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Early November Laura and I visit Como, Italy, for three days. On 6 November in the Aula Magna Politecnico we watch a concert by David Jackson and Judge Smith and a choir and brass band and a rock band and soundbeam musicians, The House That Cried. It rains a lot but it doesn't spoil the fun we have. Here you'll find photos of this weekend.
David Jackson in Como, 6 November (The House That Cried).
On 19 September Laura and I have our first weekly Ballfolk dance lesson. Neither of us has much dancing experience, but we like it very much.
Laura and I have a holiday in Italy for three weeks in July and August. We visit Venice, Petriano, Siena and Turin. For two weeks we rent an apartment in Petriano. Here you'll find a story with photos about that holiday, and here you'll find even more photos. In Picasa there's also a collection of photos of the Lingotto building in Turin, the former Fiat factory, and a collection of photos of cars in the Automobile Museum of Turin.
A Delage from 1913 in the Museo dell'Automobile in Turin.
On Saturday 9 July Michel, Laura and I visit Orfest, a friendly and small festival with balfolk music in the backyard of the band Orfeo in Noordeloos. Here you'll find photos of Orfest 2011.
Laura at Orfest.
In the first week of July I have a Mimia T-shirt made. It gets delivered to me on Wednesday 6 July.
Mimia T-shirt.
Friday 15 April Laura and I trade in our Citroën AX for a Citroën C3 Pluriel. The roof of the Pluriel can open, so that it reminds us (very vaguely) of a Citroën 2CV or Méhari. We enjoy it very much.
Our Citroën C3 Pluriel.
In the second week of April Laura and I are on holiday in Xhoffraix, in the Hautes Fagnes in Belgium. Here you'll find a story with pictures about this holiday.
Photo through sunglasses and through the windscreen of the car.
Laura sings two songs solo and one in a duet at a performance by the students of singing teacher Mirella Reiche on Sunday 20 March. Here you'll find photos from the event (Picasa).
Laura zingt.
Laura and I spend Christmas and New Year's Day 2011 with three of our friends in a rented house in the Algarve, Portugal. For two weeks we escape from the snow. We walk and bike a lot. There's some rain, but we also get to enjoy the sunshine at the pool side. Here you'll find photos from that weekend (Picasa).
Our house in the Algarve.
In the first weekend of September Laura and I visit England, to watch Judge Smith and John Ellis perform live at the Specially Dedicated Festival in Hall's Green. Here you'll find some photos from that weekend (Picasa).
Laura drinks.
In July and August Laura and I are on holiday in Italy and France. We rest for a week in a hotel at Lake Garda, and during the second week we travel through France in the direction of home. Here you'll find a story with pictures about this holiday.
Laura and I in a mirror along the road.
In May my boss informs me that my temporary contract with the Freudenthal Institute as of October will be replaced by a regular contract. I am very pleased. Since December 2008 I worked four days a week, but from October on that will be three days again. It is a busy time, because in September the Freudenthal Institute will move. You will find my FI-homepage (in Dutch) at FI Mark Uwland.
Logo of the Freudenthal Institute (Hans Freudenthal).
From Friday 14 until 21 May Laura and I have a holiday in Wissenkerke, in Zealand, a province in the South of the Netherlands. We walk, read and sleep a lot, as is usual on a holiday of ours. Here you'll find a story with pictures about this week.
Laura walks near Wissenkerke.
I have an operation on my nose on Friday 19 February, to help me breathe in my sleep. My nose heals perfectly, but I am left with a throat full of ulcers and a lot of pain. Swallowing, talking and sleeping are particularly difficult. Only after about three weeks the pain starts to go away.
Painkillers and toilet paper.
In October 2009 Laura and I spend a small week in Bruges, Belgium. We walk a lot in the city, we have very good diners, and one day we bicycle in the surrounding Flemish country. Here you'll find a story with pictures about this week.
Bruges at sundown.
At the end of July and the beginning of August Laura and I travel to France, Andorra and Spain. We're impressed by the Pyrenees, and we enjoy Zaragoza. Here you'll find a story with pictures about this holiday.
Laura high up in the mountains in Andorra.
Laura and I visit Bergen, Norway, in May. We see the premiere of the songstory The Climber by Judge Smith, we're present at the recording of the CD en we have a holiday. Here you'll find photos with captions about our week in Bergen.
Land ho!
Michel, Laura, Bas and I visit Ireland at the end of March and the beginning of April 2009. We celebrate the coming of Spring and the two hundred and fiftiest birthday of Guinness. For a week we stay in a house in the West of the country. Here you'll find a story with pictures about our week in Ireland.
Four Guinness in the brewery, pulled only seconds earlier.
At the end of December 2008 Laura and I spend a week in Drenthe, in the North of the Netherlands. We rent a little house in Meppen, a beautiful, small village close to Emmen. Mainly we do nothing there. Here you'll find a number of pictures from that week.
Laura in Meppen.
Saturday 20 September I buy a new bike, my first in over six years. In the meantime I walked a lot, and I used Laura's second bike. It feels wonderful to have a new bike again. Translated from Dutch the bike is called a "granny's bike." It has drum brakes, three hub gears and a low, leather saddle.
My new bike, a "granny's bike" by Gazelle.
The first half of July we're on a holiday in England. Judge Smith invited us to his birthday-party, and we also go and see The New Forest, a large National Park in Hampshire where horses and donkeys and cows graze about freely, and Ashdown Forest, where among other things we visit a llama-park. Here you'll find an account of our holiday in England in 2008.
A foal and I (I'm wearing my Judge Smith T-shirt) in The New Forest.
As a marriage-present Laura gives me a digital single-lens reflex camera, that I get to choose myself. After a few months of searching and comparing I decide to buy a Pentax K 200 D, that we buy 9 June. The first day I take a total of 250 pictures in and around the house.
My camera and I.
Laura has her gallbladder removed surgically on 2 June. She had now and again suffered from severe belly-pains for a long time already. The operation goes wholly as planned, and the probable culprits, two large stones, come out. After having spent one night in the hospital she'll do the rest of the recovery at home.
Coming home.
At the end of April Laura and I have a week long holiday. We both are happy to leave our new house for a while and to not have to worry each day about the decoration. Which is coming along very well by the way, so we feel we've earned ourselves a holiday. We have rented a house along the river Moselle, in the village of Enkirch. Here you'll find some photos with captions about this holiday.
My wife on a bench in Enkirch.
Laura and ik marry Wednesday 26 March. The actual, administrative part of getting married is at a desk of a registrar (is that the correct word in English?), and is over in about ten minutes. After that we have lunch with the best man Bas, the maid of honour Gina and the photographer Michel. In the afternoon we have high tea with our families and best friends at De Colonie in Utrecht. In the evening Laura and I dine together. It is a nice day, and it is a joy to get to be married to Laura. Here is a page about our wedding.
The rings.
On Saturday 1 March Laura and I each move to our new house. The following weeks we're busy unpacking boxes, putting everything in place and throwing things away. The floor is ready and so is the carpeting, but we're still waiting for the new kitchen and the last drops of paint. Somebody told us of a saying in English: "Two moves are as good as a fire." It has to be, because it all hardly fits in. But first we need to buy some cupboards.
Moving house.
On Monday 4 February 2008 Laura and I get offered a house to rent, after having been on the waiting-list for six-and-a-half years. At last we move in together, after so many years of carrying our stuff to and fro between both our houses. Too many times important stuff wasn't in the house we were in at that moment, and too many things we have two of now. It is a beautiful house, with a large living-room with an open kitchen and three bedrooms, on a beautiful location with lots of space and lots of green. There even is a terrace with a garden. We get the keys on Friday 8. There is however a lot of work that needs to be done, like painting, flooring, kitchening... You will find more information (in Dutch, but with pictures) at Laura's blog.
Rear view of our new house.
At the end of November and the beginning of December 2007 Laura and I visit Judge Smith in England, to get to know eachother better and to talk about the appearance of his website. He appears to be just as friendly a man as we had imagined, or even more. We talk a lot, and he shows us around. Afterwards Laura and I spend a day in Brighton. The weather is very rainy, and driving on the left is an exciting experience.
October 18 Laura and I go and see Sleepytime Gorilla Museum perform again, once again in the Bimhuis in Amsterdam. It's their second European tour, and they're rapidly becoming one of my favourite bands. In November we go and see them another time, in Amstelveen, at the final concert of their European tour. It's hard to categorise their music, but here I'll stick with a cross between heavy metal, theatre and improvised music.
Sleepytime Gorilla Museum in the Bimhuis, Amsterdam, 18 October 2007.
In August Judge Smith informs the yahoo-mailinglist that he is searching for a new webmaster for his sites, Judge Smith and Curly's Airships. Laura sends him an e-mail and gets hired. As of Thursday 6 September she is Judge's webmaster. We are both happy and proud. That same day Laura works for thirteen hours in a row.
In August Laura and I are on a two week holiday, to France and Italy. We return home via Switzerland. Here you'll find the story of our holiday 2007 (in Dutch, but with many pictures).
The new tent and I, at the banks of the river Loire in France.
In the first half of May Laura and I take a week long holiday. First we are in a camping in Luxemburg for a few days, but the rain won't stop so we decide to travel further south. We arrive in the east of Switzerland and spend the rest of the week in a remote hotel, the former health spa Val Sinestra. We both very much enjoy the mountains. Here you'll find some photos with captions.
Swiss perspective (a tree near the hotel).
Laura and I see Sleepytime Gorilla Museum perform during their first European tour, on 20 April in the Bimhuis in Amsterdam, a very special occasion of which you'll find a review here.
The Donkey-Headed Adversary Of Humanity Opens The Book.
On 14 April in Paradiso in Amsterdam Laura and I again see Van der Graaf Generator perform. Although much less filled with emotions than two years ago (when they got together again for the first time in more than a quarter of a century), musically it was much more interesting than it was back then. Because of the saxophonist's departure the band had been forced to re-arrange their music intensively, which had always been one of the best aspects of concerts by Peter Hammill and Van der Graaf Generator.
In the beginning of January 2007 I am busy translating my website into English, which proves to be a lot of work. The number of links more than doubles, and they all need to be tested one by one. After this only the pages that now await completion need to be written (or just translated).
My website and I (13 January 2007).
