Fashion Friday’s Fab or Funny? ~ Holland Orange

Fashion Friday’s

Fab or Funny?

Holland Orange

People around the world all have pride in which country they are from and like to show their pride with their fashion. I can tell you that the US of A is no different. Red, White and Blue hang from shore to shore displaying our country’s pride. 

The Netherlands is no different. But even though the flag is Red, White and Blue

… the country and its people have an obsession with the color of Orange. Orange is the color of the Royal family.

 The house of Orange dates back to William van Oranje… or William of Orange. The Dutch wear their orange proudly!

Fab or Funny?

I think it’s freakin Fabulous!!!

Throwback Thursday’s ~ The Milk Maid

Throwback Thursday’s

The Milk Maid

Walking into a gift shop here in The Netherlands is always a delight. And if you’re lucky, you will see pretty Delft blue Milk Maids all lined up, holding their milk pails high and proud. A milk maid is a woman who is employed to milk the cows in a dairy. Before the invention of milk machines, cows were milked by hand.

 They would milk the cows, clean the udders, clean the buckets and strain the milk. In some homes milk maids would be employed instead of having other help do the work. The milk maid was also usually responsible for making other dairy products such as cream, butter and cheese.

One of my favorite paintings hangs proudly at the beautiful Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. Johannes Vermeer’s painting “The Milkmaid” captures a beautiful moment of a kitchen maid pouring milk into a Dutch oven. I love the blue colors that are shown in her apron and cloth on the table, the expression of her face, the light pouring into the room and the little Delft tiles along the wall behind her.

I was going to post a picture of me as a child dressed as a Milk Maid for Halloween, but I can’t seem to find it. I’ll keep looking. Too funny and what a coincidence. 

Found it!!! 1968 ~ Me dressed as a Milk Maid for Halloween

Windmill Wednesday’s The Kinderdijk ~ Child’s Dike

Windmill Wednesday’s

The Kinderdijk ~ Child’s Dike

Overwaard 2 2961 AT

Kinderdijk, The Netherlands

My love for children’s literature be it fiction, folk stories, nonfiction, nursery rhymes, songs or whatever, have always captured my heart. This is one of the reasons I enjoyed teaching young children for so many years. I loved being able to share my passion for reading and relate it to other areas in their lives. So when I moved to The Netherlands and was told about a wonderful place to see windmills, my heart leapt with excitement when I also learned about the folktale that went along with the beauty of The Kinderdijk.

As the story goes, in 1421 a great flood came upon The Netherlands. The area known as Grote Hollandse Waard flooded. When the storm stopped for a while someone went on to the dyke to see what could be salvaged from the storm. It was then that someone saw a cradle floating in the water. As the cradle came nearer a cat was then seen. The cat had been jumping from side to side keeping the cradle afloat and inside.. a baby slept quietly.. Nice and dry. The legend and folktale has been published in English as… The Cat and the Cradle.

Let me just say this… About 20% of The Netherlands or low country is below sea level and we get a heck of a lot of rain. Those two little factors would make it a dangerous place for people to live if the Dutch hadn’t learned how to deal with flooding and too much water. After digging canals to channel the excess water out of the area of the Kinderdijk, the Dutch once again needed a new method to rid the water from the fields and homes when the water levels would rise. A series of windmills were built to pump the water into a reservoir.

We drove to the little village of Kinderdijk, which is about 15 miles from Rotterdam, to see one of Holland’s most famous tourist sights. Nowhere in the world can you see this many windmills at once. After a little swoop through the gift shop and a little lunch we decided to take the tour boat to see the windmills. I knew the view would be fantastic and would get us up close.

 For 4.50E we were able to leisurely sail past the winds of time and catch a glimpse of history from The Netherlands.  There are 19 windmills gathered in this area that date back hundreds of years and still work but the water is now pumped from one of the largest pumping stations in the world.

The entire area was truly amazing and I will enjoy going back with friends and family often. Next visit, I think I’ll meander up to one of the little café’s that overlook the 

windmills.

A day at The Kinderdijk ~ You bet!!

Fashion Friday’s ~ Fab or Funny? Sherbert is the New Black

Fashion Friday’s ~ Fab or Funny?

Sherbert is the New Black

  

Stores here seem to be very fond of Sherbert colors. Clothing comes in a variety of colors… mint green, mint pink, mint orange and mint yellow.

I think we should look at Baskin Robbins and the other flavors of the rainbow.

 Hmmmm Fab or Funny?

Throwback Thursday’s Box Beds

Throwback Thursday’s

Box Beds

I’ve been racking my brain trying to remember where I was here in The Netherlands where I first saw a Box Bed. It was a castle or an old house that I toured but I remember quite clearly falling in love with the little Box Bed.

Rembrandt's Box Bed

A Box Bed is a bed that is set into the wall, part of a cupboard or furniture. It’s surrounded by the three walls and usually had a door or curtain to enter and exit at the front. Here in The Netherlands, closet beds or bedsteads were common in the 19^th century especially in farm homes.  

Guest bed in Rembrandt's home

Using this kind of bed was popular because you then didn’t have to have a separate room for the bed. Also the close proximity of the walls would keep the occupants nice and warm at night due to body heat. This allowed the family to turn off the fire at night.

Dutch Box Bed

Many Box Beds held more than one person.  Sometimes up to four people would share a bed. During the 16^th and 17^th century the beds were not very long because the people were a little shorter back then and also it was believed that lying down was associated with death. People would sleep partially sitting up. Very often there were drawers or rolkoetsens that pulled out. This is where children would sleep. Nice and cozy in their drawer. 

French Box Bed

My husband’s grandmother, “Grandma Hoff” was the only surviving child of a set of triplets. She was born in Germany and slept in a drawer. Now I’m wondering if it was a Box Bed.

I’ve always loved window seats but would love to have this in my home now instead.

There were ten in the bed and the little one said “Roll Over”

Windmill Wednesdays The Bergeijk Standermolen

Windmill Wednesdays

The Bergeijk Standermolen

Ekkerstraat 4

LH 5571

Bergeijk, The Netherlands

The Bergeijk Standermolen was originally built in the 14^th century. The earliest mention of the mill is in 1330. Residents of Bergeijk were required to bring their grain to the mill to be ground for the Nobertine Abbey in Postel. The Abbey had several mills in the area that did this which gave the Abbey a permanent source of income.

The current mill was built around 1758. Standermolen means standard mill. This beautiful mill in Bergeijk has no name.

The Bergeijk Standermolen is a post mill which is earliest type of European windmill. The body of the mill, that houses the machinery, is mounted on a single vertical post around which it can be turned to bring the sails into the wind. 

The town of Bergeijk has owned this windmill since 1955 and was restored in 1970. But due to poor conditions of the mill and harsh effects from the weather the decision was made in 2003 to close the mill.  Luckily this beautiful windmill sits proudly in the middle of a roundabout for everyone to see as they pass through town. The Bergeijk Windmill or “Little Miss No Name” as I like to call her really needs a name. But I guess The Bergeijk Windmill sounds pretty fabulous!

Tot Ziens

Fashion Fridays ~ Fab or Funny?

Fashion Fridays ~ Fab or Funny?

When I came up with this idea I had visions of me running around Holland snapping pictures of funny and fabulous outfits here in The Netherlands. But then I began to think… “That’s not very nice.” So I will always try my best to have a model or a shop selling an item to see what we think…. Fab or Funny?

If you would like to comment below, please do so. Comments have to go through a monitor because I’ve had several spammers.  But once I see they are legit they go right on.

Ok here is the American Girl’s Fashion Friday ~ Fab or Funny?

A little music to get us in the mood....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jchRsvvTyEg

Ok, we're looking at two different scenes from Carnival. 

What do you think? Fab or Funny? I say FABULOUS Darling!!! 

Throwback Thursdays ~ The Trek to Holland

Throwback Thursdays

In honor of the beginning of Throwback Thursdays, I thought I would start by saying what I believe I would like to feature in this section. Throwback… going back, to what things were like, what people were like and what they did in life a time back in history, any time in history.

Throwback Thursdays

The Trek to Holland

October 15, 2011

Funny how life can be moving along one day, and the next, your life is packed into boxes and crates ready to be shipped around the world.

 After growing up in Michigan and then living in Texas all of my adult life, our family moved to The Netherlands. Usually around my age people go through a midlife crisis. I wouldn't call this a crisis, but life altering~yes!

We arrived in The Netherlands on July 4th, 2011. For my home country this would be Independence Day. For me, this would be Where Can I Find the Closest Bed Day. We arrived at Schipple Airport in Amsterdam with our luggage, two of our kids and our two dogs in tow.

 After we collected our luggage and Missy and Sugar showed the border patrol their Paw's Ports, we were on our way to Eindhoven where we would be living. 

We were all so tired but drove straight to our new house. While everyone else was unloading our luggage, I took the two dogs through the house. We had not been there one minute when all of a sudden Sugar found a pond in the back yard that I didn't even know was there.

 It was a square cube and she couldn't get out because the sides were too steep. So I had to haul this 120lbs dog out of the water! What a mess! Not to be out done, Missy went in next. Again, I had to haul a cold wet dog out of the water! By this time everyone else was finally in the house just in time to see 2 dirty, wet, smelly dogs and me soaked to the skin! Welcome to Holland!~

Windmill Wednesdays ~ The Roosdonck

Welcome to Windmill Wednesdays!

In my attempt to bring more of The Netherlands to my friends and family back in the States I ventured into an idea to feature a different windmill every Wednesday. My initial thought was to travel to each windmill in person for up close and personal photos. Hmmmmm We might have to amend that a tiny bit. The Netherlands may be small but that’s a whole lot of driving. But we shall see. There may be a chance that I feature a windmill, photo credit someone else and then add to the blog if I have the chance to visit the windmill. Here’s hoping….

My first windmill to be featured by this American Girl is….

The Rosedonck in Nuenen, The Netherlands

1884

Windmill Roosdonck 
Gerwenseweg 2 
5674 SG Nuenen 

The Rosedonck is a grain mill and located in Nuenen. The mill collapsed during a tragic accident during the mill building process. One boy was crushed but all of the others were only slightly injured. After years of operation and being bought and sold to various people, the municipality of Nuenen finally bought the mill in 1970. After a major reconstruction in 1996 the mill was once again in the hands of private owners.

The Roosdonck’s beauty was captured on many drawings made famous from the artist Vincent Van Gogh. If you visit Nuenen, be sure to visit the Vincentre in the city centrum.

With the help of “Friends of the Roosdonck” this beautiful mill is able to keep a historical figure in Nuenen a beautiful sight to see.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLWPK3ggzFE

http://www.roosdonck.nl/

http://www.vangoghvillagenuenen.nl/the-vincentre.aspx

Coming Soon to a Blog Near You!

Hi Everyone,

I just wanted to let you know that I’ve been brainstorming on new ideas for my blog American Girl in Holland. I started this blog 2 summers ago after the encouragement of a few friends to tell the story of my expat adventures. It was a great way to keep track of everything that I’m doing so that my family and friends could follow and remember.

Along the way, I’ve talked about my adventures in travel, a little bit about my kids, my dogs, funny things about the Dutch and funny things about Americans or me in particular.

I’ve recently decided to add a few repeating themes to my blog. One thing I love about writing my blog is that it’s mine. No one is paying me to write, I do it for my own pleasure. Along the way if others choose to read and enjoy…. That’s just a bonus. But I enjoy writing what I want and when I want. We’ve all heard about writers block. Well… let me say this ~ it’s true. Sometimes, I’ll be looking at a blank page trying to think of something exciting to say and all I get is nothing. An idea has to jump out at me and make me want to write about it.

Over the next few weeks, I’ll begin gathering info on a few topics I would like to repeat weekly. (Hopefully) If there’s one missing go ahead and understand I’m having a mental block.

I will also be looking for people that would like to guest blog or weigh in their opinions on a few topics. If this interests you just let me know by e mail…. Ljochim@juno.com

Stay tuned for these upcoming repeating topics:

Windmill Wednesdays

Throwback Thursdays

Fashion Fridays ~ Funny or Fabulous?

Remember the part I said above about what I want, when I want? I will still be throwing in all sorts of other random stories about my adventures and of course my beloved puppies.

So for now…. Stay cool. Forecast for the day: High 93 with a low of 64. That’s Degrees not Celsius. Pretty, blue sky, glorious huge green trees blowing in the breeze, windmills turning, swans and ducks gently floating on the lakes and canals and the slight smell of pot in some areas.