Yesterday we rented paddle boats and circumnavigated the medieval centrum–the first time of many, I anticipate, looking at our schedule of visitors.  It is good exercise, and there was infinitely more to see than I could manage while (a) reading even the sparse guide provided by the company while (b) making sandwich bread and Gouda fold-overs for my three family members and (c) trying to coach Margaret not to lead her head out of a moving boat while looking backwards, lest she get knocked on the noggin by a low hanging branch, statue, or bridge pylon.

OK, I admitted it several times to Steve yesterday: I was passionately reluctant to let go of the bird in the hand that we were offered with the furnished rental house and places at the good international school in another city.  That bird, however, was a chicken compared to the peacock of Utrecht and our a house here.  Sometimes, life is teaching me, it is better to wait patiently for the one in the bush.