Sunset in Paradise

A pure white sandy beach, the blue ocean, the sun, a sea breeze, it's nice and warm and tranquil, I am reading and somebody (our neibours on the beach !) just brought me a strawbury daiquiri with crushed ice, just like that.  What else could I want ?  There are a number of things I could think of, but it's near perfection to me, for a while anyway.  And those glorious sunsets ! Every evening any number of hotel guests would be on the beach trying to catch it on camera.  We did have a great holiday in Aruba.  The 10 hour flight was well worth it.  I actually could have stayed there for another fortnight, soaking up the sun, reading, eating drinking (!), swimming and enjoying the relaxing atmosphere.  Now that summer seems to be seriously delayed on our otherwise very nice seaside, I realise even more how lucky I am to have been able to be in the sun for 2 weeks on a wonderful holiday.  The hotel was super and everybody seemed to be enjoying themselves, even the Arubans who were working.  Most of the other guests were from the U.S., some were South-American and so we kept forgetting that a large number of the staff also spoke dutch.  Aruba, although it has its own government,  is still a part of the Dutch kingdom and dutch is still taught at school.  So very often when we were talking amongst ourselves they would immediately say "maar jullie spreken nederlands !' (you speak dutch) and I guess they liked speaking dutch for a change. They even knew some programs from our flemish TV channels.
So I thoroughly enjoyed it.  I read 5 and 1/2 books, and apparently, people do notice what others do on the beach, unlike myself because when I'm reading I am like immersed in another world except for the times I'ld be asleep or swimming or watching one of the pelicans diving for food, a remerkable sight.  The friends we were travelling with, met a couple from Philadelphia (well actually 'near' to as they lived at about a 2 hour drive from Philadelphia) and when they joined us for dinner one evening, they said : 'Oh, you're the ones that are reading the whole time.'.  It is funny how relative distance is : they said they lived near Philadelphia (2hrs away) and they asked us if we lived near to each other.  Our friends said no, but I said : 'We don't call it near but to you it would be, it's 'only' 1 1/2 hrs drive .'
So summer is on hold here.  It rained all night last night and now it's grey and cold for the time of year.  I am writing this now on my lunch break because it's too cold to be out.  I would much rather be outside right now, with my book, I am on my own at work all day, kind of boring but it has its advantages.  But still, a bit of a chat now and again is a welcome intermezzo most of the time.
Meanwhile a lot has happened even in the month since we got back from our holiday.  Our parental home is as good as sold, so we will have to empty it out now in the next 2 or 3 months.  A bit of pressure is always good.  Our sons are both moving house after the summer.  Not into the same house obviously ! The eldest and his wife have bought a house but a lot of construction needs to be done before they can move in.  I have been looking after their 3 children 2 Saturdays in a row, while they were clearing it out.  The previous owner and the tennant had left so much junk in the house and garden that it has taken them 3 weekends already of moving the stuff out to be thrown away and still the house isn't empty yet.  Last weekend I didn't have to babysit the children, so I went over to help them.   I am even more determined now to start clearing our attic of any stuff I don't have a use for anymore.  Not that it looks anything like my son's house but still, I will do it.  Our youngest son and his girlfriend are also going to move to another house after the summer, probably October, meaning that for the next 4 to 5 months I will not have a lot of time to read, but that's not too bad.  It will keep me busy as always.  This saturday it's Ophelia's 3rd birthday and according to the weather forecasts, dare we believe it, the weather will improve from then on.  Keeping my finges crossed as our joint birthday present, a trampoline, does require a day without rain and we would like to have a small family BBQ, can you believe for the 1st time this year.