We need men

Yesterday, I spent a good few hours on the roof. Clutching a rubber sweeper, I have been removing the moss from the roof tiles. It is not an easy job, and I haven't finished, but I should finish today. I have to cover the gutter with a ripped-open plastic bag to keep the moss from clogging it, and now there's a scattering of moss along the back of the house, which means I'm going to have to get the leaf blower out. I might as well blow some leaves while I'm at it.

But then, I also spend a good time yesterday with my sister Stella, talking and sharing music and even sorting through some old high school junk of hers and old photos. It was really nice. "Who was that?/ Oh my god, look at my hair/ how adorable/etc".
Then we donned out work gear and she sanded and painted the small garage door while I did my de-mossing. It was quite funny being up there, as the neighbour's cat was eying me suspiciously from on top of the rain barrel, and I could hear the neighbourhood kids bickering while trying to build a cubby somewhere in the shrubs behind our garden fence. The sun was out and I was quite warm, it was a pleasant morning.

Before long it was lunch time, and Mum came home with bags of rolls and croissants and even appelflappen (apple turnovers). One of the perks of running the tiny local shop is that whatever bread isn't sold, ends up at our house. One could see that as a curse as well, as I love bread and pastry and my waistline doesn't. Better keep up the Zumba classes, huh? De-mossing a roof is actually also quite a good workout, and it strengthens the core if you remember to brace it...

Stella and I joked that 'klussen' (fixing up the house) is our very favourite pastime and we love nothing more than putting on our work gear and getting all dusty and exhausted and sore. For those of you who don't know, the renovations back home in Australia have been the bane of my existence for about five and a half years now and I was quite pleased to be leaving them behind for a little while. Up on the roof I came to the sad conclusion that there is a serious lack of strong burly men in our family or circle of friends, so it's up to my sister and I to be doing all these jobs. The only man that we do have in our family, my brilliant architect + mr fix-it extraordinaire husband, is on the other side of the world and not coming to join us. Honey! Get over here! We need you!

It would be so good to know if we can knock out those walls in the apartment. This whole moving/fixing up the apartment is driving me crazy already because we can't start on the apartment until the house is sold, and we don't know when the house is going to be sold, so we don't know when or what to do what to the apartment. We're just focusing on getting this old house ready for sale.

And in the afternoon, while I was back up on the roof de-mossing, my dear friend Emily came out the back door. I finished my last row of roof tiles while she stood and we chatted, my sister painting. The three of us have known each other most of our lives, and both Emily and my sister live in Amsterdam and play soccer, so they always have plenty to chat about too. It was nice to have them here. I hopped off the ladder, hugged Em tightly and then organised afternoon tea: koffie met appelflappen, and the four of us sat at the table and enjoyed being together once more.

My sister left before dinner, and Emily and Mum and I spent the rest of the evening playing a board game (Carcassonne, Emily beat my arse big time, but there will be a rematch, there always is) and eating dinner and chatting. Mum went to bed early, and Em and I discussed our lives and the challenges we face. It was so good to have my friend over, it can get a bit noisy in my head and also seeing nobody else but Mum for a week can, despite the fact that I love her to the moon and back, get a bit much. Emily left last night with the promise of a chocolate fondue feast at her place soon, and some wicked dessert wine. Can't wait.

I made a date to go visit my travel buddy Mike in Dusseldorf soon, I met him last July on the flight home from Dusseldorf to Dubai, we sat next to each other on the plane and instantly became friends. And I also found out that while my sister is going snowboarding in a few weeks, I can use her apartment in Amsterdam, and her bike too. But then I realise that I might feel a bit lonely in Amsterdam in an apartment by myself, as I haven't spent any time alone anywhere for very long and everybody will just be working during the day. So I better start organising to catch up with my friends that week.

Ooh, coffee time. Gotta go.