Week 29

 Week 29

War News

The Netherlands will “substantially contribute” to delivering American Patriot air defense systems to Ukraine, Dutch Defense Minister Ruben Brekelmans said on Monday during an online meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group.

The country is also preparing to send additional air defense equipment from its own stockpiles, including ammunition for F-16 fighter jets, counter-drone technology, and radar systems.

“With defense ministers, we are digitally discussing support for Ukraine. The Netherlands will substantially contribute to the delivery of American air defense (Patriots). Details will be worked out soon,” Brekelmans wrote on X.

“We are also supplying more air defense ourselves: F16 munitions, counter-drones, radars, etc,” he added.

BRUSSELS — When European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen faced her biggest-yet public revolt earlier this month, the Kremlin’s online spin doctors went into overdrive.

Russian-sponsored propaganda engines spewed reams of online content designed to divide public opinion and amplify disinformation in the weeks leading up to the European Parliament’s no-confidence vote against the EU president on July 10, which she ultimately survived.

The storyline depicted von der Leyen as a villain and a member of an anti-democratic, corrupt elite. It also positioned Romania’s hard-right firebrand George Simion as the brave hero taking on the EU establishment.

Boating News

On Monday, I went to the boat armed with my battery powered grass trimmer...

I first rang the Havenmeester to ask if it was OK to tidy up our spot? - oh "Yes Please" came his reply...so that was a good start.

I moved the boat out of the way and got to work...as I was doing it, I wondered if the Club has someone doing this and other general "gardening" maintenance? And then I started to wonder if it might be something for the Care Farm...I had to talk to the Havenmeester again in any case so I asked him...

He said that they are very short of personnel - they are allowed to pay a "volunteer allowance" but finding people is always difficult.

I told him about our motley Care Farm crew and that maybe we could offer something - remembering that I hadn't said anything to Janny or our crew yet - so we both thought that it might be worth considering and we'll see what we can do.

Janny and Tjeerd were both OK with the idea - so we might do a trial day - combining it with a picnic day out for the less able bodied

When Andrew and Terry sold Houtrib (to Ron and Annette) they took their orchid off the boat and left it to the club - in the canteen - quite a few years later, it is still thriving :-)

Geus vlag (the small flag at the bow of our flat-bottomed motor yacht)

A geus is a flag flown by a ship as a salute. Although in principle all ships are allowed to carry a geus, it is mainly used by naval vessels, round and flat-bottomed yachts and motor yachts.

Peter's Birthday - with us now for +/- 17 years

One of our clients left us under what I consider to be deplorable circumstances...his accommodation in a nearby village proved to be only "temporary" and so he needed to find a new place to live...not so easy to find, apparently. 

(Aside: we could have accommodation in the apartments but Janny has steadfastly refused to go down that line as we would have to provide 24/7 care and extra personnel - not to mention all the extra paperwork!).

So, a place was found but the owners said that "he can have the housing but ONLY if he comes to work for us as well". Work = Day Activity like at our place. The clients are supposedly allowed to choose their own, but not in this case. It was very much a "take it or leave it" attitude - I think the greed p'ed me off as much as anything else.

Now, Pieter was a very special case when he first came to us. His parents died when he was young and his Aunt and Uncle took over the "care" for many years - seemingly not knowing the level of support that the "system" could give them.

As it slowly became too much for them, it was almost like a breakthrough and a lot of support became available - including finding a spot with us. We  saw Pieter bloom as he gradually became part of a "group" with a real sense of belonging - and able to display his own character and talents - including painting and a pleasant nature. (As I think about it, the "belonging" is so important to them all).

In hindsight, it is now obvious that it was never going to turn out well for Pieter - he was not happy and "went missing" quite a few times - with alerts on "BurgerNet" - a Citizen Alert system.

So, they are now trying to find another place for him to live - and he may well come back to us for his Day Activity work. 

It also taught me just how "attached" we get to them.

Attack of the Moles

We were given some Dahlia plants a couple of months ago.

Tree trimming

One of our "projects" is to do some screen printing for a couple of snack food outlets...

The clients hop in and they now have a good system for getting it done - just two mornings work... and the "reward" is a free lunch...

The fencing project continues...

I'm usually awake at 0430hrs - when it gets light - sometimes I get up and get going...but I noticed this morning that it was still dark at 0500hrs - so it is slowly changing.

I had the dog and the cat helping me this morning...