HERON NEARBY,

but we spend the whole day celebrating the "dames-diës" in North-Holland, a tradition started as a counterpart of the "diës", and that is a tradition that goes back to the year 1961, when a bunch of male students in Leiden formed a year-club inside Minerva, the very traditional and as I may say conversative all-male students-corporation.
My husband was part of it at the time, but objected to much of the customs and kept away from it since the end of the sixties. In 2003 however a happy coïncidence brought us back to the old friends and each year they come together with their wives and at turns one of them organise an outing with a visit to a museum, a lunch, a circular trip (this year), and so on. Ending the day with a delicious diner. The day started raining but after that we had a bright sunshine and that makes such a day a wonder of delight.
Much talking done all the way.
We went to The Rijp, situated in the Beemsterpolder, an old fishermens town, with a very rural atmosphere around it, polders as far as you can look. Then to Heiloo where at the home of the organisers we had a drink and brought them oleanders as a gift.