Another Day Out in the Dutch Polder, Near Almkerk

I get antsy for this, you know, needing to see and feel it again.  It's gotten under my skin.  And besides, you never know what you're going to see!

In this case, we specifically went to Almkerk, 7 km south of us across the Merwede river, to find a cat weathervane we knew was there (a long story related to a Facebook friend we know here).  As it turned out, we never found the cat...but will go back with our friend to guide us later.

In the meantime...we were NOT disappointed....

...because we saw our first BUTTERFLY vane!

And, looking at that center image above, do you see a haystack/silo (with a vane on top, yes)?

The roof rises or falls on those corner poles depending on how much hay is stored.

Don't you wonder how the Dutch think these things up?!

It was a good day for vanes, even though we never found the cat!

I included a view of several houses in a row to show how plentiful the vanes sometimes are.

Almkerk also has it's own water tower, restored after the original was destroyed in 1945's WWII.

And two windmills, of which this is one:  the Oude Doornse Molen c. 1700.

And then, of course, you can't have the polder without swans.

Astrid counted 30+ swans in this group, all "children," she says, waiting to find their own field.

Swans pair up for life and live in one spot...one pair per spot/field.
I do hope these kids find their perfect mate.

It was a sunny day, so Mother Nature was out in force, doing her thing.

We were able to tell immediately that the horse rider was handicapped.

How splendid to be taken care of so well...on a beautiful day.

One thing I have learned about the Dutch:  they HAVE to be outdoors.

I don't go outdoors every day but maybe one day I will...and find that I, too, am Dutch?!
I have no excuse.  I just need to do it.

Dutch Sheep in Ottoland: Part 2

When I told you (last post) that our two Saturdays a week apart at the Ottoland, NL, sheepfold were as different from night and day, I meant it. This time, we were two of only a handful of visitors.  Everyone had come the weekend before.

So in that regard, we looked at everything with new eyes.  And this time it even occurred to me to take videos with my camera!

Before going into the sheepfold, I snuck around back to look in through the open door.

There was good light and the week-old lambs were eating off the hay bales.

And Astrid was already there, capitalizing on the photo op.
(and, yes, that's the famous Dutch wind I love!)

There were lambs cuddling....

...and lambs nuzzling their mamas...

 ...and lambs wandering around while everyone else was eating.+

Even lambs jumping around for joy...just to be alive.
Hello, World.  Here I am!

A different Billy Goat Gruff from the previous week was on top of a bale, King of the Mountain.

What a handsome dude!

But THIS is what totally captivated me!
Every time I looked for 30+ minutes, they stood munching and staring at each other,
while little lambsy-divey watched from below.
Was it spring love???

No amount of distraction distracted them!

We really did have the place to ourselves.
Sheep heaven.

Towards the end, the shepherd came in and talked with Astrid.
Do you remember him from here, when he brought his flock to Gorinchem in September of 2011?
All that time we kept saying we'd go out to his sheepfold, which we finally did.

As we left for our car, guess who followed us!
It's not all work and no play for these smart, adorable sheepdogs...or for Astrid, either!

Next door to the sheepfold, other sheep were out in the fields, doing what all sheep do.
Come April, all the lambsy-diveys will be out there with them.
This is what spring is all about for sheep in the Netherlands!

And did I mention that the Dutch do NOT mainly grow their sheep for lambchops?  Or I should put it this way...sheep slaughtered for meat is exported, which explains why I rarely find it on menus when we go out to eat! They grow their sheep for WOOL, which is in bountiful supply here in Dutchland.  I can live with that.

 Sister Ruth's new grandbaby gitl, Olive Rose, was born this past Monday.
As a sweet tribute to her and to all lambsy-diveys everywhere, especially those who need holding,

here's my own Ollie lamb:  I love you!

Dutch Sheep in Ottoland: Part 1

Remember when I did my post on the shepherd who came to Gorinchem with his flock of sheep to mow one of our nearby dikes?  That was in September of 2011!  Ever since, we've talked about going to his sheepfold in spring to see the newborn lambs.

Which we finally did!  In fact, we went two Saturdays in a row and had such a different experience each time, I'm going to make this a two-part series!

The first time was a zoo because everyone and their aunt and uncle were there!  Part 1....

 Even Silverleaf (our new car) got in on the action, out in farmer's country, 7 miles from home.

We were there to see the sheep, of course...and 230 of the 250 lambs being born this season.

The shepherd is building up his flock...to do more mowing out-n-about, like in Gorinchem.

It's good for the sheep and the public and the environment.  And it's educational.

If you can't go to the sheep, he'll bring them to you!

There were more sheep than you could shake a stick at.

Coming and going.

Don't you love the pink bonnets!

There were two colors designating the ram inseminations:  green and pink .

Green was for the first batch of lambs and pink for the second.

(Don't you love the chicken acting like she owns the place.)

There were even two billy goats owning the place.  This one we saw the first Saturday.

He LOVED the attention of anyone touching his horns!
(But watch your jacket and camera strap!  Nibble-nibble.)

However, it was the little lambsy-diveys everyone was there to see!

And what is cuter than a child holding a lamb.

This is where the zoo part comes in...we could hardly squeeze in to take pictures.

"Mommy, can we pleeeeease take her home?!?!?!?!"

Just act cool, Bro.

I AM cool, Bro!

Don't you love how the lambs can handle all the attention.

Even the older kids thought it was cool.

See what I mean?  I think Astrid put Blackie to sleep.

Lullaby and Good Night.

Speaking of Astrid, she got the total lay of the land, talking to the volunteers.

If you are a sheepie person, can you imagine volunteering there!

To be continued....

Out-n-About...and Rhenen, NL

Every once in awhile on a Sunday (after we've had a full Saturday), if the weather is spectacular, Astrid is chomping at the bit to go outside. I am learning this is a Dutch thing. Everyone wants to be outside when the weather is heerlijk = delightful. Duh. But of course!


So a week ago yesterday, when the weather was more spectacular than the Saturday before, we drove less than 10 km from home to look for a water tower for me to photograph. I "collect" them like windmills and one day will do an entire post on them because they're all over Holland in many different styles and architectures. Very soulful to me. Though this particular one is very plain in comparison to others we have seen, it did not disappoint. However, it ended up being the "after thought" of the excursion brecause of the other treasures we unexpectantly saw.

First, it was these Lakenvelder cows that totally astonished me. Have you ever seen such a thing?!

Dutch Belted dairy cows. Some of them produce over 9000 liters of milk per lactation!

Then, as though that weren't enough, within the same area we saw 4-horned sheep:

Again, have you seen such a thing?! It would be something to carry around either set of these horns...but both sets? Don't you wonder...WHY?! :)

Then we saw the windmill, "outstanding in its field" right in the middle of nowhere: the Oude Doornse Molen built in 1700:

Notice that the octogonal sides are made of thatch and not of wood. I was in heaven. This was the first such windmill style I had seen like this in The Netherlands, at least up close and personal. We were able to walk up that side road and stare.

As far as we could tell, no one was living there (though someone could have once upon a time), but there in the side yard was this family of goats:


See the water tower in the background? It was all together in one swell foop between the little villages of Uppel and Almkerk! The unusual animals, the water tower, the windmill, and these goats. We kept saying to each other that we couldn't believe it. So many things within a Sunday afternoon's joy ride just minutes from home!

[Click on collages to enlarge and then click again to enlarge further.]

**********

That was Sunday! The Saturday before was overcast but we didn't care when we drove 25 miles east to Rhenen, a city of approx. 19K people. We wanted to see the Cunera Church from the other side of the Rhine River, as well as up close and personal.

Again, we were not disappointed! But after visiting the Tourist Information center (the VVV), we were told it would not be open because it was being prepared for a concert that evening. However, as we walked around the church to see all the nooks and crannies, lo and behold, the front door was open for another half hour and we were able to go inside after all.


As is the case with so many European churches, this started out Roman Catholic in the Middle Ages but became Protestant in 1580. Over time it has been damaged and restored many times and today appears more bright and cheery compared to many of the Roman Catholic churches we've seen.


See why we love going inside these churches! They're heaven for photographers.

After the church we went to see the windmill called De Binnenmolen, built in 1893 and within a few blocks from the church:

Notice the difference between this mill and the one at the beginning of the post near Almkerk. See why windmills are so soulful to me....

....and why walking around these cities, no matter how big or small, yields such great treasures.

It so happens that Rhenen impressed us so much we decided not to see anything else that trip except for it's WW II military cemetery just outside the city limits, at the Grebbe line, where the Dutch withstood the German army for 3 consecutive days in 1940. It is Holland's first official war cemetery:

[Click on collages to enlarge and then click again to enlarge further.]

This post is chock full of a lot a stuff that happened in one weekend, I know. Sometimes that's how our weekends are. Chock full. If I don't stay on top of them, they all float away into the proverbial Black Hole, so thanks for bearing with me.

This past weekend we pretty much stayed put within Gorinchem, preparing for our upcoming Thursday and Friday in Amsterdam for Sail 2010 and the Tall Ships bonanza. That's my birthday gift to Astrid...and another post altogether.