We just left for our summer vacation to the Baltic Sea. The first week we can take it easy without the girls. That gives me time to look back on the past two months. For several reasons a special period that I would like to remember and therefore written in this blog.
Of course special because of the corona circumstances, where the loosening of the rules brings beautiful things that we probably experience more intensely and consciously because of the corona situation. But also because a lot is happening in our lives, so it is not a boring period at all. Toine and I still work entirely from home and especially I like that very much. The working weeks fly by and the weekends are filled with life on the boat and nice moments with friends.
Highlights of the past period:
The Ascension weekend together with the NoDoubt and the Calanche in Wemeldinge and St Annaland. Cosy drinks, walks and a real dinner from the restaurant in St Annaland being served on board 😁😊. In between Toine has an intensive and exciting system migration job to do for one of the clients he is working for.
Toine starts his job at the Pega company. The entire boarding is online. He has daily calls with employees from different countries about the top 20 AMEA customers. Exactly the job he likes and that suits him 😊.
Pentecost with a nice day in Zierikzee with the Calanche and the Summertjes and a day with the four of us at a nice anchorage west of Veermansplaat on the Grevelingen. We will also see the Barbarossa again that weekend at their home with Koen and Giel. Nice plans the men have with their own rebuilt car and van 👍.
Marinthe starts as a waitress at Sailors Inn on June 2nd and feels immediately at home. She works about 5 days a week and sleeps/lives on the boat in between. Usually alone during the week and in the weekend with us. Partly because of this we are more often on the boat with three times until Sunday late evening having dinner at Sailors Inn while Marinthe is working. Soon she gets a lot of responsibilities like 'luik lopen' with lots of compliments. She has regularly drinks with the group after work and comes 'home' in the early hours. She uses my car and therefore it is no burden for us. Now the last week working while we are already gone she sleeps in the camper of Iris. Without corona time this job would not have been possible.
As soon as the restaurants are open again we go to the jappie in Utrecht to celibrate Marinthe’s high school graduation . Extra tasty because it was a while ago. The graduation ceremony is not at school and her coach personally brings the diploma on July 6th in an army jeep. Grandpa Wim is also there, we hadn't seen him for a while 🎉🎉.
Eline goes twice sailing with Lieke in her Splash. The first time with the two of them and wind force 7 in the canal near Herkingen. The second time with us and Jolanda and Arthur in stormy weather from the Mosselbank where we are docked with our boats. Tough girls 👍.
A weekend with the Calanche and the NoDoubt at anchor in the Hals with bbq from the Cobb. That weekend the girls are at home, Marinthe has a graduation party with a small group in our house. Eline has a small party in Tilburg With friends after having been in Maastricht for a week for the first time after the lock down. Luckily this all goes well without a mess in our house. Good for the girls that this is possible again.
Another weekend in Zierikzee with the Calanche, with a cozy bbq on the Cobb. Marinthe comes in the evening from work by car. We see a neighbouring boat with a small version of a Green Egg. That makes us and especially Toine think ... and it happens to be father's day 😉👍. We already saw the Calanche thinking 'next weekend there will probably be a similar thing on the SeaQuest'.
That's right ... it isn’t a Green Egg because they're too small or too big ... it is a Kamado Joe Jr. With 31 kg it is just manageable and it fits exactly in the aft locker. Of course it has to be tried out right away and that's no problem with the warm weather that's coming. We already leave for the boat on Wednesday evening, so we can try out the 'working at home' with the two of us on the boat. That works out fine 👍.
On Thursday evening Joe Jr's ‘christening’ with salmon on a wooden plank and a little bit burned chocolate cakes while anchored at the Mosselbank with the Calanche. On Friday evening the two of us have a delicious fillet of lamb while at anchor, and on Saturday with the NoDoubt at the jetty of the Mosselbank a delicious piece of meat, a recipe of John and Helen (my Canadian family) and not burned chocolate cakes 😋😋.
Joe Jr feels like an extra crewman. I'm sure we're going to have a lot of fun with it, also in the winter when we live on the boat. Good to have a real hot oven.
This weekend would also be CAS 2020 and this year it was a Concert at Home (at the Boat) with beautiful performances by Kensington and Bløf.
For the first time there are serious potential buyers for our house. On July 1st they come for the first time and last Thursday for the second time with their children. This could result into an offer the coming week 😊😄. We will wait and see.
We make arrangements with Visser Watersport for the measurement of the new mattresses for the beds after the renovation. We also order new curtains that will give the boat a more modern look. This week we work two days on the boat with a virtual drink of her work for Mira.
In between all the activities we also take care of the decoration of the room of Marinthe in Maastricht. On the 4th of July we get the key, on the 8th of July Eline, Marinthe and I paint the walls in the room and on Tuesday evening the 14th of July we move all her stuff. Luckily Thorold helps (it is two stairs up). This way she will be able to start the intro week of university on Aug 17, when we might still be in Sweden.
Eline finishes her first year of medicine very nicely with hard work 👍👍👍. Way to go! Immediately after that, she goes to Faro for a long weekend with two college friends. Perfect timing with not too many tourists yet.
A Sunday with Inge, Mark and kids on the boat. Very relaxed with nice conversations and of course the delicious Canadian beef from Joe Jr. Nice to see how all the kids have grown so much and get along well as always 😊😁.
The last weekend before our summer vacation we visit the Calanche in Zierikzee. Also for Claude's birthday. Again a nice evening with Eline, Thomas and Sjoerd.
Yesterday at 4 pm we said goodbye to the girls and left for the Baltic Sea. Eline is going to give sailing lessons for a week at Aqua Vitesse and Marinthe works at Sailors Inn. On the 28th of July they come together with the train to Warnemünde in northern Germany where we plan to be.
Well, this corona period brings a lot of misery and is for many a boring period. For us it is a period with a lot of events. And it brings a lot of good things as well, like working more from home, which makes it easier for us to take the boat to Bru during the sailing season. Marinthe with a nice work experience at Sailors Inn, and nice friendships with sailing friends 😊😊.