Mams birthday present

This was the first year that my mom had her birthday with the two of us not living at home. Even though we are far away, we wanted to send her a gift from the heart. So Lisa came up with the idea of us sending a video. I added on the idea and thought we could do something typical of our mom: find a suitable song, change the lyrics and train, train, train....("Mas duru! Mi'n ta tende bosnan!", I can hear her tell the choir!...). Carol and I started making some video impressions of our daily life here in Holland, some footage of her school, groceries shopping, etc. When our hectic schedules allowed it, Kwek came over to Amsterdam and we spend one day on finishing the song, singing it and making some clips of the process. We had a blast. Anyone who ever tried to write lyrics to a song, knows you get the silly giggles. At the end of the afternoon, we finally had the words on paper and had to record it. Miraculously we maneged to put it down the first time, without any too awfully false notes or roaring laughter, so we were good to go! In the next days I spend hours behind the pc, cutting and pasting to make it into a whole. When the videoclip was done, I sent it to Lisa, who had devised the plan to beam it on the Cine Muraya wall, before the main feature film they were showing on Ma's birthday celebration. Never was a day as long as mom's birthday. We wake up at least 5 hours before they do, and then we had to wait for nightfall there, the wait almost killed me! But then the moment was there, and it left my Ma speachless, and that is saying a lot. You can see her reaction here. It was fun to do and it made Ma's day, so mission accomplished!

The before...

Don't hold your breath for the after.....

3 time's the charm!

People who have known me for a while know that there are certain Dutch things I have always loved. When AH was opening up on the island, I would drive by every day. When the trademark blue sign went up, we sneaked up the terrain and Lisa took a picture of me being very happy about it (yeah, we are certifiable, it's a family trait).

Hagelslag (chocolate sprinkles for you bread) is a staple in any household I spend time in, no two ways about it.

But the one thing I missed most from Holland was the HEMA. This store has EVERYTHING! And usually in bright, solid colors, which I love. And the prices are more than fair. But the store just got better: they have started a HEMA minimarket (they say mini, but it has more choice in food items than some supermarkets I know). Before I start gushing over the food, let me get to the point.

HEMA found a way to combine two of my weak spots: cute brightly colored things and tomatoes.

I have a long history with tomato plants. I have fought the iguanas in Emmastad, watering the huge 8 feet plants for 8 months, for the awesome yield of 3 mini tomatoes. With some salt, we didn't even need to chew....

My second attempt had to overcome the bee-lessness of Punda. I must say, these plants had a different way of disappointing me. I had planted all the seeds in the little baggy (just like the last time), but this time they all came out. We had around 500 plants. our balcony looked like a marihuana plantation. These plants grew to 2,5 feet, were very thirsty all the time, but after a few weeks still, no flowers.

By June, I started to give up, especially since we were leaving the island in July. I started to hand out the plants to anyone who wanted some. As soon as they left our house, they started to bloom like crazy and give fruit. Not funny.

So, this time we are going to try it again, with HEMA stuff. We happen to have amazing weather these days, making us believe that winter is almost over. As we are moving in 2 months, I started planting today: tomatoes, peas, aubergines, basil, parsley and carrots. Oh yeah, and strawberries. I'll keep you posted!