparently one of the local soccer fields, which we never see anyone using, is going to be replaced with refugee housing built out of containers. It’s not surprising that the local homeowners don’t want that in their backyard since there’s no way to predict what impact it will have on their property values. 

 

Meanwhile in Exeter...

This photo from July 2010 was the oldest one that I could find of Veronica on her bike, which we had bought used.

Nearly 11 years later, she cried while donating her beloved bike to Ride On, a charity and social enterprise that refurbishes donated bikes in an effort to get locals more active. 

Clearly Veronica and Brett don’t need any organizations to encourage them to be active as they’re very active all on their own. On June 13, they headed to Dartmoor for an overnight camping trip. It was the perfect opportunity for them to soak in some waterfalls and have Brett capture some great photos.

This one is especially fantastic!

As the cows circled their campsite... 

…they stayed on this rock after dinner to keep their distance. 

They went to bed soon after sunset and didn’t dare to get up in the middle of the night to take star photos at the risk of upsetting the cows. 
 

Spotted in Voorschoten...

Over the final few weeks of spring, we took a lot of walks around our neighborhood and Vlietland. We were happy to discover that there was a new walking path added so we wouldn’t need to walk on the horse path for a segment of the loop around the lake. 

Along the way, we spotted what might be a commune for Canadian geese...

…what appeared to be a floating living room from a fraternity house...

…and a colorful clothesline on a historic boat.

Presumably due to the cold winter, the wildflowers were late and sparse compared to last year, but there were still some pretty mixes.

It’s always fun to see what interesting sculptures the artist in the neighborhood adds to her front yard.  

Although this looks like it could be a sculpture, it was a real cat high up a tree.

Great timing to happen upon these truly newborn coots. 
 

Boating with Jim...

As usual when Jim is in town, we took him out on Bootjuh. 

This time, he captured a few shots of us when we stopped for dinner at Tabu, a Latin American restaurant that will serve us from their dock; sure wish more restaurants in Leiden would do the same.  

Two days later we did a different kind of boating: kayaking in The Hague from the Bierkade. 

We don’t usually think of The Hague as having a lot of canals, but the Old City Center route that we took was four miles long and took us around one-and-a-half hours to complete. 

It was a fun activity for Jim’s last day in town. 

Luckily there wasn’t a ton of boat traffic and I only had one close call after a boat coming out from under a bridge caught me off guard. We were also lucky as we finished our route just before some crazy heavy winds kicked up. 
 

Evening in The Hague...

Jimmy brought Kati with him to the office on June 9, where she was a big hit. Then we ate dinner at Scheveningen Beach for the first time in 2021 with Jim. who was in town to search for an apartment. 

After dinner, Jimmy and Kati ran through the water.

We walked along the pier, where we saw beautiful colors between the sky and sand.

We had good laughs when we spotted a bike slot lock used as a love lock...

…mannequins on a rooftop...

…and some goofy kissing statues in front of a café.

On our way back to Den Haag Centraal, we hopped off the tram early to take Kati to the park, where we came across this spot with amazing reflections...

…and an Egyptian goose family creating swirls in the otherwise still water.