Clever? Doubt it...... and a visit of our Registrar

Right: "A cigarette, a cigarette, a kindom for a cigarette"

Well, very clever we were yesterday, when Kik said he wanted to quit smoking on monday, which is today, when he starts his full vegetarian period which would end on the 6th of October.
Now I allready promissed myself years ago to quit smoking on the 7th of October, the day I turn 50 years old.... So I thought, lets be supportive and quit 10 days earlier so we stop smoking together...haha, what a fun thing to do, uhum.
Kik wanted to get acupuncture treatment by Chinese Docter against smoking. This docter told that it could not stop someone from wanting to smoke but that it could help to strenghten his mind against temptations to smoke.
Well, while I am trying to finish this contribution to my weblog, I still haven't smoked, but Kik allready went for my cigars after less then 6 hoursd and bought a package of cigarettes in the early evening....but worse, smoked a cigarette out of that package in front of the house.... haha, I told him that inside it was not longer permitted to smoke (one has to do something to help the other actually getting himself to stop....). Well, one conclussion, the Chinese acupuncture didn't help much today with Kik...I believe that we have to thnk of other tricks to help him to quit! So any effective idears are most welcome!! ;-)

Well, early this afternoon we got Leja van der Hoek at the house to talk about the wedding next wensday, she will be our official Registrar. Kik was not feeling too well, some headache, easily distracted, absentminded....... quess quiting smoking today was not the most clever discission we made. The result of that talk anybody comming to delft cityhall on the 8th, will be able to see for themselfs, together with us ;-)

One major worry concerning myself: what if I start to blow up like a blowfish again in this week, simply because instead of next wensday I was so stupid to stop smoking today??? And I will not be able to fit into my weddingcostume?
O damn, Do I turn slowly crazy or is it just the pre wedding jitters?
Maybe I should go on a crash diet simultaniously to counterweigh the effects of stop smoking?

O darn, now I have new poblems to worry about, and it is allready such a lot of stuff..... haha
Clever, all in all? I doubt it! ;-)

The Marriagecontract & the day after ...... 11 days till...

Well, the first step has been made on the road to getting actually married. The first step which is not only talk talk talk but actually also doing something, in other words, finally: ACTION, action with a goal!!
Thursday Kik and I went to Westvest Notarissen here in Delft, a few minutes walk from my Delft home. I will not tell you all that happened, except that for the occasion a legally certified interpretor/translator was present to translate and explain to Kik all that was happening from Dutch into Thai.
Ofcourse, Kik and I allready talked about everything and so I was happy to discover that all was clear, no surprises for him and so everything was in accordance to what had been discussed. But it felt good to see him get everything explained and confirmed in his own language with a translation of the marriagecontract.
After all of that was esteblished and to the satisfaction of the "notaris", and ofcourse Kik and myself, we signed the contract! It felt all very official, haha
After the signing of the marriage contract, as is common here in Holland, we continued with the signing of my new Last Will & Testament, as it so nicely sounds in English I believe.

Both documents are ofcourse private and so their content will not be revealed here in my weblog... but if th sad occasion of my departure from this world into the next has arrived, some of you might find out what was written in it... and then I mean my Will ofcourse, because the marriagecontract will have no value anymore when that happens ;-)

Well... that evening we felt we made an important step and the next day we had nothing sheduled in our respective agenda's, so we decided to go, by public transport, to Batavia City , and outlet store complex near Lelystad. Last year we enjoyed going there very much and so we enjoyed the next day a pleasant trip to the same place. The weather was wonderfull, somewhat cold but very sunny, the typical autumn weather of this time of year if lucky ;-)
With loads of goodies, all stuffed in a newly bought large suitcase, we arrived happily home around 20.00 hours, tired but indeed very happy!
Batavia city can compete with Thailand when they have their sales on, and ofcourse with autumn and winter commming, all the sumergoods were on sale... so it was something like shop till you drop without loosing good common sense!

Alll in all it was more then worth the trip, and with this Batavia city excercise we finished a wonderfull week realising that we had 11/12 days left before our wedding, before us departing for Thailand!

The Last Supper......

Is there a chance that after 28 years and roughly100 meals together, a holliday and lots of evenings playing Risk and/or Black Jack, weddings and a funeral this group of friends will not come together anymore due to my leaving for a life in Thailand and so turning this dinner we had saterday the 20th of September at my house in Delft into a kind of Last Supper?
I hope not! Thats the simple and direct answer to this question about a group of friends who never stopped meeting since Erik (in the picture the guy most on the right) and I organised a 4 day trip with a tourbus and 25 people to the European Parliament at Straatsburg France in the spring of 1980. We organised that trip on behalf of the Dutch Young Liberals and during the long busride to Straatsburg and back via Germany, we, 4 guys, played a lot of Black jack, or "21-en" as we call in in Dutch. These guys were the earlier mentioned Erik, Aad (on the picture next to Erik) and Floor, the guy in the middle with the long curly hair.
After those days on the bus we decided it had been so much fun playing cards together we went on doing so when we came back home. During the years that passed since, our respective partners joined in and so our group grew to 8 all in all. Aad, as well as myself have had some changes in their partners, but Els, the wife of Floor and sitting on his left, and Ria, the wife of Erik and in this picture sitting next to Els, are as steady as participants as the original group of four!
I have allways enjoyed getting together with this group of friends, exchanging our life stories at times and troubles, but also sharing highlights together.
As such we sang together at the wedidng of Erik en Ria, after our Wintersport holliday, ergo we had ski hats on and ski's with us, even though it was a warm summer day. They all sang at my earlier wedding when I got married to my ex-husband Eric, Aad en I flew out to New york for a weekend in the eightish when Floor had to spend a series of months in Chicago, USA and enjoyed NY and a musical together. Erik at the time was unable to join on that really fun trip!
While some of us moved away out of the region of Delft, we all kept on comming together for our 3 monthly dinners, because by that time we had stopped playing games and only shared a home cooked meal together at our respective houses, where ever that house might be. So, there were years when we all had to drive long distances and stay overnight to make it all work, but we did with lots of joy and fun!

Well, I don't think us meeting will end though as our "dinner-club" as such, but the frequency will go down for sure. At least if you want to see the whole original group together. Because they allready decided to go on in the same frequency but that I simply will be excused due to the long distance to attend every time, haha, how considerate :-) But am happy because of it, thats for sure. It also means that when I know I'll be in Holland, we will all meet to continue our traditional meals together and exchange whatever there is to exchange! To follow what the respective children are doing and to support eachother when needed.
I am also convinced that I will see them all in Thailand, maybe not all at once, though they are crazy enough to do that as well one year, but individually I am very sure to be allowed to welcome them all in whatever house I might live in!

Els and Floor allready announced and decided that they are going to attend my wedding with Kik in Si Bun Ruang, Ria en Erik will only be able to decide if they are sure they have arranged their children to be taken care of in a good way. Aad is not sure yet, but then again he just has returned from a holliday with his children and boyfriend to Indonesia and Malaysia so it might prove to be too much in such a short period for him.

Whatever happens, I believe that this group of friends will only have a Last Supper when we don't know it to be as such, and thats because one of us moves to higher spheres were we can not just visit.....haha, otherwise we might go on for ever with our little dinner club without pretentions.

One advantage though by moving away to the other side of the world: we will enjoy a lot of quality time when together, and as such thats a bonus, as all people know who have moved really far away and are receiving their friends in their new homes. One never drops by for just an evening but will stay for at least several days and as such turn it into quality time together..... really look forward to these visits!!

Well for Kik this was his first time, and he was not only introduced and warmly welcomed in the group, they all really enjoyed a specially prepared vegitarian Thai meal! And believe me, they would have said otherwise if they would not have enjoyed it, because such is our group, haha, I hope!

Well, but first we will all see eachother again on the 8th of October at our wedding here in Delft! Less then 3 weeks to go.....

Master of Ceremony

When one gets married, its allways best to appoint a dear, close friend as master of ceremonies, or as some also say director of ceremonies. It gives the happy couple the chance to enjoy their day much more and freely, because on the day itself they do not have to worry anymore about anything. They have been busy with the preparations, on the day itself they should give the whole organisation into trusted hands and stop to worry if all goes as planned or envisioned. Ergo, one needs a trusted and close friend, who also knows you very very well, to take care of it all!
Well, am happy to announce to those who at all bother to read this weblog (and also my other one, see my profile to get to it) that my nephew and godson has aggreed to be my master of ceremony, Jeroen Warmerdam!
So, if anybody likes to contact him, one can email him on j.warmerdam@tygron.nl with all your questions and possible wishes for that day. He will be happy to assist you as long as it is something within his power ;-)
I do not feel free (yet) to mention his mobile number here......I leave that up to him to give it to you! If you want to contact him, use his email, I would recommend!
Jeroen is the oldest son of my sister and he himself will get married on the 29th of may next year.....an event I very much look forward to, and that is not only because he and his fiancee Bibi has asked me to officiate their marriage on that day as extraordinary registrar. And that, dear readers is very special for me!
So, a part of me hopes that all of you will let him find out which things he and Bibi have to think about organising their own wedding.... not that I like things to go wrong ofcourse on my weddingday, but one never knows if one has thought of everything till one discovers it when an eventuality does(n't) happen ;-)

What to do with Didi on the 8th.... and her journey to Thailand!

My French Basset, Didi, stuborn as stuborn can be, but also a very dear comrade over the past years, a comrade I would not like to part with, only when absolute sure she would be in the best of hands! Due to the fact that the only couple sofar who have enough trust with me to let them take care of her, had sadly enough to decline due to unfortunate circumstances. I believe should would have really liked living on a dutch farmstyle home. BUT now, as an alternative, one I also like very much by the way, she will join me on my way to Thailand with Kik.
Kik allready more or less arranged for Didi to be taken care off while we have to travell a lot trough Thailand in our first weeks while there, up till just a couple of days after our Thai wedding ceremony on the 23d of November in Si Bun Ruang in Nort East Thailand, just 120/140 south west of Udon Thani. Didi will stay with friends of us on the iland of Phuket, taken care off very well by true dog lovers!

BUT on the 8th itself, well, if all goes according to plan, my Lady in fur, hehe, will join us at Cityhall for our weddingceremony here in Delft. I can only hope and pray though that she will truely behave like a lady and less like that lovely stuborn dog she also likes to be, haha.

A bigger challenge is ofcourse what to do with her while we have our 'reception' after the wedding and while having our weddingdinner? Well, if anyone as a clever idear, we sure would like to hear of that!

We allready bought a special 'cage' for Didi to travell in to Thailand, one which is approved by IATA. I feel somewhat bad by having to teach her to stay in this so called 'kennel' and even more to put her in it when latest at the airport and arranging for her transport on the same flight as we will be on, China Airlines flight CI66 from Amsterdam to bangkok, a flight of around 12 hours. We will have to hand her over to the airline preferably around 11.30, while we will depart at 14.30 .. poor Didi, wonder how much she will hate me for that ordeal she will have to go trough..... can only hope she forgives me, us quickly!!

Ha, wel China Airlines better makes sure she gets to Bangkok safe and sound without any problems, specially to her health, or otherwise......... but am sure they know how to keep customers who fly with them as happy as possible ;-) I discovered a dog taking flight on a commercial plane, flies, from a financial point of view, in businessclass style .... though sadly for her, she will be in special animal storage elsewhere on the plane in her small 'kennel', ergo cage... and she will receive nothing of what gets close to a businessclass treatment .... but maybe for animal transport it is businessclass style. Well, can only hope she will not be put off by it all too much.... and have to make sure we do lots of happy dog things once we reached our destination!

So, in a way we will have a dear friend travelling with us on our 'honeymoon' flight to Thailand, but happy that she wil not be on our lap all that time ;-)

8th of October... whats happening?

Some would answer : "Not much", others would say: " Wow, thats a lot!"... let's say, it all depends what you are used to ;-)
One thing is for sure, the 8th of October for me will become an important day.... for me & Kik. Not only will we celebrate my 50th birthday of the day before, but also that we get (legally, for our foreign viewers) married and that I will leave for Thailand for a considerable period!
Now, how to approach such a day? Simple actually!
At 4 pm we are expected at Cityhall of Delft, part 13th, part 17th century for those interested, to get married. The wedding will be officiated by Leja van der Hoek, a city councillor of the VVD (the Dutch Liberal party) and someone who I knowallready from 30 years ago. We got reintroduced to eachother when I moved to Delft in 2006, which was a pleasant surprise!
After the ceremony in Cityhall we all, us, the then just happily married couple and all our guests, willl go to Bebob, the music/jazzbar(cafe as we say in Dutch) to cut the weddingcake, and to give everybody the chance to celebrate with us this three in one event/celebration!

Before Cityhall we will meet our family (sadly only mine will be there, Kik's family had to stay in Thailand) and our witnessses at my house on the Oude Delft, from where we will walk to the VERMEERCENTRE at the Voldersgracht (gracht = canal in english) where we will meet up with even more guests. We then all will walk from there to Cityhall for the weddingceremony.
And after the so called reception at Bebobs, which will end latest at 20.00 hours ( 3 hours is long enough, don't you think?) my close family and witnesses will again go on foot to a cozy restaurant next to Delfts Old Church. And thats all what I am going to say about that ;-)
O, and for those who are interested to know where we will sleep that night: Not at home, thats for sure!
It is our intention not to go back home anymore and we will leave for Thailand the next day or latest friday the 10th.

Well, thats all for now!
From now on I feel forced to report regurlarly here about everything happening concerning our wedding and also the preparations for our wedding in Thailand.... why? because I made this weblog public on the invitation, haha... so now I have to!
At least thats how I feel it, so no breaks anymore like this last silent period here!
Till the next entry I say: Take good care you all!