22th Mai - Judiths birthday at the Rosefarm

In the Netherlands I come from a small town ‘Heerhugowaard’ where the southern agricultural neighbourhood is called ‘t Kruis formerly consisting of a Catholic church, ditto school, a hundred farms along the two crossing streets. Yes I am from such a farm, formerly growing tulips besides many other things. My family is still growing flowers, today it is Peonia lactifolia. Judith is from another farm with greenhouses full of roses. We went to the same primary school with a few years between us, and I have worked between her fathers roses many Sunday mornings, of which my memory is rather limited due to my Saturday evening activities. We both moved on in completely different directions. Judith went via the University in Wageningen on to having her own company in rose breeding of which a part is situated in Kenya at the shore of Lake Naivasha. Around that lake many flowerfarms are situated because of the climate, water and logistical reasons. There Merijn and I were invited to celebrate her 40th birthday together with two other mothers with kids on the Netherland School. On perfect directions we found the farm before 18, where the kids were driving on the fields with Joost, Judiths brother who is running the cut flower production part of the rose farm. We were invited to stay at their lodge; a spacious colonial stile house with view on the acacia fields were different animals can be spotted on different times of the day. We saw zebras, hippos and deer. Adjacent are 5 en suite rooms with luxurious space for 3 adults and 4 kids. Judith with her two sons have their own home and so has Joost. We were served red wine and a lovely diner where after the small kids were put into bed. Merijn and Sofie continued with a movie on his labtop and we, ‘single’ mothers and Joost, with red wine on the veranda. Around midnight I had to retire, because of the exceptional long day spent mostly inside vehicles.
In the morning we had a long breakfast, where after the kids had to swim in the inviting looking swimming pool, but the water was pretty chilly. We had a nice walk around the premises enjoying the great view over the lake from the north side. Unfortunately there was little time left to see the rose farm itself, but we were invited to come back for that another day. After a warm lunch we all left for Nairobi again. In the the picture the four boys are giving a big good bye hug.

The Bilashaka lodge is available for public too see http://www.bilashakalodge.com/