Post #1: An unexpected development

Good morning, and welcome back from Spring Break! I wish I could be back at Merrol Hyde, but instead I am here in the southern Dutch province of Limburg about a mile from the border with Germany. My wife and I were supposed to fly back to Nashville on Sunday, but our flight from Brussels airport in Belgium (one hour from here) was canceled.
There are, of course, worse circumstances, places, and times in history in which to be stuck:
- a villager in Mesopotamia at the height of the Assyrian Empire
- a Greek in Asia Minor during the Persians' westward advance
- a debtor slave in Athens before the reforms of Solon
- a Roman under the rule of Tarquin the Proud during the era of Etruscan kings
- one of Hannibal's mercenary soldiers during the crossing of the Alps
and, the subject of our recent studies...
- a Roman farmer-soldier returning from war only to find that his land is occupied by a corrupt senator who wants to expand his latifundia!
But more on that later.

The image above shows the volcanic ash over Europe as of this morning. The red dot on the map is Belgium, from where I will be flying back to America.


The red arrow above is where I am located. It is a town called Sittard. My wife's sister's husband is in the US Army and stationed on a NATO base near here.
Well, enough about me... Please read Post #2 for instructions for today's Internet activity.