My last memories of Amsterdam will be loads of snow and freezing cold weather. To keep warm I am drinking plenty of strong Belgian beers and eating a lot of chocolate. This coming Tuesday I plan to celebrate the solstice with a friend in the country. There will also be a lunar eclipse so it should be a good day to meditate and turn within. As I head south for a quieter and warmer life, I leave behind many friends and memories. This city has changed much since I first arrived here over ten years ago. The alternative scene is much smaller, the politics are nastier, the coffee shops are under threat of being for Dutch folks only, and I am older and less inclined to attack the giant windmills. It is time for this Don Quixote to find a home village in the mountains, somewhere near fields of lavender and olive trees, where time moves more slowly. There will be more food and good wine on these pages in the near future, and less of the crazy noise of a collapsing civilization. I am downsizing and opting out of the grid, and learning how to grow potatoes and choose varieties of pumpkin seeds. The country of the Cathars and Huguenots seems quietly rebellious enough.