Eerde Again - This Time Our Friends Were Home!

When Thomas came with us to Eerde (the place where Ken's father was in the war), our friends weren't at home. So Ken & Marijke decided to try again. Not only were Benny and Clasien there but they had us over for tea and delicious cake. Thomas would have liked to admire the garden with us and the owl that lives in the chicken coup.













In addition, we saw that a lot of progress had been made on the windmill since we were there a couple of months ago!




Just for fun, Benny got out the tandem bike so that we could try it out with him. It's not as easy as it looks!



I almost bit the dust that day! - TR

Cars, Buildings and Funny Things in Maastricht

I love that Marijke takes pictures of cars for the grandboys. These two are VERY expensive, I'm told. What do I know anyway?






Every city has its own stamp of brick and mortar and Maastricht is no exception. The train station is quite a standout for sure, though.














A couple of shops were quite humorous to us visiting Americans.



And then there was the ice cream stop! I don't think I can get this ice cream flavor in the States, can I?! - Yum, Teddy

Other Ollie-Look-a-Likes

What do you think of these funny pictures that we spotted in the market at Valkenswaard? I wish I'd known the Baker family dog, Ollie. He was a bit before my time, unfortunately but I would have loved him, I bet - Ted

A Combination Bell/Nature Museum

I've known about this bell museum for quite some time. Marijke's mother visited it years ago and sent her a postcard that she's used as a bookmark all this time. So, when Tante Magda suggested we drive there one day, I was very excited.













TM got to try out handbells for the first time here - it's a rare thing in Holland to find a bell choir. There's one affiliated with the museum (3 octaves) and only one or two others in the whole country. One lit-up map shows where all the church or town steeple bells are located.






What we didn't expect is to find a nature museum at the same time! (And a delightful bar where we took two breaks - for coffee first and then lunch!) Thanks SO much, TM - I LOVED the gardens and playing the foot-bells, too after a little demonstration. - Teddy