These are strange times. Was it first corona that completely dominated the news, that has now completely receded into the background. First replaced by the broadcast of Angry about transgressive behavior, then the three storms Dudley, Eunice and Franklin .... and now by Russia's war with Ukraine. Things can go fast in a matter of weeks 🤔.
With us, a lot has happened since we were moored at Bruinisse. We weathered a week of storms just fine. At times the boat is enormously lopsided in the box, especially when the wind is coming from the south-west right from the side. We see 52 knots on the counter ... spectacular 😊. The workstations and sleeping in bed at night is pretty agile. But we are already so used to it; we don't sleep less because of it and also work goes fine. The following weeks also have regular strong winds. That is why we could only put up the sails this weekend. Since this weekend the water is back on our own jetty. In the end we only had to tap the water twice at the harbor office, so that was quite manageable. It's nice that the weather is getting warmer. Spring is coming 😃👍.

A fun development is that we are in the process of purchasing a new construction apartment. Contact with the TARA, who have been traveling for over 10 years (and are our great role models 👌), got us thinking about a 'home base'. For ourselves, but also for our daughters. This made us decide to buy a small apartment in the area where Eline will do her internships in the coming years. Coincidentally, just in the first week of our orientation a nice new housing project passed by with a week to register. We did so under the guise of not shooting is always wrong. Without any expectations, because there are probably a lot of registrations. But as it turns out, a week later we hear that we are assigned our first choice. We are extremely happy with that 😊. Construction will start around the summer, so completion is only Q3 next year. But that works out just fine.

Another development is that both daughters have plans to go abroad in the second half of this year. Marinthe will go to Bangkok for six months starting in early August as part of her studies (3rd year exchange). Eline will take a gap year after finishing her bachelor this summer and will start a trip with friends through South-East Asia. Great plans that we regularly talk about with each other.

Toine has a busy time at work and in combination with the death of Harry after a short illness it takes a lot of energy with weeks of regular driving back and forth to Wijchen. The cremation is a beautiful farewell where the daughters are also present. Eline and Marinthe also have a busy schedule, with studies and many social activities in the evenings now that it is possible again after the lockdown. This makes the trip to Finnish Lapland in the spring vacations, which we booked at the beginning of last year, very convenient for all of us to take a break!

We spend a week in the beautiful Finnish nature and all rest well. We make long nights cozy with the four of us in a combined living room/bedroom with four beds in a wooden house. In the morning we take it easy because most activities start around noon. Every day we have a different activity with regular clear blue skies. The highlight is a snowmobile safari to the northern lights (exactly on the evening when the northern lights are at their best). A very impressive natural phenomenon ☺️👌.

Now on to spring! The sails are back on and this weekend we will make our first sailing trip with a night at anchor north of Stampersplaat. Even close by, nature is very beautiful 👍😃.