The Glass Heart...

Before heading to a West London Hash in the evening, I visited Two Temple Place to see an exhibit called The Glass Heart. The gothic mansion was built in 1895 as offices and a flat for William Waldorf Astor, founder of the famed Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York. It is now a public art gallery, 

The exhibit explored glass throughout the ages...

…in the perfect setting as the building had a lot of stained glass.

Matters of the Heart

This piece expresses the idea that: “Between birth and death there are only precious present moments encompassing love, joy, passion, strength, courage, wisdom, humor, generosity, creativity, freedom and, of course, their opposites.”

The Soil

This piece highlights the climate crisis: “The urinating female gardener is replenishing the topsoil that is fast being dangerously depleted.”

 

Meanwhile on the Farm....

While we were in Holland, Veronica was busy helping during lambing season at her friend Dreda’s farm. 

You can read all about her experience on her blog.

Veronica obviously had hoped to have a chance to take some self-portraits as she had brought her signature white dress along to the farm. Love this shot!
 

Boating in Leiden...

The final 40th birthday event was an informal breakfast at Reinhart and Inga’s house. We then picked up the keys to take Bootjuh out for a spin, which was conveniently located on a dock much closer to their house. 

It was awesome that the timing worked out for Terri...

…Johanna and Frank, who had recently moved back to The Hague from Houston, to join us. We had a great time catching up!

Although I appreciated the name of this ship as Leiden still felt like home, I was nervous when it came towards us. Luckily Captain Jimmy stayed calm and avoided a collision.  

I enjoyed the view of these lovely cherry blossoms both from the river...

…and as we walked back to the train station. 

The tree in front of the first house we rented when we moved to Holland was also in full bloom.  

When we took the ferry that night, we were happy to have a room at the end of the ship with an extra large window. 

Jimmy went straight to work the next morning, while I made my way back to our flat. Instead of taking the escalator, I took the inclined elevator at Liverpool Street Station for the first time.  
 

Party Time in Leiden...

We were thrilled to be invited to Reinhardt and Inga’s 40th Birthday Party, which started with a pub crawl in Leiden on the Friday night. Inga was completely shocked that Jimmy and I had never been to De Bonte Koe (The Spotted Cow)…

…a charming café from 1880 decorated in Delft tiles of cows.

We always love an evening in Leiden!

We also went to Jeneverhuis, a jenever bar that we had also never been to.  

On Saturday, Inga laid a hash trail in Leiden. Sadly, I have somehow lost all of the photos with people in them, but have a few of the scenery. It was a great trail highlighting much of what the city has to offer: sculptures...

…windmills...

…charming alleys...

…and new street art.

Inga was especially happy to show this new artwork to us...

...as well as this almshouse that we had never seen despite the many hashes and walks we’ve done over the years.

The drink stop was at De Burcht, the highest point in the city with amazing views and later we ended on the top floor of a parking garage. That evening they hosted a lively party at Crooked Spider Brewery.
 

Amsterdam Water Supply Dunes...

Moving back in time to April 11, Terri and I did a great long walk in Amsterdamse Waterleidingduinen (Amsterdam Water Supply Dunes) between Zandvoort and Noordwijk. This area is used to pre-treat 66% of Amsterdam’s tap water, which apparently is sourced from the Rhine River. 

It wasn’t too cold, but the dreary skies must have scared others away as we didn’t see a lot of people as we walked among the various lakes and canals. 

The color of the water varies greatly...

…with some bits looking tropical.

In approximately the same area as we had seen one on a previous hike, we were thrilled to see a fox again. 

This time, however, our timing wasn’t right to see the little ones poking out of the den. 

We also spotted deer...

…and found some of their antlers.

We enjoyed seeing some tulips on our drive home. 

 

Highs and Lows of 19th Year - Part 2

We are happy that once again our list of highs is much longer than our list of lows. Much of this list again focuses around traveling, our favorite thing to do:

• Jimmy/Melissa Travel: Belgium - Belgian Nash Hash in Ardennes, Higgin’s 60th Birthday Hash Weekend in Brussels; Canterbury - City H3 Hash Weekend, Opee hosting cocktail party and laying amazing hash trail; Cornwall - seeing Veronica graduate in Truro Cathedral, hearing her interviewed on BBC Cornwall Radio; Germany- crazy New Year’s Eve in Berlin, Opee haring Berlin H3 New Year’s Hash, craft beer bar tours, transforming into a sexy mermaid in Hamburg for Interscandi; Netherlands - finally getting our Dutch visa status sorted, fantastic museums, Reinhardt + Inga’s 40th Birthday Hash Weekend, staying with Terri; Portugal - long walks around Porto, DIVA Bubbly Hash Weekend in Coimbra, Opee haring in yet another country; Shetland - Simmer Dim Hash Weekend on summer solstice; US - great time catching up with family and friends in Florida, Georgia and North Carolina, celebrating Buddy’s 85th birthday
• Jimmy Travel: Brussels - finding an affordable hotel with a spa near headquarters; Florida - first Thanksgiving with Buddy and Deb in over 30 years; Wales - Lovetrails, first music and running festival, 27K trail run was most intense run of his life (even harder than a marathon)
• Melissa Travel: England - visiting Veronica in Exeter and Carlin in Winchester, hiking holiday with Camilla in Shropshire; Scotland - visiting Ashlynn in Glasgow and Gillian in Edinburgh
• Family Travel: Croatia - fun hash cruise to lots of new destinations, waterfall and waterpark trails, good food, sea organ, photo ops, wild swimming
• Veronica Travel: Croatia - slow travel by train to family holiday included overnights in Munich and Vienna; England - cozy shepherd’s hut for New Year’s, five-star hotel in Newquay to celebrate Brett submitting his PhD thesis, Oxford, seeing old BSN friends Ellie and Fiona in Bolton, lambing at Dreda’s farm, E+S Retreat in Falmouth, visiting Peak District and Brighton with UEA friends, many trips to London, cycling to Penryn with Brett, graduation ceremony in Truro, exploring new parts of Devon on hikes and cycling trips, camping with Annabel in North Devon; Germany - visiting Brett in Hamburg, 100K cycle ride and bike camping using a Swapfiets (rental bike); Holland - summer school in Utrecht; Paris - visiting Brett, celebrating 5th anniversary, Disneyland Paris; Scotland - meeting up with Ashlynn in Glasgow during visit with David and Tamsin in Aberdeen, seeing the king 
• Ashlynn Travel: Berlin - visiting Soso and Nick; DJ on Tour - London, Perugia (Italy), Rome, Rotterdam, The Hague, Warsaw, Zurich; French Polynesian Islands - staying on same island as parent’s honeymoon, scuba diving with dolphins and sharks on 24th birthday, hiking, snorkeling, running, rooftop bar; London - Soso coming along, watching parents dancing at gig; Split - mini-romantic getaway with Felix
• Melissa/Veronica Travel: Bath - Christmas Market; Bristol - Clifton Suspension Bridge; Devon - South West Coast Path hike
• Veronica/Ashlynn Travel: Croatia - afternoon in Zagreb; London - swim at ladies’ pool at Hampstead Heath lake, dog café, cycle ride on Christmas; Slovenia - hiking around Lake Bled and Vintgar Gorge
• Family: seeing Wicked together both on West End and on the big screen; setting up our love tree and celebrating Christmas together in our own home in matching PJs
• Jimmy/Melissa: moving into our dream flat on the Thames, which is very entertaining; happy to see girls more now that we live on the same island; going to two of Ashlynn’s gigs; Sally and John moving just two hours away; London theater; hashing
• Jimmy: used to dream of living in Manhattan for two years, but now never wants to leave London; fun going off-piste when speaking at conferences; first London Gay Pride and going to gay bars with friends; doing a sub 8-minute per mile half marathon; listening to Ashlynn playing live on the radio while hashing; City H3 = spirited running, London H3 = tranquility; having the time to work on Harrier Central again 
• Melissa: finally feeling settled, meeting another American trailing spouse in our building, art exhibits, receiving an incredible photobook from Terri and getting to meet up with her several times in London including when she and Max joined for Opee’s Halloween hash trail, Ashlynn surprising me for my birthday; interesting plays and walking tours with AWC London
• Veronica: being surrounded by supportive people for my fieldwork trip (family, supervisors, research group, Brett); good friends at uni; nice house and not having to move this year; trying new creative endeavors; seeing lots of shows; passing my upgrade; seeing flaming tar barrels on Guy Fawkes Night; Lindsey Stirling concert; Sustrans and live radio interviews; Coves to Cliffs; nude photo shoots; organizing a collage session for department; successful funding bid to organize conference; aerial classes; watching Bake Off with friends
• Ashlynn: proud to raise funds for trip to Tahiti and be featured in diving magazine; lots of great music experiences, learning how to make music, playing back-to-back with numerous favorite producers, being asked to co-run favorite label and starting a new label, lovely people met on tour, fun weekends with touring artists in Glasgow; Nick visiting; running fastest 5K since 13 years old; amazing flatmates, carving pumpkins, Christmas dinner; Tami, new best friend; first time living in Glasgow and not working in hospitality; Kelburn Festival; Halloween party
• Visitor count way up since moving to London: Ashlynn, Brett, Carolyn + Mike, Georgia, Gerlof + Floris, Holly + Drake, Jim, Johanna, Leah, Lisa + Mark, Matthew, Sally + John, Silke, Soso, Tim + Angel, Veronica