This and That

.                                          Sad basil but perky oregano

Oh happy day. We finally have a kitchen garden…..of sorts.  Our boat garden consists of basil, oregano, chives and thyme surrounded by marigolds.   The basil is pretty sad right now but it is a beginning and we are thrilled.

                                           Thyme, chives and marigolds

Mr. Yogi dog has discovered he has his own drive through window.  During nice weather, he likes to be outside patrolling his deck and should he get a little peckish during his walk he can stop by the convenient kitchen window and pick up a little treat from one of his personal chefs.

                                          Our official food sniffer hungry again




Tonight, I heard Dwight ask me if I wanted an oslit.  I didn’t think so.  I asked him again (and again) “what did you say?”  He repeated his question more than once, finally getting so peeved with me that he said “never mind.”  Well, how could I never mind?  What the hell is an oslit?  Which is more irritating, did I want something I didn’t know or did I want to forget about something I didn’t know whether I wanted or not?

Dwight’s better nature prevailed and he asked me one more time, a little impatiently though, “Do you want the heater fan to oscillate?”  Oh.

Old age being what it is, we spend our days asking each other “what?” then repeating our  sentences.  Is there an echo here?

Yes, as a matter of fact there is.  We have decided to rename this boat Echo.  Because it is an echo of what we did in France and, unfortunately, because of the above.  Mostly, though, because we are canal repeaters.

The Answer

In Dutch, hond is dog (pronounced hunt), honden is dogs (en is plural) and we all know what poep (poop) is.

The technique here in Holland is to carry a long handled but small plastic shovel while you are walking your dog.  When the dog squats, you hold the shovel under the dog's rear, then deposit the deposit into one of the ubiquitous hondenpoep containers: clever solution for a messy problem. 

Apparently the problem with the solution is a lack of shovels.  The majority of people do not carry them.  However, the dogs know where the poep belongs and are drawn to the area around the containers.  Consequently, it almost impossible to deposit anything into any one of them without stepping into a large pile of you-know-what.  Kind of defeats the purpose, doesn't it? 

On the other hand, maybe importing small plastic shovels into The Netherlands would be a good business to get into?

A Small Test

The first person to tell us what this contraption is and what it says will win an all expense paid trip to a location of our choice.  Good luck everyone.

Celebrations

Happy 77th birthday to Dwight William Fisher and happy 13th birthday to Matthew Kevin Hanna!

Sneek

Sneek (pronounced snake) is the heart of boating in Friesland and mooring in front of Sneek's famous waterpoort, once the town's major defense, is the holy grail for boaters in the Netherlands.

We've made our own pilgrimage but we're here a year too late.  We understand that last May the temperatures were in the 80s.  This May has been wet and cold, hardly getting to 50.  We can count on the fingers of one hand the number of sunny days we've seen since we've been in Holland.  It is getting wearisome and we have painting and boat repairs to do that depend on sunny weather.  Dang!

 

We didn't realize that May 5, Liberation Day, is a national holiday in the Netherlands.  Liberation Day (Bevrijdingsdag) marks the end of the Nazi occupation during World War II. Canadian General Charles Foulkes negotiated the surrender of German forces in the Netherlands in 1945, which this newer generation still commemorates.  It is an important day here with parades, marching bands, exhibits.  This year to add to the celebration in Sneek, a small white boat flew the Stars and Stripes.

We were entertained by a snappy youth marching band, a parade of 28 (count 'em) WWII army vehicles, exhibits of beautifully restored horse drawn r.v.'s, ship-shape antique motor boats, old farm machinery and tractors.  We had singers serenading us and a nifty looking nautical men's chorus delighting our ears with Dutch sea-shanties.

There were tears in our eyes witnessing the lighting of the commemorative flame, seeing the wreaths and flowers in the church yard to remember those who died, and especially while hearing a personal thank you to us, inadvertent representatives of the Allied forces, from a Dutch woman much too young to have experienced WWII.

We were moved and gratified to realize that sacrifices made 65 years ago are still remembered and honored.

Marina Inspiration

A Dog in Holland

Grou

We are in Grou, Friesland, a sweet little village that makes Dwight expect to meet an elf whenever he rounds a corner. Could he be right?