awm : thank you for the sweet and supportive wishes. I sure hope your ride goes well. Two of the folks I am with have done that ride and loved it. We are indeed fortunate in the support we get from our families. tina thank you too. I will keep up the updates as it helps to clarify things in my head too :). I am glad you are enjoying it. golddust. we had flashing lights but it was just a miserable set of circumstances....hopefully not to be repeated. Glad you like my TALL tales. Sue yes it never has stormed today but we have had a fine time. We walked several miles to go to a Dollar Store and to stretch our legs. Time for a nap I think. Your trip sounds wonderful. I bet you will always cherish that time as will I this trip. Most likely won't do another as I don't want to leave DH this long again but this one time it is good. More later. c

We are in Drenthe now for 4 days. This is a very forested area and then open veld lands. There are boards placed in different areas showing the flora and fauna that lives there. I took pics of two small lakes..one has a beach and lots of people go there to swim, the other was just a beautiful natural lake. Drenthe is known for the hundebed here. These are boulders that were pushed here by the Ice Age upheaval. The people of that time were able to stack them and make burial grounds with these huge boulders. I don't have a good pick of any as there were too many people around this AM...sigh...kids climbing on them which I personally do not like...also adults. I remember when we saw them 25 yrs ago it was frowned upon to climb on them as it was disrespectful...times change I guess. They are scattered everywhere in this country and others of Europe. Our B and B is a 100 yr old thatch roofed farmhouse in an apple orchard. It is amazing. The redo inside is incredible but we are in our own little apt. so I have no pics of her home. She has an Ikea kitchen too ! Every single home we have been to has had one. They love Ikea here. All bed linens and towels even the napkins come from there. Here are some pics of the B and B and from our bike ride this AM. We went 35 km to Borger and back here to Anderen. Oh also in one small village there was a man having part of his roof re-thatched. What a lost art and amazing work. I took some photos. The part you see that is done toward the right of the picture took 2 days...he said it would be a week to get the whole rear done. You see more thatched roofs here in Drenthe than you do anywhere else in Holland. It is VERY expensive to have it done . You can see in the next pics what new thatch and old look like. It fairly glows in the sun. I just love it. our garden seating area...we have several ! breakfast and dinner are here under the walnut tree another lovely breakfast..love the egg cozy! garden horse farm next door gardens views one of the many apple trees..they don't pick or use them anymore...both folks have had this B and B for 25 yrs and quite elderly now. there house...note the low huge windows..they are near the ground but are perfect for looking out from inside...a way of keeping the style of the house intact and yet making soaring ceilings inside..wish I could show you pics..I will perhaps ask if I can take some . another garden " room" ...all the Dutch garden in small rooms..I love love love it..so intimate small beachy lake wild natural one..you can guess which I like best ! nature board at the largest hundebed in the Netherlands thatching process bunches first up on the roof where he uses wire to tie it all together note the ladders used to ascend the roof a new one nearby see how light and an old one unusual detail I spotted on the way out of town... more on other days...thanks for looking and hope you enjoy.

Oh, so pretty, darn battery! CASTLES! I love castles, I have a real thing for them, always have. If I ever had a previous life, I think I must have lived (and died young from hypothermia, ha!) in one at some point. Give me a secret passage and I'm happy. lol

One thing to note is that pork/pigs have been bred for lean meat in the last few decades in the US, but NOT necessarily in EU/Germany. So the wonderfully tender pork you may experience in the EU is not the same and cannot be replicated into recipes in the US. Just an FYI, in case one thinks the EU has stellar pork cooking techniques (which they may), but not as much as you might think. Think of prime US beef ribeye (fatty) vs. choice NY strip (fairly lean) and you'll get the idea.