A real rural summer

As many of you know, I spend my weekends at the crumbly cottage, an escape which is particularly necessary at this time of year when the overnight noise in the Oude Haven reaches epic proportions. Summer nights bring the crowds to our terraces and with them, they bring what seems like a competitive shouting spirit. In contrast to the low pitched murmerings of the winter gatherings, the volume rises with the temperature and the balmier the evening, the barmier the revellers become.

Anyway, the flight to the country is just what I need, although in a different respect, it’s just as noisy. The main difference is that at the crumbly cottage, the sounds wake me in the morning rather than keeping me awake at night.

The weather over the weekend was hot, so we slept with all our windows open, which meant we got the full repertoire of the dawn chorus in all its glory. On Sunday, I must have been awake around 5 a.m. when the concert started warming up. I listened in awe to the birdsong. I’m not expert when it comes to birds, so whether it was thrushes or blackbirds, I don’t know, but they were singing their hearts out. The rhythm section was filled by crows, pigeons, magpies and sparrows all of which were providing the range and depth of this fabulous winged orchestra as they cried, cooed and cheeped along to the melodies. Just magical.

Then in the evening we listened with renewed pleasure to the humming of the bees in the lime tree we have in the garden. It is in full bloom and the bees love it. When I stand still and look up, I can see them dipping into the flowers like diners at a buffet. One evening also brought a performance by four swallows who gave us an aerobatic display equal to any masterclass demonstration. They swooped, soared and dived in an almost synchronised dance around the tree.  Then still later, we were delighted to see a bat circling the house, its dark form clear against the luminous brightness of the summer night sky. Noisy and crowded it might be with our flying friends, but it feels like a proper summer. This is how it should be.

There is peace too, however. On Saturday afternoon I went for a bike ride and as is my habit, I headed for the canal. The Dutch scenery around me had a beautiful calm peace, so I stopped to take a photo to capture it. Silly, really. As if I could. The breeze was making undulating waves over the surface of the green wheatfields. It whispered through the trees, ruffling the leaves and it snatched my hair from its band, but other than that, there was no sound. You cannot see the silence, but maybe you can feel the peace in this photo.

It’s a hot week in the north here, so for my friends in this part of the world, keep cool allemaal!