Wednesday, December 21, 2005

A few cool pictures

Over the year, Theor and I joined the camera phone masses and as such have ended up with a vast photo library that has become almost like a photo diary! Here are some picutres in no particular order!

J and V drinking hot chocolate at the beach!

Jules cuddling her new puppy Bailey - July 2005

J with German friends on Dolphin boat, La Gomera, Oct

Theor on our 1st wedding anniversary, Rotterdam, Sept 18th


Neice, Vickie, waiting for the horses at races in Dorset

Jules and Theor, the zoo in France, July 2005


Nessa, Erika and *Elvis* Pete on the day that St. Nicolas arrived
in Leiden!

Tuesday, December 20, 2005

Year End Round Up 4 - Love, Romance and the last word

2005 continued to be a year of romance for the Verplancke family! In the spring, Theor's sister Helmi married Leendert-Jan (the running man) and what a happy occassion it was! Now step mother to Koen and Lotte, we are plannig a family holiday in May with Marianne (my other sister in law) and Theo (Father in law). So far no pics, but will update when i get some.

Theor and I also have had a few slushy moments. One such occassion was a weekend in Rome prior to picking up Bailey. Celebrating our last weekend of freedom as such, we seized the moment and I finally took Theor to the city I had always vowed to revisit with the love of my life.... qhhhhh....

In October, Theor, Jules and I went to La Gomera (Canary Islands) which was perfect. A rustic place with a pool and another Dutch family with girls for Jules to play with and Theor to play tennis with (another story)! It's really an amazing island and is full of animals! We had 6 pet chickens and cats outside our little house the entire week!

One of the most amazing moments of the year was watching dolphins and whales from a boat. It was incredible and at one time we must have been surrounded by at least 200 of these incredibly beautiful animals!

Now, I think that about just wraps it up for now in terms of looking backwards at 2005. I am already really looking forward to 2006.

We wish you a really happy, healthy and fun Christmas and look forward to an equally action packed 2006!

Nessa, Theor and Jules xxxxx

Year End Round Up 3 - The Semi-Naked Chef & Running!



Theor's passion for cooking has reached new heights this year with his cooking club (tafle 6) even being invted to cook for a friend's tennis club. I knew things had gone well when he retured very happy, very late and could not stop talking!

Our kitchen remsins the heart of the house and most weekends we enjoy a family roast of some kind. I attempt to get more adventerous with puddings beyond the apple crumble and Jules is a wizz with the salad dressings. Her passion for everything Italian is not wasted on us and we hope next summer to take a holiday there and indulge ourselves on some great food and country side.

To balance things out a bit, running is becoming a popular hobby in hour house! Theor is now running twice a week and I am in a running with the LOOPGROEP OEGSTGEEST headed up by my brother in law, Leendert-Jan. One of the prodest moments last year has to be when Jules and I ran a 2K kids race togeher prior to the Leiden marathon. I ran the half and together we raised around Euros1,500 so thank you to everyone that supported us! I run with the group most Wednesdays and Sundays and have had some great times running on the beach recently despite the weather!

Year End Round Up 2 - The Dutch - English Connection




In April my parents and family friend, Ginnie came to see us and the bulb fields and they were back again in early December for joint birthday celebrations for Jules and I, plus St. Nick of course (5th December). Mum got the chance to pose with some of those really colourful Dutch cows!!!

In the Summer Jules, Theor, Bailey and I drove to France to meet with Giles, Fiona, Vickie, Tilly, Mum and Dad for a week, Jules is now has a great Enlish vocab, with a few choice words from here Uncle and Grandpa, including 'you pst' and 'shut up you dog!'. This Christmas will give us a few more I am sure and we look forward to aweek in Dorset celebrating in true Vigar style yet again!

Finally, having an English 'sister' Jules continues to be my personal Dutch coach! Her vocab is expanding by the day and I am finding it harder to catch up, so more Dutch lessons in the near your for me :-) Of course, when we cannot find the words, we can always dance. I love this picture and we gave it to Theor as a belated Valentine's gift from the both of us!
The Girls! September, 2005, Pelgrimspoort 11, Ledien

Friday, December 16, 2005

Year End Round Up 1 - The arrival of The Brown Dog


It is that time of year when people send letters telling you their news over the past year, most of it not all that interesting but since its personal, it's a nice update. For the first time, I feel the need to do the same; however, I am cheating by posting in my blog and avoiding the post all together! Come on---- at least it’s better than a seasonal SMS!

After 2004 being a year of change (good mostly I may add), I hoped 2005 would be one of consolidation and growing roots (at least for me) from a personal and professional perspective. Mostly, that has been the case; however, consolidation does go without change - which is a good thing of course!

We are now a family of 4. Welcome Bailey, the much adored brown dog that has really been my main focus since July - much to the horror of Theor and Jules! Having said that it is Theor who has been taking Bailey to school every Tuesday (almost) since the summer and his hard efforts paid off with them earning the maximum 180 points in the final test on Saturday. Our ‘champ’ still has a long way to go to become the ‘champion gun dog of Leiden’ but we have been reassured we are on the right track!

Jules and Bailey have become great friends and seem to remain on a 'who can grown the fastest' race! Having just turned 7 she is shooting up (Jules that is) and turning into a staggeringly beautiful and engaging young lady (most of the time!) Her biggest passions aside from DOG are: her gymnastics on a Thursday night, her go kart, playing the game cube (latest addition), helping out in the kitchen (salads especially). Her English is improving by the day too.... see next blog for more on that!

Friday, December 02, 2005

Why Brown Dog Sleeping?


My brown dog, Bailey, spends at least 6 hours a day asleep while I spend at least that in front of the computer.

With that as a constant reminder, I want this blog to be my equivalent of the office 'water cooler' where I can take a 15 minute break and discuss what comes to mind.





Its early days so let's see how it goes, however, I hope that over time I can keep the content interesting enough to warrant a return visit!