Sunday Morning Thoughts – April 21, 2024

Rain, rain, rain and yet more rain.

It’s been raining pretty much ever since I left home. There was one day (the 13^th) when it was nice and also pretty warm. The rest of the time rain and “it feels like 1°C” (that’s like 34°F) because of the wind has been the norm.

Do I complain about the weather? Of course! I was told that’s mandatory here. But you know what, if you don’t like the weather now, just wait five minutes. Didn’t really work yesterday and today looks to be all gray as well. I could be wrong. And weather apps? They are taking the piss. Chance of rain 0% and it’s pouring down.

I still need to track down a storm umbrella. I didn’t know they existed. A friend in Chicago googled them for me. Kind of pricey, but if it means not having to replace them every single week, it might be worth it.

Animals I’ve seen on hikes and bike rides

Too many birds to list them all – and I don’t know their names in English anyway. There are a lot of pheasants around and ducks, geese and swans with their babies. Too freaking cute. Then there are countless deer. They are like all over the place. Even in town. It’s harder NOT to see a deer than actually see one.

On a bike ride yesterday there was an entire hill full of them. I talked to a bunch of women who were on the same route and they had missed all those deer. I guess you have to be tuned into where deer might be. It was in the forest and it was on a steep climb. By “steep” I mean surprisingly steep for the Netherlands.

It looked all gray outside just a minute ago. Now I can see blue skies. Not gonna last, but at least that’s something.

Where was I with the animals? Oh yes, there are also a lot of hares around. I saw one cross the road and almost running into a car’s back wheel. What he did when he noticed was use the forward momentum to jump about a meter up into the air. The driver of the car had no idea what had happened but I was like “holy whatever – that was close!”. Now, I might have said that I’d seen rabbits. That is true. I was reminded to make the distinction between rabbits and hares. So, there you go. Rabbits are a lot less frequent, and they are just the cutest. Hares are all over the place.

There are cows too of course. A bunch of different breeds. I don’t know cow breeds at all. I just note the color and that’s what they are. So I’ve seen Scottish Highlanders (I know that’s a breed, what’s your point?), entirely white cows, orange ones, black ones and then mixes of all those colors at random. Then there are ponies and horses. I keep remembering more and more. And I have to give herons a special mention and water hens.

My favorite animal – purely for its name – has to be the Bastaardsatijnrups. It’s the caterpillar of a moth (brown-tailed moth) that can hurt you. Their hair can cause skin irritation and other things (to be honest, that’s as far as I went with looking it up). I also know its German name (Goldafterraupe – golden butt caterpillar) or its Latin name Euproctis chrysorrhoea. Nothing beats “bastaardsatijnrups” though – it’s got the word bastard in it and that’s all I need to know. I just love that. I realize that there is “satin” as well, but that’s not funny.

Now full-on blue skies out there. But I can only see out my hotel room window.

There’s bound to be more clouds and rain on its way. Best check the weather app – kidding, it’s more useful to just look outside and if you’re okay to get drenched for 5 minutes before the icy cold wind dries you off again – you’re good to go.

You know I’m not a big coffee drinker, but I was intrigued by “Koffie verkeerd” which translated to “wrong coffee”. It’s actually pretty good. Apparently, everybody used to drink coffee with a little milk, but then people started adding more milk (which was wrong) and a koffie verkeerd is equal parts of coffee and milk. Seriously, the things you learn when you’re paying attention.

I shared some other thoughts in two posts yesterday and in a few notes as well. You can always catch up on those.

This has been an amazing trip so far, for many different reasons. I know it’s time to write and publish a book. And you know how I know it’s time? Everything is falling into place. I got a clear idea of the cover – I’ll paint it myself. I got the basic structure. It’ll be unique and keep the readers on their toes. I do have the contents as well, but some of it will have to be rewritten to fit the new structure. It’s gonna be so good. I’m really excited about it.

And guess who has a gray rain cloud looming outside her window now? Yep, you got that right.

Time for a steamy shower and breakfast, then a long bike ride, pancakes and off to the sauna. Plans made.

Have a lovely Sunday everyone.