LIVING ON AN EARTH RADIUS
The house of my youngest son is called the “vijf senses”, which I think is a beautiful name. The house was built around 1885 and in that time it used to be a farm. It is big and has at least been rebuilt ten times. Here and there you still will find something very old.
Our house was also built in 1884 or earlier. It consisted of a house and a shop where meat was sold. Now it is also completely rebuilt. An old house will always give you work to do, it never ends, but it has an atmosphere that you will find nowhere, it feels like a warm blanket around you.
A fortune teller came to visit us here and she felt that there was a great earth radius running through the house and she told us: you should never leave. We had also noticed that since we lived here, we hardly had any problems, everything just runs smoothly and the problems we encountererd were dissolved great.
It is also curious that everything that was planted in the garden is growing incredibly. We have a willow, which has become very big, it is just scary. It is 25 years old now. A bit further in the street were also two willows planted in 1953 but the trunk of these trees are much thinner than ours. The growth here is almost impossible to stop, everything here grows fast and tall. The funny thing is that everyone coming here always say that we live in a small paradise. There hasn’t been anyone not saying it and now we even wait and expect people to say it and usely it happens.
Once I met two older American women, whom I had helped in Zierikzee, they could not find their hotel anymore, they were lost and I invited them to visit me, because I really liked them and they seemed a bit lonely. When they came in the house the first thing they said, its like a little paradise, I said it is an old house with many wrong things.
Now that we have plans to move in the future and this place will be up for sale, we want to live in Drente or elswhere, but where and how will we ever find another house with such a good earth radius which brings us so much luck. We have to be looking at the height of the trees and have to get a warm feeling, meaning it feels good, what else can we do and will we ever find it??????.
Let’s hope that we will be able to find such a place again. We will do our utmost best,if we will find it remains to be seen. I sincerely hope that we will succeed.
Dinkie.
zaterdag 26 februari 2011
Continuation Aunt Truus.
Sunday, November 25, 2007
CONTINUATION AUNT TRUUS
Together with Noor and Marijke I went to all family birthdays and also to see the mother of aunt Truus, who lived above their big toy shop the “The City Parijs”. We were allowed to play in the warehouse, but we had to be careful. There I also met the other members of the Looman family, all uncles, aunts and their children. Also we often went cycling and picknicking on the “Leusderheide”, where I was drinking and eating and looking at my dearest new aunt and uncle, who were very nice to each other. Thus a lovely summer and wonderful winter passed, it was one of the most carefree and happy times I have known as a child.
Bernadette was born and later Jacinta and I was part of it all, I completely belonged. Then suddenly it was over, my father got a new working area: The Hague, Wassenaar, Rijswijk, Voorburg, Voorschoten and Leidschendam and we had to leave Amersfoort. First for half a year he went alone to The Hague and when he found us an house we had to come over. After 1½ years, I had to go away from my new family, leaving behind all those wonderful days with those lovely children, aunts, uncles, grandparents, cozy summer with ice creams, picknicks, warmth, cordiality and lots of love from everyone. I was intensely sad and for many years I stayed with them every summer. I went as often as it could, because I was dependent on others and with school and studies, it sometimes was a bit difficult. Meanwhile, Pia and then Michiel were born. They had six children and still, she made everything so nice, very clever I thought.
After I was married we lived one year in De Bilt and at that time I have been visiting her many times, as the Bilt was close to Amersfoort, again having a wonderful time with her.
Then I moved to Nieuwkoop and it became more difficult to go away with 3 children and no transportation. She remained though the woman whose example I always followed. My shining example and once I felt that her image was no longer burned into my soul with all its warmth and love, I went to look her up and sooked up again the warmth and love that she gave so freely to me. I wanted to try to be like her as a wife and a mother. Later, together with Willem, we have visited her as much as we could and saw how she, an inner and outer beautiful woman, became a very loving grandmother, even though she had a lot of grief, but she accepted all her sorrow and personal terrible sickness and trouble in her own lovely way. Never a complaint. For hours we talked about life and everything. Never in my life have I met such a wonderful person who gave me so much freely of her own time as my aunt Truus. She unfortunately died at the age of 83 and there at her funeral I stood at the same cemetery in the same Bergstraat opposite the house where I first so many years ago met her and now I had to say goodbye to her for good. The circle of our life together was around in the same Bergstraat.
She never dropped me, she has never given me the feeling that I didn’t belong, she has never disappointed me. I was always amazed by the warm way she took me in her arms and later also Willem. She has touched me deep in my soul and given me the warmth that I had so longed for, my aunt Truus.
Saturday, November 24, 2007
AUNT TRUUS
After our arrival in Holland, read also the reunion with my father, we came to live in the Bergstraat in Amersfoort in a double upstairs apartment opposite the cemetery. Every night I looked at it from my bed in the little room above the front door. For the first time the family was together again. My brother and I loved it, we hadn’t seen each other also for while. Once a week we went to the baths on Sunday morning to take a shower with boiling hot water and to wash our hair, clean and warm we came home again for lunch. After a couple of weeks my father unfortunately had to go to Dordrecht alone for a freshing up course in his trade with his old company. At home it became quieter again and with a strict mother, you couldn’t do very much.
One day the doorbell rang and I opened the door and a very sweet voice said, you must be Dinkie. Yes, I said. I am here to bring your mother something and I am aunt Truus. A very warm feeling come over me, there stood the loveliest, sweetest person I have ever met, who with all her warmth came to me. I was speechless. She had brought a box with her with a pink dinner service. We thought it was wonderful. She was the wife of my father’s colleague in Amersfoort and through the company she had heard everything about us and came as soon as she could with all her love and generosity to see whether she could do something for us. My mother offered her tea and said that she was very glad with the dinner service but that everything was allright and that we had all we needed. After tea my dearest new aunt Truus said, maybe Dinkie would like to come and play at our place with Marijke and Noortje, she will be most welcome. So I will see you this afternoon, that is agreed then and there she went. My heart was in my throat from joy and nothing could keep me from going, the appointment was already made, so even my mother couldn’t stop me. In the afternoon I went there, full of expectation. Finally, I found the Paulus Buyslaan and stood in front of the most adorable house you can imagine with a thatched roof. The door was opened and there I was once and for all taken in by that loving warm family. From that time I was there almost every day playing with Marijke and Noortje and enjoyed it very much. They were very dear sisters to me. My heart longed for this cozy, gay and warm family. There also was uncle Gerard, the father of the family a very kind man, who liked playing the violin and when he did, we all sang along.
There also was Juffie, who helped aunt Truus running the house. I will never forget the big table where we all sat and had dinner and where before dinner a prayer was always said by one of the children. Marijke especially was very good at it. Noortje sometimes forgot something.
Will be continued.
Dinkie
CONTINUATION AUNT TRUUS
Together with Noor and Marijke I went to all family birthdays and also to see the mother of aunt Truus, who lived above their big toy shop the “The City Parijs”. We were allowed to play in the warehouse, but we had to be careful. There I also met the other members of the Looman family, all uncles, aunts and their children. Also we often went cycling and picknicking on the “Leusderheide”, where I was drinking and eating and looking at my dearest new aunt and uncle, who were very nice to each other. Thus a lovely summer and wonderful winter passed, it was one of the most carefree and happy times I have known as a child.
Bernadette was born and later Jacinta and I was part of it all, I completely belonged. Then suddenly it was over, my father got a new working area: The Hague, Wassenaar, Rijswijk, Voorburg, Voorschoten and Leidschendam and we had to leave Amersfoort. First for half a year he went alone to The Hague and when he found us an house we had to come over. After 1½ years, I had to go away from my new family, leaving behind all those wonderful days with those lovely children, aunts, uncles, grandparents, cozy summer with ice creams, picknicks, warmth, cordiality and lots of love from everyone. I was intensely sad and for many years I stayed with them every summer. I went as often as it could, because I was dependent on others and with school and studies, it sometimes was a bit difficult. Meanwhile, Pia and then Michiel were born. They had six children and still, she made everything so nice, very clever I thought.
After I was married we lived one year in De Bilt and at that time I have been visiting her many times, as the Bilt was close to Amersfoort, again having a wonderful time with her.
Then I moved to Nieuwkoop and it became more difficult to go away with 3 children and no transportation. She remained though the woman whose example I always followed. My shining example and once I felt that her image was no longer burned into my soul with all its warmth and love, I went to look her up and sooked up again the warmth and love that she gave so freely to me. I wanted to try to be like her as a wife and a mother. Later, together with Willem, we have visited her as much as we could and saw how she, an inner and outer beautiful woman, became a very loving grandmother, even though she had a lot of grief, but she accepted all her sorrow and personal terrible sickness and trouble in her own lovely way. Never a complaint. For hours we talked about life and everything. Never in my life have I met such a wonderful person who gave me so much freely of her own time as my aunt Truus. She unfortunately died at the age of 83 and there at her funeral I stood at the same cemetery in the same Bergstraat opposite the house where I first so many years ago met her and now I had to say goodbye to her for good. The circle of our life together was around in the same Bergstraat.
She never dropped me, she has never given me the feeling that I didn’t belong, she has never disappointed me. I was always amazed by the warm way she took me in her arms and later also Willem. She has touched me deep in my soul and given me the warmth that I had so longed for, my aunt Truus.
Saturday, November 24, 2007
AUNT TRUUS
After our arrival in Holland, read also the reunion with my father, we came to live in the Bergstraat in Amersfoort in a double upstairs apartment opposite the cemetery. Every night I looked at it from my bed in the little room above the front door. For the first time the family was together again. My brother and I loved it, we hadn’t seen each other also for while. Once a week we went to the baths on Sunday morning to take a shower with boiling hot water and to wash our hair, clean and warm we came home again for lunch. After a couple of weeks my father unfortunately had to go to Dordrecht alone for a freshing up course in his trade with his old company. At home it became quieter again and with a strict mother, you couldn’t do very much.
One day the doorbell rang and I opened the door and a very sweet voice said, you must be Dinkie. Yes, I said. I am here to bring your mother something and I am aunt Truus. A very warm feeling come over me, there stood the loveliest, sweetest person I have ever met, who with all her warmth came to me. I was speechless. She had brought a box with her with a pink dinner service. We thought it was wonderful. She was the wife of my father’s colleague in Amersfoort and through the company she had heard everything about us and came as soon as she could with all her love and generosity to see whether she could do something for us. My mother offered her tea and said that she was very glad with the dinner service but that everything was allright and that we had all we needed. After tea my dearest new aunt Truus said, maybe Dinkie would like to come and play at our place with Marijke and Noortje, she will be most welcome. So I will see you this afternoon, that is agreed then and there she went. My heart was in my throat from joy and nothing could keep me from going, the appointment was already made, so even my mother couldn’t stop me. In the afternoon I went there, full of expectation. Finally, I found the Paulus Buyslaan and stood in front of the most adorable house you can imagine with a thatched roof. The door was opened and there I was once and for all taken in by that loving warm family. From that time I was there almost every day playing with Marijke and Noortje and enjoyed it very much. They were very dear sisters to me. My heart longed for this cozy, gay and warm family. There also was uncle Gerard, the father of the family a very kind man, who liked playing the violin and when he did, we all sang along.
There also was Juffie, who helped aunt Truus running the house. I will never forget the big table where we all sat and had dinner and where before dinner a prayer was always said by one of the children. Marijke especially was very good at it. Noortje sometimes forgot something.
Will be continued.
Dinkie
My Dear Aunt Truus
AUNT TRUUS
After our arrival in Holland, read also the reunion with my father, we came to live in the Bergstraat in Amersfoort in a double upstairs apartment opposite the cemetery. Every night I looked at it from my bed in the little room above the front door. For the first time the family was together again. My brother and I loved it, we hadn’t seen each other for a very long time. Once a week we went to the bathhouse on Sunday morning to take a shower with boiling hot water and to wash our hair, clean and warm we came with my father together home again for lunch. It was like paradise, we were having a family again and a house, we were belonging to someone and we mattered again. My brother and I were both very happy. After a couple of weeks my father, unfortunately, had to go to Dordrecht alone for a freshing up course in his trade with his old company. At home it became quieter again and with a strict mother, you couldn’t do very much.
One day the doorbell rang and I opened the door and a very sweet voice said, you must be Dinkie. Yes, I said. I am here to bring your mother something and I am aunt Truus. A very warm feeling come over me, there at the foot of the stairs stood the loveliest, sweetest person I have ever met, who with all her warmth came to me. I was speechless. She had brought a box with her with a pink dinner service. We thought it was wonderful. She was the wife of my father’s colleague in Amersfoort and through the company she had heard everything about us and came as soon as she could with all her love and generosity to see whether she could do something for us. My mother offered her tea and said that she was very glad with the dinner service but that everything was allright and that we had all we needed. After tea my dearest new aunt Truus said, maybe Dinkie would like to come and play at our place with Marijke and Noortje, she will be most welcome. So I will see you this afternoon, that is agreed then and before my mother could say one word, she went. My heart was in my throat from joy and nothing could keep me from going, the appointment was already made, so even my mother couldn’t stop me. In the afternoon I went there, full of expectations. Finally, I found the Paulus Buyslaan and stood in front of the most adorable house you can imagine with a thatched roof. The door was opened and there I was once and for all taken in by that loving warm family. From that time on I was there almost every day playing with Marijke and Noortje and enjoying it very much. They were very dear sisters to me. My heart longed for this cozy, gay and warm family. There also was uncle Gerard, the father of the family a very kind man, who liked playing the violin and when he did, we all sang along.
There also was Juffie, who helped aunt Truus running the house. I will never forget the big table where we all sat and had dinner and where before dinner a prayer was always said by one of the children. Marijke especially was very good at it. Noortje sometimes forgot something.
Will be continued.
Dinkie
After our arrival in Holland, read also the reunion with my father, we came to live in the Bergstraat in Amersfoort in a double upstairs apartment opposite the cemetery. Every night I looked at it from my bed in the little room above the front door. For the first time the family was together again. My brother and I loved it, we hadn’t seen each other for a very long time. Once a week we went to the bathhouse on Sunday morning to take a shower with boiling hot water and to wash our hair, clean and warm we came with my father together home again for lunch. It was like paradise, we were having a family again and a house, we were belonging to someone and we mattered again. My brother and I were both very happy. After a couple of weeks my father, unfortunately, had to go to Dordrecht alone for a freshing up course in his trade with his old company. At home it became quieter again and with a strict mother, you couldn’t do very much.
One day the doorbell rang and I opened the door and a very sweet voice said, you must be Dinkie. Yes, I said. I am here to bring your mother something and I am aunt Truus. A very warm feeling come over me, there at the foot of the stairs stood the loveliest, sweetest person I have ever met, who with all her warmth came to me. I was speechless. She had brought a box with her with a pink dinner service. We thought it was wonderful. She was the wife of my father’s colleague in Amersfoort and through the company she had heard everything about us and came as soon as she could with all her love and generosity to see whether she could do something for us. My mother offered her tea and said that she was very glad with the dinner service but that everything was allright and that we had all we needed. After tea my dearest new aunt Truus said, maybe Dinkie would like to come and play at our place with Marijke and Noortje, she will be most welcome. So I will see you this afternoon, that is agreed then and before my mother could say one word, she went. My heart was in my throat from joy and nothing could keep me from going, the appointment was already made, so even my mother couldn’t stop me. In the afternoon I went there, full of expectations. Finally, I found the Paulus Buyslaan and stood in front of the most adorable house you can imagine with a thatched roof. The door was opened and there I was once and for all taken in by that loving warm family. From that time on I was there almost every day playing with Marijke and Noortje and enjoying it very much. They were very dear sisters to me. My heart longed for this cozy, gay and warm family. There also was uncle Gerard, the father of the family a very kind man, who liked playing the violin and when he did, we all sang along.
There also was Juffie, who helped aunt Truus running the house. I will never forget the big table where we all sat and had dinner and where before dinner a prayer was always said by one of the children. Marijke especially was very good at it. Noortje sometimes forgot something.
Will be continued.
Dinkie
maandag 14 februari 2011
REUNION WITH MY FATHER.
REUNION WITH MY FATHER
August 15, 1946. We were liberated, fittingly it is now August 18, 2007. Freedom, that you had thought, but now the Javanese wanted their freedom and went to war against us, their white invaders. In the meantime, we received postcards from my father through the Red Cross saying: stay where you are, I am coming to you. After a lot of trouble from attacking Javanese and after much wandering we finally arrived un scathed in Batavia. There my mother got a message from the Red Cross that my father, on his way to us, was picked up by the Indonesians rebels and they ended saying the final words: he is missing, presumably dead.
So my mother, as a widow, could go to Holland with us. On the ship the Klipfontein, which much later broke down on a clif, very appropriate as the name suggests. On this, for us wonderful ship, my mother withdraw herself with two nuns in a cabin, because she was an asthma patient.
On the entire trip, until we reached Attaca in Egypt, we had not seen or spoken to her. My brother and I wandered on the deck and enjoyed the lovely sea air and all the food we got and nobody paying attention to us. We ate a lot of mandarins and drank lots of coca cola. We didn’t wash ourselves, we weren’t used to do so anyway and slept outside near the ship’s chimney. Eventually the captain, who heard that there were two children wandering about the ship with nobody taking care of them, finally decided to appoint a guardian, who would take care of us. I came under the care of Dr. Provo Knuit, a retired cabin phycisian. I had a perfect life, he was very severe, bathed in sea water, pimples were cut open and still he was also very sweet to me giving me lots of good food and vitamins learning me to excercise. He was my first substitute father after 5 years and I was very happy with him. Once a week he drank too much and then I had to help him getting in bed instead of him helping me, but mostly he was a super good real father figure. Upon arrival in Holland in Amsterdam I sadly had to say goodbye to him and he gave me two wooden bookends in the form of horseheads. I cried a lot, all of a sudden I was fatherless again. In Amersfoort my mother placed us in the care of a couple of families who were complete strangers to us, I was then a girl of 13 years old. She went to live on her own. On Saturday and Sunday we were allowed to visit here for an hour. In this strange country for me, it was April 1947, I almost died from cold in the house of mrs. Ijf and her four children, who were not very nice to me and were always teasing me.They thought I was very odd, that yellow concentration camp child with strange manners and all those strange Indonesian words, such as pisang for banana and ketimoen for cucumber, etc. You can’t believe how lonely I felt. One day I wanted to visit my brother, I rang the bell and a servant opened the door of the house he was living in and she told me that my brother, for health reasons, had been brought to the country side to get better and stronger. I thought, it cannot get worse or could it? Blindness maybe, so I started walking on the street with my eyes closed, because I thought that it might even be like this, so it really wasn’t so bad after all, luckily I am not blind. After many bumps of many lampposts and scraped knees, I realized that my fate wasn’t so bad. I decided to take matters in my own hand and to look for someone who wanted to adopt me as their child. Sooner said, then done. Every day on my way to and from school I passed many beautiful houses. One of them was my favourite, there an old lady lived with a white dog, which she often took out walking when I passed. That was it. I started talking to her and later I took the dog out walking for her and sometime later I was drinking tea with her, it resulted in me going there a lot. One day I asked her whether she wanted to adopt me. She was stunned and after a lot of talking and begging from my side (the house inside was even more attractive than from the outside, it was very cozy and beautiful), she called my mother and told her about my wish to be adopted. Luckily she turned out to be a retired lady-in-waiting of Queen Wilhelmina and so the damage for me was limited. My mother went to visit her and explained everything to her from her perspective. I have shed many tears for this lovely dear woman, where I, unfortunately, was not allowed to live. I was desperate.
At that moment, the cosmos thought it was enough and the message came that my own father was found and was on a ship on his way to Holland. The day that he came back to us, I will never ever forget. My brother and I were bathed and dressed in our best clothes to visit my mother and wait for him, my father, after 6 years. It lasted and lasted and finally we went out to playing. The Jan Huigensstraat in Amersfoort was on a small hill and there in the distance I saw a white Van coming. I ran down the hill and the Van stopped next to me and a man got out with a very kind brown face and asked me the way to the Jan Huigensstraat. I showed him and the Van drove on and then it hit me: That is my father! God, I was so happy, I had a real father. I ran to my mother’s house and walked up the path. Dad, I shouted, Dad, it is me Dinkie. He turned around and took me in his arms. I was incredibly happy, he was back now everything would be all right. My brother and I cried and so did he. When we had to leave after diner, he was speechless and thought that was terrible and he promised us that he would arrange everything as soon as possible and that is what he did.
Two months later we, all four of us, were together living in an apartment in the Bergstraat in Amersfoort opposite the cemetary. Nobody could understand how happy I was. My mother, when she was old, became a great grandmother to her grandchildren. As a 7 year old child she had to go to boarding school because her mother, who had TBC, had to go to a sanitorium for a couple of years. Living with the nuns hadn’t been fun for her either.
Dinkie
August 15, 1946. We were liberated, fittingly it is now August 18, 2007. Freedom, that you had thought, but now the Javanese wanted their freedom and went to war against us, their white invaders. In the meantime, we received postcards from my father through the Red Cross saying: stay where you are, I am coming to you. After a lot of trouble from attacking Javanese and after much wandering we finally arrived un scathed in Batavia. There my mother got a message from the Red Cross that my father, on his way to us, was picked up by the Indonesians rebels and they ended saying the final words: he is missing, presumably dead.
So my mother, as a widow, could go to Holland with us. On the ship the Klipfontein, which much later broke down on a clif, very appropriate as the name suggests. On this, for us wonderful ship, my mother withdraw herself with two nuns in a cabin, because she was an asthma patient.
On the entire trip, until we reached Attaca in Egypt, we had not seen or spoken to her. My brother and I wandered on the deck and enjoyed the lovely sea air and all the food we got and nobody paying attention to us. We ate a lot of mandarins and drank lots of coca cola. We didn’t wash ourselves, we weren’t used to do so anyway and slept outside near the ship’s chimney. Eventually the captain, who heard that there were two children wandering about the ship with nobody taking care of them, finally decided to appoint a guardian, who would take care of us. I came under the care of Dr. Provo Knuit, a retired cabin phycisian. I had a perfect life, he was very severe, bathed in sea water, pimples were cut open and still he was also very sweet to me giving me lots of good food and vitamins learning me to excercise. He was my first substitute father after 5 years and I was very happy with him. Once a week he drank too much and then I had to help him getting in bed instead of him helping me, but mostly he was a super good real father figure. Upon arrival in Holland in Amsterdam I sadly had to say goodbye to him and he gave me two wooden bookends in the form of horseheads. I cried a lot, all of a sudden I was fatherless again. In Amersfoort my mother placed us in the care of a couple of families who were complete strangers to us, I was then a girl of 13 years old. She went to live on her own. On Saturday and Sunday we were allowed to visit here for an hour. In this strange country for me, it was April 1947, I almost died from cold in the house of mrs. Ijf and her four children, who were not very nice to me and were always teasing me.They thought I was very odd, that yellow concentration camp child with strange manners and all those strange Indonesian words, such as pisang for banana and ketimoen for cucumber, etc. You can’t believe how lonely I felt. One day I wanted to visit my brother, I rang the bell and a servant opened the door of the house he was living in and she told me that my brother, for health reasons, had been brought to the country side to get better and stronger. I thought, it cannot get worse or could it? Blindness maybe, so I started walking on the street with my eyes closed, because I thought that it might even be like this, so it really wasn’t so bad after all, luckily I am not blind. After many bumps of many lampposts and scraped knees, I realized that my fate wasn’t so bad. I decided to take matters in my own hand and to look for someone who wanted to adopt me as their child. Sooner said, then done. Every day on my way to and from school I passed many beautiful houses. One of them was my favourite, there an old lady lived with a white dog, which she often took out walking when I passed. That was it. I started talking to her and later I took the dog out walking for her and sometime later I was drinking tea with her, it resulted in me going there a lot. One day I asked her whether she wanted to adopt me. She was stunned and after a lot of talking and begging from my side (the house inside was even more attractive than from the outside, it was very cozy and beautiful), she called my mother and told her about my wish to be adopted. Luckily she turned out to be a retired lady-in-waiting of Queen Wilhelmina and so the damage for me was limited. My mother went to visit her and explained everything to her from her perspective. I have shed many tears for this lovely dear woman, where I, unfortunately, was not allowed to live. I was desperate.
At that moment, the cosmos thought it was enough and the message came that my own father was found and was on a ship on his way to Holland. The day that he came back to us, I will never ever forget. My brother and I were bathed and dressed in our best clothes to visit my mother and wait for him, my father, after 6 years. It lasted and lasted and finally we went out to playing. The Jan Huigensstraat in Amersfoort was on a small hill and there in the distance I saw a white Van coming. I ran down the hill and the Van stopped next to me and a man got out with a very kind brown face and asked me the way to the Jan Huigensstraat. I showed him and the Van drove on and then it hit me: That is my father! God, I was so happy, I had a real father. I ran to my mother’s house and walked up the path. Dad, I shouted, Dad, it is me Dinkie. He turned around and took me in his arms. I was incredibly happy, he was back now everything would be all right. My brother and I cried and so did he. When we had to leave after diner, he was speechless and thought that was terrible and he promised us that he would arrange everything as soon as possible and that is what he did.
Two months later we, all four of us, were together living in an apartment in the Bergstraat in Amersfoort opposite the cemetary. Nobody could understand how happy I was. My mother, when she was old, became a great grandmother to her grandchildren. As a 7 year old child she had to go to boarding school because her mother, who had TBC, had to go to a sanitorium for a couple of years. Living with the nuns hadn’t been fun for her either.
Dinkie
An Older Message About A Holiday
AN OLDER MESSAGE ABOUT A HOLIDAY
For the first time after 40 years we went on holiday with a caravan again. Quite an experience for a 72 year old. Small beds with hard mattresses and a different lavatory without flush. For someone with my size in such a small space is a perfect workout for all muscles but it is also very convenient to have everything within reach. A period full of rest.
We have seen a lot of our oldest daughter as we were close by in our caravan. Her husband had to travel a lot so we spent a lot of time outside in her beautiful garden. We enjoyed the beautiful surroundings of Appelscha. One day we went to Germany. The houses overthere were extremely cheap but beautiful and large. We promptly got lost and didn’t see a soul for hours. With a compass we drove to the West and finally we saw a sign with Ter Apel on it. We were glad to be back in Holland again, an area we knew. We went to a wonderful restaurant where we ate “zweinenhaxe” for the first time. The meat was so soft and tender it fell of the bone, but it was too much meat and we unfortunately were both ill of too much.
We were homesick and wanted to see our grandchildren in Zeeland, but as soon as we are there, we long for our daughter in Appelscha, it’s dualistic.
The trip home was long and it was very hot, 32 degrees in the car, no airco and a lot of traffic. I sometimes wonder what will become of all this traffic in this country in the future.
Coming home I immediately took care of David, our grandson, who was walking down the street with a friend to a very dangerous corner in the street with a heated head. I took them both inside, cooled their head with cold water and gave them lots of water to drink.
David asked: grandma, did you miss me and do you love me? I respondend: yes, my dear boy, I do and I hugged him. I love those children so much, it sometimes hurt. Then his mother, Inge came and took him home.
Our garden was in full bloom and very beautiful. We enjoyed having our own things again, the films, our computers, the normal lavatory and our music.
Missing it is good for increasing the value of all your property and richness. I hope to enjoy it for a long long time. Until the next holiday.
Dinkie
For the first time after 40 years we went on holiday with a caravan again. Quite an experience for a 72 year old. Small beds with hard mattresses and a different lavatory without flush. For someone with my size in such a small space is a perfect workout for all muscles but it is also very convenient to have everything within reach. A period full of rest.
We have seen a lot of our oldest daughter as we were close by in our caravan. Her husband had to travel a lot so we spent a lot of time outside in her beautiful garden. We enjoyed the beautiful surroundings of Appelscha. One day we went to Germany. The houses overthere were extremely cheap but beautiful and large. We promptly got lost and didn’t see a soul for hours. With a compass we drove to the West and finally we saw a sign with Ter Apel on it. We were glad to be back in Holland again, an area we knew. We went to a wonderful restaurant where we ate “zweinenhaxe” for the first time. The meat was so soft and tender it fell of the bone, but it was too much meat and we unfortunately were both ill of too much.
We were homesick and wanted to see our grandchildren in Zeeland, but as soon as we are there, we long for our daughter in Appelscha, it’s dualistic.
The trip home was long and it was very hot, 32 degrees in the car, no airco and a lot of traffic. I sometimes wonder what will become of all this traffic in this country in the future.
Coming home I immediately took care of David, our grandson, who was walking down the street with a friend to a very dangerous corner in the street with a heated head. I took them both inside, cooled their head with cold water and gave them lots of water to drink.
David asked: grandma, did you miss me and do you love me? I respondend: yes, my dear boy, I do and I hugged him. I love those children so much, it sometimes hurt. Then his mother, Inge came and took him home.
Our garden was in full bloom and very beautiful. We enjoyed having our own things again, the films, our computers, the normal lavatory and our music.
Missing it is good for increasing the value of all your property and richness. I hope to enjoy it for a long long time. Until the next holiday.
Dinkie
Miracles do Exist.
MIRACLES EXIST
Everyone of us experiences sometimes something miraculous. When I think of it, I have experienced at least five big and small miracles. Of three of them I want to tell you something. The first small miracle, which I still cannot believe myself, it is so extraordinary. After my divorce I started working as a help for the elderly with a former attorney of Unilever, who had an Brittish wife. This woman, who also was very demented and only spoke English, therefore I was placed there. Because of my Scottish grandmother Elsie, we spoke English pretty good since our childhood. The brittish lady, she was a lovely woman, which couldn’t be said of him. She had a colostomy, which sometimes leaked and it was a terrible dirty job to clean everything afterwards. I have worked very hard for them and did a lot of extra things, such as painting the kitchen and the bathroom, etc. When I left them, because she went to a nursery home, they gave me, as a thank you present, a real antique from 1880 carbonite lamp with a beautiful white porcelain shade. The shade fitted perfect on an iron ring and was flat on the top and then rounded down at the bottom with a slot around it for a beaded chain at the edge. It really was a very exclusive shade, which I’ve never seen before. For years it stood in our house as a beautiful piece of antiquity and I often thought about the woman. One day during a renovation the lamp was moved and the white porcelain shade fell off into thousand pieces. I was very sad, because such a shade couldn’t ever be replaced. Years later, living here in Zeeland, there was a big dump near Zierikzee, where everything was shoved on a small mountain.
Every year there are flea markets, where everyone who has something to sell tries to sell it to the tourists. At 5 o’clock everthing that wasn’t sold, went into a garbage truck to the dump. The stuff coming from various places of our island. The hill at the dump was almost 7 meters high with chairs, tables, washing machines, hair dryers, cabinets, pottery, toys, plastic, and more. On the same day that this takes place we went to the dump with our trailer at about 6 o'clock. I looked in amazement at the huge mountain, where already 10 people were searching for nice goodies. Willem threw all the things we had in our trailer, also on te mountain and I crept cautiously on the mountain lurking to find something. It certainly wasn’t the first time that we went back with a half-full trailer again. Willem cried: don’t take more stuff, please. All the other people cried: everything is broken already, what are you looking for? Nothing really, I am just looking, I cried back. You had to be carefull because tables and chairs were all over each other and before you knew it you dropped right down or half way the mountain. I looked between everything to see whether I would find something nice in between all the rubble, but it was so full of stuff you could hardly see anything. Than suddenly there below in a hole next to a drying rack between 3 chairs, I saw something white. I cried: I see something of porcelain, on which most of the people started to laugh and said that will certainly be broken. Very carefully I dove down with my arm and pulled it very careful, pushing things away, out of the darkness. I thought it to be a round bowl. When I got it up with difficulty, it turned out to be a beautiful flawless porcelain shade of a lamp. I shouted: Willem, come, please come. Others came as well and they all shouted: Willem come, it is a miracle, it is completely flawless. Consternation all over. Everyone wanted to see it, they couldn’t believe it, dumped out of the garbage van and still unbroken, a miracle. The biggest miracle had still to come when we were at home again. It fitted perfectly on the carbonite lamp and even had the same slot for the beaded chain.
Dinkie
Saturday, August 18, 2007
Everyone of us experiences sometimes something miraculous. When I think of it, I have experienced at least five big and small miracles. Of three of them I want to tell you something. The first small miracle, which I still cannot believe myself, it is so extraordinary. After my divorce I started working as a help for the elderly with a former attorney of Unilever, who had an Brittish wife. This woman, who also was very demented and only spoke English, therefore I was placed there. Because of my Scottish grandmother Elsie, we spoke English pretty good since our childhood. The brittish lady, she was a lovely woman, which couldn’t be said of him. She had a colostomy, which sometimes leaked and it was a terrible dirty job to clean everything afterwards. I have worked very hard for them and did a lot of extra things, such as painting the kitchen and the bathroom, etc. When I left them, because she went to a nursery home, they gave me, as a thank you present, a real antique from 1880 carbonite lamp with a beautiful white porcelain shade. The shade fitted perfect on an iron ring and was flat on the top and then rounded down at the bottom with a slot around it for a beaded chain at the edge. It really was a very exclusive shade, which I’ve never seen before. For years it stood in our house as a beautiful piece of antiquity and I often thought about the woman. One day during a renovation the lamp was moved and the white porcelain shade fell off into thousand pieces. I was very sad, because such a shade couldn’t ever be replaced. Years later, living here in Zeeland, there was a big dump near Zierikzee, where everything was shoved on a small mountain.
Every year there are flea markets, where everyone who has something to sell tries to sell it to the tourists. At 5 o’clock everthing that wasn’t sold, went into a garbage truck to the dump. The stuff coming from various places of our island. The hill at the dump was almost 7 meters high with chairs, tables, washing machines, hair dryers, cabinets, pottery, toys, plastic, and more. On the same day that this takes place we went to the dump with our trailer at about 6 o'clock. I looked in amazement at the huge mountain, where already 10 people were searching for nice goodies. Willem threw all the things we had in our trailer, also on te mountain and I crept cautiously on the mountain lurking to find something. It certainly wasn’t the first time that we went back with a half-full trailer again. Willem cried: don’t take more stuff, please. All the other people cried: everything is broken already, what are you looking for? Nothing really, I am just looking, I cried back. You had to be carefull because tables and chairs were all over each other and before you knew it you dropped right down or half way the mountain. I looked between everything to see whether I would find something nice in between all the rubble, but it was so full of stuff you could hardly see anything. Than suddenly there below in a hole next to a drying rack between 3 chairs, I saw something white. I cried: I see something of porcelain, on which most of the people started to laugh and said that will certainly be broken. Very carefully I dove down with my arm and pulled it very careful, pushing things away, out of the darkness. I thought it to be a round bowl. When I got it up with difficulty, it turned out to be a beautiful flawless porcelain shade of a lamp. I shouted: Willem, come, please come. Others came as well and they all shouted: Willem come, it is a miracle, it is completely flawless. Consternation all over. Everyone wanted to see it, they couldn’t believe it, dumped out of the garbage van and still unbroken, a miracle. The biggest miracle had still to come when we were at home again. It fitted perfectly on the carbonite lamp and even had the same slot for the beaded chain.
Dinkie
Saturday, August 18, 2007
All About Music Again
ALL ABOUT MUSIC AGAIN
It belongs to the Dutch culture that you are crazy about classical music. My mother and her brother Dennis both had piano lessons for 8 years. Dennis even went to the conservatory. Both played piano constantly. My younger years were filled with classical music, it was all my brother and I heard. Dennis sometimes gave concerts for the whole street on our porch in our house in the Dutch East Indies. Our first contact with other types of music was aboard the troopship, the Amhurst Victory. After the surrender and during the attacks of the Indonesian rebels, we went on board of this ship from Samarang to Batavia (Jakarta).
Songs like: Don’t fence me in and Give me five minutes more, all those war songs sang by the English we thought were great. Like Vera Lynn, it brought a new world to me, one that was cheerful and witty and had something to do with being free and finally shaking all the worries from your body and having fun again and live again. Since that time we got to know the music of Glen Miller, Benny Goodman, Gene Krupa, Xavier Gugat and many others.
In camp Tjideng in Batavia, where we waited for transport to Holland, we went every week to the open air cinema at the camp, seeing movies with Diana Durbin, Shirley Tempel and many other famous stars. We also listened to upbeat music and after the sadness around us, this was a very uplifting experience.
In our teens we also swoon to the music and dancing close together. At that time you went to dance class and you were taught ballroom dancing like the foxtrot, the waltz, the chachacha, the tango, etc. Kuipers was the biggest dance club, which yearly gave a grand ball at the Kurhaus in Scheveningen with three different bands. We went there in pretty party dresses with pettycoats and high heels. Scheveningen was our entertainment center, the club of Pia Beck, dixiland bands and more. When I got a boyfriend, who was a naval cadet there were even more parties and balls also in Nijenrode. It was a great time with music of Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Nat King Cole, Errol Garner, Frank Sinatra and many more. Then came the time with real jazz, after that the blues, rock and roll, etc.
At the Rijnland high school, we also had a grand ball at the end of every school year, girls wearing evening dresses and the boys wearing tuxedo’s.
Peter Schilperoort and his band (the Dutch Swing College Band) played there as were many others. At school there also were some boys who could play the boogie woogie very well.
Now about 55 years later, when everything is almost over, we find on the computer on You-tube this music and with this music all our memories of those wonderful 8 years are coming back. Lovely memories of great music, which I cherish.
A lot has happened in those 55 years, think of all these new currents of great bands, the Beatles, Elvis, Joe Cocker, The Rolling Stones, Woodstock, Queen, Motown, Soul, Andy Williams, Tom Jones and many more. The whole range of new movements erupted also in films and the musical of Mash and Hair, too much to mention. All these happy developments made me a real music lover of all types of music that crossed my life these 55 years and left me with many wonderful memories.
Fortunately there is a new range of young talent now like Norah Jones, Katie Meluah, Peter Cincottie, Michael Buble, Madeleine Peroux and Dianne Krall. We can still enjoy this all as well as the classical music and that is what we do with heart and soul.
Dinkie
It belongs to the Dutch culture that you are crazy about classical music. My mother and her brother Dennis both had piano lessons for 8 years. Dennis even went to the conservatory. Both played piano constantly. My younger years were filled with classical music, it was all my brother and I heard. Dennis sometimes gave concerts for the whole street on our porch in our house in the Dutch East Indies. Our first contact with other types of music was aboard the troopship, the Amhurst Victory. After the surrender and during the attacks of the Indonesian rebels, we went on board of this ship from Samarang to Batavia (Jakarta).
Songs like: Don’t fence me in and Give me five minutes more, all those war songs sang by the English we thought were great. Like Vera Lynn, it brought a new world to me, one that was cheerful and witty and had something to do with being free and finally shaking all the worries from your body and having fun again and live again. Since that time we got to know the music of Glen Miller, Benny Goodman, Gene Krupa, Xavier Gugat and many others.
In camp Tjideng in Batavia, where we waited for transport to Holland, we went every week to the open air cinema at the camp, seeing movies with Diana Durbin, Shirley Tempel and many other famous stars. We also listened to upbeat music and after the sadness around us, this was a very uplifting experience.
In our teens we also swoon to the music and dancing close together. At that time you went to dance class and you were taught ballroom dancing like the foxtrot, the waltz, the chachacha, the tango, etc. Kuipers was the biggest dance club, which yearly gave a grand ball at the Kurhaus in Scheveningen with three different bands. We went there in pretty party dresses with pettycoats and high heels. Scheveningen was our entertainment center, the club of Pia Beck, dixiland bands and more. When I got a boyfriend, who was a naval cadet there were even more parties and balls also in Nijenrode. It was a great time with music of Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Nat King Cole, Errol Garner, Frank Sinatra and many more. Then came the time with real jazz, after that the blues, rock and roll, etc.
At the Rijnland high school, we also had a grand ball at the end of every school year, girls wearing evening dresses and the boys wearing tuxedo’s.
Peter Schilperoort and his band (the Dutch Swing College Band) played there as were many others. At school there also were some boys who could play the boogie woogie very well.
Now about 55 years later, when everything is almost over, we find on the computer on You-tube this music and with this music all our memories of those wonderful 8 years are coming back. Lovely memories of great music, which I cherish.
A lot has happened in those 55 years, think of all these new currents of great bands, the Beatles, Elvis, Joe Cocker, The Rolling Stones, Woodstock, Queen, Motown, Soul, Andy Williams, Tom Jones and many more. The whole range of new movements erupted also in films and the musical of Mash and Hair, too much to mention. All these happy developments made me a real music lover of all types of music that crossed my life these 55 years and left me with many wonderful memories.
Fortunately there is a new range of young talent now like Norah Jones, Katie Meluah, Peter Cincottie, Michael Buble, Madeleine Peroux and Dianne Krall. We can still enjoy this all as well as the classical music and that is what we do with heart and soul.
Dinkie
Miracles still happen. The second miracle
MIRACLES STILL HAPPEN. THE SECOND MIRACLE
Together we started again in 1977, both divorced and brooke but still having fun in our little house in Zeeland, which had to be renovated. According to our family, it was uninhabitable, but with the money we had left we could afford anything else. Fortunately we had a big barn and a large piece of land where we have worked on many hours. We grew our own vegetables, fruit trees, lots of berries such as blackcurrant berries, red berries, etc. and we kept fatting chickens.
But after Tjernobyll this stopped.
After 4 years working at projects abroad, again we had some money in our savings account and used this to renovate and expand. A job was accepted in Zeeland, no great riches, but we got our little house or life together the week-ends and our own little car. The whole house was heated by stoves and two beautiful burners, but those used a lot of wood, a whole lot. Our dear neighbour always took care that there was a tree or branches or some other wood ready somewhere for us to go and get it after chopping it and taking it home with our trailer. Back at home Willem again had to saw it in smaller pieces before storing it in the woodhouse. This went on year after year. Filling the two burners with wood was a lot of work and it was heavy work too. Eventually, when Willem got older, I found it hard for him to do this though job. Central heating that was the solution but that cost 12.000 Guilders for our house.
Everyone has their own idea about the afterlife and how we were created, so did I, although my ideas differ somewhat from most others and I asked my guides daily: please help us. I did this every day at a quiet moment for instance when I drove through the beautiful countryside. I begged them as it were: it is not for parties, not for holidays, not for pleasure but to heat our house properly during the winter. Every day in thought I spoke to them explaining why we needed to be helped, until one day after about 2 months I opened the mail in the evening including bank statements and what did I see to my surprise? An amount of 20.000 Guilders won in the lottery was credited to our account. With my finger I hit the bank statement and uttered strange noises. Willem was watching and did not understand, he thought we would be overdrawn again, that’s what the strange noises are about. I kept on pointing my finger to the statement and then finally he looked at it as well and looked again. Together we danced around and went out for dinner, we were overjoyed.
The central heating was installed and wood was now a matter of choice. I send my helpers a thousand thank you’s. Isn’t this really a miracle?
Dinkie
Together we started again in 1977, both divorced and brooke but still having fun in our little house in Zeeland, which had to be renovated. According to our family, it was uninhabitable, but with the money we had left we could afford anything else. Fortunately we had a big barn and a large piece of land where we have worked on many hours. We grew our own vegetables, fruit trees, lots of berries such as blackcurrant berries, red berries, etc. and we kept fatting chickens.
But after Tjernobyll this stopped.
After 4 years working at projects abroad, again we had some money in our savings account and used this to renovate and expand. A job was accepted in Zeeland, no great riches, but we got our little house or life together the week-ends and our own little car. The whole house was heated by stoves and two beautiful burners, but those used a lot of wood, a whole lot. Our dear neighbour always took care that there was a tree or branches or some other wood ready somewhere for us to go and get it after chopping it and taking it home with our trailer. Back at home Willem again had to saw it in smaller pieces before storing it in the woodhouse. This went on year after year. Filling the two burners with wood was a lot of work and it was heavy work too. Eventually, when Willem got older, I found it hard for him to do this though job. Central heating that was the solution but that cost 12.000 Guilders for our house.
Everyone has their own idea about the afterlife and how we were created, so did I, although my ideas differ somewhat from most others and I asked my guides daily: please help us. I did this every day at a quiet moment for instance when I drove through the beautiful countryside. I begged them as it were: it is not for parties, not for holidays, not for pleasure but to heat our house properly during the winter. Every day in thought I spoke to them explaining why we needed to be helped, until one day after about 2 months I opened the mail in the evening including bank statements and what did I see to my surprise? An amount of 20.000 Guilders won in the lottery was credited to our account. With my finger I hit the bank statement and uttered strange noises. Willem was watching and did not understand, he thought we would be overdrawn again, that’s what the strange noises are about. I kept on pointing my finger to the statement and then finally he looked at it as well and looked again. Together we danced around and went out for dinner, we were overjoyed.
The central heating was installed and wood was now a matter of choice. I send my helpers a thousand thank you’s. Isn’t this really a miracle?
Dinkie
Our dog Kaatje
This is our dear Kaatje. Unfortunately we had to say goodbye to her, our last little doggy. We had hoped that after a successful operation, we would enjoy her company for a long time, but alas it was not meant to be. Ka, you were a lovely dog and raised together with Eva, you were almost the same age. Once a week Eva was with us and then Ka was always near her and occasionally picked up one of her dolls. I have a video of you both constantly together. Whether we will ever get used to living without animals, I don’t know. I’ve had animals all my life. First cats then dogs, I even had three dogs before. You were our last dog and we miss you terribly. The house is empty, no movement anymore, at this moment, I don’t know whether I get used to this. First I have to go get over this terrible loss, then we see further. Dinkie
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Sunday, October 19, 2008
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