On my way out of the marina I turned back to grab my camera when I saw the sunset. An attractive young lady was painting the boats in the marina from the bridge. She was using crayon on black paper and pencil and ink. The below pictures speak fro themselves. Helena is from the Ukraine and works as an au pair. I bought the picture that Cor Coppens is holding up. It was painted also from a bridge and shows the Saint Nicholas cathedral and the Weeping Tower (Schreierstoren). When Corrine (my granddaughter)’s dad and (other) grandfather came to visit last Christmas she had arranged lodging for them in one of the homes on this canal. The other picture, also painted from a bridge, is a spot where we played as children. It is where the Boerenwetering, connects with the Amstel River. It shows the back of the homes on the Zuidelijkewandelweg. The short shoreline is where we built a raft made from the empty biscuit cans in the last days of the second world war. The cans were parachuted from allied bombers in the very last days of the war to the starving Dutch population. And in one of the homes lived Joke B. We were friends in the early fifties. She had a sailboat in Loosdrecht. I reconnected with her in 2009 through the web site of the Zuidelijkewandelweg. Helena would be pleased to sell more of her drawings and if you have an interest I can put you in contact with her. Most of her portfolio is of scenes in old Amsterdam.
It is now Saturday morning and I put the last coat of finish on the new mahogany rub rails. It is supposed to rain later in the day. I have an appointment with the marina in Lelystad to place the mast on Wednesday afternoon. I plan leave here on Tuesday and spent the night there to have the morning to prepare the mast and then come back on the midnight Standing Mast routine early Thursday.
There is still a lot of work to do before everything is back in place on the boat. Stay tuned for the departure date.