Our friends have come and gone and we are looking forward to Koninginnedag. (Queensday)

Our friends have come and gone

Suzo and Jeseka were here for a visit and would come and call on us every morning whistling outside our window, but did I get a picture of that? NO,  it was great to have guests; Yvonne made some delicious breakfasts, and we had some fun adventures. We are looking forward to seeing them again next week in Istanbul along with Emma who will surely help with our pronunciation.

Michelle asked about the trees that line all the canals, which 

I have become obsessed with lately. I still have no name for the trees, BUT they create a false, early summer feel when it is only barely spring. They are covered with green seeds that fade to white and yellow and then blow off the trees all over the street and canals like confetti. Then the trees are bare again. I am anxiously awaiting this happening and we only have 4 more days here, and one good wind would send the seeds off and the weather is turning from warm and beautiful to cooler and rainy.

We went to more museums and looked at art

The Rijks Museum is currently undergoing a major renovations so instead of exploring a mammoth of a building they had a show called The Masterpieces where everything you might want to see was conveniently located in one exhibition area. Perfect; and the big dra

w was the visiting Vermeer's from Washington. It was fun to see some of the pieces after having familiarized ourselves with some of the "masters" included in the postcard race.  I particularly liked the  landscapes and the household scenes where there was always either a cat or a dog or sometimes 

both portrayed. I was seeing and have continued to see cats everywhere. Yvonne thought the cats and dogs just made everything more "gezelligheid" one of our favorite Dutch word as life must be as gezellig as possible (nice atmosphere, fun activities and the right company).

We got to go to the Van Gogh Museum with Jeseka and Suzo. Many of his famous and beautiful pieces were there. Jeseka liked "Gauguin's Chair" and Suzo made sure we got close to the paintings to see how the paint was laid. Though there were some self portraits, sadly the one that Suzo had rendered for the FDI catalogue "Music so good you'll want both ears" was not there. 

Tulip is Turban in Turkish

We are really glad that Suzo and Jeseka wanted to visit Keukenhof or Keukenheim or the Disneyland of Tulips or the Lourdes of Tulips or perhaps the Fantasy Garden of Tulips or maybe Tuliparama: over the top Tulips. We couldn't have done it without you. We have posted MANY pictures of tulips, especially for Anna, Yvonne's mother, (who would have loved the garden) on FLICKR.

Much like Delft potters conquered the world with their imitations of Chinese porcelain, Delft blue ceramics. The world tulip actually comes from the word for turbin in Turkish and  the tulip was imported to Holland in the 16th century from the Ottoman Empire. As we learned at Keukenhof there are now 5000 different tulip varieties. We saw a feathered white tulip called "Calgary Flame". The cultivators actually name the varieties. Was the developer of the "Calgary Flame" a hockey fan and he imagined snow-covered white Calgary his favorite team?  Is there a player with a Dutch background honoured by the tulip on the Flames? We were unable to find out. Tricia any ideas? Tulips are shipped around the world from Keukenhof in September when they are ready for  planting. We were lucky to be here in April since they are at their be-dazzling best (Yvonne's description) only for 2 months.

The Tulip Connection

At Keukenhof they had postcards of the Dutch Royal Family (Jeseka loved those). During the war, the Dutch Royal family was hosted at Government House in Ottawa. Princess Margriet was born at Ottawa Civic Hospital which was declared to be part of the Netherlands for the day since the monarchy must be born  on Dutch soil.  My grandmothers brother, Dr Charles Coupal attended at the Birth, though he is not mentioned in any of the articles. Every year since 1945, 100,000 tulips are sent to Ottawa in appreciation of the safe haven and Canada's role in liberating the Netherlands. Jeseka said if I had only played my cards right I could have been invited for a royal cheese tasting or some such thing, but I did not use that incredible connection.

So if you like tulips (and who doesn't) please check out the Keukenhof on Flickr:

What we are reading:

2666 R2 everyone should read this

3 cups of tea Yvonne

What we are watching

"Mammoth" heavy Babel like movie very good

"In Treatment" he was happier in the first season

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