Guus Bosman

We spent two hours at Antonio's Beach this morning. Leo and I tried snorkeling but there wasnt much to sea and the water cloudy, so we swam instead. The kids made friends with a small Romanian boy while make their sandcastle.

Around 2 pm we left for Potos for lunch. Were turned to Taverna Laskarina because the food was so delicious there. The chicken souvlaki in particular is outstanding. Sasha had European anchovy which was delicious, kind of a bigger version of цаца. Leo had grilled large shrimps, Nora her souvlaki and Adrian the pork ribs.

Adrian drew a picture at school of our family. Half of it in the Netherlands, half in Bulgaria. Can you guess which side is which?

Hint, on the left they are wearing rain jackets.

Adrian explained: "ik was vergeten mezelf te tekenen".

One of my favorite books is Het Bureau, about the politics in a scientific institute about culture and language.

Today arstechnica wrote about a study published by the actual institute from the book, and it was very interesting to read. Ever since I've been reading the ancient classics, I've been fascinated by "books that disappeared". The study tries to estimate how many works from medieval literature still survive -- their headline number is that only 9% survived.

One of the characters in the book predicted my interest in studies like this, quite rightly:

'Er komen daar natuurlijk allemaal natuurkundigen, chemici, biologen, geologen. Wat moeten die met de Nederlandse volkstaal en volkcultuur?' 'Dat interesseert ze juist!' zei Balk apodictisch. 'Eindelijk eens echte wetenschap!' - hij lachte met een grimmig sarcasme. Voor wat wij doen, heeft iedere intellectueel belangstelling. Dat geeft die bètamensen juist status! En anders prikkelt het het snobisme!' - hij glimlachte gemeen.

It's 7 degrees Celsius and there's a good seabreeze, but when Nora told the boys about their new beach shovels they quickly got ready and went digging.

They started three holes, equidistant from each other. Close together for company, but with some distance after a whole day in the car, too.

Had a lovely bicycle trip though DC this afternoon. Gorgeous weather.

Adrian has been asking to go for a bike ride all day, so at 5 pm I took all three kids and we went to a play court at Washington-Liberty, above the parking garage. Good exercise for all of them.

I was having my coffee outside just now, when I saw a hand appear in Adrian's window. A pencil was strategically placed between window and curtain, to keep light coming in for reading, instead of the required napping. I yelled "Adrian!" and hand and pencil disappeared right away.

The photo is from earlier today.

Leo and Adrian, discussing some plans: "na het corona, of misschien in het weekend..."

Last night I went for a walk after dinner and I saw that they are making nice progress on the sidewalk at Johnson St. So many times we walked there with the stroller!

The house we are staying in is huge. During normal times, it is often rented as a bed & breakfast with 5 rooms, but we have the place for ourselves during Covid-19. The pool is fabulous. It's a full sized pool and deep enough for me to jump into and for Sasha and I to do laps. The kids are having a terrific time. There are also a lot of pool toys.

It's a great routine -- a quick breakfast outside, swimsuits and of we are to the pool. Very convenient.