I don’t want to be too negative, but I admit there will be some things I won’t miss when we move from the Netherlands. More »

As we plan to move from the Netherlands to the U.S., I have been thinking about what I will miss the most once we are settled in our new place. Besides our dear family, I am sure I will miss a few other things.
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Ever since I moved to the Netherlands to live with Arthur in May 1999, it has always been our plan to move to the U.S. ‘someday’. In late 2006 we finally made the decision that we would move in early 2009. At that time the plan was to start looking into the process in early 2008. In mid-2007 we decided to move up our plans by several months and by the end of 2007 we decided we would try to move as soon as possible. In order to move we would have two major tasks: applying for Arthur’s immigrant visa, and selling our home in Leiden. More »

This week we were in Florida and for New Year’s Eve we visited Leesburg for First Night. Leesburg, a small town north of Orlando that celebrated its 150th anniversary in 2007, is one of four cities in Florida that organize a First Night every year. There was live entertainment in 17 venues along the town’s charming Main Street, from 8pm to midnight.

Leesburg Main Street

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I’ve updated and finalised our 2007 Year Book in our online Photo Album. Highlights of the year were our visit to The Gambia in January, where we saw 177 different species of birds, our holiday in the south of Spain, where we explored Andalusia and a part of Portugal, and our diving trip to Sharm-el-Sheikh in Egypt, where we had some wonderful dives in the Red Sea.

Last weekend was our annual family weekend and this time we had rented a large house in Neede in the east of the Netherlands. We had a great time. On Saturday we drove to Eibergen where we did a boat tour (see our route) on an authentic Berkelzomp. Here’s a photo of my family on the boat, taken by the friendly captain Hugo.

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From 6 to 16 October we visited South Sinai and stayed at Amar Sina Hotel in Sharm El Sheikh. We dived and snorkeled with Colona Divers and visited Ras Mohamed NP, Nabeq NP and St. Catherine’s Monastery.

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View large slideshow in our photo album »

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From 21 to 24 June 2007 we went to France. We first spent two days at Disneyland Paris where we stayed at Santa Fe Hotel. Then we went to Paris on Saturday and Sunday where we stayed at Hotel de la Porte Doree and visited Musée d’Orsay and Bois de Vincennes. Here are a few photos of our trip.

To view larger photos visit our photo album.

From 17 to 27 May 2007 we visited Huelva province in Andalucia, Spain. We rented Villa Laura Paraje Puente near the small town of Beas, which was a wonderful place to stay. We did some nice birding in the area’s nature reserves and visited Sevilla, Huelva, Riotinto and Tavira in Portugal. More »

An article on the BBC website last Friday revealed that British households waste over 3 million tons of food per year. That amounts to just under a third of all food bought, although half of that is inedible matter such as packaging. Wasting food has been a pet peeve of mine for some time, so it’s nice to hear that someone is taking notice. More »