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Saturday, January 14
Although we do not have permission yet to start with the renovation of the farm, there's a lot to be done outside before the breeding season starts. Like pruning this small island. It took us three whole weekends to prune all the branches and trunks and we will probably need another three days to change these into several cubic metres of firewood.
Monday, January 16
"Joy and sadness
are as close to each other as the splendid colored leaves of a New England
Fall to the soberness of the barren trees." (
)
Two weeks after Mum's burial, dad was surprised with
his second royal decoration ()
for his outstanding volunteer work for the church and the community
as a whole. The decoration was pinned on by the Mayor of the city. If
only Mum had lived to see this. She didn't give a damn about royal decorations
at all, but she would have been so proud tonite!
Wednesday, January 25
The
greatest Dutch painter of all times, Rembrandt van Rijn, was born 400
years ago. All over the land and all thru the year a once in a lifetime
sequence of exhibitions is held to celibrate this wonderful event ().
Today we spent the afternoon at Boijmans van Beuningen ()
in Rotterdam. The museum raises the curtain for the Rembrandt 400 Year
with a collection of drawings by the master himself and many of his
students. The absolute highlight of the year will be the Rembrandt-Caravaggio
exhibition in Amsterdam, that opens on February 24 ().
Saturday, January 28
Mourning is like a water
leakage. When you think everything has finally dried up, all of a sudden
the wallpaper starts to curl and turns brown. It's like having a bug
in your software: you're grumpier than normal, unreachable to others,
incapable to make a connection. This week even our operating system
went down, infected by a nasty virus ().
Time to mark time. Exercise is the best mecidine. And there's plenty
of exercise to be done on a farm. Today we put all the branches in a
big shredder; the yard looks tidy again. Allthough it may take another
two months, we're ready for the renovation to begin.