We are exhausted! But, we are getting done what we need to get done here at The Cedar Journal. Although right now that has more to do with our normal daily lives and jobs than with canoe and kayaking. Go figure.
This will be a short but promised post to those who have been asking how things are here in The Netherlands.
BTW- thanks for all of you who have asked and keep blogging news. In my few minutes of grabbing a coffee while making stuff happen here it is a real stress break for me. I say me as the Hubby is so busy grounding and relocating airplanes from several countries that he hasn’t had time hardly for sleep.
The real news. We are still healthy in our house. We have always had extra food stuffs because of our canoe and camping. We did lay in a few extras. Since I have plenty of experience with these types of situations with all my years working in the military we have things out for at least three months now.
The Dutch will keep working, although mostly from home. This very connected country will not fall due to the economic situation or a virus. They have always moved stuff around the world and they will continue to due that in this situation.
Here are a few pictures from yesterday. I will keep this updated when I have time. Stay safe, healthy and productive as best as you can in this situation.
The neighborhood store we use to shop at (we have been having delivery service to the house for months but they seemed to have stopped for some reason)
The line at 0800 yesterday at the same store. A few people but not crazy. I have seen much worst in many different places in the world but not here.
Our back garden. The pots in the background will be our veggie garden and next to that we will have 4 chickens by the end of next week for eggs.
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Well I’m glad your safe and well. I’m currently camping in Queensland and have food for a few weeks but on the coast the shops are apparently running dry
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Yup. Camping the best survival and virus protection. These skills are very important to have! We have Dutch friends that just flew to your country to see their daughter who is working in her PHD there. I think they might get stuck…😬
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Well I guess there could be worse countries to be stuck in right now. Hopefully they will be ok
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Who knows
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Your local store looks well stocked, you should have seen the state of the one I work in yesterday!
Good to see the Dutch know how to remain calm.
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The one I visited this morning also within walking distance was a bit more empty and I had a woman almost in tears as she looked at near empty shelves. I wanted to give her a hug.
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I would recommend an elbow touch or maybe a distant bow instead… just saying.
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Japanese custom is to bow. I did a elbow thing today but that violates the 1.5meter afstand rule here. But, I did it anyway as the lady was very nice to me.
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Keep safe, and keep smiling! I really am amazed that the “empty shelf syndrome” is world-wide. No area seems “immune”, as it were. We also have al are camping stuff as a a back-up, but home we don’t reach that point!
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Yup. World wide is a crazy thing but… it is what it is. Funny thing is that I have TP and the toilet paper god placed a partly used toilet paper roll in my bike path this morning! 😳
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I stopped and picked it up as I hate seeing “trash” is was a bit wet, but useable. Good enough.😊 stay safe and healthy.
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💗
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❤️ Back at you. ? Do you guys still get people from outside NYC (local growers) that truck fresh veggies into the city?
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We normally have a farmers market. My guess is that because if the gatherings no larger than ten the farmers market has been suspended
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Do you have a balcony at your apartment ?
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No. I barely have windows
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That is too bad. 🤔 Roof top access? I know many apartments have turned rooftops into green spaces.
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Nope.
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👍
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Every day we’ll just do the best we can
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That is all any of us can do. Be kind to one another and help where we can. ❤️ from The Netherlands.
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Thanks!
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Best wishes to you and your hubby! You and, so it appears to me, the people of the Netherlands have the survival to sail through this critical time. The flowers in your encouraging post have the same message. Greetings from still wintery Canada!
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Thanks Peter. I won’t tell you that people aren’t afraid of what is happening, they are. This morning the local butcher I buy meat from is concerned about the down turn of people buying or his people getting sick. The economic fear is real here! But, still stuff available is a calming factor. Stay safe and healthy and keep posting positive too with truth as that is what will comfort and help those of us who are future planners. This just like 911 will change the future and all of us need to think about how we can do our part to make it better. ❤️ and kindness would be a start along with the younger generation taking those darn head phones off!🙄
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Thank you, my friend! I just heard in the news that the Netherlands will have a supply of toilet paper available for the next ten years. That sounds like a joke.
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Nope, maybe not. You know this country is connected like no other internationally. Their trade deals run great and maybe they bought up all the TP to sell it back to the stores at double the price.😂
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I am jealous about the chickens! 🐥 I think Esmeralda is a great name for a chicken. If we all do our part, be kind and helpful to others we will get through this. And maybe just maybe come out the other side a little gentler by realizing we are all truly one large family. Stay safe my friend! 💕
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Ok. Esmeralda. It is now I need 3 more names.
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Isadora, Gertrude, Agnes
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Funny and thanks! One less thing to think about.😊
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Your back garden cheered me up! Living in NYC I don’t have one, but am close to Riverside Park which is beginning to bloom. For now, we can still walk the dog there and enjoy (except for my tree pollen allergy!!). Stay well.
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Oh man I hear you about the tree pollen thing. Right this week it has been horrible here and every time I sneeze I know it is only allergies but… then the crazy voice enters… then I have to breath deep and say “oh well”. I will try to get on my bike this week and head out to some flower fields. I know they are blooming. I will post a blog about it. 😊
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Thank you for the updates on how you are both doing. Thank you also for the lovely spring images. Especially appreciated the flowers.
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I’m glad to hear the Netherlands seems to be coping well. Fear is everywhere, but can only last so long… We’re still doing okay in St. Louis, with school closings and lots of people working from home, and many restaurants shifting to a carry out or delivery only mode. My grandson’s daycare will close next week, so I’ll watch him then. Just one day at a time, and this will end at some point!
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Sounds like you are going to make it through this just fine. Living in the country we have the benefit of having natural social distancing so less concern on that front (plenty of free ranging chickens around us as well) – beyond having to go into the city to acquire a few goods to round out our contingency supplies. More concerned about my elderly mother and doing our best to make sure she has everything she needs without risking exposing her to anything (made it past our self-quarantine from our Vegas trip and have a few more days before our exposure at my alma-maters huge basketball game (before we knew how serious this thing was). My workplace has a bit of a scare having just completed a huge mining expo out in Vegas .. where someone ended up testing positive causing all our reps to go into isolation for the next couple of weeks. It is going to get interesting the longer this goes on .. thankfully I have plenty of birding posts to keep me busy. Stay safe over there!
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Wow! I forgot about your Vegas trip. Was that self imposed isolation?
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Yep, decided we didn’t need to be spreading anything unwillingly to our friends and family. Some of my coworkers are in mandatory isolation due to being at our huge mining expo in Vegas a few weeks back that someone tested positive at (not our guys/gals) – they have a 1.5 weeks to go.
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This is just crazy stuff! Well nice that you guys volunteered to isolate. I guess some people out there didn’t think it was that big of a deal and went on with life and now cases are exploding. My hubby is been working 12 hrs days (not heard of ever in Dutch companies) trying to get personal and planes home from dozens of countries it has been a ride. Stay safe and work out your legs.
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Nice bouquet of flowers! This week I’ve been figuring out how to teach at a distance. I have been busy and learning new things. There is a whole new world of possibilities opening up for me. This isolation makes room for creativity, so it is not all bad.
How about Genevere, Isolde and Ophelia for chickennames? Or Chanel, Gucci, Cavalli? Or Cinderella, Snowwhite and Red ridinghood. Too much to choose form
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I like some of those too! Snow White was one of my favorites as a kid so maybe that could be one of the names. Thanks.
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