June 27, 2012

Lots of walking today...yippee! Almost 10,000 steps. Life is good.

Mom and I walked into Downham Market. We went to several Charity Shops today, which we call thrift shops. Some fun things, but nothing I couldn't live without. I did pick up a couple cards. We had a very nice day in town and, even though it's been overcast, it has not been cold. Shorts were the order of the day and we did actually see the sun at least twice! We were spent from the walk into town, but were saved from walking home by an appropriately timed text that allowed Ruth to pick us up on her way home.

I have decided that a simple lunch, bread, cheese, soup, is delicious when you are sharing it with loved ones. It has been really comfortable hanging out here and I really like the family time with Nico and Ruth. After lunch we headed into Ely. Ely has a cathedral that I saw many years ago, but it was undergoing rennovation. It was nice to see it without the scaffolding. The cost to enter felt a bit excessive, so we just walked around the lobby and the outside. There was a symbol created by and artist for over one of the entries. It is called, "The Road to Salvation" and I was completely enammored by the visual. It just captured my mind. I did get a photo of it along with a postcard. There were pieces of jewelry with the symbol and, while I found them stunning, I also know I won't wear them (they were mostly gold and I never change my earings). Maybe I can get the symbol on something that I would wear. In Ely is also Oliver Cromwell's house. It was closing time, so we didn't take the tour, but did see the house and take some photos. I never realized it was in the same town, but maybe I just didn't know who he was the last time I was there.

Ruth, Mom and I walked down to the river to get a cup of tea. While we were walking down, we saw a sign for a bike path. My mom was telling Ruth and I about these large (5 meter) bicycles in the Netherlands along a famous bike path. She had seen and photographed one of these bike sculptures when she was last in the Netherlands. Mom had recently heard the story on the Dutch news about someone stealing one of these bike sculptures and how the news said a few days later it had been returned. After a moment, Ruth asked what the rest of the story was.

Mom: "That's all I know. I don't know if they caught them."

Ruth: "You don't know who took it then?"

Mom:"No. They just took it at night and it got returned."

Ruth: "Your nephew Jans took it. There's a video. Your brother Jans was also on the video."

When we got home tonight we looked it up. There is a big 4 day bike ride in the province my mom grew up in and they took it for the event as a prank. They posted the video on YouTube (http://youtube.com/watch?v=Me2coXVUgB4) and then invited the other mayor over. The video in town takes place on the street my mom grew up on. My uncle is in these videos and my cousin is in the first one. (http://youtube.com/watch?v=XOKB_HzklhE) National News theft and my family was responsible.

We had a great dinner with Nico, Ruth, and Hannah. It was fun to try to explain the family to my 21 year old cousin. Last time I was here, she was 11, so it's fun to connect with her as an adult. My mom told lots of family stories and she was surprised by lots of the stories. It's good to connect.