Month: May 2017

These days it seems that the grass is growing really quickly, faster than one might expect. Just two weeks ago they had mowed down the whole area, and nothing was left except for a brown and barren field of nothingness. Taking my afternoon walk with the dog, I crossed the bridge and was engulfed by a vast green sea of swaying grass. Nature will never give up no matter how badly we disrespect her.

For the third day in a row the sun is blaring and the temperature is rising. One wonders who in their right mind would be crazy enough to go to the gym and work out during such a heat wave.

That's exactly what I did. I worked out for a couple hours and must have sweat ten liters or more. As if that was not enough, I took a long hot sauna letting the extreme heat soothe my mind and body.

Today marks an important historical day for Dutch sports. For the first time in history, Tom Dumoulin became the first Dutch cyclist to win the renowned Giro d'Italia. This is the second most important race after the Tour de France.

Breukink vindt Giro-winnaar Dumoulin absoluut geen eendagsvlieg

While perhaps only slightly less significant than Dumoulin's win, but also very deserving of an honored spot in the annals of Dutch sports history, is that I managed to win the Club Championship on the very same day.

After a grueling first nine holes, I was able to pull my game together again by shooting a nice 37 after the turn to beat out the leader by one stroke.

Uitslag Clubkampioenschappen Strokeplay 2017

Bij de heren sloot Kiffin Gish finale zijn ronde (83 slagen) af met vier parren op rij, waarmee hij Nico van Leeuwen één slag voor bleef. 252 slagen (85-84-83).

I was very unpleasantly surprised to receive a "beschikking" in the mail this afternoon stating that due to a minor red light infraction I have been charged a whopping 239 euros. Seems to me a bit of an overkill for only easing past a stop light a few feet on a busy road.

Here I am waiting in a traffic jam behind a long line of slow-moving cars. I stopped directly under the stop light which due to bad luck was just out of view being above my car and out of sight.

I wait patiently until the traffic moves far enough forward giving me enough room to pass safely across the tram tracks. My car was barely crawling as I moved forward, not like I could have caused an accident or maybe even killed an innocent bystander.

To be honest I have to admit that the pictures look bad are very incriminating when you view it objectively. Nevertheless I will write a polite letter of apologetic protest pleading my innocence. Hopefully they too will realize the unlucky circumstances and offer me some form of leniency.

Maybe I should have been more careful, am fully to blame and therefore need to be punished severely so that it will never happen again.

This is a picture of me teeing off on the tenth hole. Great drive down the middle of the fairway. Seven iron hit well, just nicked a low-lying branch and bounced into the fairway. Eight iron landed six feet from the flag, and unfortunately my birdie putt just lipped out.

Been trying to practice as much as I can, especially now with such nice weather for golf. My last few rounds were 38+39=77, 43+35=78, 41+36=77 and 41+38=79. Being able to break eighty again with relative ease makes me feel young again.

Not bad for the first official tournament this year. Hitting the ball straight and far felt good and even managed to make a couple nice birdies. Not a single double-bogie which is always a nice accomplishment. Although I could have easily shaved off a few strokes had I focused just a little bit better.

Thanks again Mom for the nice telephone conversation we had this evening (for you it was morning). Not that I really had that much new to tell you, but it is always a fun treat hearing your voice again. Simply chatting for old times' sake. Since we live so far away from each other, it is extra important to keep in touch on a regular basis. This in order to re-energize each others souls and ascend one notch higher into that spiritual realm. Time passes by swiftly like a running stream, and without realizing it yet another couple weeks or even months have come and gone. I think about how well you raised us kids. Despite life's many ups and downs, the older I get the more thankful I am for the loving role you played and the way things turned out. God has been kind to me.