Ruaraidh practising the pipes

It was our last morning in Geesteren and it started well with a good breakfast and several cups of coffee. Sandra got back from her conference in Vienna late last night, so we had a brief catch up and a few laughs. But she had to leave for work at the hospital before I arose, although Woodpeckers managed to say goodbye. We may not see them again for a while, and possible for a lot longer if she is allowed to get a work permit for the job she has been offered in Australia. Then the family will be off again.

We offered to give the three boys their lunch when they came home from school, as Ruaraidh had to catch a train to the capital of the Netherlands, Den Haag, which is on the North Sea coast in the west of the country. He is the director of a producer organisation which is endeavouring to make the production of beef mores sustainable worldwide. As a result he travels all over the world, and is off to Brazil again next month, having only just come back from Colombia. He works from home as well although his office is in colorado, USA. It is a strange world. I really enjoyed talking with him at some length about the state of modern agriculture, and I do hope his endeavours pay off. The world certainly needs it to. One quote I remember him saying was that the world needs to produce as much food in the next 40 years as has been produced in total in the last 8000 years. A it frightening.

One of Ruaraidh's pleasures is playing the highland pipes, probably inspired by his uncle Archie, who was a leading piper particularly when he served in the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. I said that I had hoped to take a photo of him playing, so he said lets do it now. He went to his music room and I joined him a couple of minutes later, by which time he was 'dressed' and beginning to blow air into its bag. Suddenly the unique sound of the pipes was resounding through a house in the main street of a village in eastern Holland! I only had a few minutes because he had to leave for the train station, but I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Ruaraidh afterwards said we should have worm ear plugs, especially in such a small space, as the pipes can produce more than 100 decibels. I thought you would enjoy seeing him in full flow.

Thank you Ruaraidh, Sandra, Callum, Duncan and Cormac for a wonderful few days with you all. We really enjoyed being with you.