and never again. These promised the taste of Buffalo wings. These promised to be strong. The delivered on the strong, the taste was awful. You’d have to have drunk a lot of beer to find them in the least attractive.

The signage at the beginning of the platform said, ‘Don’t Board’. Those gathered along side the expansive train seemed confused as to whether the sign was current news or a forgotten left-over. The scheduled departure was in a couple of minutes. Those waiting, shifted and paced but no-one attempted to board. That is until two college age boys decided the sign did not apply to them, pushed the open-door-button and entered a car of the otherwise empty train. We all watched. Fully attentive. No one else boarded. We waited…. Then slowly, but with certainty the first six cars [the boys were in the fourth car], uncoupled from the remainder of the train and slide quietly off down the track. This station is the end of the line or the beginning, depending on your journey, and cars are often side-railed. As the engine pulled the six cars these two passengers would not have thought they were on a train to no-where unless it dawned on them that they had not heard the conductor’s whistle which always clears the train to leave. My suspension is that someone saw them board and decided a bit of fun was in order.

The language is one I read. But the words means nothing in their laid out order. What a strange sensation to have no idea what is being said:

Sophie Ecclestone seals the deal as England skittle New Zealand in first ODI

Raf Nicholson

England skittled New Zealand for 211 in 46.3 overs at Bristol to take first blood in the ODI series, winning by 30 runs despite being bowled out for an under-par 241 earlier in the day.

Put in to bat, England had sunk to 140 for five in the 32nd over. But captain Heather Knight’s calm, controlled 89 marshalled a recovery for the second time in as many matches, this time assisted by a streaky but quickfire 43 in 51 balls from Katherine Brunt.

“It wasn’t perfect but we’re pleased to get the win,” Knight said. “It was a slow pitch and it felt quite tough out there – we had to graft for our runs.”

Brunt said: “You have to be positive and for me, Heather at the crease gave me confidence in itself. My job domestically with Yorkshire, I’ve had countless times when I’ve had to go in when we’re 30 for five, so it’s not an unfamiliar situation for me.”

Knight plopped the ball back into the hands of bowler Leigh Kasperek in the 47th over, falling 11 runs short of a second ODI hundred. However, the in-form Knight went on to snaffle two crucial catches at first slip as what should have been a straightforward run chase for the Kiwis proved anything but.

The stage was set in New Zealand’s first 10 overs, in which they scored only 17 runs for the loss of two wickets. At that point Brunt’s bowling figures read, astoundingly, 4-4-0-0. Meanwhile her fiancee Nat Sciver picked up the key wicket of Suzie Bates, edging to first slip, before inducing Lauren Down to drive into the hands of Amy Jones behind the stumps.

“We’d had a meeting the day before about a target of ours, which included maidens – and being the competitive soul I am I took it upon myself to do it as much as I possibly could,” Brunt said.

Maddy Green had scored the lone boundary of the New Zealand powerplay, thrashing Kate Cross through the covers, but she was later caught at slip for 19. While Amy Satterthwaite and Sophie Devine shared a 78-run partnership in 16 overs for the fourth wicket, England continued to bowl disciplined lines. Cross eventually made the key breakthrough in the 29th over – Devine (34 off 59) pulling to mid-on.

Satterthwaite progressed to her 23rd ODI fifty, finishing unbeaten on 79. But it proved in vain as wickets continued to fall, including two in two balls from Sophie Ecclestone in the 32nd over to see off Katey Martin and Brooke Halliday.

Although the tail wagged – Lea Tahuhu (25 off 14) and Kasperek (15 off 21) thrashing eight boundaries between them – Kasperek’s eventual run out, courtesy of a direct hit from Lauren Winfield-Hill at mid-on, meant the visitors were bowled out still a way short of the target. Amongst the carnage, the off-spinner Charlie Dean finished with one for 53 on her international debut, bowling Jess Kerr with a beauty that turned to hit the top of off stump.

Earlier, England had put on 43 in the opening eight overs after Tammy Beaumont (44 off 75) was put down by a diving Green at first slip when still in single figures. But Tahuhu, returning to international action after undergoing three surgeries to remove a precancerous mole on her right foot, then inspired a mid-innings collapse, rattling the stumps of both Sciver and Jones to finish with two for 32 at an impressive economy rate of just a touch above three an over, as England lost four wickets for 31 runs.

An appeal to DRS by Brunt when she was on 12 prevented Tahuhu from celebrating a third scalp – UltraEdge showed Brunt, adjudged lbw, had got bat on ball – and she readily capitalised on the reprieve.

While Kerr (three for 42) struck twice in the closing overs, yorking Brunt before seeing off Dean lbw, a strong last 10 overs proved enough to see England home.

Wanted to allow you the time to savor the beauty of the new bedroom art piece. The cost to me was 2 euro. Given the time that went into the making…..

Awoke this morning, and had decided that I was finished with the exploration of the painting that has hung in the bedroom since I arrived. It is a water color and I have no further information about it.

As I needed to purchase light bulbs for a repaired ceiling fixture, I gladly visited my favorite ’emporium’ the ‘second hand store – KringloopWinkel’ which has been given boxes of light bulbs all of which sell for 0.30 euro cents a piece. While there, decided to check out the ‘art’ department.

This now hangs in the bedroom

There are amazing notables about this piece. It is approximately 18″ x 24″ Can you see that it is cross-stitch? Most unfortunately it is neither signed nor dated on the back; nor is the location revealed, but someone will know exactly where it is. It is professionally framed with acrylic-glass to protect the color. The frame is perfect as it does not distract from the work. What a find.

Back to home! I came, I saw, I got-it-all-done. [except for the stained-glass window; another story another time] Arrived NYC 4th of July; back to A’dam on 2 September. Via Iceland Air. My marketing spiel is fully thought out, but I’ll spare you. However, next time when trans-atlantic-ing give this one a whirl; a sane experience during insane times. Back to NL entering on my new identity. Back to biking, my thoughtful neighbors, water at my front door and cozy abode. More on life in the Lowland as it unfolds. Want a jump on your basic information? Read/listen to The Edge of the World, by Michael Pye. Why Dutch society works.

Within a week of that post, the Olympic track trials were held in Eugene, Oregon on Hayward Field and one of the notables* was from you-guessed-it, Eritrea but is now representing the US in Tokyo. Would I have noticed as profoundly had I not had the ‘gospel’ encounter?

*Nebiat Habtemariam (born 29 December 1978) is an Eritrean long-distance runner who specializes in the marathon. She was the first woman to represent Eritrea at the Olympics.
…

They seem to be few and far between, so I tend to leave them hanging, as I understand they eat the laid eggs of other spiders. One house-spider, as previously reported, lived for 10 weeks in the crook of the wall above the stairs. It demonstrated that it was alive by infrequently changing position. Then one day: Gone. I miss the act of checking up on it.
Another day, such as now, I am sitting up in bed, laptop on lap [hence the name?!] and looking up from writing, see a D L-l rappelling from the ceiling toward a direct hit on the bed. {this is not a king-size bed.} Quickly standing up, laptop in hand, I bend over and drop my weapon-of-mass-destruction directly on the intruder, forcing it onto the bed where it was headed. Next, leave room to get Kleenex for remains removal. Will need to act quickly in removing ‘flat-iron’ as D L-l may have some life left. Return, lift the device carefully, other hand poised for clean-up…

nothing! Nothing! no remains, no wiggling no bits and pieces. Haven’t had a good nights rest since.

Jumped through the hoops. took the tests, and here it is!

An amazing thought-provoking exhibit exposing violence in the home/family! It is produced by Open Mind . [As my site seems unable to imbed a link without complications….] The outdoor Exhibit is a series of very large portraits, six feet tall by three feet wide of two different persons in each portrait taking various stances. There is a ‘teenage daughter’ leaning against her ‘mother’, telling the story of how the daughter grew up in a home with a sexual abusing step-father and a mother drunk-in-bed on cheap liquor. This tortured child escaped from this hell at the age of 15. It was not until she met a caring and loving alternative set of parents that she understood that what occurred in her family nest was Not Normal. Parents are not to treat their children as she had been treated. Each portrait of two persons tells another story of violence: Children/parents, Husbands/wives, violence against sexual orientation that is ‘other’. It is a lot to take in and the statistics are shocking: per year, 5.5% of the adults older than 18 are the target of violence by a ‘family’ member. The concept is to make this taboo subject a public discussion, bring it out in the open so that we, you & I can do something about it. The portraits are in this City between the train station and the shopping area so the exposure is great. It will travel from city to city for the remainder of the year.