March 21, 2011

Bring on spring!

It doesn't seem like there are many years that we have so much sun this early on in March, and while it was not exactly anywhere near 20 degrees yet, during the weekend I at least tried to make the most of the sun. On Saturday, B and I joined everyone flocking to the terraces. We decided to have lunch at the V&D and managed to nab a table that was just barely in the sun still. After sitting there for awhile though, we were fairly chilly.

After being reminded that the full moon on Saturday night was meant to be a "super moon", we took a walk in the evening to see if any noticable gain in size could be seen. Unfortunately a Dutch city is just about the worst place to look at the night sky so I'm not sure the moon actually looked that much larger, but it was certainly a clear and bright night. And cold, it was like a typical winter night again. We headed over to a windmill that I've never really gone to check out and, while the windmill turned out to be on private property so we couldn't get that close, I made friends with the dog that had started barking at us as we came up the drive. He was large and looked intimidating, but once I got him to come over, he plopped in front of me and welcomed some attention. He was just a big softie really and it made me miss having dogs around, especially big, huggable ones.

On Sunday, we biked out to the lakes to the north of Leiden and were determined to have a picnic lunch even though we were freezing. One of these days we'll finally be able to sit out in just t-shirts. On the way back we stopped by another windmill which was guarded by an angry Shetland pony.

And now my week is rather quiet since B went off to Prague. Once he comes back though it'll kick off a very busy month. First we'll be spending a week in Ireland and attending a wedding. Then B's parents will be visiting for a week, at the same time a friend of mine will be visiting from Germany. After a brief break, we'll be going to Barcelona for a few days, and just a few days later will be Queen's Day. I should enjoy this down time while I can.