The Hero of Heiloo

My brother-in-law Jan works as a security guard at the GGZ, the hospital for the mentally challenged. Holland does not have lock-ups and asyla. Patients are integrated into the community as far as possible. Which is fine, but there are some fiercely strange people cruising the hospital and the streets around it. Jan is big and strong and his appearance alone is enough to ensure peace on his watch. He is in fact the supreme gentle giant who could not possibly hurt anyone, even in the line of duty. Most of the patients are harmless, except to themselves. In front of the hospital is an enormous pond which, at this time of the year is green with algae and writhing with insect larvae. And very smelly. It also has no fence or railing around it which may seem to be an oversight where mentally ill people may be walking about, perhaps depressed and contemplating suicide. Even more remarkable when some of them may be in wheelchairs because they have no legs, enough to depress anyone. And some of the mentally disturbed, legless people in wheelchairs may be alcoholics or drug addicts.

The grounds are covered by cameras which allow Jan to see everywhere that trouble may be lurking. Except not by the pond. Who could possibly think that a pond without a fence could be of any danger to a woman who may have been drunk, stoned, legless, depressed and in charge of a wheelchair that she could not possibly control, even if she could see where she was going. Life is full of such rare, million-to-one chances such as led this poor woman, mentally and physically handicapped, to stray from the perimeter path and tumble into an unguarded pond the size of a football field. We'll never know how it happened.
Someone strolled into the office and informed Jan that there was a wheelchair upside down in the pond, but it was probably nothing suspicious. Boisterous antics and horseplay probably. Jan rushed to the scene and jumped into the pond. Making his way through the slime and weed he eventually found the body and got the woman out. She had apparently been in the water for 20 minutes and was quite blue. Jan told the nurse that they should attempt to revive her, though getting so close to someone who was probably dead, if not dead drunk, full of slimy pond water and vomit seemed a most unpleasant prospect. It seemed to be too late, there was little to be done. But cold and wet as he was, and the poor woman even colder and wetter, Jan applied mouth to mouth (that's why he is the real hero, not just for jumping into the pond!) for half an hour or so until the helicopter arrived. The woman was in coma for a while, but is now on the mend. For this, Jan was rewarded by his employers. With the appropriate sum of 50 euros. A reward fit for a hero? It's what he's paid for, isn't it?
Well, you are my hero, Jan.

Country Life.

Its all very well living amongst horses, but they do have to eat. Once or twice a year it is time for hay-making. O, the romance of that back-braking lifting up of bales onto the cart and lifting them off again. Wet grass is not such a pain. it gets rolled up into huge plastic bags and ferments.

Hello! The Black-Pudding harvest is early this year.

You would't want one of these to fall on you - they literally weigh a ton.


Which is fortunate as stacking by hand is not an option.

And I'll be making sure no-one sneaks off with a roll or two.

I'm not sure what the difference between black ones and green ones is, but that looks like hay to me. But I'm not an expert. I just babble around the photos.

This is growing in the front garden. if anyone knows what it is, please inform!

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Looking back on May

Much of May has been occupied with Irene, people buzzing backwards and forwards to Arizona to help out, while those on the home front wade through the beurocracy that will bring her home in a flurry pf paperwork. A mobile home is also being looked into that can be placed in the car-park looking out onto Tineke's garden. Peaceful and private but with help all around.

But first, I found this superb picture in the camera, the last from New Zealand. Gordon Ramsey has nothing on The Lad when the Good Gourmet Ghost is upon him. Another reminder of the unforgetable time we had in New zealand, literally the time of our lives.

Meanwhile some pictures of Heiloo in the spring.

Through the woods to the Pony Club.

This is on the cycle path. We shall be doing a lot more cycling as I, like Bernadet, have an electrical velocipede. Mine cost about a third of Bernadet's, coming as it did from the Aldi. In my opinion it is a very good bike. Everything is stainless steel and the frame is aluminium. Nothing to rust or corrode. It will probably catch fire instead. It has a twist-grip throttle so you can rev up and pretend to be Valentino Rossi. But not very convincingly. We do spend a lot of time touring the area. Not as far-reaching as Young Stef, but it is amazing what car-drivers are missing. As long as they miss the cyclists.

It's alright here, you bastard, but stay away from my fishpond.

Trees all bare and a well-wrapped woman.

Kees offered to cut the grass. The 'S' is not clear, but the intention is obvious.

Tineke's Garden

For those in other parts of the world who cannot see Tineke's Garden and would like to (probably half the world population), your waiting is over.

Several families survive on the vegetables this garden provides. All through the winter and into the next spring, the freezers are bursting.

It is also a great place to sit with a cup of coffee or a glass of wine.

In June there will be so many strawberries that buckets are thrown away.

The Great Reiger Robbery

A sad tale of vandalism. If you examine the photograph carefully, you may observe a pair of iron birds feet. The rest of the bird is gone, stolen on the night of the 15th, no doubt by some impecunious youth as a present for his girl-friend. With Alice aforethought. It was a magnificent white, porcelien Heron with, as mentioned, cast iron legs. In his haste, he probably did not notice that the bird was now legless, as indeed he may have been himself to have made such an error. What on earth will she think when presented with the gift. It cant even stand up on it's own. It looks about as sensible as the birdless legs by my pond. Should he care to contact me, perhaps we can come to an arrangement. I get the torso on even days, and he and Alice get the legs on the odd ones. All of the bird part of the time against part of the bird all of the time.

Before I forget, I was pointed by Merel and Thijs in the direction of Happy Tree Friends. This is just great. I reccommend!

http://www.pimpjeprofiel.com/filmpjes/820-Happy+Tree+Friends+-++Eye+Candy.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3O5uy-MBBk

PS. Stef - Flight of the Conchords on it's way.
Ps. Adam - New Cd from Kieran in the post - signed by the deity himself. It will take me a long time to get used to Kieran without Chris Jones, although Jimmy Smith is superb.

Jan's new toy

As the sun sets on Stal Sprenkeling we observe Jan with his new tractor attachment; a dung mover. There is nothing like the glitch of tractor wheels trying to get a grip up a steep hill of wet straw and horseshit, the smell of freshly shredded excrement as it is flung onto the mountain. O, the romance of it all!

































Mine! All mine!

Opa and the mellow plants.

Strange goings on the in Opa's garden!

Your humble reporter was admiring the preparation of seeds for next year's runner bean mountain.........














And the amazingly tall tomato plants.....



















.. when he noticed something strangely familiar - a blast from the past as it were...














... and took a closer look...














By the cringe, these are getting quite high, as indeed shall we all at harvest time!



















For the reserved English in the family, this is all quite legal. It is the right, in Holland, for every citizen to grow five hash plants as 'botanical specimens'. This a project between Opa and Tineke. A joint venture one might say.

Hay making - The sequel

With the fine weather, it was possible for Jan to get a second lot of grass cut. Just in time. The day after it was all successfully baled and stored, it rained heavily. Here are some totally meaningless pictures of bales of hay. No reason for including them, but all good rural stuff.





















































We are not good photographers, but I am sure that Sara will agree that luck plays a part.
I am not sure who took this, but I adore this photo.

The Stal Sprenkeling Barbecue

While emptying the camera I came across a number of photos and don't know what to do with them. Why not Here? These from the bbq at Jan and Jeanette.

Mister Bean and the Bean Factory

Having a vegetable garden is great, but if things come only during a limited period, the whole crop has to be processed and stored. Beans for example. Two freezers are now full with beans. We will be eating beans for many months, if only to make room for something else!

Een speling van de natuur!

Sperziebonen of snijbonen?
Nooit geweten dat als je snij-en sperziebonen te dicht bij elkaar plant, een kruising van de twee kunt krijgen. Mijn vader laat altijd wat bonen "dik" worden die hij dan oogst als plantgoed voor het jaar daarna. Een enkele keer gaat dit mis. Zoals dit jaar. Tussen de sperziebonenplanten, stonden dit jaar een paar planten die bonen leverden die je geen snijbonen maar ook geen sperziebonen kunt noemen. Wel leuk zo'n speling van de natuur!

Opa and the mole -

Wat een reactie - net als een slang - en dat op 81!
Children - do not watch this if you like little furry animals!

View from the roof.

This week I had to climb to the top of the house to put wire cages in the chimney pots. At the same time, it was an opportunity to put a homemade cap in place. I did not have enough material, so the result is a bit like a watch tower at a concentration camp, but at least it cost nothing. In the past we have had birds, mostly crows, getting into the pipes. These are 200 mm in diameter (the pipes,not the crows!), so getting in is no problem. It gets a bit more difficult when you want to get out. The pipes are smooth, so climbing back up is not an option. Flying is also not possible, especially if you are a fat bird and cannot turn round. The only way out is down, and hope that you find that the lower end is open. Two of the pipes are for ventilation of the bathroom and downstairs toilet, one for the central heating and one for the bath geyser. It is a bit scary to see beaks and claws scrabbling at the grill when you are having a shower or sitting on the toilet. It is then easy to remove the grill and let the birds fly out. Those that fall into the other pipes are not so lucky. Sadly, when trying to find the problem with the combi-boiler, we found that the thing was blocked with burnt feathers and bones.

Bolroosters are also a fashion-item

At the same time, we took the time to take a few photos of the green around us, so that we will be able to see what it was like before Zuiderloo swallows it up.

Reiger Scarer

If you have a pond and don't like nets and electric fences to keep herons (reigers) away, you may be interested in this inexpensive but effective solution. We have not lost any fish, so the method appears to work. Using a cheap 'bewegings-melder', an even cheaper disco strobe-light and a big plastic plant pot you can make a good reiger defence for about 20 euros. Reigers don't like flashing lights. You can put mirrors or hang old CD's around the pond, but they are not much use in dull weather, and do not look very nice. Reigers hunt in the early morning, or just before it gets dark, so mirrors will protect you from a reiger that is fishing in bright sunshine by mistake because he is too hungry to care, almost blind or totally mad.



I have tried to catch a reiger trying to get at the fish on film, but although they come into the garden or sit on the roof, they never come near the pond. I love reigers, but not when they go fishing in our garden.

De groentetuin van mijn vader

Wat eten we vandaag?
Er is niets zo leuk als een groentetuin. Mijn vader heeft naast ons huis een groentetuin. We hoeven eigenlijk nooit meer na te denken over wat we willen eten. We eten gewoon wat de groentetuin ons schaft. Gisteren waren het tuinboontjes, eergisteren broccoli en vandaag eten we, ja wat eigenlijk? We zullen het straks wel horen. Daarnaast zijn er volop wortels, uien, aardappelen, soepgroente, sla, komkommers en binnenkort ook tomaten. En ...natuurlijk courgettes.
Courgettes zijn er de hele zomer in overvloed. Dat is soms wel een probleem...
"Ik heb ook weer vier courgettes" . "eh.. er liggen er nog 6 in de koelkast" Maar bij de meeste groentes is het zo, als je denkt nu heb ik er wel genoeg van.. dan is het in de tuin ook op.
Sinds mijn zuster helpt in de groentetuin, is er ook een deel bloementuin geworden. Dus naast ook iedere dag verse groente hebben we nu ook iedere week een vers bosje bloemen op tafel.
Geweldig.
De video van de groentetuin kun je bekijken in het frame hiernaast.



We had 9 people for dinner, and we used less than one third of this giant broccoli. The next day 10 people came and we almost finished it.