A Journey Through England

After spending nearly two weeks in England (and almost not making it home - see entry from Aug 25) I am convinced that it must be the best country on Earth.  I took far too many photos to share more than a small selection here, and saw so many wonderful sights that I missed capturing on film.

Above and beyond how beautiful everything is, I cannot say enough about how kind, generous, and open-hearted the British people are.  They happily share their history, their homes and their culture with foreigners, and one cannot remain a stranger for long. 

They think of others and take care of each other.  We noticed lots of charities and volunteers who did everything from restoring the canals for the narrow boats, to giving tours, caring for the elderly, raising funds for every cause, donating works of art for the public to enjoy, and maintaining historic monuments and buildings for everyone to enjoy for free.

The one thing we missed was the so-called famous British weather.  It was never hot, nor did it ever get cold - and it was sunny or dry straight through.  It rained on us once, for less than an hour while we were in the Cotswolds.  I was, after all the stories I had heard, expecting to get wet while we were there.  I like the rain!

On the way, at the gas station.

All loaded up and ready to go.  Yes, the trailer is mainly for girl things.  I'm so spoiled in my old age!  It's a single-wheel Freebird trailer, and rides so nicely that I forget it's behind us.

Waiting for the ferry on the non-freight lanes.



The main highway was closed after an accident, so we missed the ferry.   We were taking Transeuropa Ferries from Oostende, Belgium to Ramsgate, UK.  I can recommend Transeuropa as being the cheapest (only 40 Euros for 2 people plus a motorcycle), and very nice.  They had no problem switching us to another sailing, the next day - free of charge.   

 

The ship's passenger dining room.



They are primarily a freight ferry - only one other car joined us for our sailing.  The restaurant, lounge (with TV and DVDs), sun deck, and bar were just for us.  The truckers have their own section of the ship.  I felt like I was a VIP!

 

Ship's Captain!

The Captain was not just distinguished-looking, he was extremely nice, taking a few minutes to talk with us.  Sailing was smooth, the weather good, and I enjoyed meeting a real VIP.

 

The Port of Ramsgate.

Taken from the deck, you can see the white cliffs of Ramsgate.  The water is a pretty green-blue, which reminds me of the Caribbean.  JJ didn't have any trouble adjusting to driving on the left - he found it feels more logical to him.  There are also signs at every roundabout to indicate the direction.  I was shocked at how politely everyone drives in England!

 





Around the corner from our camp in Orcheston.

Our first stop was a cute little campground really close to Stonehenge.  The owners are a nice couple, extremely helpful, and we met a nice Dutch couple also staying at the Stonehenge Touring Park.  Free Wi-Fi throughout the park too! 

 

Polite English bird and cat.

Even the animals are well-mannered.  This was the owner's cat, I believe, who ate what he liked while the bird stood patiently behind him.  The cat left some food in the bowl, and strolled away without even a sniff at the bird.  Then the bird ate from the bowl as well, and no one disturbed either one.

 

Free to visit, and the ideal vantage point.

It's nearly eight pounds per person to visit Stonehenge, and you can only walk around the stones, not get right next to them.  If you're on a budget, it's free to go here - you can see more, and there's this lovely sign that explains all the details of what you're looking at.  My secret, just for you.

 

Mystical Stonehenge

If you have a good camera with a zoom lens, you can get as close as you like.  From the "secret" location (above) you can also clearly see the barrows, avoid all the crowds, and with the money you save you can enjoy a nice meal.

 

The Green Dragon in Market Lavington

If you only have one English breakfast in your life, have it here at the Green Dragon.  It's a short drive from Stonehenge, and incredibly delicious.  It's also the local pub and meeting place, and they have a B&B.  The people who work there are super, super nice - and everyone takes the time to chat with you.  They really know the meaning of making one feel welcome, and I haven't had a better breakfast in all the world.  Not yet, anyhow. 

 

Ancient rock in Avebury

Again, a short ride from breakfast (not far from Stonehenge) and you're in Avebury, a Neolithic henge circling a village - the largest stone circle in Europe, predating Stonehenge.  In between Stonehenge and Avebury is a very mysterious military installation with all kinds of activity - including air battle simulations with explosions, extremely low-flying radar planes, and unidentifiable lights in the sky.  

 

We found motorcycling through the countryside to be quite fun with the rolling hills and snaking roads, and the views across fields of gold and green was so beautiful.  You'd pop in and out of tiny villages, most seemingly remaining largely unchanged over the years.

 

High Street in Avebury, pop. 486 (in 2001)  

High Street (in the U.S. Main Street) with this horse and another behind him tied to the sign - all loaded with groceries and supplies. 

 

 Details on a house

Just riding by, saw this and thought the craftsmanship was cool.  Much of England, particularly outside of the larger cities, is breathtaking.  There is a lot of preservation and restoration that will keep the beauty available for future generations to enjoy as well.  So many buildings we visited were built well before my country existed as America!

 

I think I'm going to publish this entry and you'll have to wait for the second half of the journey.  I haven't been feeling well since I returned home, and at least you'll be able to see a little.  I will return to posting when I'm up to it.  In the meantime, be safe and well wherever you are...





 

 













Almost Dead Again

So... Here's the story:
Yesterday was my birthday.  I'm 44 now, which seems like a good number to be.  I had the best present ever - a trip to England - and I'll blog about that later.  It was amazing. 

My partner and I rode around England on our motorcycle.  The journey was over a thousand kilometers, and we were pulling a little one-wheel trailer behind us.  Because of that, we took our time, driving on the highways and motorways at around 55 miles per hour.  Naturally, everyone else was faster, but we had no trouble at all until we returned to the Netherlands.

As you may know from reading my blog, I rarely have anything to complain about.  Overall, I feel safe here and find the Dutch to be peaceful, relaxed and down-to-Earth people.  One lady changed that when she deliberately and without regard for others used her car as a means to cut us off and push us out of her way. 

You're always more aware when riding a motorcycle, as simply a bump by a car can crush a leg or worse.  Since I sit behind on the bike, I can only see to the sides and the rear normally.  We were exiting the highway when the lady (term used loosely) came at us from the left, from the main road, pulling her vehicle suddenly beside us on the exit.  She was speeding, and slowed only for a second when her door was exactly next to my leg.  I screamed, my partner swerved, narrowly avoiding a collision with her car.  She slipped the car directly in front of us on the exit and sped off.

There's a traffic light at the end of the exit, and a line of vehicles was sitting there, waiting for a red to change.  She was stuck in that line when we caught up to her.  My partner is Dutch, so he was asking her if she was crazy and why was she was trying to kill us?  She didn't roll down her window, but was mouthing something back and making hand gestures at us, which included giving us the finger.  She was clearly unconcerned, and so calm that her dog, in the back seat, didn't even get excited or bark.

I was shaking, but had the presence of mind to snap photos of the entire event after she used her car as a weapon.  I also have a photo of her giving us the finger, and a clear shot of her license plate.  She started rummaging for something next to her on the floor.  I didn't know what she was going to pull out.  There is that moment where I look over and there's the entire side of a car, mere centimeters from me, frozen in my mind.  One second, and if anything else had been different, I might not be able to write this blog.

The light turned green and we took off.  I don't know what she was searching for next to her.  I also didn't know whether she would follow us and try to finish us off or not.  We paused the bike a little bit, as there is a roundabout after the traffic light, but she didn't follow.  I was in a bad way emotionally, and developed such a fierce headache that I took acetaminophen and went to bed early.  Happy birthday, and almost my death day.

With some assistance, I filed a police report today.  I don't know why this one lady didn't like bikers, or the motorcycle - maybe she has her own story to tell.  She thought the situation was funny.  I disagree.  Any bikers out here in the Netherlands, you can ask me for her photo and keep an eye out for her.  She doesn't care, and since I don't personally know her, I can only assume she'll try this with other motorcyclists as well.  Watch out, and remember to cherish each day that you have.

~Kitty   

Flowers in the Garden

Summer is almost here, and it looks beautiful!  After saving for ages, I finally got a "real" digital camera, and took it out into a garden (not my own, not yet) to see what it could do.  These were taken in Schoorl - a small village near Alkmaar. 

In Dutch, a 'bij' is collecting pollen. 

Now he just thinks I'm following him...

Beautiful colors and textures.

I know I keep saying this, but flowers are my favorite to photograph.

There is an infinite variety, adding beauty to our world.

So many people in this part of the country have amazing gardens.

The Pansy has been a favorite of mine since childhood.

Doesn't it make you feel happy to look at flowers?  May your day be filled with beauty too.
:)

Juni in Nederland & Duitsland

June has been a busy month for me, working on a lot of screenplays and coverage reports - but now that I'm done I have time to 'see' the world through a lens.  Since my own eyes don't work well, sometimes snapping a photo is the only way I can catch the details around me.  At the moment I have glasses that help me see things in the distance a little better, but no prescription to help with seeing things close by.  I know things are there, but pretty much the entire world is (all three of them with my vision) is always blurry.   

I have a few photos to share that were taken with my old camera - and some taken with my new (used) Olympus (thank you to Used Products Alkmaar for a special deal). 

Both my cameras have auto-focus, thank goodness!  I love to be able to study the details of images; colors and textures, and as you may have noticed, I also love flowers - so there are a lot of those images in my blog.  Makes me feel happy to see them.

I'm not sure where this is, but I love going through a canopy of trees.

This is the route the GPS told us to take.  Not sure how to open the gate...

Somewhere in Germany.  A castle overlooking a medieval village.

Also in Germany.  Raining, but still gorgeous.

Back in the Netherlands.

I was told these used to be grain silos - now it looks like they are apartments or offices.  Beautiful recycling!

Thought I'd add a photo of industry.  Not normally my thing, but also something I don't normally see around here.

Somewhere in the Netherlands, as seen from the back of a motorcycle.

Modern life in front of us, waiting for a (swing) bridge to close, and reflected in the mirror are old homes, and old me.

I'll try and add some more later, but right now it's the Dutch-German football match, so I have to go!
:)

 

Winter Snow & Ice

I've been waiting for the colder temps and snow to get here, and for about a week it was amazing.  It's back to normal now; no more snow, a bit of rain and wind, sunshine only at rare moments.  I've taken the art of layering to new extremes, as my non-Dutch blood is used to Los Angeles and Florida weather. 

I'm working on a script that is also rather dark and set in the winter months, with the weather cooperating nicely to set the mood for writing.  Inside is so much cozier now!  I took a walk, though, to take a break, get some much-needed exercise and snap a couple photos of the iced-over canals.

This was taken right at the beginning, before the snow was deep. 

There was quite a bit more snow later, with temperatures down around -15 here. 

We have a new bird in the yard, a Merel, who has learned how to dig out the frozen apple pieces and will eat the inside, but not the skin.  He's rather a picky eater.

  On the way to the grocery, by foot.  There were other people riding bicycles, but I didn't dare.

They do clear a lot of the major roads and public areas - this is the train station near me - but it's slippery. 

A little boy was pulling along a snowman on a sled.  The snowman's floppy hat had just blown off.  Lots of parents pull their kids along on sleds when it snows, as it's easier than bicycling.  I also saw a grandpa in a motorized chair pulling along three kids on a sled behind him.  Unfortunately they went by so fast (must have been a souped-up, customized wheelchair scooter) I missed getting a photo.

 The main canal near my house.

Lots of people have dogs here, and they all seem to love playing on the ice. 

The front door of one of the windmills.

I live just a short walk from here, how cool is that?

To me, even a shed looks interesting here.

My favorite - sheep! 

I'm hoping that everyone else enjoyed a little break from daily life too.  And now back to it!

:)

New Life, New Plans

It seems that just when one settles in, life changes.  The first thing that happened, at the end of a beautiful summer in Holland, was that my partner learned that a seemingly innocuous bump on the side of his head was in fact a tumor.  Surgery was scheduled, and five weeks of daily radiation treatments to follow.  He was fine, and then suddenly not. 

I did my best to be helpful, to try and take care of him.  He's strong of mind, and very matter-of-fact about everything.  That seems to be typically Dutch, and a frame of mind I am unable to achieve.  I'm watching his physical condition deteriorate now as the effects of the radiation become stronger and stronger.

I finished a year of schooling in the meantime, and took the last three tests in the inburgeringsexamen (integration exam).  I haven't heard yet if I passed, but with everything else going on I hardly have time to worry about the results.  If I didn't pass, I'll simply return to school and try again.

The reason I decided to write this entry today, though, was because of another change.  A lot of my friends and my family know that I have been going to a series of doctors/specialists for my vision problems.  I had my final appointment yesterday, and the results of all sorts of tests.  I couldn't bear writing each person who asked about that outcome, so I decided to share it here.

About a year ago, the same time I began school, I noticed a change for the worse in my vision.  I also started experiencing constant headaches, most often on the right side of my head where my skull was damaged in a motorcycle accident.  I was pushing myself really hard in school, as I not only wanted to do well, but I must work twice as hard as a "regular" person to get around my brain injury.  I can still learn, but it takes all sorts of tricks to try and keep the new information in, at least long enough to take the exam.

I knew my eyeglass prescription was wrong, and suspected that might be causing the headaches, but the damage to my vision is so complicated I couldn't simply get new glasses.  Yesterday I learned that my vision has deteriorated further, even between my first eye appointment and the last specialist.  I was also told that the problem is not in my eyes.  Eye surgery, glasses, even special lenses and treatments will not work.  They believe it is likely that the problem is in my brain.

I was waiting for so long, hoping that something could be done.  Now I'm back at square one.  My vision is slipping away, and I don't know why.  My world has been reduced to a measurement - forty centimeters - beyond which only lights and darks, hazy shapes and blurry figures exist.  I have dealt with that in the past, when I had more vision, by taking photographs of the world around me.  The camera could see the details live and in focus, and I could review the photos later to learn about where I had been.

I saved money with the goal of buying a professional digital camera.  Now, I don't know what to do, or how long I have left to be able to see.  I wanted to try portrait photography, to be able to finally see the details of the faces around me.  A better choice at the moment would be macro photography, especially since my forty centimeters of visual clarity is continuing to degrade. 

I feel guilty.  Maybe this is my fault; I pushed myself too hard in school.  Could I have caused my own brain to start failing?  I've never accepted that there were boundaries on what was possible, what I could do after I became disabled.  But maybe there are.  Maybe I have found a limitation that cannot be crossed, cannot be overcome. 

I had so many plans for what I wanted to do in the future, once school was done.  There are so many places I haven't seen, so many new hobbies I wanted to learn.  I'm in the middle of writing a screenplay, and I will need to finish that before I start on other things.  I'm just hoping that there will be time enough.  At the current rate, my body will outlast what's left of my sight, and I find that to be terrifying.   

I got a second chance at life when I was twenty.  I was dead for a short while during my motorcycle accident, and I got to come back.  It's not always easy - that's the same for everyone.  I try to remember how grateful I am, how privileged I am to be alive.  Today, though, and perhaps for a while longer I am going to be sad.  I have to be strong for other people, and when I'm alone I comfort myself.  It's lonely, but better than repeating myself endlessly in a zillion emails to concerned friends and family.

The constant pain in my head and a long-ongoing problem in my lower back have their own limitations to add to the mix.  I'm so tired.  Tired of always trying to keep a positive outlook, always trying to invent new ways to overcome and do more with my life.  I've always wanted to live up to my potential.  For those of you who know me well, you know I'm a fighter, a survivor.  I'll pick myself up, and get on with living, doing the best that I can do with whatever is left of me.  Just not today, not right now.  Please have patience as I redesign my life; my dreams and goals. 
 

Summer in the Netherlands

It's been a terrific summer, with the usual ups and downs.  Always challenges to deal with, and then a nice bit where you can just relax and enjoy.  The stories I've been hearing from back in the U.S. with jobs and homes lost, people really worried about just putting food on the table, bad weather, and general hopelessness - it's been heartbreaking.

My school here went bankrupt, so I get to begin anew in September.  I'm waiting to hear from the placement agency as to when and where that will happen.  We're not unaffected here by the U.S. and global crisis.  But the cows still graze serenely, and the unusually wet season has kept my garden looking beautiful, even without my help.

This is what I started with this season.

Everything started budding, and later bloomed without me doing anything!  I was sick once with something like the flu, and have been dealing with a broken finger, back pain and constant headaches most of the summer.  With health insurance I've been able to go to a physical therapist and the doctor, for which I am so grateful!

My sunflowers started blooming in the rain.  Not a whole lot of sun lately, but they seem not to mind.

It's really pretty! 

Not much motorcycling with all the health problems, but here we are going over the Afsluitdijk

Tjalk - Wikipedia does not have an English entry for this type of boat.

Coming home we met up with a storm front.  Difficult on a motorcycle, and I can say I get less wet in the shower than we were that day on the road.

Sunshine came out briefly when we visited the beach.  It was warm and windy, perfect for all the activities that take advantage of the wind.

Blokarten

Blokart

We also went to the Alkmaar Kaasmarkt

It didn't rain at the cheese market, but it did look like it was going to.

The weather didn't stop the tourists and shoppers in Alkmaar!

Traditional organ music player at the cheese market.

People were taking pictures of our tandem, so I did as well.  I like to pretend I'm a tourist too.

I got a mushroom growing kit as a present - and grew three crops of delicious mushrooms. 

Another gift this summer - poppy seeds - grew gorgeous flowers and colors.

The Alpine strawberries are doing great, and are very sweet.  The wire keeps them safe from the birds - a family of Jackdaws.    

 Nearly all of my lilies have bloomed now, in pink, white, orange, and multi-colors.  Another gift of six packages of bulbs from a friend.  If you ever want to know what to get for me as a present - plant and flower seeds/bulbs are fantastic!

These grow wild over the fence.

Last but not least, cows - my favorite!  This was taken next to a petrol station.

Dutch cows, unperturbed by anything.

I'm wishing all the folks back in America can have the time and opportunity to find the beauty and peace where they are.  It will get better, it always does.

Meanwhile, if you can offer support to my mother in New Jersey, I'd appreciate it.  She's nearly eighty years old, and still works for NY Life.  She and a friend are raising six hens to produce organic eggs.  Not to sell - she's been eating organic food and has been a vegitarian since before it became fashionable.  Where she lives organic eggs can cost $4/dozen, and in today's world looking to live more "green" and becoming as self-sustanable as possible is a better choice for those who can. 

But, she and her friend own one more chicken than the local law allows, and a neighbor complained.  There are no roosters (so no loud crowing noise), and she is clean and responsible, keeping the chickens inside a coop, on her own property.  But until the law is changed, my mother is a criminal!  She needs people to support her with their signature to change the law there. 

For more info, visit these links or email me:

Lower Township woman wants to keep six chickens on property so they can lay organic eggs

Lower Township tells woman, 79, to get rid of six chickens she is raising for eggs

I'm very proud of my mother for many reasons.  She's always led the way towards the future.  She did things before most other people, because she thought it was right.  She adopted me as a single parent - and I got to raise my own pet chicken from an egg to a hen when I was a child.  My mom built me a coop in our yard.  She taught me that whatever you dream about doing, you can do it. 

Go Mom!