March 30, 2025

 Left a little after 10 (daylight savings time). Blacksmith. City was a cool, dry place. Stiff northwesterly breeze. No place to go but home. Merwedekanaal, Plofsluis, Lekdijk. Saw three riders, they all left me behind. Authoritative sun through the clouds on the Lek multiple times. Lek refreshingly empty. Zuwe, Goyerbrug, Sterkenburg, Traaij. Magnolias and forsythias well on their way everywhere. Huis ter Heide, Bilthoven, Blauwkapelseweg, Buys Ballotstraat. Møs with yesterday's paper. Some encouraging signs of European follow-through against the autocrats in East and West: can't trust either one. Paper also playing catch-up to the demolition works in the U.S. right now (who isn't); it brought to mind the fellow on the Newshour the other night: his new Peruvian wife had been caught up in the deportation dragnet, and in his worst case scenario he'd move to Peru with her. This is someone who gave his vote to the current head of state, but he does not regret his vote. Still trying to get my head around that. Earlier in the week they had an educated woman in a government job from Nebraska. She's now losing her job and is surprised, since she imagined that change would come gradual and in a nuanced way. Of course, we had every reason to expect that, absolutely. The saying goes that people deserve the government they get, certainly the one they vote for. Problem is everyone else getting swept up in the chaos.