Tonight I fly to Amsterrdam

my creation for the Mom's group Should have decorated it

Rhubarb custard bars: shortbread crust, rhubarb custard middle, whipped cream/cream cheese top

these smell so good when I am out doing hours of yard work

my two rhubarb plants are huge but I used last years rhubarb frozen for the dessert

rhubarb flower. I think I am supposed to cut them off to make more stalks

I have been trying to get things done before my big trip which starts tonight. Why be typing into a blog when so much needs to be done? Well it is  very early and Steve isn't up yet. Hopefully I will be tired enough to sleep on the plane.

Breukelen. This will be the first town we will sail to on our barge after a 3 night stay in Amsterdam. I asked Steve if he had any idea how it was spelled. To my surprise, he spelled it correctly. The first Dutch settlers sailed from this town and ended up in New York and named their landing place after their town later anglicized to Brooklyn. Growing up, Brooklyn Day was a holiday and he had to learn the origins of his hometown. We will begin our bike riding there and go across a Breukenlen Brug which will be much smaller than the one that connects to Manhattan.

Dutch:  I've been trying to learn it for the past 4 months. I should be able to read it and maybe gargle a few words but understanding it will be tough (Italian was so much easier!) It sounds like a mix of trying to expel mucus and obscenities. Words like vaak, zich, hoor sound really bad. And the grammar! I just did a painful unit on reflexive verbs. They have expanded the concept way beyond the romance languages which I thought were a pain like in French: je m'appelle Sue (I call myself Sue) but at least the reflexive pronouns are always in the same place. Not so in Dutch, all over the place though generally after the verb (instead of in front) zich which sounds like shit is for third person nouns. And they use it way beyond for washing, shaving, combing also for hiding, locating, etc.

Gardening: May is extensive gardening month. Things need clearing, weeding and planting. I at least got my vegetables in. Flowers will have to wait. Hopefully Steve will water things.

Scan anxiety: Miracle of miracles, my mammogram eventually came back clean. First time I didn't have to have things retaken. I have a huge benign seroma that looks like a tumor so they have to line it up perfectly to make sure it hasn't changed. As it seems to hurt more (I have staples still in me that I think cause inflammation) and felt different and I had received some bad news about my cancer chances being significantly increased from what I thought they were, I was nervous. And though my surgery for another set of body part removal had been denied, it seems it is just because I didn't go through the approval process correctly despite trying to do it right. Still a mess to entangle that I will handle upon my return though I remain highly annoyed at my insurance and maybe my doctor.

Seeing a friend for the last time: My friend is on hospice and thought she would die in my absence. However her condition has not seemed to get worse in the past week and in some ways better so she will be still around. She did manage to have enough energy to fix my bangs and think she will cut my hair one last time

Maybe I will read all the guidebooks on my flight tonight if I can't sleep...

Goededag