Some shots of our quick safari to Zambia!

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Amersfoort

16^TH July

Traveling as a US citizen is amazing. Imagine not being stopped by surly immigration officers and given the third degree about why I was there and how much money I had.

We stagger through immigration and customs we draw Euro’s from an ATM and buy train tickets to Amersfoort. We are directed to platform 6 and told to catch the train to Amersfoort that arrives in ten minutes. In our befuddled jet lagged state we climb aboard the first train that arrives. Within seconds we realize that we had neglected to notice if the train was a). the correct one and b). we didn’t ask if the train was direct or if we had to change trains and if so when and where. A moment of panic.   A lady noticing our concern assured us we are on the correct train but we did need to get off at the next station to catch the train through to Amersfoort.  We hop off, said train arrives and we hop on, arriving in Amersfoort with no further drama.

Locating our accommodation is a little tricky but with a few false starts and the non-help of 4 different people giving conflicting directions we find our house.  What should have been a 15 minute walk ends up taking 45. We chat with our hostess then rapidly shower and sack out until early afternoon.

We walk to the little supermarket Albert Hein and purchase dinner, wine and snacks. After dropping off purchases sit in the large square drinking a couple “flutjie’s of Pil’s” and eat “Bitter ballen” a typical Dutch snack.   We plan to cook a dinner consisting of roast chicken, potatoes and broccoli but feast instead on smoked mackerel, crusty bread and cheese. Falling asleep is not difficult.

17^th July

Feeling the effects of jet lag we both wake at 4 am. We drink coffee, eat a boiled egg and toast breakfast and take a long walk though the medieval town photographing it’s fascinating architecture and enjoying the extraordinary feeling of being in a totally foreign environment. We walk to a large market, “Supermarket Plus”. Similar to Whole Foods.  After collecting supplies we find that our bodies are adjusting to the time change and are in constant need of fuel. We find some in the form of coffee and “huisgemaarkt applebak”. Quite delicious! We have a rough plan of what we really want to see and called at the TI office to confirm train timings and the locations of the Cavalry Museum, Fishing Village and The Drei Ringen Brewery.   The TI is closed we pass the time with another coffee and chat with a lady who suggests doing a tour of the canals she say’s it’s a little touristy but at 4 Euro’s per it’s worthwhile.  After changing my watch battery in a very smart jewelry store, we make our way home, wolf down a chicken sandwich and sleep until 3.30 pm.  At 4.00 pm we hop on a boat with a bunch of Dutch tourists. Commentary is in Dutch.  There is an English translation leaflet.

We glean that the town is first mentioned in writing, in the year 1028. The town had many brewery’s. The beer was excellent (it still is) and therefore the town was an exceedingly happy one. It still is!

In reality the water was foul to drink and beer was the safest method of quenching one’s thirst.

After the boat tour we drink a beer on what the locals call  the “Hof” or the town square.  We also share a “Krokett” another typical Dutch snack.

Dinner is finger food again as we are in no mood to cook.  After sinking a bottle and a half of red wine we head back to the Hof and eat a “ ’n Potjie verse Mosselen”  Another glass of wine pushes Christina’s language switch and she is now speaking broken German and Italian to our waiter who is rather confused.

Hic, I say…  It’s the jet lag.  10.00 pm and bed.

Cockadoodle Hallelujah!

It’s Graduation Day here on Pole’ Pole’ Farm.  After much desensitization therapy, chicken peer pressure, food lures and finally a swift kick in the butt (kidding), Captain has made his way outside conquering is agoraphobia!  Cockadoodle Doo indeed!!

Not only has Captain strutted his stuff outside, he is now rubbing feathers with Lady in an attempt to make more obnoxious little Captains.  With his new found skills in the pleasure department as well as becoming the king of his domain, you can imagine his feeling of self importance.  Being an urban girl in my previous life, I truly thought roosters crowed at sunrise to greet the day and then crowed at sunset to wish everyone goodnight – how romantic, right.  Sadly not the case in the real world of roosterdom.  Captain crows often throughout the day.  It’s really quite annoying.  And if you remember his doodle is Happy Birrrrrrrthdayyyyy.  I can’t even bare hearing Happy Birthday more than once in a restaurant let alone all day long.  I may have plans for Captain Jack Sparrow that may include spices….

cockadoodle this!

Seriously, we are proud of little Jack and look forward to seeing if he and Lady manage to raise any chicks of their own.  We’ll keep ya posted.  Until then…Happy Birrrrrthdayyyyyyy

chicken little...

I feel we have failed miserably as chicken parents.  Our attempts to coax Captain Jack from the coop using peer pressure worked about as well as Nancy Reagan’s “Just Say No” campaign.  Now when Lady goes outside Captain crows relentlessly trying to convince Lady she’s just made the worst mistake of her life, I mean really, what IS she thinking going out there.  The other chicks in the coop have decided to follow Captain’s lead; he is the man of the house after all.   So that leaves us now with one well adjusted hen and about 16 agoraphobic knuckleheads.  Not only has Captain persuaded the others to go to the dark side, he has developed a seriously aggressive attitude toward me (maybe he read my last post…and some chicken recipes).  Not so long ago this handsome, albeit demented, beast used to eat grain from my open hand and now I’m getting full on rooster attacks.  How embarrassing is it to fight off a tiny 2 pound chicken?  Very.  Fortunately he hasn’t grown spurs yet.  I think I may stay on the cooking side of this development and leave the farming and animal husbandry to Steve.  I don’t have the patience to psychoanalyze something I can eat.

brave little Lady Luck

It's a Big World Out There...

 This is Captain Jack Sparrow…one of 2 chicks that miraculously survived our original 42 bird delivery some months back- a long and rather sad story.  Isn’t he a beauty!?  He’s starting to act like a grown-up rooster, strutting and ruffling his hackles BUT that’s were the tough-guy stuff ends.

We have 15 acres for Captain Jack to strut his stuff on; he could have been kiiiiiinnng of aaaaalllllll  Pole’ Pole’ faaaaaaarrrrrrrrmmmmmm (echo, echo).  I say could have been cuz he aint.  When we tried luring Captain out of the coop with feed, he mysteriously spooked himself into hysteria and is now, get this, agoraphobic!!  Even Captain’s girlfriend Lady enjoys the cool breezes and freshly cut grasses that are here in abundance, saying to Jack, “come check out the delightful dirt pile over here!”  No amount of persuasion has worked.  It’s been weeks and no sign of improvement, in fact just the opposite has happened…..not only is Jack agoraphobic he may suffer from a mild case of Tourette syndrome.  His repetitive cockadoodle directly translates to Happy BIRTHdayyyyyyyy!!!  Over and over and over and over again…very loudly.  Tempting to demote Jack from Captain to common seaman and toss him in the pot.  This would be a lot cheaper than bringing in a chicken therapist!  

Our recent tact has been good ol’ fashion peer pressure.  We have introduced several new chicks into the coop and come tomorrow we will open the coop doors.  With any luck, the new group of 15 chicks will show Jack that the world doesn’t have to be a big scary place and worms are a wonderfully delicious food group (kinda like foie gras).  Until then, cross fingers.  We’ll report back!

we are taking a break here at mixedsoup – check us out at our other site if ya like!