Girl time with Maya
On the last day of July, Mark left for his annual visit to Massachusetts, USA, leaving Maya and me behind in Belgium for two weeks. When you live together 24/7 with your partner, it’s nice to have some me-time once in a while. Maya and I enjoyed this special time and bonded with lots of cuddles, attention, and walks.
(As always, hover over or click on photos in galleries to read their captions.)
That time apart also allowed me to meet up with four different girlfriends, which allowed us to talk in Flemish and foster our relationships without any hurry. One of my friends, Rosy, had just obtained an 8-week-old puppy, Bonnie, who joined her for our day together. Maya was the perfect oma.
I also cooked a lot, wrote a bunch, ran errands, did research, studied German, saw my parents frequently, called Mark daily, cleaned Duke’s interior, had long nights of sleep, witnessed the partial solar eclipse, visited my nephew for his twelfth birthday, and sweated a lot during more heat waves.
I finally met a famous overlanding couple when they passed through Belgium. I’d been online friends with Geneva (and her husband, Mike) from “It’s Not a Slow Car, It’s a Fast House” for at least six years, but we never managed to meet up before, despite coming close. Our morning together was a bit rushed, but it was still special. And they had brought a dissolvant product for us from the UK, which is not available in Europe. The Vario T2 remained front and center in our lives even while we were apart.
Another highlight for this reggae lover was watching the Wailers (yes, from Bob Marley fame) through a fence during the Fonnefeesten in Lokeren. Why through a fence during this free concert? Because, unbeknownst to everyone, event security didn’t allow dogs on the premises anymore. Two years ago, Maya joined Mark and me without any problems…
