Maxima

Saturday:

A beautiful day with sunshine, we don’t have time to hurry. Yes, you read that right. It is one of Blips favorite quotes, “I don’t have time to hurry”. Think about it….it makes sense. Taking our time, we strolled the streets of Zierikzee. Established in 1248 as a city, there are 10,000 residents.

Some old time musicians played in the city center and it really seemed like 100 years ago. (except for our cappicino of course). It is also Monument Day. This is where there are free open houses at momuments and historical sites all over Holland. In Zierikzee there was a very old mill, post office, orphanage etc. We toured it all. We also ran across many flowered gardens. Here is a pic of Blips and me sitting at a flowered garden between streets.
We had many laughs as we saw a lot of these midget cars. We figured out there must be a gathering close by since it was too much of a coincidence to see dozens of these Italian Fiats. One car had 5 people in it going down the road in front of us. Unbelieveable, these are the size of a toy Barbie car for children in America.

Our plan was to watch the sunset over the sea, but it got cloudy and the desired restaurant on the beach was closed. So, all four of us, being very flexible, went for Chinese buffet. Blips and I noted we miss the free refills.

We ended our evening by watching Mr and Mrs Smith. It was alot of laughs. Sleeping late tomorrow….I can’t believe it is our last day tomorrow.

Friday:

I woke up and heard the clock bong 10. I had slept so good that I was surprised by the time. We started the day with looking at some of the best pictures followed by coffee and breakfast. The food just kept coming, I thought we were back at the buffet in Amsterdam. One special item here was leverpastei, a nice old fashioned liverwurst type treat.

Then on our bikes for a ride through the city to the fish auction. The boats are now in the harbor and sea gulls are everywhere searching for any fish that escaped the nets. The men seem glad to be back on land after 5 days at sea. Back on our bikes, a bit farther to a rarely used (except by locals) walking trail along the shore. We have the trail to ourselves. A beautiful day with perfect sunny weather so there is no need for our jackets. It’s windy of course, but not cold. There is an abundance of black raspberries which we can pick along the trail. Blips warns me not to touch the “itch weed” which is nasty but not quite as bad as poison ivy. I suddenly notice the itch weed everywhere.

We meet a dog on the beach whose owners insist she is not a pit bull but an American Staffordshire Terrier. Pit bills are banned in Holland, so “of course” she is an AM Staff. On our bike ride home, I notice Els watching the traffic for me. I appreciate that since I have no clue about the bike rules here. Sometimes the car and sometimes the bike has right of way. It is good NOT to get those mixed up. And now a reward for our 4 hour bikeride-walking tour: a magnum ice cream followed by coffee.

Mar arrived home after a busy day at work and we had a nice talk between dog lovers about how they own a piece of your heart forever. Mar made a wonderful chicken dinner with rice. She added leeks, peppers and a salsa type sauce. We all had seconds!

It is Friday night and some shops are open so we go to pick up some Dutch treats for the family back in the USA. We have tirimisu ice cream because it is the only thing I can read in English. Everyone else walked right by the sign, but when I said…”hey, look at that”…all four of us ordered it and really liked it. The people watching was interesting. I noticed everyone under 20 is wearing blue jeans, including the toddlers. In just a few years a whole generation will have switched to blue jeans = no longer the American uniform.

Thursday:

Today is the day we rest our feet from all the walking in Amsterdam. We take a nice drive to Werkendam to see the new house. Much work is going on at the new house. G-J, his dad and friends are doing a marvelous job ripping out the old and updating everything. It was originally two small houses built in 1819. This is going to be one lovely house! On the left, their house is the white one. Jonna’s bedroom(second floor in America, first floor in Europe) is the open window on the right. The new baby’s room is the open window on the left. It could be a girl or it could be a boy.  The world finds out in Januari 08.  Photo on the right is of the ceiling beams in the room which will eventually be the guest bedroom/store room. Below is the kitchen. The big hole is where the dishwasher goes. The refrigerator is the tallest blue cabinet on the right with a freezer on top. In that pic , you are standing in the dining area. Living room is to the right.

Our lunch is an extra large meatball swimming in peanut sauce, salad and french bread. I had a caramel coffee which was only available because we were in a French Restaurant. Fancy coffees are not a Dutch dingetje (thingy).

For dinner Blips and daughter cook for an hour in the kitchen a favorite family receipe of homemade tomato soup. This is nothing like Campbells! It involves cooking certain ingredients, adding a package of herbs and another package of spices, putting everything through a collander/sieve dingetje, adding small meatballs and a bit of thin spaghetti. There is no taste like it in America and I tell you it was delicious. ElsMarStel joined us for a nice family dinner. They then locked us in their backseat (really, with the child safety locks) and took us home with them. As we approached Stellendam, we could see the lights of about 30 sea going vessels lined up to enter the harbor. Friday morning these ships unload 5 days worth of catch at the fish auction. Stellendam has the largest fish auction in all of Holland. Blips, who is not a big fish lover, is grateful that I do not have a bidding number.

ElsMarStel have presents for us. First is a package of edible paper. This gave us all a good laugh, remembering my Christmas cookies that stuck to the cutting board last December. Not a problem now! We also receive a lighthouse wind chime which will look great in the garden. Next is a unique metal fish(Blips favorite kind) that has slits where a tea light shines thorough. Difficult to picture, I know, so you will just have to stop by and we will be delighted to show it to you.

Wednesday:

A great breakfast and packed up our backpacks. We stuck them under the desk in the dining room and will pick them up when we head for the train station. The backpacks are returned to us when we turn in the ourdoor key. If we do not turn in the key, it costs 325 Euro. Here is a picture of our hotel. You go in the double black doors on the bottom and our room was on the backside where the garden was. Don’t forget to go up 3 flights of stairs
It is truely raining (lightly) this time so I use the umbrella and Blips puts on his rainjacket. Van Gogh Museum is our destination. As they take our ticket and we enter, they tell us we must check Blips camera and bag and the umbrella. No previous notice on checking the bags. Everyone walks to the side and complies but we step aside and discuss what to do. Since checking the bags are ‘at your own risk’ we decide to leave. Blips has a small arguement in Dutch with the man who took our tickets. He wins and we get our money back. No Van Gogh Museum this trip. We go to the gift shop and look at the books and posters. Nope, still not a favorite of ours, so on with the day and no regrets.

Rain lightened up so we went to the flea market. Blips gets nervous when I spotted an antique clock but I said, “who needs a clock with the wrong time”. He said, Yah…and got me out of there real fast.:) Walking faster reminded me I had to pee, so off to McDonalds where the toilet costs 30cents. It used to be 20 cents before the Euro came in. These guys are getting ripped off big time. We also spotted this sign that was missing one letter by the canal. We cracked up for a long time.

Blips spots a camera shop and disappears inside for 20 minutes. It is small so I wait outside. I watch a young girl (20-25) set up her music stand, music, get out the saxaphone, open her case for people to put money into. This takes her 12-15 minutes. She plays 1/2 a song and the guy from the camera shop comes running out and tells her that he can’t hear his customers talk. He makes her move. Blips said he never heard any sax playing in the shop. Blips makes a purchase and saves about $50 on the item and is very happy.

And here is a picture of biking in the rain. This lady had 4 kids in her ‘wagon’ with a plastic covering. Kindergarten schoolbus?

We decide to go get our backpacks. By now we really know our way around and we head straight to the B&B. Thinking it would be nice to have a snack on the train, we get two sandwiches and a soda. Our train tickets are simple again as Blips gets them from a machine in the station. We head to Dordrecht on some very comfy seats in the upper deck again. About half way, we get out our sandwiches. I had BLT and Blips had fried egg and bacon. We split the soda, which is plenty since we are now used to European sizes.

Arriving around 7pm, we are dead tired but Jonna has waited up for us to say goodnight. We brush our teeth together. We learned that she explained our absence to herself by saying, “Opa and Grammy working in Amsterdam”. She looks so much older in just a few days. Her mommy explains that she cut her bangs, so yes, she does look older. She learned a new phrase too. She handed me something and said, “there you go”.

It feels good to put our feet up and know that tomorrow we will not be trucking around Amsterdam. The rest of me can go alot longer but my feet need a rest.

Tuesday:

Breakfast with 15 items on the buffet and Dutch coffee and an omlet made with chives from her garden. We were joined by another international couple. A guy from San Francisco and his wife from Iran. He grew up in Grand Rapids, Minnesota (small world). We had a fun conversation for an hour about our traveling experiences and different cultures. We walked back to the Dam where we had a smoothie, strawberry for me and banana for Blips. Carrying an umbrella to keep away the rain, we spend 3 hours walking the Jordaan, one of Amsterdams most elegant neighborhoods where slightly older yuppies reside. This is a delight to see a real city without the entertainment area.

Back at the Royal Palace, the doors remain fenced with big iron gates . No chance to ring the doorbell to get in. A sign said, “Closed due to Circumstances”. So, we wandered, having some ice cream and walked through a door marked Amsterdam History Museum. We found ourselves at the Begijnehof, a cluster of houses originally built for women to live without a husband and without becoming a nun. It has the cities oldest house (1425). There is also the Engelse Kerk (English Reformed Church, 1607) and Roman Catholic Chapel (1671). Very few people were there, maybe 10. It seemed like such a secret find. Out another arched door and onto a busy Amsterdam street again. We are looking at the American Book Center. We stop in and Lynn, my classmate from highschool is behind the counter. I stand there just tickled pink to listen to her speak Dutch and see her success as a Dutch business woman(she owns the place). She notices me and we are both a little surprised we recognize each other since we have not seen each other for at least 25 years. Our conversation is short but very nice, sharing laughter as we update our lives. As we leave, she refuses to let me pay for a book I want, stating….”your money is no good here”…an old Minnesota saying

It now was 3:30PM and our lekker breakfast is wearing off. Blips is hungry for chicken satay and I am hungry for muscles. We take a chance on Petit-Restaurant De Rozenboom. Our lunch/dinner is excellent and we enjoy it very much until we get the bill. The waiter had given a Dutch couple across from us free coffee but ours was 3.80 Euro. So, this ticked off Blips which equals NO TIP! He was also ticked off that we were charged 1 Euro for mayo and ketchup, but I convinced him that is normal around here. Again it rained while we had dinner but the entire day I have not needed to open the umbrella.
Looking for a t-shirt souvineer shop, we found ourselves in the red light district. We both noted that the women in the windows looked older, fatter and to quote Blips, “ugly”. So much for a sexy high paying job.
Tomorrow the Van Gogh Museum.
We got back to our room and “As the World Turns” was on the TV with subtitles in Dutch. How funny! This is the soap opera that my mom has been watching for over 50 years. I could tell by the story, that they are about 1.5 years behind the story in the States.
No tatoo yet. And BAM,we still have our fake wallet. You know the one that the pick pockets are supposed to find while your real one is somewhere else.

Monday, acting real Dutch, we walked to the Waterbus which took us to Dordrecht where we walked to the train station. Blips got tickets to Amsterdam Centraal Station from the machine. Our train was in the station and leaving in 12 minutes. Woo Hoo, what luck. We took the upper deck seats with a lovely view of koeien(cows), schapen(sheep) and grafitti. We stopped at Rotterdam, Den Haag, Leiden, Schiphol-airport and finally Amsterdam Centraal at 12 noon.

We checked our map and headed for our hotel. There were so many things and people to look at, that we took two wrong turns but still arrived at the hotel 25 minutes early at 1:35PM. Our hotel is all no smoking(yeah!) A warm friendly welcome and we head to the third floor. I had forgotten that zero is the bottom floor, so we are going up 4 flights of stairs. Good for our fitness We unload our backpacks and head out for coffee. Stopping at a terrace on the Dam, where the waitress was blunt and snotty, our coffee and apple pie was 14 Euro or $19.00 Yikes!!! Coffee was good and pie was mediocre.

A beautiful sunny afternoon calls for a canal tour on a boat. Blips had a great picture taking marathon, 216 pictures. We got outside seats but while waiting for the boat to go, the fumes were making me sick. So, I waited inside until the boat took off. While inside, an American couple sat down across from me. There were discussing their day so far. He told her, “I lost more than the map. I took my watch off my wrist and put it in my pocket and BAM, it was gone!” I had to hold back my giggles. It is called pick-pocket, NOT pick-wrist.

There were some great looking Indonesian and Shoarma restaurants but we have had quite a lot of that lately, so we pick Italian. Blips orders lasagna. It had ham in it making Blips quite happy. I had chicken pizza with the thinnest crust ever making me happy. We sat in the no smoking area. Since there were no ash trays, the table next to us asked for one and promply lit up 3 cigarettes. Welcome to Amsterdam! It rained while we ate but again was beautiful as we walked 10 minutes to our hotel. Up those 4 flights of stairs to our third floor room.

And tomorrow is Tuesday

Well, it felt like Tuesday again today.  But it turned out to be a nice family day.  So, Sunday it is.  It started when Nancy and mommy arrived for some fun in the garden.  The weather is again beautiful and so we went to a petting zoo in town.  It had lots of goats, so a big hit with me also since I adore goats.  I almost got locked up inside the rooster house. 

They were closing and we did not know it…….all of a sudden, in Dutch language everyone was saying to get out.  I was busy staring at a periwinkle colored parakeet.  So, beautiful and so unusual.  Suddenly, Blips rushes in the bird house and says…hurry, hurry, they are closing

Our lunch was one of our favorites, saucijzenbroodjes(sausage inside a buttery baked flaky bun) with salads and homemade breads, cheese, ham…….

We played in the playhouse and on the whip/wop (teeter totter).  Nancy has her own language but also a few American words….WOW… is one she uses.  She is a very active girl who is easy to smile and give out kisses.  She smiles with her whole face.  It just makes you want to scoop her up in a big hug…..but she is gone doing something else before you can wrap your arms around her. Jonna and Nancy play very nice together and are considerate of each other and share the toys.  It was a content and happy day to just spend watching our granddaughters play together.

We had Chinese take out for dinner and our favorites were included…curry pork and satay chicken.  Tomorrow we are off to Amsterdam for 3 days.  It is supposed to rain on Monday but we don’t care because it seems like Tuesday anyway

Ok, it took us an hour and a half but here is how we did it. We were on our way to Scheveningen (the very nice tourist beach on the North Sea) and we took a turn into a parking lot. I was a bit surprised but Blips decided to take me to Madurodam, known as the smallest town in the Netherlands. Everything is 25 times smaller than in real life. It is all reproduced exactly as in real life with a birds eye view of such things as the Reformed Church in Maasdijk, Town hall of Gouda, an Amsterdam canal, Rijksmuseum, Royal Palace in Dam Square, Anne Frank House, flour mills, Peace Palace (International Court of Justice) in the Hague, clog factory, tulip fields, just to name a few. In this shot, I am overlooking the cheese market in Haarlem. If you look close, you can see the yellow cheese wheels all lined up(low center of the shot).
We then drove through my favorite city for just looking and that is The Hague. I love the archetecture and the lifestyle. Next was the beach where we had a perfect day. The sun was shining and the waves were wonderful. Blips took me to our favorite restaurant on the beach, Masada, for shoarma. I had shoarma with pineapple and almonds and Blips had shoarma with onion, mushroom, and red and green peppers. Of course our coffee was perfect. During our walk on the beach we noticed a change in the style. Now along the beach where there used to be tables and chairs, there are couches with colorfull pillows. At the center of each grouping of couches is a fire pit. And here I am in a typical tourist shop on the beach (see the clogs hanging on the left). My ancle is all better, thank goodness.
I keep thinking each day is Tuesday. So, I can’t really say which day we did what because I would just say on Tuesday we did that. We have gone for some very nice neighborhood walks, visited relatives for some wonderful conversation and coffee. A favorite kibbeling(fried fish) we have had twice from the little neighborhood shop. I think that was Tuesday. I DO remember that on Friday we went to Stellendam where after enjoying muessles with onions, we went to a Summer Fairytale of shells on the beach. Somebody made glass shells with a story and music coming out of about 60 shells. With the waves crashing and the wind, you can use your imagination for any fairytale you want to make up. You needed to put your ear to the shell to hear……as you see Jonna demonstrating. It was a great day and we slept very good that night. Today, Saturday, we walked up to the little shop and had kibbeling again. We also stopped at the bakery and got two of almost everything. We made shoarma again and just enjoyed the nice weather outside in the garden . I have been reading , “The Diana Chronicles”. It is 500 pages and I am almost done. I should have brought more books along. It is so nice to just be here and enjoy. Sunday we get to see more of Nancy and then on to Amsterdam on Monday….or is that Tuesday???

So, here we are in the Netherlands.  My camera is not downloading my pictures so Blips let me borrow a couple of his.   Our flight with Iceland Air was very nice.  The food was good and we ate way too much.  For dinner Friday night we had meatballs with sweet/sour sauce in rice, a gourmet brownie to die for, salad and rolls of course.  We were so excited to get on the plane in Mpls that we got up and left behind our water bottles on the bench.  That was a problem since I usually drink a lot of water.  So, I only had two small glasses and two cups of tea for liquid.   We did not sleep more than a half hour before they put on all the lights and said we were decending in Iceland.  We did get water there and drank quite a bit.  Our passports were stamped at immigration/coustoms and our shoes checked again, of course, and we were on our way to Amsterdam.  We were immediately served breakfast…..ham/potatoes/eggs.  All the lights were on so we now stayed awake for the whole flight.  The seats were small but the flight was nice and no crying babies or people trying to save me.

Our first day here was full of family and lots of talking in Dutch and laughing and good food.  I really enjoyed seeing every single one of them and seeing how much the children had grown.  I just wish I could have been better company and said more to the older children.  I was sort of sleeping while awake….felt zombie like.  I think it is because of the water problem and not the lack of sleep although it could have been both.

By the second day, I was feeling much better and we went to our favorite Chinese buffet.  Blips warned me which tray was the deep fried bananas so I would avoid them.. ohhhhhh, that is bad stuff.  Monkey food.  The rest is very delicious especially the chicken satay and the dim sum.  Monday we went shopping in Dordrecht.  That is also where we got married.  We always go to look at the building where we got married since it is so beautiful.  There happened to be a bridal party just arriving.  That was fun to watch all the picture taking and remember our own wedding day.  We took the waterbus back to Papendrecht and walked home from the town center.  Acting real Dutch

Today we went to another of our favorite spots called Kinderdijk.  It is an area of working windmills along a canal.  It is a very unique peaceful breathtaking view.  Our oldest daughter and our granddaughter Jonna were with us making it extra special.  We walked along the canal for a very long time and then took the tour boat along the canal past the windmills.

On our way back to the parking lot, I fell off some uneven pavement.  It must have ben rather funny to see, since I was down before I knew what happened.  Now my right foot is swollen and I think we will stay home tomorrow so I can rest it.  We still want to walk all over Amsterdam next week. 

Today, Jonna started using some more English.  She said, “funny” when something was funny and then she would giggle.  She is also teaching me more Dutch.    I am having a great time and it is going way too fast. We get to see more of Nancy on Sunday and did I say I got to see our third grandchild on the echo at the doctors office!!!!!

During rush hour tonite, Wednesday, the 35W bridge over the river collapsed.  It is a four lane freeway bridge and it fell 64 feet into the Mississippi.  It is so unbelieveable.  Rescue workers said a minimum of 50 cars went down, some into the water.  Please say a prayer for everyone, their families and the rescue workers.

I got home this afternoon about 5pm and let Mona outside.  She was so excited to see me that she ran directly to the garden and dug up her most prized posession and brought it to me.  A gift?  Inbetween the day lilly and the lilac bush she had buried a mole.  What a good girl that she had caught a mole.  They make tunnels all over the yard and she always wants to go after them but she is not allowed to dig.  They usually get away in their tunnel.  Thank you Mona!

I went back to the dentist.  I got the one permanent cap and then they told me that they remembered that they forgot to put it in the computer for my “forgotten” second tooth.  That was a circular way of telling me …..sorry, only one tooth today.   grrrrrr  I told them that I only had two days in town and then needed to go back and take care of my mom.  So, I told them to start calling other patients and cancel somebody Monday or Tuesday because it had to be done.  The receptionist just stared at me like I was a little wacko and I just looked back at her like I was perfectly sane.  She went away for 10 minutes, then returned and said I could stay and a different dentist would do the second one in about 45 minutes.  I had been wanting to try this other dentist because of the recent problems with my regular dentist.  She was wonderful and even told jokes.  I hope it holds up for two weeks until I get the permanent one.  I am off to take care of mom.  She will be discharged from rehab on Thursday because she could go up 13 steps and walk 50 feet round trip with a walker.  She makes more progress everyday. How do you like the temporary cap from the new dentist? My lip is a bit swollen, but the new dentist said that will go down in a few days.

You know how things just don’t get done when you are out of town.  Well, we have been catching up like crazy since I only have a few days before Mom gets out of rehab and I need to be back there to take care of her.

It has been really hot here.  This week it will be way over 90 degrees F everyday.  We have a skylight in the bathroom.  The sun beats in there and heats up the house.  Last year we put some window tint on the skylight and it really helped.  It is not something most people do but we(by that I mean Blips, of course) crawl up there and put the clingy tint on the window.  You have to stand on the top step and reach really high.  So, only Blips can reach that high.

Here (left)he is from a human point of view……the top of his socks are even with the ceiling and his legs disappear into the skylight.  And here (right)is the other shot from the assistants view.  He did a perfect job and it really makes a difference.  In the fall we take it off, since the sunshine is welcome in the winter.

There were some ups and downs in the hospital but in the end, they handled everything with a lot of skill and her surgeon is very good.  Mom does not really want me to put details on the internet…. so here is the one picture she allowed me to take just before going into surgery.  It was her 85th birthday and the anesthetist said he just might give her a navel ring for free.  He asked if ruby(July birthstone) is ok.  That made her laugh. 

My brother Dave and niece Gina drove over on Tuesday.  Mom was glad to see them.  We had a wonderful surprise when mom’s sister Lorraine and her daughter, Loretta, stopped by.  They were in Sioux Falls for my uncles cataract surgery.  That was so nice of them to stop by.   From the left, Gina, me, Lorraine, Loretta, David.

With each meal, mom got an orchid.  At least she kept calling it an orchid.  She said it was edible and kept trying to get me or any other visitor to eat one.(she saved the flower from each meal……they were stacking up)  Mom convinced Gina and Dave to each take one as they left.  And I convinced them that they would never regret their picture taken, passport style, with the lovely flower.  See it there behind their ear.  Maybe they thought I had lost it, since it seemed like the highlight of my day to get this picture.

This was a Christian hospital.  There was an inspirational garden that had a statue of Jesus  and lots of flowers.  It was remarkably peaceful and comforting.  The picture does not show how lovely it was.  So, now mom is back in her home town getting rehabilation.  She gets physical therapy twice a day and occupational therapy once or twice a day.  OT is things like getting dressed…the business of life.  PT is for the knee and mobility. 

After getting mom set up in rehab, I came home Friday night because I thought Blips was going to Boston on Sunday.  I had a nice surprise…..not until the 30th is he going to Boston.  I go to the dentist tomorrow, Monday and will go back to take care of mom when she is discharged from the rehab facility.  We don’t know when that is because it depends on her progress.