Pip and then more Pip

Inspector Clouseau.

I visited Ilse and Cassie because it was Cassie's birthday a few weeks ago.

The weather was great so we went for a walk in the dunes.

Every dog and it's owner was out there.

Pip was having a great time.

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She ran and ran...

... and rolled in the sand. Because, it's fun? ;-)

Some dogs are a bit bigger and scarier but you still wanna smell them so you better be very, very humble!

Digging a hole is fun, too!

And then at home we get fed.

Meanwhile in Russia 3 Dutch girls won medals at the Olympics.

But I got the jackpot! Cassie's homemade chicken and mushroom ragout!

I also quickly visited my folks and back in the Dam I took a bus to see my lovie.

Walking in the dunes / beach

Today I went walking in the dunes with Marjolein. This is the area where we walked.

At the start there's a little lake. Kids dropped their ball in the water and dad was totally incapable of getting it out. Should've just dropped his pants and go in to get it...

Dead trees.

Living trees.

Marjolein.

Courting grebes at the bird lake. There's a bird watching shed there. I spy...

Cows from Scotland.

Then we arrived at the beach.

The sky was soft and pretty.

Lotsa dogs were there as well.

It was a very nice afternoon. We had a drink at Bloemendaal after and dinner later as well. I was very, very tired when I got home.

The seaberries

I wanted to go to Haarlem. Taking the train from Sloterdijk is the best option but purely due to work-routine I took the tram to Central Station, an unintended detour... I didn't think it would be this warm so I dressed way too hot. Should've put on shorts but no, I wore jeans. The tram was too hot. I got to Central Station only to find out that I could only take a train to Sloterdijk and that the rest of the journey would be done by bus. I could have completely skipped all this fuckery had I gone to Sloterdijk directly. I was so pissed off with myself...

When I got to Haarlem I rented a bicycle. Took 15 minutes instead of 5 due to other fuckery beyond my control. But I managed to get a bike and I finally drove to Marjolein.

She went outside with a plant to add some dirt and when it was put back on the table inside we discovered some wildlife hitchhiking on it.

We cycled to the dunes but quickly made our first stop at a little pancake house. This was the first time EVER I've seen it open. Not surprising with a shit summer such as this year's...

Marjolein giving me funny looks.

We saw these guys playing cricket. Hadn't seen any since I left Australia!

It was bloody hot, good cycling weather though. We had a short stop (there was no shade here) at a little dune-lake.

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Marjolein taught me about these edible berries. In English they are called sea berries even though they also grow in desert-like environments in central Asia...

I tasted one and then another good few because I like them! Marjolein thinks they're too sour... They are incredibly rich in vitamin C. I believe 1 little berry contains as much as an orange. Dutch wikipedia page on this: http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duindoorn.

Back at the ranch we had a lovely shower and a rest. I admired Marjolein's hippo collection.

I took her out to an Indian restaurant in the evening. The food there was very good but the service not quite. Sorry folks, no tip... I had a lovely evening with Marjolein :-)