the low country

in french
the name
for the netherlands
is pays bas.

low country.

i never quite
realized
just how low
the
netherlands
was
until
i went there
from
switzerland...

. . .

in early may
we all took
a trip
to visit our
friend annemarie.
you may
remember her
from
her visit
to see us
when
vee was only
3 months old!



i have known
annemarie
for almost
20 years...

she and grub
go
way back
too.



we have meant
to visit
annemarie
and her family
since we moved
to switzerland.
we finally
got
around to it.


annemarie, ronne, bram, & martijn

since
we have not
seen
annemarie & martijn
for a while
and
now
we both have
children
we mostly
spend time
together
and let
the children play.

vee was
fascinated
by the
big kids...





and their toys...













she was always
right
behind them
watching
what
they did next...

but
vee had
her
own adventures too:



and
children
that
get dirty together
get clean together.



. . . . .

we did do
a little
sight-seeing...

in woerden
vee traveled
in the
highest
of dutch-style...



and visitied
my favorite store-
HEMA!



. . . . .

in utrecht
we went
to the
dick bruna house
(home of all things nijntje).

















. . . . .

we
walked
in the bogs
near woerden.








. . . . .

we took
a quick
evening trip
to amersfoort
to visit
my friend tom
from
the university.




vee got
a tour
of the town
before
the sun
went down.



. . . . .

we even took
a little trip
to amsterdam...



we did not
do much.
just walked
around.

we stopped
at a café
and
vee
asked for
a croissant
by name.



and
vee
played
in a little park
with lots
of dutch
city kids.



we
watched some
dutch pétanque.



time was short.

it
was
soon time
to leave
the low country...



and head home
to higher ground.

xo

oiseaux!

puerto escondido, mexico 

v e e
v s .
t h e    b i r d s

bern, switzerland

shake it vee!

(in a restaurant in puerto escondido)

   
(outside a shopping center in neuchatel)

19 months

t h e    m o n t h    o f    t h e    p u d d l e - j u m p e r


this month
we adjusted
to the cold
and
to normal life
again.

although
most of the snow
had disappeared
from neuchatel,
we had mostly
cold, rainy,
grey days.



vee did not
seem to care.
she wanted
to be outside
all the time.
she lived in
her fuzzy
grover sweater.

























she loved
walking
around
on cold days
but
she especially
l o v e s
playing in puddles.



it was
impossible
to keep
her out
of them.



she would
puddle-jump
for hours
if we would
let her.



even
if it
meant
a long
walk home
with
wet,
cold feet.



after hours
of
puddle-jumping
she could
barely
make
it
to
her crib
for her
afternoon nap.



and
before
we knew it
another
month
had passed.

xo