Friday, June 03, 2016

The Tin Lady and Her Nearby Dussen Castle


Let's take a well-deserved break from our Malta vacation!

It so happens that our first real outing since returning from Malta (on 18 April) was this past Sunday to visit a virtual Facebook friend who is now R E A L.  She lives in nearby Raamsdonkveer, only 23 km from Gorinchem.

We met Janny in her lovely home for a delightful lunch before a short drive to tour the Dussen Castle, which I'll get to in a minute.  But the minute I entered her home, all I could see was her collection of tins...everywhere.  She called it a "museum."  Truer words were never spoken.

As you walk into her living room, there are two shelf units like this.
This is the first one you see.

You know me.  I had to zero in on each and every cubby hole with tins.

How could you resist looking at every single one of them!

And as if that weren't enough, the second unit was even more chock full.

I have discovered that tins like this are very common here in the Netherlands.

When we go to the Kringloop (second-hand store), I find them there for c h e a p.
I want to buy them all but can't, because we don't have the space.

Don't you love how creatively Janny displays them!

She has an artistic flair throughout her entire house 
(and garden, I might add, though I didn't photograph it).

I thought I was done, of course, till I walked into the kitchen and found this:

It makes you want to be a tin man/woman, doesn't it!  Or maybe you already are one?

Ho-hum.  I suppose that's how the Dutch see their tins and everything else?
I just eat it all up.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

After a delicious lunch (which I also didn't photograph, but should have), we drove to Dussen Castle,
10 km from Janny's house.

It was a rainy, drizzly sort of overcast day.  But who cares.
As castles go, with its moat, it's a good one, even in the rain.

And since that's where I first started taking pics of Janny, here she is.
Yes, she's a photographer and that's how we met, from our Dutch group's Facebook site.

In the shield above the entrance you see all the families who lived here since the 13th century.
The castle was damaged during WWII but was renovated in 1980.

Once you enter the front door of the castle, you find out this is NOT like any other Dutch castle.
Dutch castles do NOT have Italian-type porticoes surrounding their inner courtyards.
So this one is special, thanks to one of the owners along the line.

It would have been enough to see this courtyard alone, while waiting for our guided tour.

But we did go inside and were shown around by a volunteer who loves castles.
This castle at one point was Dussen's city hall with its own mayor!

There were a couple rooms I can't show for advertising reasons...
the wedding chapel and the reception rooms.
But these give you a feel for the rest.
Did I mention that one tower is round and the other octagonal (left-center)?
Yup...one lady owner needed straight walls for her furniture.  

Once outside the castle again we walked around the property.
Can you imagine living next door to a castle...and not being able to see it.  HA!

During the course of that outing, you know we found some more weathervanes, of course.
Janny was the one who knew where to find the cat vane (for YOU, Maria!).

And that was it.  Just another Sunday in our Dutch neighborhood!


12 comments:

  1. Janny beautiful shelves and their organization are the way you often organize your photos. Love her collection and this post.

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    1. How kind of you, Marie, to make that comparison. THANK YOU. Maybe that's why I was so attracted to her home!

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  2. Oh my goodness, I'm in love with those tins and displays. Holy moly!

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    1. I know, Ruth. It never, ever occurred to me someone would collect tins and display them like that...even though I have wanted to myself!

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  3. I don’t have to look out of the window to see bright colors and the sun because my mind is full of beautiful colorful images after looking at your posts on Malta. I went back to the beginning – such a glorious array of sights – food, boats, people and more. You certainly packed it all in on your visit and your photos are a delight. As for us, with Jim’s illness and me trying to clear our accumulations, we stay home. I have several old tins – like one celebrating Lady Di’s wedding, old Dutch chocolate tin in blue and white, and one from Queen Victoria in brass given to WWI soldiers – should I throw those away? It is very difficult to decide what to keep and what to give. Maybe I’ll keep a small area for them on a shelf in the bungalow in Nashville and let my daughters decide later …

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    1. How kind of you, Vagabonde, to go back through my Malta posts. Thank you for that diligence. Wow.

      As regards you and Jim, I often think of you and wonder how you both are doing. I remember the HUGE task it was to break up the house and get rid of almost everything to move here to the Netherlands. It won't be the same for you, in that you can keep so much more. I had to make two or three passes on some items before I knew what to do with them. You will know when the time comes. (sigh) Please take care of yourself.

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  4. The moment I walked into the room I was so impressed by all those tins. I saw some my grandparents had and when I closed my eyes I was there again when they would present 1 cookie and the tin would be closed again....
    This is quite the collection. It was a great day with Janny, the private tour through the castle was fun and finally we saw the cat weathervane.
    Wonderful picture again. IHVJ.

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    1. It was such a fun day in every way, especially meeting a virtual friend in real life. Nothing like it! Thanks for sharing it with me.

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  5. Wowza! Now that's a boat load of tins! I've always loved tins...and often wished I started collecting them so it's wonderful to enjoy someone else's collection! Thanks for sharing. Oh, and those adorable ponies!!!

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    1. You'd be in Tin Heaven here, Robin, because we see them everywhere. And at the second-hand stores, you can find O L D ones for C H E A P. Too bad we don't have the space to start up our own collection!

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  6. hey girlfriend, i just love this post.. i immediately started looking for the shoe boat you had on boat friday not that long ago... i love love those tins and i would scarf up a few myself!! for my wall cubby holes!

    anyway, i subscribed to your blog and it told me i was already subscribed... i'm going to check it again, in case i typed it in wrong, and it was stored in memory wrong, it said it would send me a confirmation email, and it hasn't

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    1. So sorry the subscribe link hasn't worked for you. That's weird. Hmmm. Don't have a clue what that's about. But THANK YOU for trying and trying again...and for commenting this time. It was good to re-acquaint ourselves with Janny yesterday here where WE live in Gorinchem. She's a lovely lady.

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