Long time no hear...

It's been a while since I last updated the blog but, honestly, there was not much happening concerning sailing since we left T-Fish after our summer vacations. My daughter and her boyfriend used T-Fish for a vacation week in Sardegna as a 'dacha' but that's it basically. Soon afterwards T-Fish was put onshore, 'high and dry', for the winter season while I moved back from Rome to Brussels and got acquaintained with my new job.

Badlands National Park, South Dakota, US

A few business trips brought me to the U.S., where I also could enjoy the scenary of the 'Great Plains' and 'Black Hills' on a bus ride from Sioux Falls to Rapid City. I was in particular impressed by the 'Badlands National Park' which got it name from extreme temperatures, lack of water, and the exposed rugged terrain which is one of the world’s richest fossil beds. I also was able to get a gimpse on 'Mount Rushmore', on the way rushing to the airport and heading back to Europe.

Autumn last year, we were busy raising our temporal new family members, two white Golden Retrievers, a girl and a boy, the 'product' of our dog 'Blanche' and her Bavarian lover 'Charly' (yes, indeed, he is living close to Munich!). The whole undertaking indeed was very stressful and extremely emotional with a very difficult birth giving. It is amazing how these cute, tiny animals can turn your house upside down in just a few minutes. It definitely was an experience which we do not want to miss as a family even though we all share the opinion that this must stay a one-off experience. Take a look how cute they are which of course made it very difficult to say GoodBye shortly after Christmas. What helps is knowing that they are in very good hands now....   

The winter season in Belgium was really a challenge this year (I guess this is true for every year). It was in particular cloudy, grey-in-grey, without hardly any light for weeks. I think it was even the darkest period ever recorded in Belgium.

Consequently, there was an urgent need to refill our body with 'Vitamin D' over the Easter vacations. We therefore decided to spend one week sightseeing in Singapore and one week in a holiday resort on Bintan Island, Indonesia, a luxury vacations in the tropics which we really enjoyed. A movie is in the making which we soon will share with broader family members and close friends. 

When writing this blog entry, I already had visited T-Fish in Alghero twice, a couple of days preparing it for the new season and putting it back into the water, and one week for this season's shakedown cruise along the Sardinian coast. More to come soon......