Imprints of May

Posted on May 31, 2026 by TheJessicaness

I partially unpack my suitcase over a few days. I’m not sure why the hesitation, but I’m in no hurry to put my clothes away. I’ve been accepted to USF and will be going to the St Pete Campus. For this reason, I must attend to my medical needs — actually going to my doctor (because the school needs my immunization record) and setting up an appointment with a new optometrist, which should be right on schedule. I get my teeth cleaned, and one out of 28 gets a “Keep an eye on this.”

Caleb was surprised that I hadn’t watched Watership Down (1978) in my childhood, so he quickly corrected that. The film is the bloodiest children’s story I’ve seen, but I’ve also never watched videos of Grimm’s Fairy Tales (the bedtime stories of mutilation, cannibalism, and infanticide). We go to bed early a few nights to account for the jet lag. I developed a heat rash that lasted two days — welcome back to the humidity that gets blown away in the Netherlands.

While I’m writing about our trip, I take breaks to talk with Fallon (over four hours) and Dad (67 minutes) on the phone, bring in a package for Christine B. and brush her kitties, and help Helen while her place was flooded — take pictures for insurance, collect pools of water, and move other things to dry — until the contractor could arrive hours later. We try to get our walking in before 7 am or after 6 pm, depending on the evening rains, but we still get sweaty.

I get concert tickets from Lisa U. to see Bush and invite other couples to join, but they all give their reasons, so Fallon and I will go. We had a great time listening to James and the Cold Gun, and Mammoth, with the sun in our eyes, and the crowd went wild when Gavin Rossdale (61-year-old singer for Bush) walked through the audience, still singing. I attend a three-hour online orientation (even with a technical difficulty) and finish the required hazing prevention course for USF.

Three days later, Caleb and I ride our bikes down to Coachman Park (where the concert was) to attend Sharkapalooza, complete with manatee art, mini donuts, flavored lemonade, a scientist speaking on stage, stickers, shirts, jewelry, and other ways to raise awareness for the animals of the sea. Susie’s 19-year-old cat, Molly, passed, so when she invites me to go on a walk with her, I gladly join, as I love walking, talking, and exploring somewhere new.

Caleb will walk Sarah’s dogs so I can go to the Bush concert with Fallon. I forgot to walk them one night and called hours later. Luckily, she thought I was out of town and already had a backup. I remind her that I don’t leave for two more weeks, so I’m still available to walk them twice a day for a week while her usual walker, Carrie, is on vacation. Caleb will book us flights to Montana, so I have one less trip to plan. I’ll be back in time to join Fallon on a cruise with stops in Costa Maya and Cozumel.

I read Walking Home by Rick Rogers and Madhouse at the End of the Earth by Julian Sancton. One adventure is definitely a walk in the park compared to the events that unfolded in surviving Antarctica, especially in the 1890s. I’m currently reading Musicophilia by Oliver Sacks (the author of Awakenings, which led to the film with Robin Williams) and am constantly impressed with how the human brain works for us and against us, as apparently not all malfunctions can be considered a superpower.

Susie gifted me some puzzles, so I spent a couple of hours completing a mountain scene with horses and another Amsterdam one. It feels good to play the piano again and have my fingers be hesitant until memory kicks in and the tune comes more easily. We watch two prison documentaries, one in Norway and the other in Germany. One looks like a hotel, and the other comes with many locked doors. The hostess worked in the British prison system, so she has a different perspective on what works.

I’m glad I didn’t bother reading the suggestion for book club this month as the table of eight gave mixed reviews. One has gone on to read two more in the series, one hated the theme and didn’t read it either, and two thought it was not a well put together book. I won’t be here for next month’s reading, but I’m told it’s better, so I still might read it. Besides trying Cricketers with the ladies, Caleb and I will go for coffee, chicken, and sushi.

We went to Marshall’s because they have hidden treasures, like a face mask sampler pack that makes my face feel like it has been to the spa, and to Target. After all, I had a $5 gift card. We bought another tea sampler box, and the acai berry green tea tastes better cold. We spend Memorial Day at Mary Jo and Roberto’s, eating waffles and burgers, drinking coffee and cider, and talking about travels past and future plans. Our neighbors are inspirational, thoughtful, and generous.

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Polite Culture

Posted on May 4, 2026 by TheJessicaness

Caleb makes coffee to go and takes out the trash. I drop the key, and we catch the bus. I’ve noticed a lot of bus riders thank the driver (they’re called a chauffeur here). A police officer helps Caleb through the fare gate, as he had already checked in, but didn’t make it through before the little doors shut again. We buy croissants to go with the cheese and guacamole from the house and eat them while listening to the group in front of us learning new words in a different language.

On the train from Amsterdam to Schiphol Airport, there are people packed in the doorway, while there are at least two seats available. Perhaps they wanted to keep their distance from the man complaining in English. I wouldn’t volunteer to translate for them either, but perhaps this is the couple’s first time away from home and a good learning experience for future travel, or they never leave home again. Caleb’s cheese stash gets checked for drugs at security.

We don’t usually visit the airport liquor shop, but this one has a smelling station which intrigues me. This interest gets us offered a sample, which I quickly give to Caleb. One bottle of Japanese whiskey is 6550€. I’m more impressed with the free stroopwafel gifted by an airport employee handing them out. I was going to get pancakes from The Butcher, but we were an hour past breakfast, so we went elsewhere for coffee and fries.

There is an exhibit by Rem van den Bosch featuring acrobats in regional dress on tall ladders, indicating where the water levels would be at tourist landmarks if not for the protective measures taken. The artist is collaborating with local organizations and authorities on water awareness and what we can do about it. I didn’t know that Tony’s Chocolonely began as a protest against child labor in the cocoa industry, with headquarters in Amsterdam, which explains why the bars are so prevalent here.

We’re looking for hydrating beverages before we board, and I see a sign for a pistachio coffee (as if I need another), but they don’t have them, so I settle for some local pink vitamin water instead. One of the cargo doors was left open, so this causes an 80-minute delay. We watch Mercy (2026), a sci-fi thriller about speeding up the death penalty using AI. After this, I was ready for some Little Mermaid (in Dutch), and it was just as great as I remembered.

We read, but as other passengers began to wake and disturb the peace, I found Hungarian Dance No. 5 in G Minor by the Wiener Philharmoniker amongst a list of calming classical to get me through the last hour of this ten-hour flight. We wait outside the airport for ten minutes before I call our ride. Caleb had taken us to departures, and they were waiting at arrivals. Their dog, Tulie, would cuddle with Caleb for the ride home. I open my suitcase and go to bed, while Caleb unpacks and checks the mail.

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The Cat and the Cradle

Posted on May 3, 2026 by TheJessicaness

Caleb is up around 4 am after the rain and makes me a sweet coffee when I get up. We grabbed our raincoats and would’ve made the bus had I not seen a snail and needed to photograph it. I usually send the picture to Caroline, but when Caleb informed me that we now had a half hour to wait, I went looking for more. There were so many of them! I also found a Dryophilocoris flavoquadrimaculatus (a black-and-yellow insect), a red velvet mite (also known as a rain bug), and a common fruit fly.

The streets are empty, the bus is bare, and the train has plenty of seats. We move from one quiet compartment to escape a sniffling child, then they depart, and we can move back to give space to Karen, who is being extra loud with her eight-year-old son. I thought it might only be an American thing, but others moved on without saying anything either (and I’ve seen them speak up, so they were avoiding her). I see a pheasant and two bunnies on the way to Rotterdam station.

I munch on the honey mustard wheat pretzels and white blondie that were in my purse. Our final bus of the morning has a wren fledgling passenger. Caleb goes back and forth trying to capture it in his hat so he can let it out the door, his efforts consistently thwarted. The bus drops us at the cloudy and gray entrance to Kinderdijk, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, since 1997. It consists of 19 windmills that were originally built around 1740 as a water management system.

The exception is the Blokweer Museum Mill, built in 1630, with a strikingly different structure. Through the middle of the park is an active bicycle path. To allow riders to enjoy the scenery, but keep them out of the museums, the tickets are scanned at the museum windmills, for the canal boat tour, and the pumping station exhibits. It starts to rain, and we don’t let this stop us from exploring. Others came prepared with umbrellas and rain ponchos.

These windmills would be comfortable for Caleb and me, so I realize how spoiled for space we are when I learn that the goal was to have a dozen kids (for religious and labor purposes) to help with the farming, gardening, fishing, and mill maintenance. The attic was a storage space for animal hides, fish traps, and fruit. It was also where the smoke from the living room heater passed, turning things black on the way out until a chimney was installed in 1909.

The family’s laundry, along with the linen, got washed at the boiler house with the use of a washbasin. In the winter, the family was washed there as well, but in the summer, they would be scrubbed on the doorstep. The women wore a shirt, a corset, about four petticoats, and a beautiful top layer. Only the first layer of white cotton was usually washed. They had a flannel undershirt and a knitted singlet that were only worn in winter.

The eight Nederwaard windmills were built in a staggered line to allow each of them to catch plenty of wind. The eight Overwaard windmills are in a straight line on a narrow embankment. They are built of wood and covered with thatch because they are on soil that is subject to sinking. The Nieuw-Lekkerland Polder has two windmills, one with a scoop wheel, and the other equipped in 1965 with an Archimedean screw that can pump farther than the other one.

If the rain was heavy and the wind weak, the mills did not provide enough power. This led to a steam-powered pumping station being built in 1868 to help pump seven times faster, but coal was expensive and burdensome, so it was converted to diesel in 1918. A new electric pumping station was built in 1972 on top of the old one. It was renovated in 2023, and two of the Archimedes screws are fully electric, with the third being a diesel backup and a preservation of the past.

The windmills were decommissioned in 1953, but still have families living in them to preserve traditional crafts, complete maintenance, and keep their stories alive. Such as the one about the cat keeping the cradle in the river balanced by jumping back and forth so that baby Beatrice wouldn’t drown after the St. Elisabeth’s Flood in 1421. The cradle washed up near the dyke, and a name was born. In the old pumping station is an interactive area and a gift shop.

Buying lunch gets us a waterside view and a multi-pass for the toilet. I like to take a picture of our meals for profiling purposes. We get to watch a couple do a photoshoot with their croissant and coffee by the water before moving to a table in the middle of the café. It appears strange, but it’s nice to see this unexplained behavior in real life, especially as AI becomes more involved in what is seen online. It’s still raining when we see the bus honk at a car parked in its way, and the guy almost nervously reverses into it.

The bus driver takes a smoke break, and we get to go through the bushes on bus-only lanes. Caleb points out an electric semi truck. On the train, a guy gets on with a folding bike and blocks a seat. Another guy gets on with a regular bike and asks him to move, so he can fit his bike against the folding seats. He sits upstairs once his bike is secure, while the guy who had to move is now sitting across from me, possibly writing about this in his diary.

We get off at the bus stop for the shopping plaza, but when we inquire about sushi, we are informed that they are busy fulfilling another order, so it will be some time before they can get to us. We walk back empty-handed. I’d been thinking about all the name-brand coats people are wearing, and no, they aren’t cheaper here out of necessity, but actually more expensive due to higher taxes, fewer discount stores, and higher retail margins (and the temperature ranges from 34° to 73°, on average).

I have leftover bread with cheese while being asked repeatedly for attention by Zulu. Caleb suggests we go eat nearby. I think he’s suggesting the ice cream parlor diner, but he means the shared-dining tapas restaurant, Mazoki. The hostess seats us, and when the waitress and family next to us realize we speak English, they seem even kinder and more forthcoming with menu recommendations. The family is curious as to what brings us to such a local establishment, and we let them know: friends.

The sweet waitress lets us know the restaurant is closing at the end of the year. The chef, Marcel, is ready to move on to something else after over 30 years in the industry and surviving the chaos that was Covid. We shared the grilled zucchini and Mazoki mess (like Eton mess, but with ice cream, sorbet, waffles, and wafers, for three). I had the burrata and pumpkin while Caleb decided on the Zarzuela (a Catalan seafood-rich celebratory stew), also enough for three people.

We agree it was a great commemorative dinner for our last night in the Netherlands. I will walk the neighborhood when we get back, as I’m stuffed. I see a guelder rose bush, known for its white flowers in spring and bright red berries in autumn. I pass a grove snail and an information board with workshops and monthly activities. I learned that the trash banks are pay-to-open for plastic, metal, and refuse, but not glass. Bag size options are 30 or 60L. Caleb is on the couch with Zulu when I return.

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Rolling on Wheels to Renswoude

Posted on May 2, 2026 by TheJessicaness

Caleb starts the dishwasher, and I drop yogurt on the floor, with a bit getting on Zulu. He excuses himself from the kitchen to clean while I do the same by the cabinet. I notice a wolf spider by the bathroom door, known for hunting prey without spinning a web and wandering into homes for warmth. Caleb gets the bicycles out of their stored spots and gets them ready to ride. I have a drunken loop planned to entertain us.

The bike path between the farms and the canal is beautiful. At one point, Caleb is forced to catch up to the deer that thinks we are chasing it so that it will stay in a field and relax instead of continuing to criss-cross the lane and exhaust itself. We ride to Huis Scherpenzeel, and though it’s lovely to look at, there is staff on the grounds preparing for an event at this venue. We stop at Restaurant de Dennen to get out of the rain, and as we sit on the patio, we watch a photography class disperse, and some guys on race bikes join under the umbrellas for protection.

I would’ve gotten a coffee, but they weren’t open yet. I’m ok riding in sprinkles, but we’ve traveled enough to know that some places this seemingly innocent rain can lead to monsoons or hail, so better to be prepared, which, funny enough, we hadn’t brought our raincoats with us (for the ride). As soon as the falling water lets up, we’re back on our borrowed bikes. We continue on to Castle Renswoude, built in 1654, which offers its architecture and surrounding park for our enjoyment on foot.

There is a pigeon tower where the birds could fly in and out freely. They delivered mail and were bred for ornamental purposes and meat. Keeping pigeons and having buildings appear larger, due to their reflection in the moat, conferred more status on the estate. We see a mute swan, a Muscovy duck (known for hissing instead of quacking), and a Eurasian red squirrel. As for plants: a pink shrubby cinquefoil, purple wisteria, and yellow irises.

We are on our way to Woudenberg, where we can explore more of the Grebbelinie defenses (bunkers and waterline structures), when I stop abruptly, and Caleb falls off his bike, and not gently. It’s lunch time anyway, so I have an apple on the way to Pannenkoe, known for 50 variations of massive, traditional Dutch pancakes. Having ridden in the sun, with tan hands as proof, we sit inside. We ordered a coffee that comes with a chocolate to support Mercy Ships, instead of the traditional mini cookie.

Caleb remembers meeting a woman on Veteran’s Day who worked on those ships for almost a decade, and I’m happy for the memory. Our flower-shaped bread sampler shows up with a steak knife poking out of the center. Our dips: hummus, aioli, and herb butter. I would definitely order this again. Caleb asks for a four-cheese calzone, and gets a four-meat one instead. I want to try the apple-raisin pancake, but I get pineapple because appel and ananas sound so close.

This one is twice the size of the one we got at the beach. I apply a thick dusting of cinnamon on top, not on purpose, but the fruit helps balance the combination. Our kind hosts left us with a 10€ coupon that we definitely appreciate. We drop the food off at the house and set off on foot towards the shops to spend the afternoon. Caleb makes me a coffee when we return, and we read after dinner to let Caleb recover tonight so he’ll be ready for tomorrow.

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Hague Horizons

Posted on May 1, 2026 by TheJessicaness

I sleep through the night and wake up early and refreshed. I’m glad to be feeling better. As I come downstairs, Anouska is just finishing a bike ride in preparation for all the sitting she’ll be doing on their flight to Japan. I drink a coffee, and we’re out the door after hugs. We pass a field of cows while sitting in the quiet train car (symbolized by a person with headphones, a book, and a laptop). This doesn’t seem to cover apple etiquette, as I imagine the bovines eating more delicately than the woman across from us.

I lead us southwest out of Den Haag Centraal instead of west towards our destinations, but this is fortuitous, and we end up at the Nieuwe Kerk. It is a Dutch Baroque church dating to the 1650s, but it ceased to be a church in 1969 and is now a concert hall, which explains why it is closed. The roof spans the 31.4 m by 15.7 m building without supporting pillars and supports the 53 m tower. Some people resting here: De Witt brothers (lynched politicians), Reinier Pauw (mayor who helped found the VOC), and Baruch Spinoza (philosopher who died from grinding optical lenses).

I had planned on the Binnenhof being under renovation. What I didn’t expect to find was some history and art on the containment walls. William II commissioned the palace in 1248 after being crowned king in Germany. In 1570, the Binnenhof became the center of government for the Republic of the Seven United Provinces of the Netherlands. It was even more surprising to find a viewing tower built just for curious passersby. I’m excited for this opportunity, and it’s free. There are 4,000 rooms, of which none are the same, and the Netherlands’ first tennis court was built here around 1500.

In the 60s and 70s, the Binnenhof served as a car park that was regularly full and became car-free in 1983. The canal that surrounded the palace was filled in 1862, and the renovation will restore part of the Hofgracht. Between 1880 and 1924, trams ran through the Binnenhof, first horse-drawn and then electric in 1906. After a 360° photoshoot, it’s time for coffee, as well as yellow velvet cake (without the light cocoa of red velvet) and a glass of house-made pink (bubbly) lemonade at Dudok (in the restaurant, not the adjoining patisserie).

We time our visit to the Mauritshuis, a former city palace of Johan Maurits, built in 1641, just right. The tropical wood paneling and landscape murals were destroyed by fire in 1704. It was refurbished and a century later became a museum in 1822. It was renovated from 2012 to 2014 to add an underground foyer and more exhibition space. There are paintings of bouquets, foods, people, and critters. Some that stand out are the Miniature portrait of Peeter Stevens, 1790, Apelles Painting Campaspe, 1630, and Still Life with Cheeses, Almonds, and Pretzels, 1615.

Girl by a High Chair, 1640, features a three-year-old wearing gold jewelry with Brazilian sweet treats within reach. This girl lives in luxury, having her portrait painted, while the harsh reality of the sugar plantation workers remains invisible. While Albert Eckhout went to Brazil to paint turtles with teeth that they don’t have, he also did portraits of Indigenous Brazilians, Africans (at least 24,000 transported to Brazil), and mixed-heritage people as part of a colonial propaganda project. He was hired by Johan Maurits, who owned dozens of slaves and built his wealth and legacy on a slave-based system.

In a room is Rembrandt’s The Anatomy Lesson of Dr Nicolaes Tulp, 1632 (where one of the surgeons is attempting to look at the exposed forearm and hand on the table). On the next wall is a photograph of only a severed hand, similar to the one that Rembrandt never saw, but decided to add to the stump on the right arm. This contrast of barbaric amputation and scientific desire fascinates Stephan Vanfleteren, whose mom shares the surname of the criminal Kindt, the man on the table. In another room sits Paulus Potter’s masterpiece, The Young Bull, 1647.

The painting is life-size at over 7 ft by 11 ft. The realism, dedicated to an animal’s texture and detailed flies, makes the image almost photographic. This piece challenged tradition by treating the bull with the same importance usually reserved for human portraits and historical scenes. In the 19th century, it was considered as famous as Rembrandt’s The Night Watch, 1642. In 1715, the militia painting was cut to fit a smaller room; it was knifed in 1911 and 1975, and attacked with acid in 1990. Records show that the canvas has been treated 25 times, a measure of how important the painting is. I’d rather have the bull on my wall.

Most of the museum has a comfortable crowd, perhaps always another person admiring the same space as you, but when I got close to Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring, 1665, it was only for a moment. There seemed to be a school group, a foreign tour group, and others beginning to tighten their milling distance. These groups varied in height, so that I became enclosed on many levels and quickly left that room. Caleb hadn’t bothered jumping into the mosh pit, so he was glad to see me survive and follow him to the lobby, where the crowd is thick, like they are waiting for the doors to open outside a concert.

We catch the tram near Kneuterdijk Palace, which will take us to the beach (Scheveningen strand), the only stop announced in English. We didn’t bring swimsuits or sunning towels, so we walked to the pier to see the sights from there. On offer, a duo bungee jump for 220€ and a zipline each for 45€. One would be fun, but the other would leave Humpty unable to be put back together again, and we can’t have that. It’s considerate that the buildings keep their distance from the water (probably a safety thing too) and allow the people to spread out in the sand.

The end of the pier is surrounded by moon jellyfish, lurking in the brown water because the North Sea is shallow and constantly churning up sand, clay, and fish poop. What a view to inspire an appetite. Inside De Pier, I order a coffee and remind Caleb that we have to pay for water here (which is why he has some in his bag) to accompany the croquettes with fries, a croque monsieur with goat cheese (and ketchup packets on top instead of the grilled cheese being baked or broiled), and a pannenkoeken with Canadian bacon, cheese, and pineapple. It’s a good thing Caleb also has a collapsible dish with him, so we can pack our leftovers.

We take the tram to a stop near an entrance for the Haagse Bos (The Hague Forest). The first part is a half-shaded (under the tree canopies) picnic area, and to our right is a fallow deer sanctuary. We cross the street and enter the more forest-like section of the park. We pass cyclists, strollers, joggers, and sunbathers. There is a grey heron fishing, some goslings in the water under parental supervision, and a coot family enjoying their cool piece of paradise. The front entrance of the Royal Palace has a few armed guards (stay away), but the back has guards on the other side of a decorative gate (take a picture and move along), so that’s what we did.

We are at Haag Centraal longer than usual, as Caleb figures out which train we should take after a train issue near Gouda caused a delay. People are standing in the aisle during rush hour, but still reading paperbacks or working on their laptops. I was excited to see so many readers. About 30% of the Dutch population reads a book almost daily, while approximately 54% of Americans read at a 6th-grade equivalent or below. Another study finds that the Dutch are only 3% more likely to read at least one book per year than Americans. I’m currently on book 21 for this year, but I understand that’s because I don’t work and am not currently in school.

Caleb has enjoyed sampling beers, so we stop on the bus ride back to the house to pick a few up. I bring in the dishes (cleaned and returned from the neighbor), put the mail in a visible spot, and feed Zulu. We have leftovers for dinner, and Caleb remembers we should take the frozen dishes out in the morning to thaw so they’re easier to cook in the evening. Caleb has chosen two spring beers, one a tropical fruit IPA, Daisy Sunshine, and the other a fruity (with caramel tones) blonde, Nog Eendje (Just One More). Caleb goes up to bed while I stay with Zulu to read by daylight until the lamp is needed, too.

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