Week 52

Not much to report.....

Weather

Extremely mild weather, so much so that the Netherlands had the "warmest  Christmas on record". On Boxing Day (known here as "2nd Christmas Day") we had 14 degrees at 1530hrs - in Wijnjewoude!

Christmas/Boxing Day party at De Twa Buken

Ice Sculpture Show in Zwolle

Visited by Anneke, who is going to Melbourne next week. She liked this one......

Asylum Seekers (Asielzoekers)

In our newspaper there was a report from Copenhagen that the Danish Government will be considering a proposal for a new law that will require all refugees to hand over "their jewellery and any money in excess of €400". There has been an advertising campaign "designed to scare off asylum seekers". Opponents of the proposal have suggested that they should also be confiscating any "gold teeth and fillings."

A spokesperson for the Danish Immigration Service said that it is designed to "ease the burden (of the cost) on Danish society."

The story reminded us of one of our own favorite memories of the first night we had refugees - 15 years ago. It was a totally new experience for us and we knew that our accommodation was only "basic", but in any case better than the muddy tent villages we had seen on TV - (I had said to Janny "gee, we have all that empty room out the back, why don't we offer it to them?"). And so, 3 busloads of refugees arrived on our door - we had only been expecting one busload -  and it turned out that 2 of the buses had just "followed the first one." So, with all these people milling about in our "basic" accommodation, one woman came to us and said "thish ish not good enuff for my family" (insert your own Iranian accent). She was extremely well dressed and dripping with expensive jewellery and expensive luggage. Her husband trailing behind muttering "no, no, no". We laugh about it now, of course, but it was rather unsettling at the time. Luckily, they were in one of the 2 buses that should have been about 150 kms away, down on the coast somewhere (Edmond aan Zee). I wonder how it would have been if she had had to hand over her jewellery?.

Traffic Jams

From Den Haag (The Hague).

Traffic jams here are measured in the length of the "files". A "super jam" is said to be an aggregate length of 300kms. This occurred 67 times in 2015 - almost 3 times more often than previous years.

2012 -19 times

2013 - 25

2914 - 27

 Thursday evenings were the worst - with an average of 470kms, November was also particularly bad with 7 times the normal rainfall, during the peak times. November 26 also had an "unexplained" jam of more than 500kms. 

The most alarming element of the "megajams" is the estimated cost of 3 Billion Euros in 2015.

Back to Work

We still have Thomas, extra kids for the school holidays and the normal day workers - all starting again tomorrow. Nice to have a break and spend some time with Ben. We still have to sort out how many refugees and Where we can place them - depends a lot on the Local Government people. We'd like to manage it so that we can keep going with the day workers - with an eye on the future when the refugees stop again.

Week 51.5 (Season's Greetings).

Season's Greetings!

Best Wishes from Ken, Janny & Ben @ De Twa Buken

Hope all goes well in 2016!

(the photos below were taken at Janny's parents' 60th Wedding Anniversary Party).

Week 51

Week 51

(already!!??)

As one door closes another one opens....

I can remember Mum saying this quite often, but I can't remember the circumstances - hers or mine. It felt quite apt this week as we have lost a significant part of our income - our two best clients. Not as part of the Government cutbacks, but rather just natural progression. Our kids always seem to grow up and move on, but we hope that we have played some small part in the "system" which tries to find a meaningful place for all it's people.

So, Thomas is going into another form of care, finally, and not returning to home. We'll have to wait and see how it all turns out.

Sarah, aka Shararah, has also left us after almost 7 years. We are still at a loss to know exactly why - just a bee in her bonnet. Again, we have to wait and see how it turns out for her. In return for the quite extensive care she has received over the years, the "system" asks only that she does something meaningful with her life - in our case it was coming to the Care Farm to learn new skills and have social interaction with other people.

The door opening.......

Just as we were coming to terms with this, Janny received a phone call from our Local Government asking if we are interested in having Refugees again. Nothing is certain yet, but we said "yes" and now have to figure out the reorganisation required to accommodate all the bits and pieces.

It is 15 years since we last had refugees; as a business deal, it was significant, to say the least. It will be very different this time around, but we will still have a "good feeling" about helping in our community. Basically, all the refugee centres are full and they are looking to move people on to the next step, which would be getting their own (rented) accommodation - usually Local Government housing rather than free market. There are not enough houses available at the moment, so we would be used as an interim step for up to 6 months.

This unexpected development made me think about getting everything in order - no more "pottering" for a while!

De Twa Buken

• New Building
• Maintenance
• Bookkeeping
• Boat (my escape)
• Plaatselijk Belang (Local Action Committee)
• Family
• Dagbesteding (Dayworkers)
• Logeren (Weekend kids)
• Refugees
• Planning
• Volleyball (Janny's escape)
• Ben
• Personnel  
• Energy Neutral
• Asbestos Removal

Interesting video explaining current Syrian Refugee Crisis

Ok, propaganda, but I'm looking for more information.

https://youtu.be/RvOnXh3NN9w

Photos from this week

Janny's Dad gave me a hand and the bigger boys can do the splitting over the weekend.

Ben sent this photo of a bridge in Amsterdam. The figures move in sequence to give the idea of someone running, jumping over the bridge.

1500hrs; the sun doesn't get much higher than this and, technically, it's not even winter yet! A weather "expert" was on TV the other night, explaining how much warmer it is.... for example, we don't have to worry yet about putting out extra feed for the birds - there are still plenty of insects around!

More from Ben. He found a New Zealand/Brazilian (!?) restaurant called Bakers and Roasters. No such delights in Wijnjewoude.... (he did say that my roasted sweet potato was better than theirs!!).

My boys splitting the firewood. (Paul calls it child labour; I call it learning new skills - and it keeps them busy!).

More on the Bowel Cancer Research

I checked out the website and found that the information is available in several languages.

 In 2012, the number of bowel cancer deaths amounted to 2800 men and 2500 women. The screening program was then developed and phased in while people were trained to do the tests.

"The national bowel cancer screening programme was launched at the start of 2014. The screening programme is for all men and women aged 55 to 75. It is to be introduced in phases, with nationwide coverage by 2019. When you receive your first invitation to take part in the programme will depend on your year of birth. In the course of 2014, all men and women born in 1938, 1939, 1947, 1949 and 1951 will receive an invitation to participate. In about two weeks, you will receive an invitation to take part. Participation in the screening programme is voluntary: it is up to you to decide whether you want to participate or not."

Fire Service Friesland

This is mostly made up of volunteers and I must admit I never once considered getting involved. All part of my New Start, I guess. In any case, the Mayors of Friesland are currently considering a plan "Coverage 2.0", with a view to sorting out coverage times, financial implications and a closer look at the densely built centres of some of the major cities such as Sneek, Bolsward, Leeuwarden and Dokkum. It is difficult for me to read and fully understand but one thing that did catch my eye was the response time of 18 minutes. As a young officer, I still remember the anxious queries if we weren't able to give some sort of "word back" within 7 minutes.

Week 50

Week 50

(A couple of people have left comments, which I appreciate very much .ie please leave more!. I'm still learning how to deal with them).

Mostly photos this week, with a little bit of explanation....and reflection.

Kangaroo! from the Lidl (a bit like Aldi).

I couldn't resist it but I can only remember eating it once before, about 25 years ago at the Ghengis Khan restaurant in Darwin. Janny was with me then and we had quite a few nights there, including "semi-official" nights out with Fire and Police personnel.

We also had water buffalo and crocodile, but to be honest we could hardly taste the difference when it was all cooked up "Mongolian Grill" style.

Tree felling - preparation for new building.

A forestry worker who was at school with Janny came to do the work - all for the price of a "cream cake" for the workers! I still have to cut it into fire size blocks yet; hopefully monday, weather permitting.

Three of our "boys". The twins have been with us for about 5 years now - all of a sudden they have turned 14 and their future seems so much more important. I often find myself thinking about what the kids will be able to do; I teach them all how to drive my mini- tractor when they turn 12. Handtools in the workshed - I do most of it myself, but it's just trying to generate some interest. We even get them to strip down old washing machines and dryers, just to get used to using spanners and other tools.
There is so much dairy farming around here that an obvious work option would be as a farmhand. Most of them just want to drive the tractor but I keep telling them to get off sometimes, in order to do the real "work".
The kids are free on Wednesday afternoons, so we have about 4 or 5 who come then, as well as weekends. This was a Wednesday afternoon job, picking up the firewood. Actually, the twins are getting to be quite good "helpers" - but somehow I still feel worn out at the end of the day!

We left 3 trees in front of the chook shed.

 Janny's parents 60th wedding anniversary.

Last Tuesday. The 6 kids went to the house at 0700 and made breakfast. It must have been hectic when they were growing up, as well!

The "hangers on" put up the arch with roses while the others were having breakfast.

Special gift.....

The family name is Rozema - hence the roses. It is a Frisian thing that the names often end in "ma" - not too sure why. A local woman, originally from New Zealand, made the glass and lead design - in an old cast iron farmhouse window frame. The two main roses with 6 others around the outside. (And an unformed bud in the centre representing a not much talked about miscarriage). There are two more frames still being worked on, which have cows as the theme. (Janny's Dad's business over the years).

Thomas and I out on the heath.

The water pools here are called "pingo's" and date from the ice age (apparently). In any case it is a lovely walk with different colours every time, depending on the time of day and time of year.

Week 49

Week 49

Photos

Ben in Amsterdam

Health Matters

Weather

Ben in Spain
Workshop photos

The light at the end of the tunnel

Heading back to the farm from Haulerwijk

Sunday night, Ben went to a food hall in Amsterdam (somewhere). Sent us some photos of pumpkins.....

Health Matters

Maybe just because I turned 65, "they" sent me a bowel cancer testing kit..... in the form of an "invitation" to participate. Now, I don't know how the system really works here... we pay our health insurance every month, which includes dental and hospital. We have 2 doctors in Bakkeveen, husband and wife, and luckily I see them only rarely but enough to say hello whenever we see them on other occasions. I have always had to go and ask for checkups and blood tests etc., usually because I think I should, rather than having anything wrong with me. I try to argue the "preventative" case but I think the system might be more geared to healing rather than preventing..... In any case, I thought it was interesting to get an "invitation" for the bowel cancer test kit and I also ticked the box for a similar test every 2 years. The "all clear" result came back within a few days. (all done by post). 
footnote: I asked Janny's parents and they said it is purely random testing, so it doesn't apply to everyone. Maybe I can find out how many and the philosophy behind it from somewhere else.

Weather

November 2015. Friesland and 3 other (Northern) provinces had the warmest November on record; 9.9 degrees C (Normal is 6.7 C) .. It was also much wetter  with 134mm of rain compared with the normal 82mm.

Ben in Spain

He flew from Schiphol to Barcelona, stayed overnight and then Barcelona to Santiago de Compostela, the next day. He and a Belgian chap were picked up at the airport and driven to A Corhuna, where the HQ of Zara is located.

Hotel room, Barcelona

Schedule

Ben said it was all fairly relaxed; first day photos and fitting in preparation for the actual modelling/presentations on days 2 and 3.

Janny and I just shake our heads and think what a wonderful experience he is having.

He overslept and nearly missed the flight home. Arrived back in Amsterdam, went to work and then traveled by train back to Heerenveen where Janny picked him up. He then slept for more than 12 hours! - sometimes it's just good to be back "home".

Thomas

We continue to provide care for Thomas; Janny even had to pick him up from school and take him to hospital (Mum had gym!!). We think he may have pinched an "energy" drink from the fridge at his home (what??!!). The "system" now seems agonisingly slow when the situation is screaming for something to be done.

Workshop

Gifts prepared for the church in Bakkeveen

Coffee break "selfie".

Out for a walk

Lucas and Shararah

Betty - a volunteer helper.