The lovely island (particularly from a dog’s point of view) inside the Pikmeer/Pikmar -near Grou(w)- was left on Monday the 6th of May at 8:30AM. Although we took a slightly different route (for your information: the Rochsloot /Rochsleat this time) we have been there before, so there’s not much more to tell about it than we did in the past. After rejoining the Van Harinxmakanaal, squeezed in between Leeuwarden/Ljouwert and Teerns/Tearns, we made this picture – a picture-puzzle really. Are you able to discover the Lakenvelder (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lakenvelder_cattle)??

When passing an industrial area, a part of Leeuwarden/Ljouwert, we noticed this almost unrecognizable object, not having lost its capability of floating (yet), once being a proud ship. Now it’s fallen victim to the scrapyard and will be completely turned into scrap as visible in the background.

After arriving in Leeuwarden’s/Ljouwert’s centre we found a temporary mooring-spot with a view onto an almost 50 meters (166 feet) long exhibition-ship in the shape of a castle that we’d already seen in Hattum, week 36 – 2016. Then it even had a few Friesian horses on top of it!

After some manoeuvring we found a place in front of the exhibition-ship, where the quay is high(er) – making life a lot easier for us and the dog, as stepping off and onto the ship does not require a lot of climbing/jumping when moored next to a high quay. ‘Some manoeuvring’ meant to move several times as far towards the bend as possible. There the trees divert more towards the east, thus offering a chance to our satellite-finder, to ‘look’ towards the south. We prefer to be able to enjoy the telly, because of sad family-circumstances we will be in Leeuwarden/Ljouwert at least until the 1st of June – possibly even beyond.

Close to where we are moored the house where Mata Hari (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mata_Hari) lived is situated. The plaque is only in Dutch so, if you want to know exactly what is says, we respectfully advise to use Google Translate.

Another well known son of Leeuwarden/Ljouwert was François Haverschmidt, also known by his ‘nom de plume’ Piet Paaltjens.

The poem translates more or less like this: ‘When I see a prayer walk’ ‘My heart beats ever so happy’ ‘Then I think before long he will’ ‘Start to pray for me’. You’ll understand the rhyme got lost in translation… (Blij = glad (happy), mij = me.)

A more cheerful subject to continue with. Our oldest grandson (Sean Oost, born on the 7th of February 2003), now in the 4th class (of a total of 6) of the VWO (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voorbereidend_wetenschappelijk_onderwijs), passed his Cambridge English Level 2 exam. Last Thursday he received his certificate – his mother, our daughter, just visible on the right hand side.

The sign that was on show in the auditorium of Sean’s college, the Minkema College ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minkema_College - more comprehensive in Dutch, of course) in Woerden, The Netherlands.

This picture shoes how happy they all were. (And it made us slightly jealous of them all being so young, with their (hopefully happy) lives still ahead of them…)

Back to Leeuwarden/Ljouwert again. Our view across the canal. This merry company passed us yesterday, Saturday the 11th of May, making rather loud than melodious music. It was absolutely merry nevertheless.