Its raining. And I am going to blog, and catch up on about 6 weeks of missed blog posts. My mission (should I choose to accept it) is to catch up completely. Hopefully my long list of faithful subscribers will forgive me…
Oss. After leaving Den Haag (we have since returned 3 times…Oops!) we arrived in Oss, to await the arrival of our Eurail tickets and to spend some time with Elke.
We decided to celebrate our first Sunday with her by playing some Midget Golf! Mini golf here is called midget golf! So here I am, pretending to be a midget…playing midget golf!
Elke didn’t cheat once…neither did I….
does pushing the ball around the with stick count as cheating?
We had so much fun, and were all very impressed with each others (lack of) golfing skills.
Elke and Lindsay got on well the entire time, and Lindsay didn’t rub it in that he thrased us both!
Some days later we asked Oma and Opa to take us to look at some war graves.
the number of graves was heart breaking.
In the first cemetery we found a Troup (mum’s maiden name)
The next cemetery we went to was just over the border in Germany
Where you see Elke walking used to be full of graves, but over the years the men have been sent home to their families. Thousands still remain.
At the entrance to each cemetery is a book with all the names of the people buried there. We were very surprised to find a young Holmwood.
He was so young.
The grounds are beautifully cared for, and it was very peaceful in the middle of the woods. Driving along the country roads Oma and Opa would point out where paratroopers had landed, where Opa had seen a field full of planes and paratroopers…which now is just an ordinary looking field of crops.
We went through the village of Gennep where Oma and Opa used to live. We stopped to have a look at the old church which has had a bit of a face lift. The old bricks have been covered up with sandstone.
For dinner we had Pancakes at a very trendy and civilised pancake restaurant.
Oma being very ladylike fit in the beautifully 
Unfortunately not all our dining partners were as civilised as Oma.
Opa reading the menu
me trying to bite Lindsay
And Elke helping herself to the maple Syrup
That weekend it was the family Hockey day at Elke and her Brother’s Hockey club. Each year families that belong to the club form family teams and play a round robin against each other. Each team has to bring a prize, the winning team gets to choose a prize first. I made 100 double choc chip and pecan biscuits for Team Decates. (they was chosen by the winning team!)
Introducing…
TEAM DECATES!
The team consisted of, Elke, Tom, Joris and Michiel Decates then some friends as well as a neighbour, his kids and a friend of his sons. Lindsay also played for about 15 minutes of one game. 4 people of the 12 person team had never actually played hockey!
Everyone was excited for a lovely summers day of hockey playing.
It rained. I have never seen so much rain in my life.
everyone started getting damp, then the rain got heavier and heavier.
They all got wetter and wetter, but managed to remain cheerful
Some of them got a little bit water-logged and began acting a little strangely on the field.
Joris walked like an Egyptian,
And a friend of theirs, Frank danced to the pop music being blasted across the field.
Lindsay and I sat nice and dry being the day’s sport photographers.
Many teams had children on them, and the guys on the Decates team, most of whom had played hockey for many years and were in really high teams. Despite this, a very cute 5 year old managed to countless times steal the ball from these guys. 
They didn’t win many games, but had lots of fun and where thanked by parents of the kids on other teams because they had let the kids be part of the matches.
We managed to dry off after the hockey games and Lindsay and I made big aussie ‘The Lot’ burgers for dinner.
Up next Elke’s Gala, results and party!