Monday, 9 June

Today must have been the clearest day yet. I saw only one tiny cloud, but the rest was gloriously blue. Jacqui was the first to get up. I had had a bad night. We had tried to share a bed because my mattress is very thin. But that meant that I could only lie on one side, and when that got sore I could either lie like a pin on the other side, or I could lie on my back with my elbow supporting me from the floor (our mattresses are on the floor). So, I didn't sleep too well.
We've bought a huge jar of apple mousse which we intend to finish here, and hence the appearance of it on our breakfast table, along with bread, strawberries, and a selection of cheeses.

The plan today was to get to a retirement care centre that Pappa is interested in. We would have lunch there and then look around to inspect it. But first, we headed of to Parrega, Hanneke's house. Jacqui took much opportunity to photograph the surrounds. We are taking it much for granted now, but we know that when we're back home, we'll be sorry we didn't capture more of the scenes.

When we got to Hanneke, Laurens and Lucinda had also just arrived, so we had a lovely social time of coffee, chatting, and planning Wednesday's trip to Leiden. Then we set a date for supper at L&L's house, and raced off to Workum for the lunch appointment with Pappa. We were half an hour late, but Pappa didn't complain. The lunch was 3 courses, and very generous and tasty. Unfortunately we couldn't see an apartment, but we took a walk around to look at the general facilities. If it works out for him, it will be a lovely place. He is quite excited about the propect.

The rest of the afternoon was spent with Jacqui and I cycling around Workum and shopping. I'm slightly worried about the weight we need to bring back with us. But there are so many yummy things to buy. We took the opportunity again to sit outside the same baker and Jacqui had her merg-pypje and I had a cherry-cookie, along with some Fristie youghurt drink.

Realising that this is our second last day to do what we're doing, we really took stock of the farm lands as we cycled to supper. We're really going to miss this. Jacqui suggested it would be easier to buy ticket for the kids to join us than us go home!

Supper was a treat, both socially and food-wise. They're such jolly people. We said our goodbyes around 21h00 and cycled back through the farms, miggies getting stuck in our hair. But on the bridge, we stopped and took photos with the sun over the horizon. And then on home.