Fleetwoods Circumnavigation

Spiritus is the Dutch name for Stove Methanol. I just managed to cook my first meal on the petroleum galley stove in the sail boat I am camping out on here in the Schinkel marina. The burners have to be heated/primed with the methanol. It seems complicated but it goes with the boat, a traditional steel 32 footer. I was getting accustomed to raw food. I had given up after running out of matches and Spiritus. Paul, the boat’s owner, came to show me the trick yesterday. To complete the retro cooking evening I lit the petroleum lamp. This would be the kind of boat to come home to the Pacific North West by way of the N.W. Passage instead of the Panama Canal and the long sail against the prevailing winds northward.

This is Pentecost weekend. A four day weekend. Many of the club members left this morning for a cruise. But the weather is not cooperating, Cold and heavy rain this afternoon.

My granddaughter,  Corrine, the new Mrs. Wheatly, and her husband, Euan, are coming to visit me here tomorrow from their home in Louvain, Belgium.

The Spirit will be moving on Pentecost in the Augustinus church when we sing Veni Sancte Spiritus and “The Prince of Peace” mass of Lloyd Weber also the English “King of all ages throned on high”  May the Spirit(us) be with you as well.

A good picture of one of the tenors and Jessica one of the sopranos on the steps of the church of the Frisians, next to the St. Peter, taken by Louis Redegeld.

I worked from 9 till 8 p.m. on “Fleetwood”. The entire deck is off. It took a month instead of the one week I had figured. I am done with chiseling off the remnants of the veneer(s) off the deck supports. Next I will belt sand the supports and fill in the gouges with epoxy filler. I am waiting to hear back from Arjan, a boat carpenter who came by yesterday, for a quote on making up and installing the new plywood deck. This is beyond my pay grade. This is the opportunity to refinish the interior, with the top removed I have good access and light to the fore peak, quarter berth and cockpit locker.

This morning on my way to the boat I met a young Chinese couple, students at the nearby VU University. I learned something that I like to share with you. Yesterday I found out from a message on Face Book that Chen Guangcheng, the blind Chinese human rights activist lawyer and Bob Fu president of China Aid are arriving today for a three day visit in Europe to plead the case of the human rights of the Chinese http://www.chinaaid.org/2013/05/chinaaid-bob-fu-blind-legal-activist.html. I happen to believe that Mr. Chen and Bob Fu and their supporters are on a mission of a historical change in world history. In my enthusiasm of their trip here I asked the young Chinese if they knew of the visit of Chen and Bob Fu. There was a short silence and then the young man went into a tirade. His lady friend tried to calm him down. Chen is paid by the Americans. American democracy, just two parties, no other parties allowed. When I mentioned that our freedom and democracy were taken from us in the 2nd WW, he had no clue. One child policy and forced abortions: that was figured out by wise men. Look at India. I thought I was listening to a Muslim fanatic trying to convert me to Islam or a 7th Day Adventist. His argument was that as long as the communist government keeps improving his standard of living he has no need to have freedom of expression, worship or democracy.

And then I realized why religion is such a threat to the Communist party leaders. Because a better job, better housing does not buy the loyalty and passion, this young man has, for followers of Christ.

Hacked address list: A second spam mail was sent to my (old) address last week. I have changed my access to my e-mail account and it will not be possible for this spammer to use my e-mail account to send any further spams.

We will be returning to Amsterdam this evening. There are still activities planned for this morning and then we will picnic in the park of the Villa Borghese. The Villa Borghese was our yesterday’s morning culture vulture event. On Friday we went to the Vatican Museum and the Sistine Chapel. I could have skipped the Friday event. Enormous crowds because of the Ascension Day weekend. Just a little bit too much of the same stacked into the Vatican museum for my taste and difficult to see. Anyway there are still a few pieces left there for the Vatican to trade for the sins of a few of their servants. The Sistine Chapel is dark and the audio system inaudible, standing there looking at the ceiling packed like sardines. The Villa Borghese has much of the same but there were fewer people and the audio system worked. I went for a stroll down Via Veneto with it’s fancy stores and chique hotels, to the Trevi fountain and the Spanish Steps. Friday morning I joined a small group of our choir to walk to the Colloseum and a few more sights.

Last night we sang in the church of St. John Lateran Archbasilica. This is a beautiful church and many of the popes have been consecrated in this church. We sang in the 6 p.m. regular Saturday evening mass. It went well. Afterwards we had an outstanding group dinner. This trip has been beyond my expectations. The experience singing in the Saint Peter and yesterday’s event. We had a chance to get to know many of the members better. An opportunity that just is not possible in the two hour Wednesday rehears

This is one of my first passive excursions. I have often envied the tourists in the places along my travels, while I am bringing the groceries to the boat on my folding bike they are sitting back in air-conditioned buses. Now I am enjoying an organized tour, air and bus transportation, lodging and eating out is all arranged for me and my choir members. We are all 41  in the same hotel in the s.e. corner of Rome, near the Colosseum. This morning we were on our own. We sang in the Ascension service in the very back of the St. Peter in front of the main altar. The service was preceded by a Vesper service in which a long row of cardinals in their red and white robes paraded into the church through the crowd of visitors. We had to go through security with metal detectors and the Swiss guards. And got the view of the tourists from the other side of the red roped off area. We were in the Holy of Holies. Our regular organist, Vincent, played the old organ. I had not been inside the St. Peter since 1954. All I can say is that it is an impressive building but a bit pompous and cold. I have been in many much more attractive and spirit filled churches.

Saturday evening we have one more service to sing in at the church of San Giovani Laterano, which is close by. There are a number of sight seeing visits organized for the next two days. The weather is wonderful, not too warm, balmy.

Today the Grande Giro Lamborghini came through Rome, see  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3JoZ3GMdmU several hundred of these fast beauties from all over Europe are taking part in this annual rally. They formed a long line on one side of the via del Corridori and on the other side were a shorter line of Ferraris. And as you can see the Polizia gets to drive a Lamborghini as well.

The 4 May concert, on the occasion of the annual memorial of the victims of the 2nd WW, was a great success. We sang Fauré’s Requiem, Cantique de Jean Racine, also of Faure, and Mozart’s Ave Verum and Laudate Dominum. We had a full house, extra chairs had to be brought out to fill the aisles of the 700 seat Augustinus church.  Friday evening we had our general rehearsal with the “Plankenkoor” the second choir, and another short rehearsal before the performance. It was hard work for everyone, particularly for the two directors, Bram Biersteker and Herman Paardekoper. I love to sing but this was probably the most gratifying experience I have ever had. Tomorrow we leave for Rome to sing in the Saint Peter on Ascension. Be sure to follow the blog from there.

The 5th of May, Liberation Day, was another celebration after the coronation, a week ago. Another spectacle was given, in attendance of the new royal couple and princess Beatrix, on the Amstel River here in Amsterdam.

“Fleetwood” has been converted into a convertible. But I had no idea how big this job is. Just cleaning up the frames from the left over of the plywood that remained stuck to it with the epoxy adhesive. Removing the screws and ring shank nails in the plywood that were invisible under the teak. Now the job of filling the nail and screw holes, etc. The leaks were mainly where the hardware was bolted down. I should have rebedded these more frequently. But the plywood was tired after the 33 years and from the far too many holes left from attaching the teak deck. Now I have the opportunity to sand and refinish the interior under the deck without having to crawl in the fore peak and quarter berth and cockpit lockers. I’ll be coming home with my rejuvenated old friend.

The concert pictures are taken by Renie with our charming Dutch Antilles soprano choir member Damisha Reed-Gregorio’s camera.

By now the world knows that Holland has their new king, Willem Alexander and their queen Maxima. It was an unforgettable day for me. Non stop entertainment. Truly a Dutch Treat. Particularly in Amsterdam. I rode my folding bike from Badhoevedorp to the Dam square for the morning appearance of the new royalty on the palace balcony. But it was impossible to get close enough. But I did get a feeling of the crowd and their enthusiasm. André Rieu gave a free concert in the evening, compliments of the national lottery.

I expect to remove the last of the teak deck tomorrow. It has been a very difficult job and is taking much longer than I had planned for. Today, it is Thursday meanwhile, I move onto a club member’s sailboat. Homeless but sheltered. This is just across the water from where I am working on “Fleetwood”. Back and forth in the rubber duck.

Last night we had another rehearsal for this Saturday’s concert of Faure’s Requiem. Friday the general rehearsal with the other choir and then we are off on Wednesday to Rome.

The crowd on the Dam Square in Amsterdam. The “New Church” where the installation took place. To the left the Royal Palace.  On the right the large TV screen showing the royal family on the palace balcony. The Amsterdam landmark department store “De Bijenkorf” crowned for the occasion. Far overhead the remote controlled TV camera on a cable suspended from a wire over the square.

This was the first time that I had the opportunity to attend this event at the Dachau monument in Amsterdam. The date is always the Saturday closest to the 29 of April, which was the date the U.S. 7th Army Rainbow Division under General Patton liberated the Dachau concentration camp. Our mother and her companions were intercepted on May 1st,  by the same American soldiers, on their death march from the Dachau satelite camp at München-Giesing. The last time that our mother attended this event there were still a good number of surviving survivors of the Dachau women. Today there was just one left, Mrs. Willemijn-Petroff van Gurp. She is 94 years but in her condition she’ll be sticking her red rose in the Cypress hedges for another 10 years.  I had a chance to talk to her. Two weeks ago she received my book “De Mastmakersdochters”. Several Dutch high schools have followed the lead taken in German high schools to write memoirs of Dachau survivors. The program is called “Names instead of Numbers”. See http://www.gedaechtnisbuch.de/namen-statt-nummern/english/index-engl.html Several of these students were in attendance. I show the photograph below of Willemijn and the Dutch teenagers Job Bruin en Jelle Braaksma of the Cartesius Lyceum who wrote her story. Willemijn was a school friend of Pom Koppert-Buma. (Remember: in Holland and most European countries married name-maiden name). I met Pom’s son, Sjoerd Koppert, in Santa Barbara in 1998 and he was on the dock in Santa Barbara to wave me out for the first long (3,000 nautical miles 28 day) passage to Hiva Oha in the Marquesas, exactly 8 years ago, this week.

It looks ike I may have found a (cabin) roof over my head after all, in the “De Schinkel” marina. Stay tuned. I am staying temporarily with my sister and husband in Badhoevedorp. The festivities have started here already. Today is the crown-prince’s birthday. (And the 4th birthday of my princess Madison, my great-granddaughter.) His coronation is on Tuesday in Amsterdam.

The deal was that I would stay here in Osdorp through April 30. Then I would use the boat of the young lady who moves in here on may 1st, but that offer was withdrawn. Today I found out that she wants me to get out by tomorrow instead iof Tuesday. So, I am in a mad scramble trying to find a roof over my head while working on the boat.

Last night I came home from choir practice at 11 p.m. and did not fall asleep till about 3 a.m. and was up again at 6.30 Fortunately I had nearly 10 hours of sleep the nght before. The main reason I could not get to sleep that I was so angry with my Bank of America. I had waited 2 months to finally have a debit card again. Then I finally was able to order a Safe Pass which I need to transfer Dollars from my BofA a/c to my local a/c. But then I was told that my address had changed in the last 30 days and therefore could not get a Safe Pass. The I tried it once again and this time the BofA could not find any reason why I could not have a Safe Pass and they arranged to have it mailed to my daughter’s address in Virginia. But instead she gets a letter saying that I could not have a safe Pass. They gave a n number to call. I still have no idea why I used to be able use my Safe Pass, till the battery ran out, and now no longer. The only way is to have a code texted to a US cell phone. So, I got my daughter in on a 3 way conference call and she explained to Jeannine how to get the code on her cell phone and then I have to get the code from here and within 10 minutes, before the code expires make the wire transfer on line.  Well that turned out to be an excercise in futility. There is no way that she can get me the code and for me to then do the arrangements within the 10 minutes. So, now, I have to delegate this entirely to Jeannine. Even when I tried to set up the address in the BofA online system of my US dollar a/c here, I needed the code. Why??? There must be thousands of Americans who spend a good deal of their life overseas and why can’t a bank the dimension of the BofA not come up with a better system, and why do I get a zillion different directions from their staff?

Thank you for bearing with me on my ranting, now I will try get some sleep.

The boat progress has slowed to a crawl, it is an enormously difficult job to remove the brittle cross grained teak, it just chips in short bits. I have half of it removed, took all week. There was moisture under the teak in a few places but no rot. There is a gorgeous full moon tonight. The winter has skipped Spring into summer. You can see the grass grow, the trees flower.

My new friend, Gjalt Wijmenga had given me good directions. The book presentation was given at the Militair Mobiel Depot in Oud Loosdrecht. The busdriver had never heard of it. I got out at the Anker Marina and asked the same question, but again they had not heard of it. It turned out to be right next to the marina, acrioss the road. A private collection of Jan Stuivenberg of all sorts of military vehicles, mostly of the 2nd WW but also a recent U.S. Army Hummer.  A MIG hangs from the ceiling. http://www.militair-mobiel-depot.nl/

Jack Kooistra, 82, has been a journalist and court reporter for “Het Friesch Dagblad” and is one of the expert historians on the 2nd WW. He has written several books on the subject. Gjalt Wijmenga, is a friend of Jack and the publisher, Uitgeverij Penn, of the book “Represailles” (Reprisals). http://www.uitgeverijpenn.nl/Winkel/represailles-in-nederland.html

The acquaintance with Gjalt was made through Bart Boosman. Bart came to look at an antique sports car Gjalt has for sale. So, this is an encore to the unusual way Bart and I met on the short wave radio in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean in July 2009. And it was through this encounter that I was given access to the memoirs of Bart’s grandmother, Tiny Boosman, who was a concentration camp companion of my mother. Gjalt and Jack ordered their copy of “De Mastmakersdochters” and Jack had already read part of it and said very kind words about my efforts. One of Jack Kooistra’s longtime friends, another Frisian, addressed the audience, retired Lieutenant General Ted Meines (92). An amazing personality, he did not need a microphone; and he gave a wonderful testimony of his Faith. He reminded me of my Frisian grandfather.

Well, it looks like the removal of the Teak deck is going to be a much bigger job than I had hoped for. I had hoped that I could bust the teak from the rubber like Detco bedding/glue on top of the 3/8″ marine plywood. But the top and often the second veneer layer come up with the glue. This means that I will most likely have to replace all or the majority of the plywood. And then I discovered that the plywood has been nailed with bronze ring shank nails. And they are practically impossible to pull like a common smooth shank nail and because it is bronze it will then break and makes it even more time consuming to try and extract the remains. I was expecting to be able to pull the teak strips in long lengths but it is very brittle and breaks in tiny fragments and that takes for ever to remove. I hope my luck will turn on the 22nd.

I promised in my previous blog that I would let you know about Maria Boonzaaijer’s book “Het vreemde meisje”. I finished reading it very late at night, last week. I just could not put it away. Another reader calls it a “page turner”.

The main character, Irana, learns Dutch in Moscow so that she can search for her father in Holland. I recommend you all do the same, learn Dutch, so that you can read this book. Or twist my arm. This is Maria’s second publication, after “Papa Tango” which also is a very good story. But in this book she has made a leap into the pros. Irana is born out of an affair of a Dutch priest visiting Moscow. It is about real people and real places. The ones we have all known and places we have been. Love, deception. isolation, abuse but in the end triumph for the most part. Some passages are outright awesome. For me it was also an extra pleasure that the second main character, Irana’s aunt, grew up in my old neighborhood and her brother chose the priesthood in the Thomas van Aquino church, which is also mentioned in “The Mastmakers’ Daughters”.

Not sure if I ever mentioned that the author, Maria, grew up two blocks from where I grew up. I met her and her husband Stephen on their boat in French Polynesia in 2005. She used to attend the Thomas van Aquino church and had become Dutch Reformed. And I had done the opposite. So we keep the old neighborhood in proper balance.

The work on the boat is progressing. Yesterday I removed the last of the two rub-rails. And after unscrewing hundreds of screws from the deck and removing all the hardware, the dirty job of removing the teak starts tomorrow. This afternoon I am invited to attend a book presentation in Oud Loosdrecht. The book is a series written by Jack Kooistra about the Reprisals here in the Second World War.

I am back at square one trying to find a roof over my head from May 1st. I thought I had place on a power boat in the “Schinkel” but that fell through.