A lineage holder is the oldest son of the oldest son. This is the one that will keep the family name alive. Recently I found out that in my family this title referred to me and because our child is a boy this title also applies to him.
Here a nice picture of the three lineage holders of the Berg family.
Finally at home. It was great arriving home. For Alex it was the first time and that almost two and a half months after being born. Finally we escape the fuss and can relax a bit.
Alex seems to like Las Palmas. After his cold experiences in Holland he was clearly agreeing with the warmer climate. He still makes himself being heard every now and then, but still. Thanks to the mild climate there seems to be a blanket of peace covering our family right now.
My coffee plant has had a rough time. First our balcony was being painted which required me to move the plant around quite a lot which resulted in a loss of about 90% of the little future coffee beans. Then I had to leave the plant all alone for almost a month while our son was being born. This resulted in the complete dehydration of the resulting beans.
I tried to plant the dehydrated beans, to try and get a few more plants, but sadly my wife threw away the pot and seedlings during a cleaning fit. I did manage to harvest some mini coffee beans from the plant, and planted these, but I’m not very positive about the future of these beans. Next year I’ll try again.
Recently discovered, Steve Hughes, a very funny Australian comedian.
We have arrived in Holland. Everything is going well and we are enjoying our month of vacationing. Holland is cold. Much colder that I recorded in my memories, but it is very good to hear people speaking dutch when I’m walking across the street.
Finally! My holidays start today and I’ll be going to Madrid to be reunited with my family.
Because of the early birth I was forced to miss out on the first month of life of my son and although I kept up to date through photos and phone calls it was a very strange situation. But now this strange situation has come to an end. While I was separated my son has grown from 3 to 4 kilos. A growth spurt of 33% that I have missed.
From tonight on we are a family again. Tonight my life as a father starts. A life with a little color and I’m looking forward to it. First we will be some time in Madrid, and then, if the kid is alright well be visiting Holland for 10 days. After our Dutch visit we’ll finally be going to our home in Las Palmas.
First Madrid. Accompanied by some toys, a Jip and Janneke book and our own book. If only my son will recognize his father.
In Holland the brand name Buckler was destroyed by a comedian but in Spain the brand Buckler beer still exists. At the end of this week Buckler is sponsoring a beer run.
The beer run is a running match of about 6 kilometers across the beach. Sadly, the match is just the day before I’m leaving for Madrid, so I don’t think I’ll be attending.
The strange thing about this running event is the publicity. In some places you see posters announcing the race, and these posters look pretty professional. Of course there is also a website and this is the weird part. I have never seen such a horrible website. The website offers a bank account number for you to deposit your money and that statement that the run will commence somewhere after 7 o clock. There are also a number of empty pages and that’s it.
There is also a statement that the run should be completed barefoot and in a swimsuit so there will probably not be and time measurements. And where will you store all your stuff? It just smells like a scam but still I am curious. Maybe this Friday I’ll walk towards the beach and have a look.
This weekend I was planning to follow the wine route of the Gran Canary Island with a couple of friends.
Although I’m really ignorant about wines I do like to drink a glass of wine every now and then. I found out that the Gran Canary Island has quite a history of growing grapes and wine production. Between the 16th and 18th centuries wine was the most important exported product.
Right now wine has no more importance for the local economy but there are still a number of sites near the capital Las Palmas where the still have some production of wines.
The value of wine production for the touristic industry is slowly being increased, because the locals found out that there is profit in wine drinking tourists, but there is still a long road to travel. There is a route past six bodegas near Las Palmas. Sadly you need to inform quite specifically in an information point to get the information and than you need to arrange everything yourself. Call the bodegas yourself, make the appointments and arrange transport for the visits.
There is no need to go unprepared. A document to value the wines is a good thing to bring.
In the end the wine route proved to be a typical Spanish thing. If you don’t speak Spanish it will be impossible to make any arrangements. From the six bodegas 2 could not be reached. One was closed and another was only interested in bigger groups. A third was only open from 17:00 till 20:00, but only on Saturday. The last bodega told me we were welcome in October.
Finally we cancelled our wine route. Not so unexpected that this route is no so much published. Maybe in some months we’ll try again.
Recently I have been hearing a saying by some Cuban hero José Martí, that the Spanish people like referring to. He was asked what every person should do before this death. His reply:
“Tener un hijo, plantar un árbol, escribir un libro.”
In English: “Have a kid, plant a tree, write a book.”. Years ago I already planted a tree. Recently we wrote our first book and since this year we are blessed by a son.
Is that it then? I hope not, and I think the Cuban was wrong. I don’t know the things you need to do before the end, but I think you should strive to enjoy every moment. Reach for all the goals you can think of and that are important to you. For me things are going pretty well until now, and I hope they will continue to go well. *knock on wood*
This weekend I made a quick visit to Madrid. Just to have a look at Alex and hold him for a while. It was very nice to see him again and be able to hold him. His weight is now 3700 grams. He is no longer a thin baby and his dark blue eyes are getting lighter. A beautiful baby.
Sadly I could not stay long and right now I’m already home again. The little one will have to take care of his mother for the next two weeks and then I will go and help him with this task. I hope these two weeks pass fast.