Mono Lake

Mono Lake near the town of Lee Vining in east-central California.October 11, ..

Left Edge Route on the Ben

Helen, Harry and I headed back up Observatory Gully to find something nice to climb, with no particular plan. We kept going higher and higher in the hope of finding something mixed in good condition, until we found ourselves standing underneath Gardyloo Buttress. Funnily enough, there was a roof up that way I wanted to look at, but it had no ice on until the lip. So we opted for something more slabby and had a chilled ascent of Left Edge Route (VI,5). The ice was a bit unreliable, and protection pretty bad, so it was a good idea to keep the weight on the feet. Thankfully, once over the steepness there was solid ice and a cruise to the top. On the way down there was talk of rock climbing..

Finally, a centre-right government in the Netherlands

After 111 days of grueling mix and match, tug of war and hair pulling scenes, finally a new regime has been formed (eindelijk!): for the first time in decades, The Netherlands have a RIGHT-WING government that will be led by The Bachelor* Prime Minister (yes, he is single ladies and supposedly not gay) together with the struggling Christians** with support from all the rage Beethoven*** camp.

The Netherlands have always been pro socialized in almost everything, something along the one for all, all for one approach which honestly I find a bit peculiar. I have always believed in working hard to make our dreams a reality or even to be able to live comfortably. Of course we all need to have safety nets (social benefits), have proper controls regarding free enterprise (bank crisis for example), loving mother nature (but not losing the vision to other pressing matters like building more roads) and so on and so forth, equilibrium right.

I also want to point out—which is a common misconception by many people who are not familiar with the Dutch political scene and Dutch mentality. A right-wing government in the Netherlands is comparable to a left-wing government in the USA. I am using the USA here as an example because many people are familiar with American politics. So, just imagine what a left party is in this country.

Here’s some recent news for those interested:

Formatieoverleg afgerond
Dutch right wing parties reach agreement on coalition
Dutch coalition agreement is presented to the public
Islamic veil ban in Dutch coalition deal (Looks like Sarkozy is getting some support)

*Mark Rutte, leader of VVD (Liberal Party) aka The Bachelor
**CDA/Christian Democrat Party (they struggled to get votes and were acting like sissy girls)
***Geert Wilders, leader of PVV (Freedom Anti-Islam Party) aka Beethoven
.

BlackJack

Stardust

Cal Poly Nights

Cal Poly Nights, originally uploaded by ParsecTraveller.

Night settles in over San Luis Obispo, California.

Lazy Week in Gloucester

We are settling back into a routine with Austin being back home with us. I got my staples out and am finally feeling somewhat normal. Ava is thrilled to have another guy around which means I have been bumped down to third on the list of people she adores. We bought an island to put in the space where our dining room table was. Beyond that we are doing the normal, everyday things in life like laundry.



In other words, it has been a very laid back, lazy kind of a week. We are loving our campsite still even though it has rained quite a bit so we haven't sat outside like we normally would.