Cats and dogs

While Babet is still hissing and growling every time she sees (or remembers the mere existance of) Haroen, Lotte is friendlier and trying to persuade Haroen to play with her. Haroen in his turn is also highly interested in Lotte and learning that we reprimand Lotte when she is too obtrusive (and abusing this fact). So these two are slowly getting friends...

Holiday preps

We really need to get prepared for our holiday... Exactly four weeks from now, we've rolled out of the Cycle Tours bus and will probably be putting up our tent on the first camping. Problem is that we took our bikes out of the garage only last week (with accompanying dust, spider webs and dry cycle chains). We made a very short ride to get an ice cream last weekend to test what had to be repaired or replaced, and as I'm writing Eise is working on his bike to re-grease his derailleur.

Today we went out to do some holiday shopping as well. Last time we went on a cycling holiday, we used canoe bags and home-made carriers, which was not always very successful. So this time we decided to buy some proper bags and because we couldn't choose between two sets, we bought one of each. One set are two good old Ortlieb bike packer classics (combined with a drybag) and the other is a neat combo of two side bags and one top bag from Vaude (Karakorum). So, expect some testresults after our trip! Both sets have less room than the large bags we used last time, so packing wil be quite a challenge. At least it will force us to take only the highly necessary stuff, something we're not really good at. We can put the tent, mats and sleeping bag on top of everything, but still... I've made a list uf "must haves" and "nice to haves".

Next to the bags I've also invested in a nice and light rain jacket (160 grams, seems impossible!) and a new pair of SPD shoes. I'm hoping these will save me some sleeping toes... So, I think we should have most of the stuff we need... We borrowed a really neat sheet sleeping bag which will fit two sleeping mats in special compartments and on which one sleeping bag can be zipped. So this little thingy saves us from bringing a second sleeping bag! Love accessories like that!

Hopefully the weather is ok tomorrow, so we can make a trip again. Would be nice to have at least a little bit of training before we leave!

Swurl timeline - I like it!

Yet another social network slash web 2.0 aggregator, but I like the timeline feature of Swurl. It gives a nice overview of stuff that's apparently keeping me busy over time. It's adding a bit of meta cognition to my life! No need to keep a diary anymore as long as you're an active updater on the web.

Another movie of Haroen

Haroen has arrived

Yesterday I picked up Haroen at Clio's and he's doing great! The journey to our house in a travel basket was of course not appreciated too much, but he survived. First thing mr. H did after getting out of the basket was blessing the cat's litter box (and not the carpet, thank God).

Last night he was a bit shy and spent most of the time behind the couch, but now he seems to be completely relaxed and at ease. After a heavy session of playing, chasing mice, attacking balls, climbing couches and exploring the attick (which is Haroen's main domain the first few days), he's sleeping now. Completely exhausted.

Weekend without plans, loads of free time! Yeah, right.

So, after having worked really hard to prepare for our party last weekend, we thought to have a well-deserved duty and DIY-free weekend. Not. Since our house still needed some cleening-up from the party, Saturday morning was over before we knew it. Then Eise went over to Percy's to help him prepare for his birthday/cd presentation party later that day and I went to buy a grappa for Karlo (which is quite a challenge if you don't know a thing about grappa). Made a quick stop at Karlo's birthday party to congratulate him (on his 38th and his personally designed & crafted roof terrace lounge couch) to be picked up by Menw to rush to Percy's party as well. Quite a fun party, lots of music (two bands, two more singers, Percy and his partner presenting their new cd) and an exited horse.



Today we decided to go hiking, which finally enabled me to test my new backpack (which I bought quite a while ago already but never tried). We drove to Mechelen and made a 14 km. hike along the river Geul and through the woods of Epen. Nice area, lots of people walking along the Geul though. And great ice cream with fresh strawberries and raspberries!


And then a sad message when we got home. The little kitten Menw was supposed to take home in a few weeks (the sister of our kitten) died this afternoon. Apparently, she was hit by a car and her injuries were too bad to survive... We will pick up Haroen next Tuesday already, which means we will have to take some precautions to carefully guide the first encouter between Haroen and Babet...

Party post

Pfiew, we've survived our houswarming / birthdays party! Last Sunday, we had about 55 people (plus a load of kids) in our house. Fortunately, we had great weather, so we could sit in the garden all day. I'm not sure how we would have fitted all those people in our house, to be honest. Usually, we never really celebrate our birthdays so I think all of our friends and family took advantage of this opportunity to come down south. It might have helped that lots of them hadn't actually seen our house as well.

Nothing to tell really, except for the fact that we had a great time and as I understood our guests did so too. We were loaded with gifts (some highlights include a Solar Buddha, an olive tree and a feng shui home decorating guide :-s), thanks for that! And last but not least some experience-based tips for throwing a party with slightly too many people at your home: 1) invite batches of guests at different starting times, 2) buy at least 6 vlaaien for 50 guests and 3) if you want to keep your cake wax-free, don't blow 70 candles at once.