Last night was the first night that I had cold feet in my usual warm sleeping bag. It dropped belwo zero again and a bitter cold arctic wind makes it difficult to keep the boat comfortable. Heino, a club member, came to my rescue. I am nice and cozy writing this on his couch. He has moved out of his home and is waiting for the depressed r.e. market to come back. This will give me the opportunity to start disassembling the boat to do the major maintenance. I just tracked my bank card, it left N.Y. yesterday. I should have it later this week. I had enough to get groceries for my new  Ménage à Un. The super market is right across the street from where my sister and her family lived for 25 years, off the Pieter Callandtlaan in Osdorp/Slotervaart. It is a 20 minute bicycle ride to the boat.

I wonder if it has something to do with age, the longer you live the more people you get to know and somehow it all seems to start interconnecting. You have read about the delivery of one of the “De Mastmakersdochters” books to my friend in Carpinteria, where another friend just happened to fly to for her daughter’s 50th birthday. My friend Howard the “Do you know the Muscle Man?” asked all his friends if anyone could help him find a room in Atlanta, on his return from 4 years in Chile. “Bingo!, Ce Ce, who spent time on “Fleetwood” last summer, lives in Atlanta and has a room to rent…

And then last week I made the pages of a popular Dutch cartoon calendar. I’m not proud of it because now you all know my true identity. But it was bound to surface.

"Not now, Mr. van Ommen"