7 October 2015 - The Cobra Museum

It is unusual for me to write my blog before late evening but I find myself sitting at the kitchen table looking out at the pouring rain even before cooking our evening meal!  Why? You might ask...because I am avoiding the unpleasant task of packing bags and sorting out what we need to take or throw away before we move on tomorrow.  

As we travel and pack and unpack and repack, we still endeavour to enjoy our last day in a fashion and squeeze in school and all the rest.  We had said "Tot Ziens" to Amsterdam city yesterday so today's target was the fairly local Cobra Museum of Modern Art.

The Cobra Museum - Fountains in the rain don't quite have the same appeal!

 Modern Art really ain't my thing but I'm open to new things and occasionally enjoy a work of art.  Cobra, an acronym of Copenhagen, Brussels and Amsterdam was established post WWII for the new wave of artists. The Cobra Movement was active for 3 years (1948-51).  Karl was keen to see Karel Appel's works but I had never heard of Karel Appel!  In my humble opinion, I found most of the paintings messy compared to Picassos and more abstract Masters of fame.  Luke, who came with us, said he could paint all of the paintings there.  There certainly is a naive bent to the paintings.

When rust becomes art?!

Occupational therapy for unemployed brickie?!

The Chair - Constant Nieuwenhuys

Screaming horses - Karel Appel

Fruits of the Earth - Carl-Henning Pedersen

Tim and Annika declined our offer of a visit to the museum and decided to ride to Decathlon for some new drink bottles as the ones we've been using have reached the stage where they are beyond cleaning.  They copped a few sprinkles of rain but we got soaked to the skin.

No title - Egli Jacobsen

Asger Jorn - Toy Painting - my favourite out of the paintings we saw today but I am in no rush to put it on my wall!

Little Boy - Karel Appel

Wonder - Karel Appel

Moat with sculpture - weather not conducive for exploring.

I had REALLY hoped that I wouldn't have another severe soaking in Holland.  As one of the cashiers at the supermarket remarked to Karl, Holland would be a great country if it had a roof!!  We took the east side of the main road in the homeward direction and found ourselves in Elsenhove at a community farm.  We had a brief, wet look around the farm and talked to a few animals. It would be a lovely spot to visit in the nice weather but at this stage we were wet beyond wet!

Elsenhove Community Farm - Clogs for the kids!  Note streaming rain!

Planter boxes on the roof - cute idea!

Once home, showered and warmed up and in dry clothes again, everyone settled in for a cosy afternoon. Ah!  The rain doesn't stop our river view, the rowers or the cyclists - it is sort of like a peaceful screen saver!

Karl with Hugo and Aletta

Rik and Daan playing with Luke in our loft.  He'll miss his friends.

Aletta, Hugo, Rik and Daan came to say farewell.  It has been terrific staying at their farm on the edge of the city.  It does sound as if we are really fortunate to have found a gap in their bookings.  We would recommend this spot to an adventurers who want to live on a farm and cycle to a city!

1 October 2015 - Blonde and blue eyed animals - trying to fit into local stereotypes?

Up early to indulge myself in the beauty of the early morning!

Early morning from our front door

 On such a nice and sunny morning, we just had to go on a bike ride with Ali before she headed off to the airport.  We thought that a 10 kms cycle around the Amstel with a stop off at Amstel Park would be just perfect.

Our entrance looking in direction of the barns.

Albino emu

 First we spotted the albino emus before discovering that the city farm, with its slightly weird collection of animals, is free and open for all to wander among the animals.  There was a donkey crossed with a Shetland pony, the two very small Shetland ponies we saw previously, lots of goats, turkeys and chickens as well as miniature cows, pigs and a brood of albino half grown emu chicks under a heat lamp!  They were all quite tame and I think some were "donations" as they had no more use than a curiosity factor and their nice personalities! 

Donkey ponies

Tiny adult pony

Lovely house with thatched roof near by

Looking over the Amstel to our place - bliss!

 We had our usual veggie soup sitting in the sun overlooking the sloot.  Two classic story book storks were resting in the field alongside the herons.

Lunch outside

Karl dropped Ali and I at the bus stop.   Annika cycled one of the bikes to the bus stop, locked it up, met us with the key and then went back with Karl while Ali and I went on to Schiphol.  Good planning!!

Ali and I tried a pumpkin spice latte at Starbucks at the airport which was, as predicted, quite disgusting and over sweet.  We said "Au Revoir" and I got straight on the bus back to Ouderkerk, collected the bike and was cycling home by the time Ali's plane flew overhead!

Yucky latte at Schiphol Starbucks!

Amstel Park - can you spot Luke?!

Luke, Annika and I cycled back to Amstel Park  to check out the park a bit more and lo and behold we found some more albino animals: a wallaby and some albino peafowls! The albino theme seems to be a big thing at the park!

Blonde animals in Holland!

 I cannot described how very pleasant and very thrilling it is to cycle along "our" river back to "our" house.  The kids have had a great experience of living in Holland and we'll all remember our time here fondly.

24 September 2015 - A home sort of day

After his success with bike riding yesterday, Luke was very keen to hop on a bike this morning.  We found a children's bike in the shed and then some tools and Karl sorted out the seat to Luke's height and pumped up the very flat tyres and we were off!

Luke hanging around!

We had a number of "normal" things to do such as go to the post office, find a pharmacy, buy a protractor and also buy some groceries.  All of these accomplished in our little town of Ouderkerk aan de Amstel, and then the rain met us as we were about to cycle home.  We donned our ponchos and then noticed Luke's front tyre was very flat again, so it was probably already punctured before we even started.  Annika to the rescue!  She cycled home and got Karl to drive back in the car to collect Luke and bike and I continued back to the house.

School was slow to start.  Annika is already working through next term and Tim is still ploughing through the mountains of work required for To Kill a Mockingbird.  This is when distance education is difficult because he doesn't have the benefit of class discussion to thrash around ideas.  As for Luke, he has been allocated books at a higher level but is resistant to the change.  In a class setting, the peer pressure to keep moving forward is helpful but once again, we don't have this with distance education.

The Dockworkers' Memorial

Desperate for an afternoon cycle we noticed the rain was setting in again and although the thought of getting saturated again wasn't too appealing, the lure of a ride was just too tempting.  We had to buy a tyre repair kit and then Tim, Karl and I cycled into the centre of Amsterdam to see the Dockworkers' Memorial, commemorating the Strike of February 1941 when there was a general strike organised against the anti Jewish measures being introduced to the Netherlands.  The statue is situated behind the Portuguese Synagogue and in front of the Jewish History Museum in the Jewish area of Amsterdam.  Although the strike was unsuccessful it was the first direct action taken by non-Jews against the antisemitic measures in Nazi occupied Europe.  From June 1940, Jews were removed from public positions including universities.  It is sobering to think that right where we stood, there were people being persecuted.

Canals in the rain!

As we stood in the rain, we pondered lots of things but on a lighter hearted note did wonder if the Dutch have many names for rain, like Inuits have many names for snow: morning rain, evening rain, late afternoon rain, dry rain (when the drops are far apart and you don't really get wet!), wet rain, hot rain and cold rain, etc! Today, it was wet, cold, late afternoon rain and peeling off my soaked trousers was a relief when we arrived home!

Now as I write, the sky is clear and the river still and the joggers and rowers are out in force and there is no evidence of the downpour!  That's Holland for you!

21 September 2015 - Exploring locally: Amstel Glorie and Amstelpark

Officially it is school holidays but the big kids want to catch up and "clear their desks" (kitchen table) and it is always the last pieces to be handed in that cause the most stress.  Joy all around (not).  Anyway we started the day well with four of us on the bikes to the supermarket and Tim running the 6 kms and keeping up with the bikes!  Tim reckons we are eating too much hagel (chocolate sprinkles) so we made a nice vegetable soup for lunch.

Now that we have panniers... (Thanks Anneke van der Schaaf)

Not complaining about this view from our local shopping centre!

...or this view!

 Despite encouragement, it was just Karl, Luke and I who went exploring this afternoon.  There are two parks nearby which seemed to be greater than their exteriosr indicated so we were curious.  The first was Amstel Glorie which seems to attract crowds on the weekends.  We now know that it is a tuinpark or "gardenpark" where there are little cottages for summer living and gardens.  There is no electricity and no vehicles other than bikes are permitted.  Amstel Glorie is a series of little streets and bridges over canals.  People can buy the houses but only rent the land.  It is closed in winter and even the water is turned off - possibly because it freezes - but from April to October, it offers city dwellers a bit of greenery , space and a chance for outdoor living.  We saw similar concepts in Germany. What a lovely idea!  We chatted to a nice chap who was tending his garden.  Karl spoke in Dutch and I could understand the gist of the conversation.

Amstel Glorie

Heron

Insect hotels!

 On the other side of the Amstel is another park where no bikes are allowed. It is called Amstelpark and it is huge although the little entrance would never indicate this.  Actually, it turned out to be one of several entrances to a grand park with several playgrounds, artists' studios, lakes, a rosarium, cafe and many walking tracks!  Among the interesting things were a pole indicating the water levels when the Amstel has significantly flooded.  The great flood of 1953 resulted in over 1800 deaths - a peril of living below the water level!  And the other interesting sight was an albino emu - fancy having to come to Holland before seeing an albino emu!

Amstelpark - can't possibly fit bikes through this gate!

Albino emu!!!

Pole measuring flood levels - 4.6 metres in 1953!!

Flood levels

Terrific playground!

Huge table and chairs!

The smallest horse I've ever seen!

"Some people dance in the rain, other just get wet" - love it!

 Autumn is fast descending over Holland and the low haze typical of Europe is now apparent especially in the early evenings.  The leaves are changing and the chestnuts are hanging heavy on the branches.  There is something that stirs deep within me at this time of year, a sort of melancholy joy!

Where there's a bridge, you cross it!

The dawn of Autumn

The leaves are changing.

 Karl's experimenting with boerenkool (kale) and potatoes for dinner - apparently a Dutch tradition - but as I've cooked honey soy chicken, it could be an interesting combination!!

15 September 2015 - A surprise visitor and a windy bike ride

The wind outside was blowing the reeds by the river at a 45 degree angle so school came first before bike ride! Annika is working on a "Choose your own adventure" project for school and it is about as long as a novel.  She needs 8 different endings and 15 segments:  HUGE!  She is a good writer and chips away at it.  Luke is also required to write a story in this unit and Tim is ploughing through "To Kill a Mockingbird".  It is a book that can't be hurried as each page is written in detail.

The door bell rang and we were surprised and pleased to see Anneke there.  Last time the doorbell rang it was some locals looking to buy some milk from the farm and the time before it was a door to door salesman  selling outdoor clothes!

Anneke came bearing food and chocolate which was eagerly eaten and a plastic poncho each after she saw the photos of us drenched by yesterday's rain!  We enjoyed chatting with her.

Locking up our bikes

We were waiting for the weather to improve but in the end decided to put on our wet weather gear (and take the ponchos) and hop on the bikes to check out a huge shopping area near to the Arena to buy Tim some good running shoes, Luke's gumboots and a few other things. Decathlon is a large sports and camping shop which was a great discovery.  The boys enjoyed testing out the skateboards and scooters.  Mission accomplished and Tim now has the shoes he needed and it is still rainy so Luke will make good use of the gumboots.

I wonder what inspired this decor?!

A coffee chain that I have never heard of!

Karl trying a croquette - delicious

Curious birds!

Karl looking like a smurf!

Poncho coming in handy!

The wind was ferocious and it was  a battle to keep cycling but we did it!!

Luke's book today was about the history of fish and chips and so that was his request for dinner tonight: home made and delicious!