Bits-n-Pieces

Or, bits-n-bobs, as our English friends would say!  A little bit of this-n-that before they arrive on Friday (tomorrow evening) and spend a few days with us (another post).

Let's first start with Saturday's walk around Gorinchem's citadel.  I'm making a concerted effort to do it at least once a week.  It's good for my heart and soul...and my body.  That new knee says "thank you" every time, I'm sure.

 But this walk was something special because while I was minding my own business,

I noticed a lady photographing flowers just like I was.  In fact, we kept passing each other.

Finally, we introduced ourselves and continued walking together for the next hour.

When we got to the locks at the inside harbor, she showed me her photo hanging on the wall.

Yup.  Mariëlle de Valk.  There she is...a new friend who shares the love of photography.

And when we got to De Hoop (The Hope) windmill,

she showed me the lion's mouth flower in the brick wall nearby.

It's also called Common/Yellow Toadflax or Butter-and-Eggs, native to Europe and Northern Asia.

 Look what happens when you meet a new friend!

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

The next day, Sunday, we had an errand to run in nearby Utrecht at 11 a.m. and decided to drive on the back roads coming back, making it a fun day.

Most of the time I'm staring at the Dutch sheep.  But there are also plenty of Dutch cows!

I really am loving everything free-range about this country.

 How can you resist these lovelies!

It makes Mother's Day extra special at this time of the year, doesn't it.

See what I mean about bits-n-pieces-n-bobs!
Throw in some wabi-sabi (bottom-right) and I couldn't be happier.

And then, what should suddenly appear but....
It wasn't till it passed that I saw it was big enough for a group of tourists.
Out in the Dutch boonies!

I'm happy to "collect" one or two good weathervanes while we're out-n-about.
But E I G H T E E N (count them)?  It was weathervane heaven.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

When Monday came around, I had my own errands to run and made a good walk of it.
I never know what I might see so I always carry my camera, just in case.

Lucky for me, the Grote Brug was being raised for a barge just after I crossed over it.
This is a common occurrence for me by now but maybe not for you?
Everyone going to work/school always has to calculate in the time for these possibilities
(a real groaner for many, which is why I decided to show the whole thing!).

 And because I had my camera...and it's still spring...YES!

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Now we're getting ready for Lisl and Chris from England to arrive tomorrow evening.
You'll remember them once I get to those posts.
Lisl is my Big Sis; Chris is Astrid's Big Brother.
That's all you need to know for now.

In the meantime,
HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

The Biesbosch Museum in Werkendam, NL

Because we almost never drive from Point A to Point B in a straight line, here's a bit of a prelude before I take you to the next museum on our Museum Card.

In all fairness to our first museum, which was the open-air museum in Arnhem,

here's the windmill in Geldermalsen we stopped at first for our cornmeal, ground there by the mill.

It's the De Bouwing grain mill from 1848.
And it was a gorgeous spring day, April 11.

Two weeks later we drove to our second museum, just 6 miles from from us, in Werkendam.

And as you know, we stop whenever something interests us along the way!

That huge house next to the church had whirligigs in their yard and cows in their window.  HA!

Whenever I got out of the car, I HAD to capture the flowers...even the weeds.

The right-middle image is rapeseed.  They grow a lot of it in England but just a little here.

A handful of weathervanes.

A few sheep and cows.

We even had to stop for a saiboat at the Biesbosch lock drawbridge.

Astrid has lived with drawbridges and locks her entire life and still gets excited about them with me.

I loved watching the tip of the sailboat mast pass by!

 ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

By the time we arrived  in the vicinity of the Biesbosch Museum, it was time for koffie.

It was a good place to start feeling the energy of this water basin, 

formed after the St. Elizabeth flood of 1421.

Today it is a nature preserve with reminders of a day gone by when inhabitants earned their living here,

fishing, hunting, weaving baskets, farming....

As museums go, at €3.75 normal rate, it sure packed a wallop.

 For some reason, I've always been a glutton for life-sized model re-enactments of past eras.

Someone put a lot of time and energy into all the details.

I liked the boats, of course....

...but my favorite was this mama doing the laundry with her sweet little girl (and cat!) nearby.

Did we really use to do things that way???  Oh, yes.  I remember.  HA!

All the taxidermy was done to perfection.  The birds....

...critters...

...and even the water creatures, all in their natural habitat.

The walls were covered with photography and paintings.  

Lots of history to see and read about or watch on flatscreens throughout.

We actually were thrilled by this little museum.

It took us only 2 hours to see it all...perfect for an afternoon's inspiration.

Another time we may decide to go back and pay the extra price of the electrically-powered "cruise"

 around the creeks and waterways, to see the otters, birds, foxes and who-knows-what.

Don't you just love what you can find in your backyard...once you buy your annual museum card!

 ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

As an FYI, we fly to England tomorrow for our Shutterchance photoblog meet-up on Sunday,
and will return on the 18th with lots to show and tell!

The Open-Air Museum in Arnhem, NL

After 4+ years here in Dutchland, I found out there is an annual Museum Card that gets you into almost all Dutch museums for free, at the cost of only €55/card.  Astrid and I found this out from our friends in Giessenburg.  It's good for an entire year from when you buy it!

I guess you could say it was a no-brainer for us, after all our disclaimers about NOT liking museums but visiting churches instead.  Bottom line:  we didn't like the price we had to pay to get into the museums. But now that we have a year to see as many as possible on our €55, watch out.  Here we come.

We started with one of the best possible ones:  the Openluchtmuseum (Open-Air Museum) in Arnhem.  Fasten your seatbelts!

 Like all good open-air museums, there were lots of "period" reenactments.

But you know me.  It was the architecture that grabbed me.

And the windmills, of course...all 5 of them.

It was hard to miss the wooden shoes everywhere we went.

 And while walking from one place to the next, friendly faces greeted us.

Or not.  I think there was a pecking order.

Remember the elusive, rascally heron we're always trying to capture?

This one was so still while fishing 6 feet away from us, I was sure it was a taxidermist's joke.

It must be tame from so many tourists day in and out.  It hardly feels fair to show him!

It was a gorgeous spring day that April 11th.  What can I say!

Sometimes it helps to know from where you've come, right?  And from how far.

I could live like that, couldn't you?

How 'bout a nice cup of koffie or tea!

And for those of you so interested, you'd fit right in.

Men and women alike, of course.  No stereotyping here.

The Dutch are big on boat-building and fishing, as you'd assume.

And don't forget the cheese!

Their train/tram system is to die for.

(America could learn a thing or two from the Dutch in this regard!)

I guess shipping/transport is as old as the hills in all countries?

But not drawbridges, which still fascinate me to no end.

Astrid grew up with them her entire life and says she's STILL fascinated by them.

How fun that they even have a functional little typical, old-fashioned town with green houses/stores.

This color of green paint is very Dutch!

In fact, that's where we had our koffie break, at a little café.

While sitting there, we watching all the kids having fun with the old-timey toys.  

It didn't take much to convince Astrid that she, too, is a little kid at heart.
Have you ever ridden a penny-farthing?  Neither have I.

Shortly after we got to the Reformed Church, both of my batteries were dead.
(I'm still figuring out how long they last and when to re-charge them.)
In other words, we saw more, some of which Astrid captured, but you get the picture.

As I always say, impressions, impressions, impressions.
We walked for 5 hours and dropped.  Next time we'll try taking the free tram ride!

I'll drink to that (their own home-brewed beer)!

Do I need to say we HIGHLY RECOMMEND this museum, if you're ever in the area.
And it's only 50 miles from where we live in Gorinchem.
We might just have to go back while we still have our museum cards!