Of Tulips and Cowboy Boots

Before going to Europe, I read so many books and articles about Europe that they would have made a stack as high as the First National Bank, the tallest building in Fort Worth.  Then I went to Rotterdam and some of my ideas about Europeans turned topsy-turvy.

I thought the country’s name was Holland, with fields of tulips and little blonde, blue-eyed girls wearing white caps with turned-up corners, a blue dress with a white apron, and wooden shores.  As a child I had a little ceramic figurine that looked like that.  They told me it was a typical little Dutch girl.

From Wally’s stamp collection I learned that Holland is a part of the Netherlands, as Tarrant County is a part of Texas.  The proper way of spelling the nation’s name is Nederland, but my computer thinks I made a mistake when I spell it that way.  My computer’s spell checker is wrong. 

Then Margaret walked into her parents’ apartment.  She had blonde hair, lots of it, tumbling around her shoulders. She wore blue jeans and cowboy boots.  Later I found out this was her every day attire.  Even when cooking and serving meals I never saw her don an apron.  

As for the tulip fields, in several trips to the Netherlands, crossing the country from north to south, I never saw a single tulip in bloom.  The tulips were there; I just did not see them.  Last week when I told Stacy I was writing about the Netherlands, he said, “It is such a beautiful country.  I rode a train across the tulip fields.  On both sides, as far as I could see, were tulips in bloom.  All the gorgeous colors!”

My trips to the Netherlands were made in summer and fall.  Instead of tulips, I saw horses.

Shades of the Old West!  One of the first things Margaret suggested we do while visiting her was go to a farm and ride horses.  Her son Dimitri rode every week.  My son David had never been on a horse. 

I knew David, after spending weeks with no company except his middle-aged Mom, would enjoy spending time with this kid his own age.  On Sunday, Margaret’s husband Joop took David and Dimitri to the farm.  We left Riet to enjoy time alone with her daughter. 

And Kees and I went to Amsterdam to see the museums.