LEIMUIDEN   6-6-2012

OK we’re back.  It seemed to be a very long trip this year, and it probably didn’t help that our flight didn’t leave Dulles until almost 9pm.  We finally have  phones and internet sorted.  And we've been working our little behinds off. 

First order of business was a bed to sleep on.  Last year we tore out the whole forward sleeping area,

literally down to the hull,

and I spent the whole 8 months between then and now researching the best way to hack IKEA for something to sleep on.  That worked great!, I just didn't manage to calculate for something small like getting the door to the toilet open more than a crack.  We stewed over that for a few hours, then Bill came up with the solution:  who needs a door? (???)  We canabalized a seldom used tablecloth and the toilet now has a curtain  --  and is actually much more pleasant.  The bed is worth it.  Last year we slept on a triangle of mattress that wasn't big enough for one.  Now we have what feels like acres of space.  There's no room for anything else

but who cares???  Of course, making a trip to IKEA to buy the stuff, putting it all together and then figuring out how to make it work took up one very, VERY long Saturday.  Sunday was enforced downtime.  Nothing is open here (from Saturday late pm to Monday mid-day) and it was pouring rain all day, cold and windy, so we hibernated. 

(I did get some weatherstripping up on the doors.)  Monday was the great expedition to buy a refrigerator.    YES!!!!    I FINALLY HAVE ONE!!!!    Got it into the back of the rental car, strongarmed it through the construction zone (Kempers Marina is undergoing major renovation), down the docks and onto the boat without dropping it over the side, and THEN we had to tear out cabinets to make space for it, AND THEN change which side the door opened on.  Without instructions.  Not even in Dutch.  Another very long day, but productive.

Yesterday we went to see Jeannet in Doorn.  Lovely lunch, and I wish I’d taken the camera for photos of the restaurant.  Her daughter, Mirjam, had her wedding and reception there almost 20 years ago.  In the woods, but with a big field to one side that later in the year will be covered in heather.  It’s a 2 story circular building and the conical roof on the second floor is painted blue with a little poem that says “enter sir, enter madam, here the sky is always blue”.  I think we got there as they had just opened for lunch and by the time we left we were almost the last diners out.

 

Today we head for the marine supply store.  The door to the wheelhouse is a mess, so we need supplies to strip and re-varnish that.  A few other things, like trying to swap out the lighting bulbs for LEDs.  Bill wants some ground anchors.  Then just a few minor things and we’ll be waiting for decent weather so we can take off for the summer.   – Of course, there’s still a shower to organize, and the new flooring stored under the bed that we’ll need to install, but I suspect that will be an all-summer-long project that we’ll just work on bit-by-bit.  We’ll see.  ---Tot Ziens