The Arsenal, Willemstad

Shot on the way home from work. For the first time in months, I drove on the A29 to and from Rotterdam, mainly to observe how I felt driving on the familiar motorways again after having been gone for so long.

It felt different. The weather wasn't bad, so that wasn't it. I just felt a trifle displaced. In contrast, I feel quite motivated to get back on track with the schoolyear. Work aside, though, my thoughts are elsewhere.

To be sure, I finished all my first quarter planning today, despite the fact that I need to press my nose close to the computer screen while waiting for my new reading glasses, which got 'lost' during the holiday. Well, better the reading glasses than our travel money and goodness knows what else. Next on the agenda is the Year 3 reader which I'll start putting together tomorrow.

Another thing -- hubby and I hardly follow the news now. Not that we're not interested, and there's def enough to read about, especially the new threat of war in the Crimea and the spread of ebola. And yet we feel a trifle detached and we don't seem to mind.

Our holiday must have been that good! Or are we just getting older faster?

Built in 1795, but the military use of this particular plot of land started 200 years earlier. Having undergone a number of renovations, it now functions as a venue for social and cultural events.