March 8, 2026

Sunday. We left Odijk around 11:45. Blacksmith. Mild but with some lingering light fog, which made it on the chilly side initially. Light winds, hardly noticeable. Werkhoven to Zuwe, Gooijerdijk, and Ruiterberg. Many trees and bushes now with visible buds. More pussy willows. Forsythias and magnolias also underway. Maarnse Grindweg to Quatre Bras and right toward Woudenberg. More and more cyclists and walkers out. Griftdijk and Haarweg, then Scherpenzeel and De Glind. Church people walking home on their roads. After-church lunch crowd at the Kromme Hoek in Scherpenzeel. Around Achterveld and Leusden; there also the first cows of the year. Treek to Zeisterweg climb. East side of Zeist to Driebergen and back. The war goes on, and there's much to say about its impact on the Middle East, individual countries there, U.S. democracy, transatlantic relations, international law, the global economy. Mostly negative in every instance, and it's much harder to see who or what will benefit. (Israel perhaps, in the short run). But what it also underlines is the lengths to which the president will go to avoid holding Russia responsible for any nefarious action it may take. Not even the White House has denied reports from inside the government that Moscow is helping Iran target U.S. troops in the region, but when asked about it, it treats it as something irrelevant at best. Maybe Russia should try to take back Alaska, because in response the president may say that Washington should never have bought it in the first place.