This morning.

At around 5:00.

We have joked with all our of visitors about putting screens in the windows here. (Something I guess I have failed to mention on this blog until now.) Why? Well, it’s not for flies, honey. In fact, no one in Amsterdam (all of Europe?) cares about pesky flies anywhere – not your house, the cafe down the street, the upscale restaurant, and certainly not the market.

Well, we have screens. For a very particular reason, which we were warned about upon moving in. We just don’t use them. And last night (like most summer nights here) was pleasant and mild, so our windows were open, letting in a cool breeze…

A loud THUMP woke me up. Startled, I shot my eyes open and what do I see? A cat jumped into our bedroom! We have stairs just outside the bedroom windows that lead to our roof, so the little mangy thing invited itself in!

Cue panicked yelling, Jaro waking up in a frenzy, the cat howling at the top of its lungs and both of us frantically trying to catch it and throw it out the window to its death and back on the stairs. Eventually (after probably 30 agonizing seconds), it was cornered and released.

Going forward, we will be using our screens.