75 years ago today the Dutch citizens danced in the streets to welcome the Allied Forces, their liberators after more than four years under Nazi rule.

Each year flags are hung to remember that day and to celebrate freedom. This year the national day off was, well less than normal.

We took the opportunity to head out on our first canoe ride of the year. We both needed to be on the water, to flex our canoe muscles, to free ourselves of the four walls of the house. I am usually on the water for weeks by May. Either in Minnesota or here but the last two years have presented some challenges. This year I am guessing most of my readers can relate to the cabin fever syndrome.
He travelled to Hillegom, NL to a place we have paddled before in the Spring. The canals lead through the tulip fields and usually are filled with color and scents of blooms.

This was the first time we have had to place Cedar on our new (to us) VW Caddy. We were worried about how we would lift her to the much higher roof of this van. In fact we talked about it most of the winter, tried to watch videos of people who lift canoes onto higher profiles vehicles (no luck on that!), and finally came up with a system that seemed to work for us.
We love the fact that the VW Caddy has so much more room for our gear.







©️ The Cedar Journal, 2020, all rights reserved
Nice to see cedar on the water again. My increase in car height has really put me off getting another kayak. But never say never
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We were so happy to have her on the water! The paddling muscles…not so much.😂
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I know what you mean, I went for two walks in the past two days first time I’ve put 10000 steps on my Fitbit in about two months.
My legs are killing me this morning
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Many Canadians celebrate Dutch Liberation Day, too, because they were part of the liberation forces. Beautiful pictures.
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In fact many Canadian and Polish troops liberated the area we live in.
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How wonderful to be back on the water again and on such a beautiful day. Sounds like it did you good your narrative is less strained!
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Thanks. It did but still very stressful our situation here,
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What a wonderful way to celebrate the freedom of Liberation Day! Great camping weather so early in the year too! We have the same kind of coffee pot in our camping gear. We believe the coffee tastes so much better when we are camping. Best wishes! Peter
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Perked coffee is the best as far as I am concerned. Thanks Peter as always for stopping and for your comments. Stay healthy.
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On the water – YEAH!!
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What a lovely way to spend the day, and to celebrate Liberation day! I’m so glad you got back on the water, and I’m sure it was so good for you both. Truth be told, I’m jealous!
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Oh, you must have felt wonderful after this on-the-water adventure! It looked like a glorious day. Being outside – we walk a couple of miles daily before breakfast – is part of our sanity-saving routine. Beautiful pictures. Glad you go to do some paddling.
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It was awesome. Remind me to tell you about why I wasn’t able to video conf. With you after this outing, there is always a back story… never just unicorns and ice cream.🙄🙄😬
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Thank you for relieving my cabin fever with this serene journey.
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You are welcome! Cabin fever sucks in the dead of winter it must really suck now that things are green and everyone should be dancing in the fields…ok, as a farm kid did you ever really dance in the fields? 😂
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So pleased you got back out on the water, it looks like a beautiful paddle. And that you managed to get the canoe on the van roof! I keep looking at my canoe and wondering when I’ll be allowed to use it – it will be one of the first things I do to celebrate the end of lockdown!
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Let me know when that happens. I heard that you guys might get to do that real soon!
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