Harper sux!

I can't hide my disdain for the new Prime Minister. For shame. My only hope that we'll have another Kim Campbell on our hands and he'll be gone within the year. We can only hope.

On a positive note, I saw crocusses shoots poking up today in the garden around our apartment. Hope Springs Eternal. It's been very cold here the last 3 days. It's dipped below zero. But no snow and lots of sunshine. James got his vacation approved and we have to book our tickets for Florida this week. Now comes the hard part... where should we leave Zephyr!

Just kicking down the cobblestones....

Here I am. Out for a stroll with my puppy and kid. We took this pic last weekend when we went to Vondelpark en famille. It was a beautiful sunny day and the park was full of people - but not as busy as the summer when the place is rife with stoned backpackers. Vondelpark has one of the best kid's playgrounds and Jack was just storming around and having a blast. Zephyr did much of the same. The park boast a pack of wild parakeets. Legend has it that someone let loose a pair of them in the park many years ago and the damn things survived and bred like rabbits. I think that same could be said for the durty hippies sleeping in the park, too!

I'm so excited and I just can't hide it!

Where are the Pointer Sisters now? Anyway, I am so pumped that my friend Kathy is making her way to A'dam in April for a visit. It's her first trip across the pond and she's using her dear husband Darren's air miles to fly Business Class! As Kathy would say, "Right on!" We've got some serious shoe shopping to do and A'dam is the place to do it.

James and I went out on a date on Saturday and we went to a cool tapas bar that had a beautiful El Gato hanging out at the bar. Most of the resaurants and bars here have a live-in pussy cat (and sometimes a Cougar or too :) that roams around. We also went to a very cool place called, Harry's Bar for some killer 9 Euro cocktails. I had a mojito, daquiri, and a kir royale. I was in very rough shape the next day.

Another nice day here. Gotta hit the shops.

Yes, he DOES windows!

I give the Dutch some cred. They are obsessed with keeping their windows clean. This dude comes every two weeks to clean all my windows, including the pretty little stained glass pieces. He also trimmed back the tree branches. That is service.

James and I finally bought some furniture on the weekend. We found, quite by accident, this really cool shop called Wulf Meubelen on the Rozengracht that has lots of modern designs including stuff made in solid teak. Tired of having our Heineken knocked over on the floor by Jack and Zephyr, we decided on a nice coffee table and two "s" shaped side tables. And we got a rolling filing cabinet. The wooden stuff is coming from Belgium in about a month. But the cabinet is coming from Switzerland and will take 2 months. I can't wait.

Welcome 2006!

We are now back in the land of cheese and fog! It feels good to be back in our apartment - we did some reorganising and cleaning and it looks much better.

We had a whirlwind trip to the Tdot. Here are some highlights:

• meeting our new tenent - Elizabeth and her super dog, Caleigh
• Cati breaking her foot while trying to deliver news about the strange neighbours to Donny
• getting Cynthia's custom-made I Love Lucy jammies from Oh Susanna! They rock.
• having dinner with Paul and Erika
• Thomas ramming Jack into the Christmas tree and Jack's consequential attack
• flashback dinner at Squirrlys with Lee
• traditional New Year's Eve party with Trevor, Sarah, Carrie and Ian. Banky, boardgames, booze - not a good mix!
• hanging out in Ajax with the Hewak-Mcphees. Loved our Ross-Joey nap!
• seeing two movies, King Kong (sucked) and Munich (rocked). I'm still waiting on Lee's Top Ten Movies of 2005 list!
• Jack making snow angels and snowmen with Daddy at the farm
• Resurrection of Leisure Night with Hewhawk and MP. Congrats on the new job, Heehawk and good luck with the suing the pants off the CBC, MP!
• Donny's intrepid light extravangza on the front lawn and Cati's killer slice
• lots of hockey and football on the TV
• SHOPPING!

We miss everyone already!