We're In Atlanta Now!

Just to prove we really did fly over the Big Pond, here are a few images to prime the pump on our arrival since Thursday evening.

We really hit the road running! By the time we got to daughter Amy's house, around 5 p.m., we turned right around in the car to take grandson Nicholas (age 11, 6th grade) to the county fair. The same fair he hasn't missed since he was 2! If we didn't do it that night, we'd miss it altogether this year, which wasn't gonna happen.

Because it was supper time, we ate first!
The standby is roasted corn-on-the-cob AND a gigantic turkey leg.
The turkey leg got gobbled up so fast I didn't even take a picture of it.
The other standyby is homemade strawberry ice cream, which we ate at the end before leaving.


Then off we went to the Indian Village, one of our favorite "shows."
As Nicholas said, we needed to let our food settle before the rides.
I love the autumn/October flare that takes into account this time of the year.


Before leaving at 9:30 p.m., we had time for 3 rides, one of which included our favorite skylift.
But even Nicholas was satisfied. Half a fair is better than no fair at all!

By the time we dropped into bed that first night, it was 4:30 a.m. Dutch time. We had been up for almost 24 hours straight! That's what second wind is all about.

On Friday I had an appointment with my financial advisor, after which we met up for lunch with Bob and Marc, our dear friends. Very nice.

We have to teach everyone the left-right-left Dutch kisses on the cheeks, of course.
Thanks to Bob and his iPhone for these pics!


We ate at Jason's Deli, where you get unlimited soft-serve ice cream...a treat for us all kids.
Again, thanks to Bob and his iPhone...but no pics of him. Arrgh.

On Saturday I swore myself blue in the face watching Michigan State beat Michigan in football. DON'T EVEN GO THERE, Ruth! But afterwards Amy, Astrid and I went to see the new movie, The Help, which eased the pain. Totally worth seeing, if you ask us.

Yesterday we had the chance to meet up with Jerry and Josh for lunch, a former boss of mine and his son, before they move to Orlando, FL, in a couple weeks:

Isn't it wonderful how we can stay up on each other over the years!
Jerry "came out" shortly after I did in 1990, so we have been there for each other over the years.

Then for dinner last evening, we continued our annual tradition of treating everyone to Outback Steakhouse for all the birthdays we missed since last year.

While we waited for our food, Nichoals played with Mommie's iPhone.
Man! That Steve Jobs sure knew what he was doing!


Even son Mark was there. Fine eating, if not dining.
Happy campers all around.
[Remember that the 'A' means Astrid took the picture.]

Speaking of Mark, when we got back to Amy's, he, Amy, Astrid and I played 2 games of Scrabble before going to bed. He soundly beat us all...twice.

Now it's Monday and I'm off for my annual dermatology appointment, after which Peggy (from our Bob and Peggy friends, remember?) will pick us up and take us to their home for our stint with them till Friday. Then back to be with the kids in the Georgia mountains at the cabin next weekend. By now you know the drill!

These are the rituals and traditions that are now seeping deeply into our family psyche. And all of this thus far in 3+ days. Still kicking and going strong. We love it....

Virtual Realities

Another day. Another blogger met. Another photo hunt.
Today is my turn again at Vision & Verb, talking about when we meet blogger friends and when virtual reality becomes...well, real. In the above case, it was Petra, one of our V&V collaborators who happens to live in Tilburg just 30 km from us here in Holland. We knew we'd meet her eventually, so when we found out she was participating in a photo exhibition a week ago, we made a day of it.

The photo exhibition was in the small town of Moergestel, 7 km east of Tilburg in North Brabant province south of us. Approximately 6K residents. Astrid had already Googled the area to see what was there and found out there was a different kind of windmill we don't normally see, just outside the city. So we decided to first get the lay of the land before driving over to the exhibition. This weathervane was on the other side of the street from the windmill, so we got two for the price of one. (Click on image to see what he was shooting.)

This is a standerdmolen from 1852 and is similar to the wipmolen at Kinderdijk I have shown here. Both are post mills but this one has a round(ish) base. It was a frosty morning but the sun was shining.
Even Granny Towanda was in heaven.

From the windmill, Astrid kindly asked TomTom to take us to the Nieuwenhof Castle from the 14th century...and she did (our TomTom is a lady)! In 1840 it became a monastery named the St. Stanislaus Institution. Today it's used as a mental healthcare facility. I feel better already, don't you?!

Then into the tiny town of Moergestel to 'do' our koffie thing (no appeltaart, however, because they forgot to take it out of the freezer the night before). The town square has its ubiquitous church, the Roman Catholic St. John's Beheaded, whose tower was built in 1500. It wasn't open, but not to worry. We heard its one bell ring and we walked around it. Astrid, btw, is taking a picture of a giant bicycle air pump there on the city square.

This is the point at which we then went to meet Petra at her exhibition (photos at the top of the post). By the time we said our Good-Byes, it was time to drive the 7 km to Tilburg to find the water tower on TomTom's list of things to see. It's where we also planned to eat lunch.

But what to our wondering eyes should appear....

...the Adbij Onze Lieve Vrouw van Koningshoeven (Abbey of Our Lady of Koningshoeven) trappist monastery, right out in the middle of nowhere! Talk about changing the plans of mice and [wo]men. See the foggy image (above) of the church? We stopped dead in our tracks because the sun was shining through the windows from the other side...never knowing it was part of a monastery. As we turned the corner, there it was. We had to stop and check it out, of course.


After walking around a bit, it became crystal clear this was a monastery that made and sold its own beer! De Koningshoeven Brewery, a Dutch Trappist brewery, was founded there in 1884 and has an annual production of 145,000 hectoliters (3,830,495 gallons). Tell me someone's not having a lot of fun!


...not far from the restaurant where we decided on the spot to eat our lunch. What serendipity. It was as though the whole day was waiting to surprise us with this place. We could have taken a tour (the only way to get into the church and walk the inner grounds) but it was already crowded and we didn't really want to wait. Another day.


Clearly they do well for themselves. The business was brisk! And the beer was GREAT. Even Astrid, who generally does not drink beer, liked it. The whole experience was totally worth it.


Those monks aren't dummies, of course. They positioned their delightful Kloosterwinkel (Monastic Shop) right at the entrance, where we gladly took a look around and...of course...bought two stone bottles of the Dubbel beer (7% ABV) we had just enjoyed at lunch.
Authentic trappist product!


Astrid is always the Trooper, taking the bag to the car
and then coming back for our last photos before leaving.

Then finally, our last destination of the day....

...the Tilburg water tower, built in 1897 at 50.5 meters high.

Did you notice? We started the day with a weathervane and ended it with a water tower.
And in between, we met a wonderful blogger and then drank to it with a delightful Trappist beer.

How's that for virtual realities becoming the real thing!
More on Vision & Verb....