Week 47

Kids' Weekend again - gee, they come around quickly these days...

It's not yet 0700, but I have already lit the fire out the back so it will be nice and warm when they get up. They have left their shoes in front of the fire - for the traditional "Sinterklaas" gifts to be put in them. It's a Dutch thing (that was probably the forerunner to Santa Claus) - celebrated on 5th of December - with Sinterklaas and a character named Zwart Pete - but he's not allowed to be made up "black" anymore - funny, I never once thought of "slavery" - I just thought it was a quaint local tradition...oh well.

It's not yet officially winter and the days will get shorter yet...but it is nice to have the fire on and do some cooking and binge TV watching - life goes on, after all.

The cat and dog have been out...

A (very) few little jobs during the week...

Tjeerd finished off the Christmas trees - for our Open Day on 6 December...We'll be busy setting everything up during the coming week...

...and Janny used the 3D printer as she is still getting the hang of it...

One of the boat doors won't lock properly - so I'm looking for a replacement - which is going to be easier said than done :-(

It was also very hard to get the old one out without damaging the woodwork. Now, I "may" have been guilty of varnishing with the lock in place and it was "gunked" in...but even so, there is something rattling inside the lock casing - doesn't sound good. I'll send the photo and dimensions to a few lock specialists...and keep my fingers crossed.

( I remember that I had new locks placed in 2011, so I can go back to ask them at the haven in Drachten - Wouter was the young guy who did it - but he hurt his leg and no longer works there - then I remembered a few other boat people who got injured - the agent for the boat fell off a ladder and badly broke his leg - Sander from Heerenveen couldn't work in the cramped spaces anymore due to a crook back...we now have Alex who did the Gas installation approval and seems pretty handy at other things...).

I also had to make a new step for Daniel's ~~hovel~~ house...

:-) I'm sure I must have done much, much more but if I don't take photos... sometimes Janny asks me where I am (via Whatsapp) - I usually send a photo of whatever I am working on.

Maybe I just spent more time reading...

NOS news

The internal study, called Project Mercury , was conducted in 2020. In collaboration with an external agency, the study examined the effect of deactivating Facebook and Instagram on users. "People who stopped using Facebook for a week or more reported less depression, anxiety, loneliness, and social comparison," media outlets quoted court records.
A staff member wrote that the study had established a causal link between social media use and worsening mental health. According to the documents, he used a sad emoji/smiley. A colleague worried that keeping this information quiet was similar to the tobacco industry's years of concealing the toxic effects of cigarettes.

Macquarie Dictionary announces ‘AI slop’ as its word of the year, beating out Ozempic face

Also in the news here was a story about the Trump administration removing plaques at a War Cemetery in Limburg - they were commemorating Black servicemen who served in WWII. Appalling, but typical and unsurprising, I imagine.

The Cemetery is technically U.S. soil, so nothing to be done...but new plaques have been placed nearby and some local farmers placed hay bales spelling out the name of one highly decorated black soldier - so that the next Google flyover will show his name in huge letters.

The Guardian

The Netherlands American Cemetery near Maastricht holds the graves of 8,301 Americans who died liberating Europe from the Nazis, including 174 African Americans.

In 2023, the American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC), which runs the site, opened a visitor centre and last year added two panels: one on the million African Americans who enlisted but were “fighting on two fronts”, against the Nazis in Europe and against America’s racist segregation policies.

Bas Albersen, spokesperson for the governor of Limburg, said on Monday the provincial government would be making an “urgent appeal” to the ABMC and US ambassador to return these panels. “The displayed panels represented a history that we can never forget and from which we can learn, especially now that differences in the world are ever more magnified,” he said. “They fought for a freedom that they did not have themselves.”

NLtimes

https://nltimes.nl/2025/11/17/surviving-relatives-furious-whitewashing-us-wwii-cemetery-dutch-town

NOS on Sunday

Two information panels about Black soldiers have been installed next to the military cemetery in Margraten. Similar panels had previously been permanently removed from the cemetery by the US. The reinstallation was carried out by the BNNVARA program " Even tot hier" (Even up to here) .

Last night's program featured the unveiling of the panels to the relatives of Black soldiers who fought in Limburg during World War II. According to presenters Niels van der Laan and Jeroen Woe, the "missing panels have been restored." The information boards are located just outside the cemetery grounds, but are visible from there.

Hay bales

In the meadow next to the cemetery, the name of soldier Willy F. James Jr. was laid out in hay bales. He received the highest military decoration in the US Army during WWII and is buried in Margraten. His name is visible from the air and, according to the program's creators, will remain there until the next satellite image is taken for Google Maps. "The meadow belongs to a farmer, and we can do whatever we want there."

A creature of habit

Every morning Boeke heads off to the Day Activity group - we start with a cuppa and show and tell...Boeke first sits on Peter's lap then gets a handful of crunchies from Lucas and a special treat that Ilona brings in from home...after the cuppa I have to take him into the forest.