Tuesday, September 17th, 2019 Lia and Corry, Prinjes Dag, Shopping with Carla, Out for supper

I had a lot to do today. I only had two days left to pack my suitcase and my bicycle. I had received a phone call last night from Corry. I had wanted to have another visit with Corry and Lia and wasn't sure how I would fit it in but then when she called last night to say she had some photos for me I was happy to make an arrangement to have her and Lia come over this morning for tea.  I got up early and bicycled to the store to buy some treats for us. I had to walk back with Silver so I wouldn't drop the goodies.

 

 We had a nice visit. Carla made the drinks for us. Corry had lots of photos and they both helped me decipher my mother's dutch handwriting on the backs of the photos.

 We took several photos .

 Carla joined in the conversation also.

These were all the photos that Corry brought.

 Carla brought out this photo of my father's mother and father.

 Lia made the stain glass encasement for Daniel and Mariska's wedding invitation. This is the outside.

 This is the inside of the wedding invitation all encased in glass.

It was another nice visit and it was sad to say goodbye. We finally got Lia on What's App but not Corry yet.

 After lunch, Carla wanted to watch Prinjesdag (Princes Day) festivities on the television before going shopping.

 It is the day that the King goes to Parliament in Den Haag (The Hague) to give the yearly speech from the throne. Usually they have a pure gold carriage but it is being restored (takes 5 years) so this year they have a glass and gold carriage.

 The nice manners of King Willem Alexander with Queen Maxima

 Former Queen Beatrix looking on through a window

 The speech from the throne

 The reason many people call this Hoedjes dag (HAT) day is because all the ladies wear fancy hats.

Crown Prince Constantijn and Princess Laurntien on the balcony

King Willem Alexander and Queen Maxima waving to the people from the balcony.

 After watching TV, Carla and I went to Toolenburg mall and shopped in the clothing store. We picked out a blue and white lightweight pullover for Dick as well as a blue front zip fleece jacket for him. Carla decided on a patterned green and black pair of tights and a black pullover sweater to go with it. The only trouble I had was that the store machine wouldn't take my Visa credit card for some reason. Carla used her card and I paid her back. When we went home she nicely wrapped them all while I worked for an hour dismantling  Silver.

Tonight I had offered to take Dick and Carla out for supper. They have made so many nice suppers for me but I thought it would be nice for them not to have to cook for a change. We started with an appetizer plate and a small glass of wine. Dick had new information to tell us about a young boy in Senegal who is having sight problems and how he might look into the matter when he goes there in a few weeks to see Abou and find out how the chicken farm is going. During the conversation I accidentally spilled wine over my clothes which was totally embarrassing.

After the appetizer we each received our pizza. I thanked Dick and Carla for having me stay at their home for so long. I felt very much at home all the time I was with them. I gave them their card and pointed out the Bible verses on the back. Then they opened their gifts of clothes. Finally I gave them the friendship and poem books that I had bought at the church in Edam. It was a very nice evening but I guess we did not need the appetizer because non of us could finish our pizza.

 When we got back home Dick tried on his pullover sweater and it fit perfectly.

 Carla's pants and sweater fit perfectly and Dick thought his sweat jacket was a little big so we decided to change it the next day for a smaller size.

Carla started a load of laundry for me with the wine stained clothes and when she couldn't find Bagerra it was because she was hiding in my laundry bag.


It had been a very good day. I enjoyed the company and the shopping and our supper meal at  the restaurant.

Monday,September 16th, 2019 A Day with Margot

On Monday morning, I went with Carla to the Toolenburg mall but on the way there we stopped along the IJweg at Walter's house to drop off some dishes

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Walter, who is fighting cancer right now, has his house up for sale.

At the mall I went into the cheese store while Carla was in the grocery store.

I also went to look at all the goodies in the bakery.

I thought it was cute to see a Canadian beaver in this fall display. I bought a box of chocolates for Dick and Carla to enjoy.  We spent a few minutes looking at the clothing store where I decided that a clothing purchase from that store would be a nice thank you gift for Dick and Carla. We decided we would come back tomorrow to shop for the clothing. 

Margot picked me up at 2 pm. She had decided to take me to the locks in Ijmuiden. The port of Ijmuiden is the gateway to the Netherlands. On the way we stopped at this ice cream "paleis" to enjoy a cone. 

We could not get to the SHIP museum the way Margot had planned because it was blocked off due to construction so she drove back to where there was a ferry to cross the water.

I got out for a minute to photograph all the students crossing to the other side...

...and Margot's car...

...soon we were approaching the other side to the Pontweg and then the Noordersluisweg.

Industry

We came to the SHIP museum (Sluis Haven Informatie Punt) and could enter for free.

We watched an interesting movie where you feel like you are in a very fast moving boat going through the locks and going toward Amsterdam.

Diagram of the locks

Photo of the locks

Margot tried successfully to operate a lock by changing the water levels to allow a boat to go through.

Well done!

Various diagrams showing the digging out for the lock, and the make-up of the lock door

Before we left, we watched the first movie again because it was so fast the first time. I concentrated this time on the growth and expansion of Amsterdam and the locks as the years went by.

Then we went outside and took photos. Here we see the Hoogovenkanaal.

The closest lock is the Noordersluis.

A big empty ship

The Tata steel plant

A big cruise ship coming through the lock

It was huge and I started waving and then Margot waved also and we were successful in getting passengers to wave back at us. Then we drove on the busy highway to Akerslot and Margot's house.

I met Gijs, Margot's living partner now. Tante Thea was already there and we had a cold drink and visited for a while. Then Gijs made a nice supper for us. Inge and her boyfriend, Bart, also joined us.

With Margot and Gijs

With Margot and Tante Thea

With Inge and Bart

After supper we had dessert of an ice cream bar and then played a game of cards called 51. Bart took this group selfie.

Beginners luck I think because I won the game!

I gave Tante Thea her scarf and  a neck scarf to Margot and Inge. Bart was playing around with it but had the maple leaf upside down.

Now it is better. He looks like he is touching the ceiling.

We finished the evening by looking at photos of Margot's trip to Canada in 1980 with Carola when they were younger. There was this photo of my father.

My father and mother

We all said goodbyes and Margot was kind enough to drive me all the way back to Dick and Carla's house. We hugged goodbye. Thank you Margot for a nice afternoon and evening with you.