Guus Bosman

We ate boerenkool for dinner. It was sunny today but it is getting dark earlier these days, so I figured it was okay to make a traditional winter dish. The boerenkool, as always, was delicious and we did our duty in researching a rookworst substitute -- more on that later. We even had my favorite Zaanse mustard. Now if only we had gele vla it would have been a fully Dutch dinner.

Yesterday over dinner we watched some Dutch TV online. That was fun as always, with Prince Willem-Alexander and Princess Maxima on orange bikes in New York. We didn't get to see the weather report though.

The moon rock that was a prized part of the collection of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam turned out to be false. A few weeks ago researchers of the Vrije University announced that the moon rock was in fact petrified wood, possibly from Arizona.

The 'moon rock' had been a gift to Prime Minister Willem Drees by the American Ambassador when the three Apollo 11 astronauts visited the Netherlands in 1969.

After Willem Drees passed away in 1988, the moon rock was presented to the Rijksmuseum. According to Novum/AP this may have been where things got a little confused:

"Spokeswoman Xandra van Gelder said that after it received the moon rock in 1992 from the heirs of Mr. Drees the museum verified with NASA if this was indeed a moon rock. Without physical inspection, NASA said it was 'possibly' a moon rock. However, the rock was 89 grams -- much bigger than most other moon rocks that the US government has given to other countries over the years.

The Epoch Times adds: "There is much speculation about the purpose of giving the stone as a gift. Was the stone intentionally given to mislead people, or did Drees misinterpret the gift?

Van Gelder continued, "On the card that was given along with the stone, it did not literally say that it was a moon stone ... But what is odd about it: 'Why would you give such an insignificant stone as a keepsake?' I don’t get that."

In any case, you won't have to go without seeing moon stone in Netherlands this fall. The Boerhaave Museum in Leiden has extended their moon exhibition with 4 weeks, and through September 30 you can visit their display of undisputed moon rock.

Two tiny pieces of moon rock are on display in Leiden; one from Apollo 11 from Mare Tranquillitatis, the other from Apollo 17, the last flight to the moon. Both were gifts by President Nixon to Queen Juliana who donated them to the museum.

Maria Beatriz Fasolo was born this morning!

Bia is the daughter of our friends Chris and Angelo and was born at 1.39 am in Durham, NC. Mother and daughter are doing fine.

Congratulations!

Here are about 40 pictures of the weekend in the Dijkgatsbos when Jaap celebrated his 60th birthday.

Guests included: Ankie, Anneke, Anouk, Arienne, Arne, Carel, Christianne, Cock, Dieuwke, Diny, Ettie, Eva, Eveline, Frank, Gea, Gerben, Gerrit, Gerrit, Guus, Jaap, Jan, Jean-Paul, Jelly, Jennie, Jerry, Johan, Joost, Kirsten, Len, Maarten, Marieke, Marjolein, Mieke, Nicky, Paula, Peggy, Peter, Ria, Rob, Roel, Ronald, Sophie, Steven, Tibor and Twan. For the first time in many years all the cousins were together, that was pretty cool.

See also Steven's pictures.

Steven sent us 3 pictures he took during Jaap's 60th birthday.

Beautiful images.

I woke up around 4.30 am this morning, awake and refreshed. That's 10.30 am Dutch time. Last night I went to bed really early so I got plenty of sleep.

I'm tempted to do some laundry but that would not be nice to our neighbors. I'll get in the office early today.

The books, cheese, chocolate and kroepoek all arrived in good shape. I was worried that I'd end up with mashed kroepoek but I transferred it safely.

Saturday morning we did some last minute shopping in Wieringerwerf and Middenmeer, and during the day I packed my luggage. Ettie and Gerben came over and we had a nice dinner together (with kroket).

This morning we woke up around 4.30 am and were at the airport well on time, around 6.30 am. I brought a lot of luggage. My parents and I had a cup of coffee at Starbucks.

Still sleepy on the plane, I read a little and soon I arrived in Heathrow. What a difference with the terminal in Munich last week, so alive and crowded with people! The flight from Heathrow to Raleigh/Durham took 9 hours. Longer than usual because we took a route more south to escape tropical storm Bill.

At the airport Belen and Esteban were waiting for me; a very nice welcome. They drove me home, lots to talk about, and at home I started unpacking.