The past two weeks have found us busy with the new house and local summertime festivals. Most of the work on the house has been very enjoyable and it is great to finally be able to put our own tastes and personalities into a place again. The two years of renting certainly had it’s advantages and it didn’t bother me at all like I first might have imagined, but it is very nice to be getting back into ownership mode. In a way, working on this place is easy compared to the one back in Maryland. I’m sure that some of that is sheer volume…this house is less than half the size. But the simple, square rooms and the consistent 220V electric wiring are also much easier than back in the states. The hardest adjustment has been adapting to the stone and concrete construction. Other than the staircase and trim, there is virtually no wood in the place. This has allowed me to introduce a new skill into my handyman regimen - Hammerdrilling. Need to put a cable through the wall? Hammerdrill. Hang a picture? Hammerdrill. Put up the new toiletpaper holder? Hammerdrill. Anything that goes deeper than the quarter inch of plaster is going to need an industrial style machine that can blast its way through the solid rock….pretty cool!
We’ve also had time for some other types of fun. Joe came over from the states for a week and we did a lot of biking, spent a day in Amsterdam and hit the local food fair. But once again, the best by far has been Haarlem Jazz. This event has been going on for the past week and even though Beth and I are not big jazz fans, this festival has turned into one of our local favorites. The streets become one giant party scene where you can eat and drink as you wander between the 8 different bandstands set up in the old quarter of the city. We tend to gravitate to the Blues stage or even the Big Band music, but the best part is always just sitting with beer or glass of wine and watching the world go by.
I’m off to America next week and am trying to get into a two week update pattern for the blog. Enjoy the remnants of summer…damn, it went quick!
Here are a few more pics from the house.
Living Room
Kitchen and Dining Rooms
The Board Room (Beth's office)
1 comment:
Yep indeed hammerdrills are way cool Ingrid and I picked one up recently to repace an entry door in our brick garage. Boy it really did the job! Congrats to you both the place looks great and so does the IKEAesque furniture.
Brian M
Post a Comment