198. Europe Bicycle Trip--Jacques and Betty Noordermeer

At 7 pm. I knocked on the door of Jacques and Betty Noordermeer,s house. My cousin Theo Van der Pryt who lives in Canada is married to Rita Noordermeer. They lived two houses down as we were growing up. Jacques is Rita's nephew--the eldest son of Rita's brother. Jacques and Betty welcomed me warmly and gave me a tour of their house and backyard and showed me my bedroom. We had supper together while listening to the Netherlands soccer game on the TV. Needless to say, Holland won over Chile 2-0 and the cheers were audible from far down the street.

Prof. Dr. Jacques Noordermeer is a world renowned rubber expert. He was born June 27, 1947 which makes him half a year younger than me. He has had two successful careers. He combined his career in industry (DSM Elastomers and Keltan EPDM Rubber) with an academic career as a professor in the Elastomer Technology and Engineering department at University of Twente since 1995. Throughout his career, he has received prestigious international awards for his research into energy efficient tyres (tires) and the road surface.  Jacques has over 300 publications and is co-inventor  of 10 patents. Jacques beautiful wife is Betty Teunissen and they have raised 4 children: Minke, Edo, Daan and Sylvie. I am humbled to be with such a remarkable couple!!

The living room

Both Jacques and Betty play on this beautiful grand piano

I am always on the lookout for nice clocks as my father made 26 grandfather clocks in his retirement and my brother, Pat makes mantel clocks.

The formal dining area

The family room

My bedroom for 2 nights

In the last couple of years, they have expanded the house and now Betty, who was a Home Economics teacher, has a new bright, big kitchen.

Other side of kitchen and door to outside patio

We ate outside on the patio as the weather was perfect.

Back yard by kitchen windows

Back of back yard on kitchen side

Back yard on patio side

Close up of swing under the cherry tree--The cherries were ripe and I picked those that I could reach.

The garden

The chicken coop

These chickens lay bluish-purple eggs.

Betty made a delicious soup,  pork, potato balls and salad for supper with yogurt and raspberries for dessert. We cheered the Dutch soccer victory. Jacques and Betty returned the moving van they had rented to help their son move to Paris and Jacques tried to rearrange his schedule so he could take me sightseeing tomorrow. He also helped me with my phone which hadn't been working. We finally turned it completely off and then on again and then it worked and I even had money left on it and didn't lose any like i did earlier in my trip. Hooray! Later we had tea and cookies. It had been a good day. I had cycled 97 km. in all. I was back in the Netherlands with welcoming family who spoke very good English. Thank you Lord!!!!