Going Dutch 2007!: Lukie comes to the rescue at Robert and Thea's

On Wednesday we went to my cousin Robert's. Also coming with was Tante Jenny and Tante Yo. Robert's wife Thea made a nice lunch - she had some interesting salads in addition to the usual cheese and wurst. I tried a curried chicken salad and tuna salad - they were yummy! (Although Subway's tuna is still the best!) After lunch, Robert, my dad and I left the ouwe frouen (old ladies) at home with Thea and went to see the Afsluitdyk, another of the Dutch peoples' attempts to conquer water. When on it, there isn't much to the Afsluitdyk. But to imagine building a 20 mile dam across a sea around 1930, it's pretty incredible. Amazingly, there was a snack shop at the view point we stopped at so that Dad could have a cup of coffee!

When we returned, the others were playing games and drinking advocaat. Thea served us tea and tompoezen and we continued playing games. The big draw to the day's gathering was that Thea would be making erwtensoep for the first time. She was using Tante Yo's recipe, and Tante Yo did a lot of the cooking. :-) But it was very good and filling on a cool, somewhat drizzly day. As we were about to eat our toetje (dessert, pronounced "toot-cha") the lights went out. Thea reset the breakers but the lights went out almost immediately again. After a few rounds of this, I observed that the outside patio lights flicked briefly on just before the lights went out. There had been some men doing yard work out there earlier in the day and it seemed likely that they might have messed something up. Dad went outside with Robert and Thea and they dug up the light in question and discovered one of the wires and the ground wire had been yanked loose and were touching, causing the short. It's a good thing Dad was there - identifying the source of the problem was as far as I could go (that is my job, after all!) and Robert has no electrical skills! Once the power was restored, coffee was made and all was right with the world again.

Tante Yo is amazingly well despite her rheumatism. Still so wonderfully peaceful. Thea was a fantastic hostess - even with a house full of guests and no power she remained ever calm and continued to call us all "lieverts"(a term of endearment, like sweetie, that Thea invariably calls everyone). Jaimey and Wes were good, too. We got home around 10:30, and Coby called me something in Dutch that I didn't know but I'm sure meant "no good, stay out all night bum".

Friday, Dad will go to Haarlem to visit his father's grave and have haaring while Coby, Mom and I will go to Amsterdam. The weather is supposed to be nice and we have shopping to do!