Hmmm – Let’s see – What have I been up to…

Well, the weekend before last Dave and I were going to go for a drive on the Saturday but that was the day of our first snow so Dave decided he didn’t really want to drive in snowy conditions.  We are from Southern California, you know!  So instead since it was a light snow we ventured to the town center and just walked around and got Dave some new sweaters and a new coat.  He looks quite debonair in his new coat – my handsome hubby!  On Sunday the snow was no longer an issue so we took off in the car and headed to the coast which is less than 30 minutes away.  I wouldn’t call it beautiful – at least nothing compared to Siesta Beach in Sarasota, FL or the La Jolla Cove in San Diego, CA or any of the Hawaiian beaches I have been to – but it was the first frozen beach I had ever been to!  It was my first time to walk on frozen sand which is quite different.  There were quite of few other people with their dogs out there and the dogs just don’t seem to mind the frozen sand or the extremely cold water.  They were running and jumping and chasing each other and balls – that was fun to watch.  I also picked up a few shells; again, the shells were not as beautiful as others I have collected.  However, while walking on the beach we saw a commotion right on the shore break with a huge flock of seagulls with people watching them so we ventured down to see what it was.  There were hundreds of live razor clams being washed to shore and the seagulls were having a feast.  It was quite interesting.

After enjoying the frozen beach we drove towards Den Haag, also called The Hague, to visit some museums.  This is where the Mauritshuis is located and where you can view Vermeer’s Girl with the Pearl Earring.  As I have said in previous posts, what an incredible experience to get to view these masterpieces live.  We also went to the Panorama Mesdag.  Here is the description from The Hague website: This is a cylindrical painting, commissioned in 1880, that is more than 14 meters high and 120 meters in circumference.  The Panorama Mesdag is a grand work of art in the style of The Hague School and an important art treasure.  The rooms leading to the Panorama house a fine collection of oil paintings and water colours by Mesdag and his wife.  It was fun to see but I would not say my favorite collection of art.  It was towards the end of the day by this time and we headed back to Amsterdam and had a quiet evening at home with a pizza dinner from the Italian restaurant across the street from our apartment.

I’ve ventured out quite a bit lately and am trying to remember what I have written about.  The Friday after Thanksgiving I went to a huge Christmas Fair at the De Haar Castle about 30 minutes away.  The Castle is amazing but the Fair was mostly all outside and none of it was in the Castle so I would love to go back to experience the tour.  It was the first time I really, really got cold.  My toes were frozen and I was glad whenever we found some booths inside with heaters.  I bought a few holiday gifts but didn’t spend too much!

Last week on a very snowy day, I went to the AWCA’s monthly meeting which was a Christmas Bazaar in a cool, old building in the canal streets.  The bazaar was small, but fun, and afterwards a few of us went out to lunch and had an incredible hot chocolate – they put milk chocolate chips in the bottom of the glass with hot milk on top – stir and drink.  YUM!  It was an extremely cold day – the weather has just seemed to get colder and colder after Thanksgiving.  I also found out there is a real, live mall!  OK, ladies it’s an inside mall – the largest department store has five, yes, five floors!  I am not a big shopper but it was fun to walk around and realize that you can buy just about anything you want or need – all in one place and not have to go from market to market.  I know the markets are fun but when it’s cold and rainy or snowy an inside mall is a little more pleasant!  And they have some very unusual, very European fashion pieces that you wouldn’t find in the states.  That’s the fun for me – is to find some fun, funky piece of clothing that I have never seen in the states.  I know most of you already think I’m a little “different” and yes, “crazy Tami” will probably come back wearing some unusual fashions.

What do you think, I could pull it off, don't you think?

This past weekend we had the really big snow on Saturday and pretty much stayed in most of the day.  We had one of the couples we met over for dinner so I was busy getting that ready.  This time – homemade spaghetti with salad, garlic bread and apple cobbler.  Dave is very happy that I have found a recipe to make a salad dressing that is very close and actually better than his favorite store bought – Kraft Catalina.  So he’s back to eating salad every day!  I guess while Maria and I were cleaning up the dishes Joe and Dave decided we’re going to do a week long bike trip through the Mosel Valley in Germany this spring.  Anyone want to join us?

Sunday we ventured out to the First Sunday Market that I went to last month.  This time Dave went with me along with Ted, IT guy from Taylor, who was here for some meetings on the new Taylor building.  Much smaller due to the weather but Dave purchased some dry salamis from Italy and France.  We also went to the American Book Store in the centrum and then came back to our neighborhood and had a late lunch at the little café on the corner.

Today I had to stay home to wait for the dishwasher repairman which gave me the ideal time to catch up on my blog.  Tonight we are headed out to see Weird Al!  Dave is a friend of his guitar player so will go a little early to meet up with him and who knows maybe I’ll get to meet Weird Al too!  I’ll let you know.

Dave has some better photos on his computer so as soon as I can, I'll post some of those too!

Hugs to all!