The "Fiets-Gil-Gitaar" (Bike-Scream-Guitar).

For music class Nicky had to make a new musical instrument. She made, with a little help of daddy, a musical bike. I fixed a tin can on it like we used to make every saturday before Whit Sunday, we called it "Luilak", Lazy-Bones. The children got out bed very early and woke up erveryone with a lot of noise. The rope you see on the picture contains a little white spirit and vibrates when you ride the bike. The frequency varies with the speed, so when you drive faster the tone goes up to a whining sharp terrible sound. Nicky's best friend Nikki danced on the schoolyard on the tones of the "Fiets-Gil-Gitaar". The class went crazy when they heard the bike and Nicky scored a 10 (an A).

Cooking Class at school

I volunteered today to help with cooking class on school. As always I was the only father, but I am used to that. We cooked a real Dutch meal, mashed potatoes with vegetables and bits of backed bacon. In fact there where four different stews, “Zuurkool” (mashed potatoes with sauerkraut), “Hutspot” (mashed potatoes with onions and carrots), “Boerenkool” (mashed potatoes with kail) and “Andijvie Stampot”(mashed potatoes with endive). In some stews backed bacon is traditional and in others smoked sausage. Our group cooked “Zuurkool”.
Twan enjoys the fact that I help cooking, but he didn’t want me to wear my chef’s hat! The kids learned to peel the potatoes and cut the bacon. After this hard work it tasted good!

My great great grandfather and his dog

The father of my mothers mother, my grandma's father, holding his twin barrel shotgun and posing with his beloved dog Pollo. He always had a dog. Frederik Willem Te Strake. My brother Willem was named after him, I think. He died at the age of 88, my brother at the age of 21.
My family developed a sudden interest in its roots, its ancestors, its past. We feel a deep love for each other, although we find it hard to say. I am a very happy man, having such a family and I know I should behave more like the family man I really am inside.
I tried to make a similar photo with my own dog. I don’t own a shotgun, so I used a whip. And my beloved dog Benno refuses to look into the lens when I tell him so.

Five guilty pleasures

Five guilty pleasures, just five. I have a zillion guilty pleasures, because the more guilt, the more pleasure! But I know that these pages are also read by people that are under age, so...
nr 1.
Buy a sack of "Trekdrop" (black liquorice) and eat it all within the hour.
nr 2.
Enjoying the next day when I have a crap that it's all black!
nr 3.
Fart loud and accusing everybody else.
nr 4.
Writing dirty poems and limericks.
nr 5.
Call people names out loud and yell at people when I am driving my car.

So, do I feel guilt? Not really...

Horses

Feeding the animals is one of the little daily jobs when you live on a farm. Here they wait at the fence for their lunch. I am feeding hay because there is not enough grass in the winter. Benno is always a great help.
After feeding them, their stables have to be cleaned for the night. They produce an enormous amount of shit, this is one nights production!

Cat

Kwibus, one of our cats. She wishes to be worshiped, as all cats want. We are allowed to stay in the room, because of our warm laps and the hands that crawl behind the cat’s ears. I fight a daily battle to prevent the cats to stay in the living room. I lose because the kids spy for the enemy and open doors when I am not around.

Coupe Soleil

A barbers family session, Hellen gives us all a coupe soleil. I get 15 blonde strands, Nicky gets 15 blonde strands and Twan one blonde forelock. Hellen puts the Hydrogen Peroxide in my hair with protecting alufoil.