The Netherlands Pt. 9: The ZaanHopper

I know it has been a while since I posted pictures of my trip to The Netherlands but I just had to finish the “Ferocious” study and “Get Up and Glow”. I’ve put a lot of things on the back burner these last couple of weeks but hopefully for good reason. Now I want to share a journey down the Zaan River and the beautiful city of Zaandam ( which is currently under construction but once the canal is done it will be BEAUTIFUL YOU BETCHA!)

My sister lives in Womerveer along the banks of the Zaan River. The Zaan Hooper Ferry is a perfect way to explore the waterway!

The top of a factory along the Zaan

Zaanse Schans in the distance

Dutch church along the Zaan

A house Monet painted when he lived in Zaandam

Dutch house with three “good end year” additions

The old gatehouses at the locks have been converted to apartments

The Intel Hotel, Zaandam

A street in Zaandam lined with sycamores

Brenda and I finished our excursion to Zaandam by having coffee with missionary Judy Mensch! It was a perfect day!

Coffee at Judy’s

 

 

The Netherlands Pt 8: St. Bavo’s Haarlem

After touring the Ten Boom museum (which if you did not see go back to Netherlands Pt. 7 for a look-see) Brenda and I had lunch with Mona at one of the street-side cafes. Christian camaraderie is such a sweet gift from the Holy Spirit!

When at last we had to say good-bye or as they say it in Dutch “Dooey!” Brenda and I decided our time in Haarlem was not over. We wanted to tour Corrie’s home church, St.Bavo’s (pronounced Boffo’s).

St. Bavo’s sits in the center of Haarlem Square.

Admission to the church was 2 Euro as there was no service going on.

The sanctuary of St. Bavo’s

the facade of the pipe organ, Mozart played a service here…but not while we were visiting 🙂

The ceilings of St. Bavo’s

Ancient cathedral sanctuaries were built in the shape of crosses. This is the ceiling at the center of the cross.

A view along the North side of the sanctuary, St. Bavo’s. The floor is made of gravestones from the 1500’s. The inside of the church is also a cemetery.

A grave marker in the floor of St. Bavo’s

Brenda in the choir loft. St. Bavo’s

While Brenda was busy pretending to pray, I found this little cross- shaped hole in the wall.

Since the adjoining doors were bolted, I stuck my arm through the cross-shaped hole and snapped this picture. So glad my arm didn’t get stuck!

This window was given to St. Bavo’s by Queen Beatrix.

There is so much to see in this little city. After we left St. Bavo’s we walked through the square just enjoying the sights and sounds.

the statue outside of St. Bavo’s. Mona could only tell us it wasn’t St. Bavo.

Street cafe, Haarlem Square

Street performers, Haarlem Square

Haarlem truly is one of the most beautiful little cities I have been too. Don’t pass this little gem by if you are in the area!

The Netherlands Part 2: Market Day

In Holland every town has market day. Vendors set up in the square selling their wares. Wormerveer’s market day is Wednesday. So on my first full day in The Netherlands Brenda

The open air market in Womerveer

and I went grocery shopping!

Brenda at the green grocer

I did notice that Brenda’s fruits and vegetables do not last as long as the veggies and fruits I buy in the States. It makes me wonder what’s in the food I eat.

The cheese vendor

Cheese is a major part of Dutch society. The cheese and potato vendors seemed to be among the busiest booths.

The Potato Vendors

When we finished our shopping for the week Brenda treated me to Freits with Freitsaus (French Fries with a mayonnaissy like sauce on them).

A lady carrying Freits from the Freit vendor.

Walking back from market I got some shots of Brenda’s neighborhood!

the canal behind Brenda’s home.

Brenda’s dream home on the Zaan

A funky car

The church garden next door

Brenda’s box garden before I took shears to it.

Brenda’s box garden after I took shears to it.

In case you are wondering I did make it out of Wormerveer. On Friday we will explore Amsterdam together. Check in tomorrow because PAstor Wrinkles will be back with more chapter charts….

 

The Netherlands Part 1

Well I am finally back. I am, slowly getting caught up on all my reading of fellow bloggers. I will be responding to all your comments soon. In the meantime, here for your viewing pleasure are pictures of what I have been up to!

Vacation began on June 18th with a flight out of Boston at 9:30 P.M.

By 6:30 A.M. on the 19th ( which I suppose was sometime around 2 A.M. EST) I was arriving in Iceland. This is a place I would just love to explore someday if God permits!By 7:30 I was back in the air heading for Schipol, The Netherlands. I arrived at 1 P.M. after a three-hour flight (I know time change in the air is really confusing).

My sister greeted me with grapes and soda for the train ride to Wormerveer.

We were about an hour on the train and the bus which dropped us off almost on Brenda’s front step. Her home is called “The Young Prince” by the people of Womerveer and is a converted bed and breakfast. That’s it on the right next to the river. Here is what Brenda sees from her front porch every day.

A houseboat across the river.

The city of Wormeveer upon the Zaan River.

Longboat racers practice on the Zaan

Well dear readers, there will be more tomorrow!

Autumn Drive

A few weeks ago my sister my daughters and I went leaf peeping. I wanted you to be able to peep in with us on God’s glory!

     We started with lunch at the Flipside Grille In Fitzwilliam NH

This is Brenda and Melanie at the Flipside

Afterwards we took a skip over to the town common which was a great place to grab a few family photos and enjoy the colonial feel the town added to the autumn air.

 

 

     We jaunted north into Troy to show the girls the house my grandmother grew up in during World War I.

This is the view from Gram’s childhood front porch.

Mt. Monadnock is beautiful year round but in the fall the air seems to crystallize around her!

The crab apples were ripe!

 I love country roads!

Autumn moonrise!

I hope you enjoyed leaf peeping with us!

Autumn Trek Pt.7: Long Journey Home

      Since seven is the number of completion I end the tale of my autumn trek with this post.

Monday morning I awoke and took breakfast with my son in the dining commons at VFCC. Aftrewards Joe invited me to his Isaiah class. Since I had his professor 23 years ago I thought it would be fun to see how things had changed. Professor Brubaker did not disappoint! I had an awesome time learning about the OAN’s (oracles against the nations). Then my son and I went to chapel together.

     God has brought Psalm 23 to me over and over again for the last three months. Just before I left on my trek an old friend sent me an e-mail detailing a portion of the Psalm. In the chapel service a message in tongues and an interpretation reminded us that “we were not to fear evil because God was with us. His rod and staff would comfort us on the journey!”

     I learned many years ago that there are no coincidences. God is teaching me something through this Psalm.

      As I drove out of the parking lot at Valley Forge Christian College I thought about all the things I learned in my autumn trek:

1. I learned that life is supposed to follow a rhythm a slow, constant, and intentional rhythm.

2. I learned that when you follow the rhythm other people may not appreciate it. It will go against their rushing spirit.

3. I learned that slow, constant, and intentional can make you just as tired as fast, intermittent, and unplanned but that the satisfaction level of slow and constant is far greater.

4. I learned that God is in charge of the schedule. Not me!

     So following the leading of the Spirit I stopped at Valley Forge National Park on my way out of PA for pictures:          The George Washington Chapel

The Chapel Inside

George Washington’s Headquarters

I also made one more stop on the way home in Sleepy Hollow, New York:

 And of course I had to walk out a creepy path which the town calls its public park.

Can you feel the Headless Horseman on this path. Of course only in Sleepy Hollow would a walk in the public park lead you to a cemetery! No kidding!

Needless to say, I didn’t stay very long in Sleepy Hollow. My long journey home ended at eight and by ten P.M. I was in bed getting my Zz’s for staff meeting the next morning.

What did you discover from my autumn trek?

Autumn Trek Pt. 6: The Ren Fest

     When I asked my son what he wanted to do when I visited him in PA I really expected him to say “Let’s go to Philly” or “Let’s see a movie.”

     I wasn’t prepared for him to suggest a Renaissance Festival; But he had seen the ad for a family friendly fair down in Manheim. So we made the plan for Sunday after church.  I prayed in the morning because the sky was threatening rain. For a while I thought we actually might ditch our plans and head to the art museum in Philadelphia instead; But when we got out of service the sky was clear; So we set to the drive an hour across country.

    Joe slept most of the trip because he was skyping until four A.M., with a missionary from the other side of the international date line he’s planning to intern with next summer .

     Once in Manheim though there was no sleeping. Only picture-taking. 

and eating

and more eating!

This was followed by fire eating.

And of course Shakespeare in the park.

Now slow, constant, and intentional as it was, by the end of this day I was ready for a nap. So I learned slow, constant and intentional does not necessarily mean non-tiring.

Have you ever been to a Ren Fest? Did you like it?

Autumn Trek Pt.5: The Audubon Loop

     My son saved me hundreds of dollars in hotel costs by letting me sleep in his dorm room. He let me have the bed while he took the floor, because I’m old (according to him) and he’s going to be a missionary; So he needs to practice. I, of course, was entirely compliant not wanting to rob him of his missionary training. 🙂

     We slept well and by next morning we were both ready for action. After donuts and coffee we decided to head out to Mill Grove to walk the trails before Joe had to be back to work at 1 P.M. 

       When the kids were little Tina and I went camping at Lamb City in Phillipston MA. They had a loop trail there too! It was a beautiful trail around the lake, but poorly marked.

    Tina had gone shopping in town. Joe and Amanda were really needing something to do. So leaving Melanie with my brother and sister-in-law I headed out with my three and four-year olds for what was supposed to be a short jaunt around the lake. I knew we were in trouble when I wandered into an apple orchard an hour or so later some two miles from the camp ground. By the time a van loaded with strangers offered us a ride, two hours further into our walk, I really didn’t care if they were axe-murderers the kids and I needed rescuing.

      I share that little story because history has a way of repeating itself. At first Joe and I were only going to walk half the trail and turn back the way we came. Half way in we changed the plan and decided to do the whole loop which was a four and a half mile walk. I thought “I can do this. Let’s impress the whippersnapper!”

The forest trail was beautiful. We found the remnants of an old lead mine and stopped for pictures.

     Of course, being part of the Audubon estate the trail was dotted with bird houses and duck blinds like this one.

      It was all going so well until about here. Then we lost the trail. Oh, we were on a trail all right. We just didn’t know it was the wrong one until we came to a dog park where we asked some friendly dog owners where the Audubon Loop picked back up.

    To which they replied “You walked here from the Audubon loop? Bummer!”

    So…Yeah…Four miles turned into more like eight or ten. The biggest difference between getting lost with my son at four and getting lost with my son at twenty-two is that this time I didn’t have to carry him. Oh, and this time I had a camera. 

Long story short. We lived. We made it back. Joe was only a half hour late for work. But, I’m thinking  maybe that look he gave me when I first arrived was prophetic.

Autumn Trek Pt. 4: Let’s Get There Already!

Yesterday I left you all at the border of Pennsylvania.

I may have mentioned it took me ten hours to get there. Still, I am sure you are wondering how come I could make it in ten hours and it has taken you three days. Well you can only do so much in four hundred words. Besides we have to take some time for the sycamores.

I had to ask an artist on the street what kind of trees they were because I really liked them. He gave me an “Are you entirely stupid?” look. Followed by a “How dare you disturb the heir of Van Gough!” look.  Then an eye roll… a loud sigh…Then he shrugged and turned his back on me like I had disturbed his nap! I think I broke Mr. Crankypants’ concentration.

He was standing right outside of this shop painting the trees. So honestly I thought he would be the best one to ask! How wroooong I was. Still I liked the trees. I finally found out what they were from a shop keeper who didn’t have anger issues.

I shook it off and bought myself a pumpkin coffee at Dunkin Donuts for comfort and went back to the road.

 In a little over an hour I was close to finishing my drive. I still had plenty of daylight so I opted to stop at Mill Grove, the John J. Audubon estate, just ten minutes from my son’s home in Phoenixville.

It was a great little road trip, and only a tank away! I learned that when you are living the slow, constant, and intentional life it’s your moment. Most people aren’t living the experience with you. So when an artist (or a non-artist) gets cranky with you don’t sweat it. He’s just having a moment among the sycamores. So just keep slow. Keep constant. Keep intentional. Maybe someday the rest of the world will join your joy! 

Oh by the way here’s the reason for my trip!

I know, I know he kind of looks like he’s been hanging out with my tree-artist friend. But I was embarrassing him in front of his boss, going all paparazzi on him…sorry Joe! 🙂 

Autumn Trek Pt. 3: The Drive Continues

      If you remember this vacation was supposed to be about me learning a certain lesson more deeply for the purpose of bringing that lesson to the wider body of Christ. If I had to boil the weekend down into a catch phrase I would have to say, “Be slow, constant, and intentional”.  I really practiced the slow part on Friday. I left Muddy’s at 6 A.M.  Now,Valley Forge can be reached in six hours; But I knew in advance I wouldn’t make it by noon. I sincerely had my doubts I would make it by the time my son was scheduled to work late in the afternoon. I just didn’t have it in me to drive solely for the destination. The journey itself was important; So when I got stuck in traffic outside of Hartford I just settled myself in to talk to God as my van alternated between spurts of 5 MPH and 45 MPH.

     I stopped for lunch in New York before I crossed the Tappan Zee Bridge. I opted for route 202 instead of the Garden State Parkway and pulled off the road at about three so I could grab some shots of the Delaware River Water Gap.

     In that place the river runs between Lambertsville NJ and New Hope PA. This old bridge is the border crossing between two towns that have given themselves to the purpose of promoting the arts. Just up my alley!

    From the bridge the waterway looks like a liquid highway running between the states ready to deliver passengers to the eclectic neighborhoods that join the two towns.

     The river was swollen in its banks from the recent passage of Hurricane Irene and the rains which have dogged the east coast since. Still the barricades were open so that the few brave kayakers on the water could boat along the swift current unhampered.

     Both towns were crammed with tourists making parking tricky. I finally found a spot behind a gallery in Lambertsville that promised if I wasn’t quickly inside viewing and buying art my van would be just a quickly towed. I’m not sure exactly how the gallery staff would know…but since I wasn’t willing to be stuck overnight in New Jersey I made a quick tour of Lambertsville and headed cross-river to New Hope.

    So ten hours in I finally hit the border of my destination state! How’s that for slow?!