Rainy Grays

The weather is officially dismal as is the way of Dutch autumn, winter (and most of spring). I already miss the surreal days of summer when it’s light out until 11pm and the skies are cornflower blue with crazy white clouds but we’re settling into our gezellig life. It’s for the best as our Covid numbers are soaring. We’re up to more than 4,000 new cases a day and 5,000 per day projected by the end of the week. The hospitals are filling up again. New measures have been announced including the first ever government endorsement of masks, but even that is a mixed message with the health minister saying they likely won’t make a difference, which doesn’t do much in the way of reinforcing the message so people actually wear them. It’s frustrating.

Last week I had some chest pressure and a cough and I was really tired and since there have now been several Covid cases at JW’s school people with even mild symptoms are asked to get tested. I got the brain swab on Friday and it’s every bit as unpleasant as you’ve likely heard (or experienced yourself). Fortunately my results are negative so that’s a relief. We’re back to being inside full time except to walk Brian. JW is still in school but it’s likely they will switch back to online learning if there continue to be positive cases in his school. We’re fine with that. We’re all stocked up on our groceries and other items and we’re just doing what we’ve been doing from the beginning which is keeping to ourselves and making our home life as lovely as we can.

Brian remains unconcerned
James and JW made lobster pasta for dinner on Sunday. JW made the pasta from scratch using the recipe and technique he learned from his cooking class in Milan. It was crazy good.
JW made this fox tail for the fantasy character he made to wear when he plays Dungeons and Dragons with his online group. He ordered all the fabric and sewed it himself. I love that he still has this playful side.

I’m pretty affected by the weather so it takes me a bit to transition to a happy state of mind once the sun leaves me. I’m almost there. I need something to look forward to so I started planning our vacation for next summer. It’s likely the world will still be in flux so we’re going to plan on a European vacation that we can drive to and self isolate. I want a beautiful sea. I’m looking at villas in Sardinia.