Chapels, Windvanes and Cows, Oh My!

HA!  I guess you had to be there...but sometimes it really is like a fairytale. Another joyride on Sunday, this time in the area of Arkel, Hoornaar and Schelluinen, all nearby....

  Arkel is where Astrid used to live, just 3 km north of us in Gorinchem.

I've seen this wee Koepelkerk a thousand times, it seems, but had never been inside.

It has a long history, beginning in 641, but the present chapel was built in 1855.

This past Sunday they had an open-house viewing from 2-4 p.m.

Lucky for me that Astrid notices these things in the paper!

And yes, they have a small congregation with services every Sunday.

I think my dad would have loved being pastor of this cozy chapel.

He was such a lover of books and hymnals.

So am I.

But instead of sheep to shepherd that day, all we got were cows!

Cows and more cows.  

It was a heyday for cows, most of which are grown here for their dairy products.

We did find some sheep, however.  HA!

And two gable stones on the same house.

And TWENTY-ONE weathervanes, of which these are the NON-birds/animals...

...and these are.

Milkweed covers many of the canals right now (bottom-left).

And Spring is still showing off her beauty everywhere.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

On an entirely different note, close to home...

Look what we saw Saturday morning right after breakfast.

Astrid says it's a koolmees (Great Tit), common to Europe.

Apparently this little fella was too young to be frightened, while eating his own breakfast.

After several minutes, he flew off to mind his own business.

Did he know he made my day, I wonder?

That was about the same time I was connecting many dots to fulfill a life-long dream:

P A I N T I N G.

There are so many embellishment and/or manipulation tools these days,

to transform photo images into paintings...without all the mess, I might add.

So as I start my new decade (in two weeks), my dream is becoming real.

This is an oil painting of one of the collage images above.

Here's a watercolor of the same bird but different pose.

And how about a watercolor of the cows!

It may not be everyone's cuppa tea, but for me, I'm in heaven.

You have no idea how soulful this is for me!

(so might as well get used to it)

A Saturday Out-n-About Joy Ride

After day-in and day-out of working, without any photo hunts in between, Astrid and I will sometimes decide to just go out-n-about on a Saturday, just for the halibut.  Especially if that's the Saturday we're planning to visit our favorite pannenkoeken restaurant out in the middle of nowhere!

So, a week ago Saturday, that's exactly what we did.  And what follows, in order, is exactly as it happened.  I should first mention that Astrid drove one of her Sunday bike routes to show me what she sees.

This is the Scheiwijkse Molen in Hoornaar from 1638, also someone's home out in the polder.

It's a hollowpost/wipmolen mill used to drain the polder of water...so the Netherlands doesn't drown!

We so happened to have parked our car next to a canal where this guy was fishing.

Did I ever tell you Astrid loves to fish?  Well, so do I.

We just haven't done it together yet!  One day....

No sooner did we get back in the car, we saw this ice-cream cone at the side of the road.

There's no better ice cream than what you can buy at a farm in the Netherlands.

Astrid says they are very highly regulated and inspected!

All ice creams we buy are €1 per "one-ball" cone.  How can you say NO!  (We didn't!)

Our eyes were peeled as we drove slowly so that Astrid could stop on a dime when we saw something,

like these neighbors who came visiting with their Shetland ponies...

and graciously allowed that strange woman with her long lens to take pictures.

This is what you do on Saturday, of course, here in the Netherlands out in the polder.
Do you visit your neighbors on Saturdays?

That's also when we saw these dogs on the boat and I exclaimed:

"This is the Life of Riley!"
(click any image/collage to enlarge)

Don't you just love roadside produce stands!
No, we didn't buy anything...but we should have.

I've shown you the Meerkerk water tower before from 1936,

but the sundial was new to me, as were the girls playing in the field!

That's when we stopped and ate lunch at Onder de Pannen in Leerbroek.

If ever you come visit us, we will take you there.  We promise!

Back in the car and on our way home...we HAD to stop on a dime.

This man and cow were coming towards us in the middle of the road.

Since we had to stop, we watched him take Bessie to the barn to do his/her thing...

while that strange woman with her long lens snapped away from the car window.

Then we waved, said dank je wel, and were on our way.

As we drove into our city, Gorinchem, and passed the Jewish cemetery (for the umpteenth time),

I said to Astrid (for the umpteenth time) how much I wished we could get in to see it up close.  

It is always locked at the front gate when I pass it to my bi-weekly grocery store.

And just like that, Astrid stopped on aother dime, we got out of the car and found a back gate open.

The cemetery was founded in 1814 and has 134 tombstones.  I sure wish I knew Hebrew!

Remember the military vehicles we went to see awhile back?

A guy who lives on the edge of the cemetery tinkers around with them.

Like with the fisherman earlier in the day, Astrid had a nice chat with him.

Don't you love it!  Saturday neighbors.

And of course, here's all the weathervanes from just one out-n-about.

I'm in love with them.  I call them the cherry on top of a great day!

All on a Saturday's joy ride through the countryside while out-n-about!

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

On Wednesday Astrid and I fly to America, first to Michigan for nephew Peter's wedding on The Farm (remember his sister's wedding there 3 years ago?) and then to Atlanta for my kids, grandson and friends.  Back on Saturday, 8 September.  Astrid is so ready for a loooong vacation, and I with her!  

Travel mercies to one and all...and stay cool!