The world knows that the original tulips grew wild on hillsides in Turkey. The Dutch gathered these bulbs, reworked them in a myriad of ways to the product we see today. To my delight, there are now bulbs that revert back to the original idea. These pictures are of bulbs not more than 6 inches …
Author Archives: The Chronicler
The Wind in the Lines
During the day and at night, the wind has been blowing. Moored in front of my house, vertical to the shore/wall is a row of sail boats. Their sails are lowered and trussed leaving only the rigging/lines taut on the masts. Whether in the house, or biking, the sound made by the wind blowing over …
Eerie
12 o’clock the first Monday of the Month indeed like clock work, the sirens sound. When a child in the US* we had Air-Raid sirens that sounded for a time. This feels like the continuation of that. The First-Monday-of-the-Month-Drill is to be certain that the system is in working order should the emergency arise that …
Hair Dryer
When I happened upon this meme it made me laugh aloud and seemed so apropos of the lock down/quarantine situation that is the world-wide lot of everyone. Imagine my surprise when coming across what is apparently the original, not related to the pandemic at all. Made me laugh even harder. Thus, my current response to …
That Tinge of Work-ethic
I chuckle at myself. A murder of crows appears in my back yard when I put out bread/whatever for them. They are able to spot if from afar and descend immediately. This winter I wrote they had found the coconut shell filled with lard prior to my offering it. After they had emptied it, I …
A Spring Time-honored Treat
Asparagus from Limburg [the southern part of the Netherlands] White asparagus. 20 euros a kilo. If you purchase the spears from the green grocer, they are butter soft. You may also buy them already peeled from the grocery store. The traditional way to prepare them: cut off the end, stand in water. the following day, …
Gobsmacked!
In this “love in the time of..” generosity is so thrilling. K a long time friend, living in the US sent a surprise package to my house here in The Netherlands!! What a surprise! What a difference it makes to a day! Among the contents was a real book! I am appreciative of Kindle, it …
Keep Well!
Heard it from the mother of a doctor, read it in print. The Netherlands has a higher number of deaths during the C-virus due to making the decision to let people die. If one is sick and there is no statistical chance of getting better, rather than go through all the machinations of trying to …
Astounding!
Nothing short of… This rental year purchased an electric kettle from England [came with an alternative wall plug, didn’t think of that at the time]. The motivation: electric is more energy efficient to heat water than a kettle/or pan on the gas-fired-stove. Have been delighted with the all glass kettle, except for the layer of …
Love in the time….
The Dutch Government is worried, they need to be. The populous travels a lot and hordes pass through Schiphol airport. The government mandate: Social Distancing was sent to every mobile phone holder. To aid in this, the grocery stores decided to have an hour for the ‘old folks’ to do their shopping. This hour is …