2003 Dressage at Devon

Pre-Devon Diary

Friday September 19, 2003: The database

Initially we were supposed to get on the road today, but as hurricane Isabel had swept a trail of disaster across our route to Devon, our departure was delayed with one day. North Carolina and Virginia were declared federal disaster area, so Mary took the opportunity to stay home a day longer and "get some work done." I woke up at 7 am to the usual tapping of the cardinal on the camper. I spent an entire morning uploading the new templates to the dressagedaily and horsesdaily web sites.

By 11 AM, Mary's computer tech Tim from Daytona had arrived to do some streamlining on the home network and to fix the scanner. Even professionals sometimes need to rely on other professionals to keep their business running. Just before noon, JJ and I took off for a trip into Deleon Springs. I had an appointment at the bank and afterwards we did one of my favorite American things, going shopping in a regular supermarket. I love to compare prices, look at the package material and buy good American shampoo (Finesse by Helen Curtis) to take home to Belgium. What strikes me much about American supermarkets are the "bucket-versions" of every product. A bucket of ice cream, a bucket of butter, buckets of orange juice, etc etc.

When I came home again, I had a tete-a-tete with some of Florida's finest wildlife. Mary's home turtle fled full speed to its sandy hole, which is behind her car park. At the entrance of the camper a garden snake was caught red-handedly creeping over the outdoor carpet. It froze and looked skeptically at me, wondering if I was a threat or a treat. It rapidly decided that I was a threat to its 1 1/2 meter body and slithered away under the camper. Indoor in the house, several lizards crawled over the screen windows and disappeared under her wooden deck.

Round 5 PM, I finally got to do the job I was primarily assigned for to come over to the US, i.e. uploading photos in Mary's brand new photo database. Designed by a Boston programmer, the Phelpsphotos database is going to be magnificent. I was on a roll for hours uploading the latest Aachen pictures into the database. I quit working at 11 PM, chasing Mary away out of her coach in which she had fallen a sleep, and slept on the fold-out bed of her coach, as the camper had been packed for the trip by JJ.

by Astrid Appels