The More Things Change, The More They Remain The Same

Things change…..or do they?

Entertainment, Delft style

Imagine you are in your early 20s and your dream is to learn Dutch so that you can work for KLM Airlines.  Your family has close friends who own a shop on the main square in Delft, so off you go for three months, living above the store with a Dutch family. 

Your home-grown language immersion program teaches you how to ask the butcher for a half pound of minced meat for the evening’s soup.  Not exactly KLM material.

Your dreams aren’t dashed though, they’re just put on hold for a good many years.  But, some 52 years later, after a varied career (including working as a flight attendant for another airline) you get the chance to return to Delft.

Our friend Felicity searching Delft's square for her store

                                

What do you find?  A bigger more modern town sprawling across the landscape, of course.  But the lovely old square that sits between the big church and the fanciful town hall is still thriving.  The shops and restaurants lining its edges are filled with tourists speaking Italian or English or French, all busily buying souvenirs, eating, drinking, chatting or just people-watching. And you find your shop, looking as prosperous as ever, right on the corner between the church and the Vermeer museum.  

The old store, De Bakker Van de Hoek. Felicity's room was the very top one in the red brick building.

Your best discovery is that your family’s old friend, although certainly a nonagenarian now, still lives upstairs, coming down each day to walk past his store’s windows, albeit slower, satisfying himself that all is well with his business.

Lovely. 

Beeeeach!

Katwijk aan Zee

 

 

 

 

Danger of Life?  Nope, danger for signs.

What's It Really Like

I know that when we get back home, someone will ask “what’s Holland really like?” Well, the simple answer is that it’s just like everywhere else only very Dutch.

  A charmer in Aalsmeer

From where we’ve been sitting, being Dutch means that your yard and house are well kept; your windows are spotless; you speak three, maybe four languages; you are polite but also direct--no beating around the proverbial bush.  Citizens of The Netherlands take themselves and their pocketbooks seriously but laugh easily. They like to follow rules, even when driving.  Their stores are modern, neat, clean and stocked; their churches well attended, their farms carefully tended.  

Town Hall, Gouda Style

The Dutch are fond of their animals; we’ve never seen a stray dog, not even in big cities. There are cats all over but we’ve never noticed one looking hungry or neglected .  Sleek and fat, every single cat who’s crossed our path has enjoyed teasing our Yogi-dog in some way, usually with a twinkle in their eye and a big cat-grin on their face.

One can’t be Dutch without a bicycle. Even people who don’t own a boat (a rarity) own a bicycle. Whether you are 5 or 105, if you can remain upright then you are on a bicycle.  Sturdy and utilitarian bikes are ridden everywhere by everyone, always, of course, in one of the ubiquitous bicycle lanes.   We love to watch the little ones, about 5 or 6, their tiny feet blurred by furious pedaling in order to keep up with mom or dad who are always riding on the traffic side of the bike lane while keeping a loving, reassuring hand on their little one’s shoulder.

Bicycling over a canal, Gouda

Recently, a radio announcement stated that the Dutch are pulling their troops out of Afghanistan.  The BBC commentator noted that the Dutch troops would rather negotiate than shoot and that they were more likely to be found riding on bicycles rather than in armored vehicles.  Now what does that tell you about these people?

Paragons of virtue?  Of course they are…… except when it comes to picking up dog poop but we suspect that there is a Dutch law that states “leave it lay”.  

Although, if you happen to run across one of the few people in this country who take their pocketbooks waaaay to seriously, obscenely over-charging for services rendered, you might be inclined to change your opinion about the Dutch being perfect. 

On the other hand, we’ve been overcharged for something in every country we’ve been in, so we guess people are people where ever you find them.  Ain‘t that the truth? 

Heroes

Heroes, we all have them. Whenever I need inspiration, I consider of one of my many heroes.  If my garden is a mess, I aspire to be more like an ex-neighbor whose yard is well planned and perfectly kept; if my living room is altogether too dusty,  I think about my in-laws whose house (and garage) is always spotless. By golly, if they can do it, maybe I can too. 

If I’m ever tempted to whine about the few aches and pains that come with being elderly, I reflect on a certain 17 year old girl who’s never let much of anything stop her.  Despite being troubled with breathing problems her whole life, she plays soccer, basketball, and is on a winning track team.  I’ve seen her race with only one lung working.  Amazing.

A Winner

My hero, Emily, is trying to raise money for her hero, Dr. Karen Hardy.  Please take a look at Emily’s web site Up For Air to learn about her and her special project.   Thanks.

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.