Hard

That reminds me. My native-Dutch-speaking colleagues (who speak also quite fluent English, mind you) do manage from time to time to come up with some pretty funny idioms. The latest one I noticed was, "It's not hard rock science." I didn't correct him on that one (although I often do). Was that wrong? I didn't laugh out loud, either -- which I also often do. Probably the thing which then forces me to explain why and, subsequently, correct him.

Rooves

There are some little storage shed type of structures I can see out my office window. They are across a bit of water and slightly behind some trees; I never really paid attention to them before. But yesterday morning, and again today, their rooves are white! This stood out to me yesterday -- have they always had white rooves? Or was there a layer of snow on the rooves? Later in the day, when the rooves reverted to gray, I was sure. And today, there's snow again. It's great because there's no trace of snow on the roads, sidewalk, grass or cars. But I guess it did snow, a little, overnight.

Sunny and cold again today. Ah! Winter at last. :)

Irony

When I am getting ready for work in the morning or even indeed during my commute and not to exclude dinner preparation time, or other moments when I am physically engaged in a task and mentally "available," I do tend to think up all manner of inane minutiae and ponderings which I really should post on my blog next possible opportunity.

And then when I'm sitting behind the computer first of all I don't seem to remember all those unbearably eloquent musings on the mundane trivia of my life and secondly, you guessed it already, as much as I do remember seems terribly, well, mundane, and I don't quite see the point of posting it online for strangers and dear ones to read.

I think I would like a little more excitement in my life, although with excitement often comes change, and with change decisions, and with decisions angst (and sometimes even angst with change when no decisions are required), and in my case also sometimes angst about the lack of change, but we won't go into that right now. And anyway I'm not sure I want to post my angst on the internet although it's no doubt more titillating than details like why is it that Mr. Cat and I are so different in various mundane ways (I am telling you, there was some interesting observation I made earlier today on this point, to myself, but now I can't even remember it in order to bore you with it).

One possible source of excitement is the question as to whether I should get more involved in my church, either more so in the way I am already, or even in some new way?

Another is the question of whether Mr. Cat and I are "meant" to have "kittens". (As for kittens, no quotation marks, we are already looking for a new one.)

Decision time

You'll be proud to know I finally bit the bullet and signed up for a gym. It is located on the backside of the Olympic Stadium (history buffs: 1928 Summer) just a short kilometer or so from my house. It is not too fancy, not too snooty -- the locker room is a bit smelly, in fact, even having been recently remodeled -- but they have all the requisite equipment, some good classes, and a pretty-good location. During my free two-week introductory membership, I think I averaged just over 1 visit / week. That's going to be an expensive frequency... but I know I'll never go if I don't even sign up. So it's a gamble, a bet, an investment -- in short, a risk, with exceedingly great (ahem) rewards.

For the record

It is now completely dark.

Brighter days!

Here in Amsterdam it is just past 5:00 PM and it is still light outside! OK, the street lights are on, and there's a thick, heavy cloud cover... but in a small glimmer between the clouds, off to the right, the sky actually looks quite bright.

And they're getting longer for another 5 months!

Wounded

Yep, my little pride has been wounded again. So alert am I, so attuned to the slightest hit of disregard, disrespect -- that I seem to pick up these signals everywhere. And indeed, they are all around me. Humility now!

On the plus side, finding I had something in common with someone I knew I had a lot in common with (probably to our mutual chagrin) made me grin.

And some friends had me over for dinner last night, whilst Mr. Cat is traveling away, which is a Very Good Thing. The friends having me over for dinner, I mean. Oh and Coon Kitty seems to be doing ok, pretty much.

Anyway.

TGIF

'nuff said.

Requiem

Our kitty has now been positively ID'ed by my spouse. Apparently she fell off the roof into the neighbors' garden. The good news is it doesn't seem to be anybody's fault, and she probably didn't suffer much. I guess the bad news is pretty obvious. I told you it was a sad day.

Fearing the worst

This was my missing little kitty (this is the photo I used on the posters and flyers advertising she was missing). All signs are pointing to the most feared outcome. She was the very essence of a kitty, cuddly, sweet, loyal, affectionate, skittish, ornery, naughty and absolutely irresistable.

Sad day

My kitty, Fleur, the little black one, seems to have slipped out the door yesterday while people were working in our entryway/staircase.

:(

Strange fruits

Pardon the random allusion. I thought it sounded less, ah, sketchy (i.e. compelling to the wrong sort of reader), than what I originally wanted to write.

My colleague brought in some walnuts grown on his own tree. He lives on a mini-farm "between the rivers" in the Netherlands. Anyway these walnuts have the following, unfamiliar characteristic: you can open many of them with your hands, and almost all of them come apart in two neat halves. Also, they are small, a bit dullish, and sandy from having lain in the dirt before being collected.

The walnuts I grew up with, grown by my grandfather on the Ranch, were large, shiny and difficult to open. Almost impossible to open without breaking part of the shell. Rarely indeed did someone get them to open in two neat halves, and great was our esteem for that someone when s/he did succeed.

Ah! Memories. Get you some walnuts from California's Central Valley anytime you can. They should be as famous as the Raisins.

Guidelines

The holidays were great, but methinks it's time to revert to my pre-holiday dietary guidelines (not rules -- exceptions abound!)

1. No sugar (except dark chocolate) (and ice cream, of course)

Actually, this guideline is more like: no sugar during the day. Dessert is another matter, and depends on the attractiveness of the dessert being offered. Hence the exception for ice cream. But only good ice cream (Ben & Jerry's, Hagen Dazs -- not that yucky Dutch supermarket stuff)

2. Whole grains
3. Snacks = nuts (plus my daily apple)
4. Alcohol = red wine (or champagne!)
5. One serving
6. Just because it's there, doesn't mean you have to eat it!
7. One cup of tea, two cups of coffee per day -- maybe another tea in the afternoon if needed

Simple enough, no?

Winter?

Here in Amsterdam we are having the following weather.

For reference purposes, 8 degrees C is about 46 degrees F. And this is the expected temperature overnight. And we are now the 5th of January.

The saga continues

I wouldn't call it a resolution, or anything, but I did start thinking again about joining a gym. I even went to visit one, again. This one seems to be very close to my work and so seemed an obvious choice. I went to their web site and, what do you know, they're offering a free lesson -- so I went by there for a spinning class.

Unlike certain gyms, they didn't put me through a whole salesy rigamarole before I could use the facilities (nor were they rude, nor condescending about my footwear) (although I was wearing proper, non-gym-oriented footwear when I arrived); they just gave me a card for the class, explained where the changing rooms were, and sent me on my way.

So far so good. But the changing rooms were a bit too steamy, and the spinning class was way too hard-core. The guy was like a drill sergeant as we climbed up all manner of peaks, and his biking cap was literally dripping with sweat by about halfway through. Also, the 10-minute walk from my office (in the opposite direction of home) was fine with a bit of mist, but would probably be very unpleasant in serious rain or snow -- not to mention the deserted dark street aspect of the walk -- and I had to walk the same distance back (although along a well-lit street) in order to catch public transportation home.

So I am leaning toward re-considering another gym, which is more on my way home. Although I haven't tried out their spinning class yet...

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!