Week 25

Week 25 

Once again, I am lucky enough to be writing this whilst sitting on the boat. Google Photos are all "just there" as I look back at the week. These days, it is quite normal to have the phone constantly available - I do use it more as a camera than a phone - it's just a habit to take photos to share with my family.

Tjeerd cleaned the glasshose

We started setting it up inside; seed boxes on one side and a permanent bed on the other.  With an unplanned shelf all around for pots. We've been "making it up as we go" a little bit, but we are very pleased with the end result.

We fastened it to the new base with angle iron brackets. And it has all been done with stuff we already had (recycling).

I even had some old tap fittings that we can use to make a "clip-on" water system using the garden hose. - next weeks project - along with making a new door.

Janny ordered another 240 bags of firewood - mostly oak this time. That's 10 cubic metres - we should now have enough for next winter. I have to make another storage section on Monday (room for one more) after we have picked up the last of the order.

We were both pretty tired by the end of our working week, but we decided to take the boat to "our mooring" in Wijnjewoude.

(I still remember sending Andrew and Terry an email in 2014 saying that Wijnjewoude was getting a "new haven with shower facilities". Ha! It finally opened in 2020 and went largely unnoticed due to the Covid problems).

Janny asked her Mum (Rennie) if she wanted to come. Yep, keen as you like - at 88 years old! We set her up on a chair at the front and off we went - leaving Heerenveen at about 0900hrs.

A punt on the cycling path - people wind themselves across.

A windmill base turned into a holiday house.

We passed by Terwispel where Rennie was born - she used to cycle along the canal to school in Gorredijk.

Janny had quite a few hours to talk with her as they both sat on the foredeck. I'm just happy to be on board!

Rennie said their old house wasn't there anymore - it was only tiny - they were not well off but they had the "richness" of 10 kids. During the war, all her older brothers were teenagers and had to be hidden in case they were grabbed for labour camps.

She also said to Janny "who would have thought that I would be doing the Turf Route all these years later?" - she really did enjoy the trip. so that makes it so much better for us as well.

She said that towards the end of the war a Jewish family "disappeared", and were never seen again. A German soldier gave Rennie a toy whistle and said that it was from one of the kids in the Jewish family.

Years later Rennie went back to Gorredijk to meet with other Jewish people and told them the story - and returned the whistle.

Rennie has written a lot of stuff down over the years - they have kept a "WC Boekje" - A Little Toilet Book - I think there are over 40 volumes - I hope someone writes it on a computer so that I can do a Google Translate - it is probably only things that occurred in the family, but there may well be some history there as well.

Our route....

https://www.plotaroute.com/route/1601599?units=km

We arrived at 1600hrs - we had to wait for locks a couple of times, so it was a fairly long trip.

We're only about 5 kms from home, so we can come and go as we please. I squeezed in some mowing and we slept on board for two nights. I also had to make a phone call to a very dear friend, so that was easier to do from home.

Now, for the inevitable food photo...I made some hamburgers with the lot...and added something I saw in a Dutch Supermarket  cookbook - roasted Punt Paprika (pointy red pepper/capsicum) - but I fried it with the hamburgers - they seem milder than the normal round ones.

The local neighbourhood (almost all the residents of Klein Groningen) had a fishing competition - just measuring the length and throwing them back in. We're moored just behind the bridge.