Devotion

I hurt myself and it is Yogi’s fault.  After 3½ months of living on a boat, he finally fell overboard and in my zeal to rescue him, I skinned my knee.

I’ve told him and told him not to jump when he is on the docks but does he listen?  No!  He jumped up trying to get the ball I was carrying and when he came down his back leg hit air instead of the dock, tipping him right into the water.  We were  both surprised. 

When he came to the surface, he splashed his way to some pilings sticking up under the dock and clung to them….tightly.  Naturally, he wouldn’t leave the safety of his perch no matter how hard I called, so I had to lay prone, reach under the dock, grab him and pull him to safety.  Otherwise, he’d still be there.  He does not like to swim and therefore doesn’t a fairly poor job of it.  Lucky for him I have very long arms.

Oh well, it was a very hot day and he needed a bath anyway.  He’s none the worse for wear and I suppose my knee will heal.  Maybe I’ll have a new scar as evidence of my devotion….awwwwww.

We have a couple of devoted mothers swimming around in this marina; one in particular should be awarded a medal.  A grebe with an almost fully grown chick is the model of maternal forbearance.  That child of hers will not shut up.  I’ve seen her try to nap during the day by tucking her head under a wing but that kid of hers bumps her and gets it’s head as close to hers as possible, cheep, cheep, cheeping all the while.  It never stops; it follows her around all day long, cheep, cheep, cheep, cheep, cheep, cheep, cheep.  If it was mine, I’d be tempted to take drastic measures……heck, it‘s not and I am…..good mom
.

A duck brings her quintet of babies to our boat each morning for a little breakfast snack.  If I don’t notice her right away, she will make a quiet little mama duck noise at me, as if to say, “scuse me, we’re here now”, so I run and get the duck bread.  So far she hasn’t lost a little one; each morning she shows up with 5 ducklings….good mom. 

Tulips and Roses and Callas, Oh My

When you think of Holland you think of tulips, don't you?  Well, you can add a few other varieties of flowers to your thoughts.  Imagine a flower shop that processes 48,000,000 flowers and plants per day........that's right 48 million every 24 hours.  

FloraHolland is just that little store. Flowers and plants are shipped all over the world from 6 locations in the Netherlands.  We were lucky enough to visit the Aalsmeer facility.  

Unbelievable! Impressive!  And it smelled good, too.

Flowers

 

More Flowers

Even more flowers

One of the auction rooms

The in-house salon for employee haircuts

Interested in learning more about how they do it?  Click here to go FloraHolland's web site.

Machines For Doing

Contraptions: Europe is full of ‘em. 

I suppose America has its share of Rube Goldberg devices but the distances between them are so vast that it takes longer to run across one.  Either that or the United States has become so homogenized with chain stores on each corner that we have no room for thing-a-ma-bobs that do the job.  But there is still space for them in Europe and there seems to be a goofy gadget every other kilometer.

Take the marina we are in for starters.  The only way to get into town is to crank yourself across a narrow canal aboard a self operated ferry.   The idea of it is captivating when you first get to the marina but winding up a heavy chain each time the dog needs a walk gets old fast.

Then there are the ubiquitous windmills.  One in every town and the ultimate in contraptions.  For centuries, the ever blowing wind here in Holland has been used to power the grinding stones that allowed the Dutch to have flour for their beloved pannekoeken (pancakes to you and I).  By installing an Archimedes screw within a windmill, the clever Dutch were able to drain their flooded plains.

Have a dairy on one of those plains?  Then you are going to need all the contraptional equipment used to make cheese.

I can’t think of a better way to spend some time than searching out all the widgets, gadgets and gizmos that flavor a particular country. 

Cruisers

Oh sure, the scenery is great, the museums spectacular, the gardens beautiful, the Dutch people friendly and the idea of being strangers in a strange land is exciting.  But the one thing that we truly enjoy is being part of a cruising community once more.

Getting to know other cruisers and their boats, meeting them again and again throughout the season on canals big and small, in cities or out of the way villages is number one in our opinion.

Because we came to here so early in the season and weren’t in the heart of Holland’s cruising grounds, we almost despaired of finding cruising friends again.

So thank you Chris and Rob for recognizing our marigolds and stopping by to “set awhile”.  We enjoyed your company.  

See you again…..soon!

Stopping by a cheese farm on a summer afternoon

Yogi loves cheese

So does Dwight

Cheese, ice cream or wooden shoes, this farm has it all