Saturday, April 19, 2008
My mother and I...so cute!
My cousin Bill has assigned each first cousin the task of preparing a presentation for our Sonnemaker cousins reunion in June. I have spent a few hours going through old family photos, and found this picture of my mother and I, which I don't remember seeing before. I really liked it, and decided I would post it here to share with you. I think it must have been about 1960, so I would have been three years old.
AMSTERDAM (SORT OF) ONE LAST TIME!
BE SURE AND READ TO THE END FOR A NICE SURPRISE. The last chapter of our trip to Holland will be a visit to Haarlem, a small town about 15 minutes by train from Amsterdam. Here is a picture I took from inside the train station. I thought it was pretty!
My primary reason for wanting to visit there is because it was the home of Corrie ten Boom, a Dutch woman whose family hid Jews in their house during World War 2. Her father was a clock maker, and their house was above the clock shop on Barteljoristraat in Haarlem. Here is a picture of me standing in front of the ten Boom clock shop, and in Corrie's living room:
Corrie, her sister Betsy, and their father opened their door "to anyone who knocked". They were deeply devoted to God, and to sharing His gospel with anyone who listened. Part of that included caring for the Jews that were being tortured and murdered by the Nazis. They built a secret hiding place in Corrie's room, which was at the very top of the tall, narrow house. Most of the Jews that were in Corrie's house were only there a short time, waiting to find a more secure place to live outside the city. At any given time, there were between 5-7 Jews hiding in their home. One of the more difficult parts of the task was to provide food for all those people. Since ration cards were in use at that time, they had to obtain them from a sympathetic provider, and they kept them hidden in this small space under a stair step:
Here is a photo of Corrie's room, and the hiding place against the back wall. The hole in the wall was put there so visitors could see inside the hiding place more easily.
The false wall was constructed out of brick, in hopes that anyone searching for it would think they had uncovered the outside wall of the house. It worked, as you'll read below. The space behind the false wall was only about 18 inches deep, so it was a very cramped space, with only minimal water and supplies stored inside. Here are pictures we took of the hiding place, one of me standing inside, and one of Mike crawling through the original entrance to the hiding place.
The day they were raided, there were 6 Jews in the home. They all made it to the hiding place safely. The Gestapo found the ration cards under the stair, but not the Jews in hiding. Corrie and her family were arrested for having illegal ration cards, and sent to concentration camps. The Gestapo suspected there were people hiding inside, but could not find them. The house was locked and put under watch for 4 days. During that time, the people inside the hiding place had to remain completely silent, and as still as possible, to avoid detection. At the end of the 4 days, the guard watch was taken over by two "SS" men that happened to be working for the underground. They helped the Jews to escape safely, and they lived out the rest of their lives.
Corrie's father died ten days after arrest, her sister died later, and Corrie was released as a result of a "clerical error" just a week before all women her age were sent to be exterminated. Corrie spent the rest of her life sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ, and talked endlessly of her time in Holland, and of her time in the concentration camp.
Here is the surprise! Corrie eventually moved to the US, and lived out the remainder of her days in Placentia, CA, the same small town that Mike and I both lived in from the time we were 12. As it turns out, the mother of a friend of ours, Sharon Lightfoot, lived directly behind Corrie and spent time taking care of her (Sharon was a nurse) during the last months of her life. What a small world!
The photo below is the Dutch Reformed Church in Haarlem where Corrie and her family worshipped. It was beautiful inside!
We really enjoyed Holland, and I hope that you have enjoyed this armchair visit along with us! Next trip we take will be to a cousins reunion in Minnesota. All my first cousins from my mother's family will be there -- it should be a fun event! Then, Alaska and the Arctic! It will be a fun summer.
My primary reason for wanting to visit there is because it was the home of Corrie ten Boom, a Dutch woman whose family hid Jews in their house during World War 2. Her father was a clock maker, and their house was above the clock shop on Barteljoristraat in Haarlem. Here is a picture of me standing in front of the ten Boom clock shop, and in Corrie's living room:Corrie, her sister Betsy, and their father opened their door "to anyone who knocked". They were deeply devoted to God, and to sharing His gospel with anyone who listened. Part of that included caring for the Jews that were being tortured and murdered by the Nazis. They built a secret hiding place in Corrie's room, which was at the very top of the tall, narrow house. Most of the Jews that were in Corrie's house were only there a short time, waiting to find a more secure place to live outside the city. At any given time, there were between 5-7 Jews hiding in their home. One of the more difficult parts of the task was to provide food for all those people. Since ration cards were in use at that time, they had to obtain them from a sympathetic provider, and they kept them hidden in this small space under a stair step:Here is a photo of Corrie's room, and the hiding place against the back wall. The hole in the wall was put there so visitors could see inside the hiding place more easily.
The false wall was constructed out of brick, in hopes that anyone searching for it would think they had uncovered the outside wall of the house. It worked, as you'll read below. The space behind the false wall was only about 18 inches deep, so it was a very cramped space, with only minimal water and supplies stored inside. Here are pictures we took of the hiding place, one of me standing inside, and one of Mike crawling through the original entrance to the hiding place.The day they were raided, there were 6 Jews in the home. They all made it to the hiding place safely. The Gestapo found the ration cards under the stair, but not the Jews in hiding. Corrie and her family were arrested for having illegal ration cards, and sent to concentration camps. The Gestapo suspected there were people hiding inside, but could not find them. The house was locked and put under watch for 4 days. During that time, the people inside the hiding place had to remain completely silent, and as still as possible, to avoid detection. At the end of the 4 days, the guard watch was taken over by two "SS" men that happened to be working for the underground. They helped the Jews to escape safely, and they lived out the rest of their lives. Corrie's father died ten days after arrest, her sister died later, and Corrie was released as a result of a "clerical error" just a week before all women her age were sent to be exterminated. Corrie spent the rest of her life sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ, and talked endlessly of her time in Holland, and of her time in the concentration camp.
Here is the surprise! Corrie eventually moved to the US, and lived out the remainder of her days in Placentia, CA, the same small town that Mike and I both lived in from the time we were 12. As it turns out, the mother of a friend of ours, Sharon Lightfoot, lived directly behind Corrie and spent time taking care of her (Sharon was a nurse) during the last months of her life. What a small world!
The photo below is the Dutch Reformed Church in Haarlem where Corrie and her family worshipped. It was beautiful inside!
We really enjoyed Holland, and I hope that you have enjoyed this armchair visit along with us! Next trip we take will be to a cousins reunion in Minnesota. All my first cousins from my mother's family will be there -- it should be a fun event! Then, Alaska and the Arctic! It will be a fun summer.
Saturday, April 5, 2008
GOING HOME....sigh
Amsterdam Chapter 5 is going to have to be written from Moreno Valley. I am leaving in the morning for Zurich, and will catch a 10:00 a.m. flight to Atlanta, then another to Ontario, CA. I should arrive home about 9:oo p.m. California time. Just in time to get a few hours sleep (I hope!) and then get up and go to work at 7:00 a.m. the next day.
I has been a wonderful, relaxing vacation. I hate to leave Mike here, it is going to be a long time before we see each other again. We have taken lots of long walks in the mountains, spent a lot of time talking, eaten some GOOD Swiss food :-), and have really enjoyed this time we have had. I will be busy, so the time will probably go by quicker for me. Hopefully the weather here will warm up soon, so Mike can get some hiking done in the evenings when he is finished at work. It's COLD out there!
He will send pictures now and then, and I will post them on the blog.
Thanks for clicking in and taking a peek now and then. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it.
See you (?) when I get to CA!
I has been a wonderful, relaxing vacation. I hate to leave Mike here, it is going to be a long time before we see each other again. We have taken lots of long walks in the mountains, spent a lot of time talking, eaten some GOOD Swiss food :-), and have really enjoyed this time we have had. I will be busy, so the time will probably go by quicker for me. Hopefully the weather here will warm up soon, so Mike can get some hiking done in the evenings when he is finished at work. It's COLD out there!
He will send pictures now and then, and I will post them on the blog.
Thanks for clicking in and taking a peek now and then. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it.
See you (?) when I get to CA!
Thursday, April 3, 2008
NIGHT NIGHT, EMMA
We had some very sad news today. Lisa called this afternoon to tell us that our sweet dog, Emma, died this morning. Lisa heard her cry out, and went to see what was wrong. She stopped breathing just a few seconds after Lisa got to her side. It's just a guess, but she must have had a heart attack, or an aneurysm, or something else that took her quickly. From first cry to her last breath -- it was a matter of seconds. She has been a very healthy dog, active and energetic. She was SO attached to Mike, her best days were when he came home from work and threw tennis balls for her. It was a real shock. She was just 11 years old. Thank goodness Lisa and Charles were home so she didn't have to die alone. They took good care of her. Charles tucked her safely away in our yard, in the shade of the orange tree she liked to lay under. We'll miss you SO much, Ems. You were such a good dog.
AMSTERDAM Chapter 4 - Keukenhof Gardens
Our next stop was Keukenhof Gardens -- which would have been MUCH better had we been able to wait 2 or 3 more weeks! Mike's job schedule seems to get in the way of our vacation plans. :-) 
There's not a lot to write about...so you can just browse our gazillion pictures of flowers. Here, though, is Mike posing reluctantly for me in an oversized pair of wooden shoes. I am actually surprised I got him to do this!
The weather was really strange the day we went to Keukenhof, first it was a beautiful day, then it snowed, and then we had blue sky again for a bit. By our pictures, you would have thought we were there two different days!
The weather has been so cold that most of the flowers have not bloomed, but we still got some pretty pictures of tulips, hyacinths, crocus and daffodils. Poor little flowers, they were trying SO hard to bloom! It just wasn't warm enough for most of them.
Most of the garden still looked this (yes, it is snowing):
But some of it looked like this! 
They also had some pavilions where flowers were growing inside; like these gorgeous orchids, tulips and freesias: 
Everybody knows that tulips come from Holland, right!? ....wrong. Actually, Tulips are native to Central Asia and Turkey. In the 16th Century they were brought to Holland from Turkey, and quickly became widely popular. They became so popular, that "Tulipmania" occurred in Holland in the 17th century. People traded tulip bulbs for literally a fortune, some bulbs cost more than an Amsterdam house at the time.
There's not a lot to write about...so you can just browse our gazillion pictures of flowers. Here, though, is Mike posing reluctantly for me in an oversized pair of wooden shoes. I am actually surprised I got him to do this! The weather was really strange the day we went to Keukenhof, first it was a beautiful day, then it snowed, and then we had blue sky again for a bit. By our pictures, you would have thought we were there two different days!The weather has been so cold that most of the flowers have not bloomed, but we still got some pretty pictures of tulips, hyacinths, crocus and daffodils. Poor little flowers, they were trying SO hard to bloom! It just wasn't warm enough for most of them.
Most of the garden still looked this (yes, it is snowing):
But some of it looked like this! They also had some pavilions where flowers were growing inside; like these gorgeous orchids, tulips and freesias: Everybody knows that tulips come from Holland, right!? ....wrong. Actually, Tulips are native to Central Asia and Turkey. In the 16th Century they were brought to Holland from Turkey, and quickly became widely popular. They became so popular, that "Tulipmania" occurred in Holland in the 17th century. People traded tulip bulbs for literally a fortune, some bulbs cost more than an Amsterdam house at the time.
Last, but not least, there was a transplanted windmill at Keukenhof, with a MUCH smaller ladder than the one at Zaanse Schans. So, I was brave and went up. 
Mike joined me, and we coerced someone to take our picture. You can tell it's COLD because Mike has a hat and gloves on!
Here is a photo of a field of daffodils that Mike took from the top of the windmill. I imagine that by the end of April, all the fields will be filled with color.
Next stop on our journey is Haarlem, and the Corrie Ten Boom Museum.
AMSTERDAM - Chapter 3, Zaanse Schans
Here I am, sitting in Mike's nice warm chalet, watching the snow fall. It is so quiet...the mountains are covered in snow, and every 15 minutes, the church bells ring and remind me that time is actually moving on. I only have 3 days, then I will have to leave Mike and go back to the states. Good and bad...I miss all my grandkids and miss my kids, but sure wish Mike was coming home with me. At least I am very busy when I am at home, and that will make the time go by faster. I want to get some quilting done, and have some scrapbooking to do too. That will help. Sigh...
On the picture below, if you look closely, I think you will be able to see that the water on the left is much higher than the water and land in the polder on the right side of the dyke: 
The picture below shows a portion of the polder which is not getting drained as it should. There were pools of water forming all over. Hey! Where's that little dutch kid? We need his finger in the dyke!
Back to AMSTERDAM!
Today, approximately 27 percent of the Netherlands is actually below sea level. This area is home to over 60 percent of the country's population of 15.8 million people. My mom read me a book when I was a little girl called "The Little Dutch Twins", and ever since then, I have wanted to see a windmill work, and see how the dykes keep the water out of the land. So, one of the places we visited was a village called Zaanse Schans, where we could see both things. 
We learned that to make a "polder" (area of reclaimed land), a canal is dug around the portion of land, and that large canal is called the "ring canal". The dyke is between this canal, and the polder region. Then there are smaller canals built all through the polder, and the water that keeps seeping up and into the polder drains into (or is pumped into) the smaller canals. The water in the small canals is then pumped up and out of the polder into the ring canal. Here I am, standing on top of the ring canal dyke at Zaanse Schans.
On the picture below, if you look closely, I think you will be able to see that the water on the left is much higher than the water and land in the polder on the right side of the dyke: The picture below shows a portion of the polder which is not getting drained as it should. There were pools of water forming all over. Hey! Where's that little dutch kid? We need his finger in the dyke!While we were at Zaanse Schans, we were able to go inside one of the 4 working windmills. 
This one was grinding chalk to be used in paint pigment. I was a chicken and wouldn't go up the very, very high, very, very steep :-) ladder to the top part of the mill, but Mike did, and took some pictures of the inner workings. "You go ahead up that ladder honey, I'll look at the pictures when you get down!" The ladder was about 3 times as high as you can see here.
They have a wooden shoe maker in Zaanse Schans, and they advertised demonstrations to show how the shoes are carved. When I asked when the next demo would be, he said they have to have a "group". I told him that 2 was a group, but he didn't think so. Oh well, maybe next time. 
Look at this wall of shoes! I fear that these were not actually made at this shop, however. We saw these same shoes in every tourist shop in Holland. Do I smell a tourist trap??
I'll end this chapter with one of my favorite picture of Zaanse Schans. Sorry about all the windmill pictures, but I was LOVING the windmills!!! We actually had a tiny bit of blue sky for just a minute while Mike took this!
Next stop, Keukenhof Gardens!
This one was grinding chalk to be used in paint pigment. I was a chicken and wouldn't go up the very, very high, very, very steep :-) ladder to the top part of the mill, but Mike did, and took some pictures of the inner workings. "You go ahead up that ladder honey, I'll look at the pictures when you get down!" The ladder was about 3 times as high as you can see here.They have a wooden shoe maker in Zaanse Schans, and they advertised demonstrations to show how the shoes are carved. When I asked when the next demo would be, he said they have to have a "group". I told him that 2 was a group, but he didn't think so. Oh well, maybe next time. Look at this wall of shoes! I fear that these were not actually made at this shop, however. We saw these same shoes in every tourist shop in Holland. Do I smell a tourist trap??I'll end this chapter with one of my favorite picture of Zaanse Schans. Sorry about all the windmill pictures, but I was LOVING the windmills!!! We actually had a tiny bit of blue sky for just a minute while Mike took this!Next stop, Keukenhof Gardens!Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Thoughts on being in Switzerland
I enjoy it here, but it is not the same as when we were living here long term. Being here by myself isn't nearly as much fun as when I had other wives to do things with. We went hiking together, shopping, and took the train to fun places like Montreux, Bellagio, and Milan. It isn't as much fun doing things like that by yourself -- plus train travel is much more expensive now. Seeing as we spent a small fortune in Amsterdam, I am trying to be content just sitting inside and watching the snow fall. It is very peaceful, and with my chaotic life at home, the quiet and rest is much appreciated. I have been reading, blogging (obviously), organizing our digital photos, and basically, waiting for Mike to get home from work. He has been working late the last few nights, not by his choice, but I have to be patient anyway. He is here to work, after all. When he gets home we try and take a long walk together, and then usually watch a movie or just yak at each other. I only have a couple more days here, and then he will be by himself until the end of May. I can hardly stand going home without him, but thankfully, Lisa, Charles and the kids will still be at our house. That helps me...but I feel sorry for Mike. I wish I didn't have to go back to work next week! He will probably spend the long hours doing extra work for other projects, so that will help fill his time somewhat. The overtime will be nice too -- seeing as we are taking a vacation in June. Oh well...enough whining. I think I'll go take a hot bath!
AMSTERDAM - Chapter 2
Back to Amsterdam! According to the tourist guides, Amsterdam has more bridges than Venice, and is subsequently called the "Venice of the North". 
The canal houses fascinated me. They are very tall and narrow -- the wider the house, the higher its taxes. Height doesn't matter, depth doesn't matter , just the width. So as we cruised and walked down the canals, we could look around and see who the wealthier residents were. Below you'll see some skinny houses, and some wider ones. 
The entire city is built on reclaimed land. Wooden and cement pilings are driven deep into the sandy, mushy land to hold the buildings up. The canal houses are all squished together, and some are leaning over since their foundations are sinking. It looked like this to me: if the solid house on the end fell over, the rest would go too, like a row of dominoes. Some were so crooked that you could feel the slant (a lot!) when you were inside. We noticed this when we were in the Anne Frank. Below you will find a good example of a home that is really leaning! Notice that the house to the right is straight. Good thing!
Most houses come with a "hoisting beam" at the very top of the gable. The guide told us that because the stairways are so steep and narrow, there is no way to get furniture up or down the stairs. All furniture moving is down through a window, while using this hoisting beam:
You can also notice some of the houses in the above picture tilting forward. Our guide said that sometimes, not always, they are built this way on purpose, to give more room inside the house. Below you'll see a rare sunny moment while we were on a canal cruise:
All over Amsterdam there are little fast food restaurants that sell only one item: fries! They are called "Vlaamse Frites", or Flemish Fries. They are thick fried potato pieces, served with a variety of sauces. One place had over 20 types! The most popular dipping sauce is mayonnaise, but gravy is a popular second. They must have been able to tell I was American, because she said, "Do you want ketchup?" For those of you that know me well, you know the anwer was yes! Here I am with a paper cone full of Vlaamse Frites, hoping my Weight Watcher's leader doesn't check my blog page!
Our next stop was the Van Gogh Museum. Mike wasn't sure about this one, but he ended up enjoying it as much or more than I did. We stood outside in the snow, and waited about 30 minutes to get in. 
Just so you know -- I was a good girl and didn't take pictures inside the museum. The pictures of his paintings were taken by someone else (that disobeyed the rules) who posted them on Webshots. I have pilfered them for your benefit! This is Van Gogh's painting of his bedroom in Aarles, France:
This one is one of several self portraits that he did:
That night, we discovered another Dutch food that turned out to be our favorite -- the Dutch version of thin pancakes, or crepes. Of course, it is somewhat of a favorite of ours at home, too, Mike makes them. He is not nearly creative with his "big pancakes" as the Dutch are, we may take some of their ideas home to try. The "Pancake Bakery" was a delicious place to have dinner. 
They make the pancakes, and then top them with an entire menu full of choices. The first time we went, I tried ham and cheese -- not so good. The second time, I tried pears, ice cream, whipped cream, and chocolate sauce. MMMMMmmm...good. Much better. Mike got apples, ice cream and whipped cream each time we went. 
The chef seemed to enjoy the fact that Mike wanted to take his picture, he even volunteered to flip a pancake for the camera! 
Apparently Mike thinks beer goes with anything, even pancakes!
That's all for today! Tomorrow I'll take you to some beautiful places, Keukenhof Gardens, and the windmill village of Zaanse Schans.
The canal houses fascinated me. They are very tall and narrow -- the wider the house, the higher its taxes. Height doesn't matter, depth doesn't matter , just the width. So as we cruised and walked down the canals, we could look around and see who the wealthier residents were. Below you'll see some skinny houses, and some wider ones. The entire city is built on reclaimed land. Wooden and cement pilings are driven deep into the sandy, mushy land to hold the buildings up. The canal houses are all squished together, and some are leaning over since their foundations are sinking. It looked like this to me: if the solid house on the end fell over, the rest would go too, like a row of dominoes. Some were so crooked that you could feel the slant (a lot!) when you were inside. We noticed this when we were in the Anne Frank. Below you will find a good example of a home that is really leaning! Notice that the house to the right is straight. Good thing! Most houses come with a "hoisting beam" at the very top of the gable. The guide told us that because the stairways are so steep and narrow, there is no way to get furniture up or down the stairs. All furniture moving is down through a window, while using this hoisting beam: You can also notice some of the houses in the above picture tilting forward. Our guide said that sometimes, not always, they are built this way on purpose, to give more room inside the house. Below you'll see a rare sunny moment while we were on a canal cruise:All over Amsterdam there are little fast food restaurants that sell only one item: fries! They are called "Vlaamse Frites", or Flemish Fries. They are thick fried potato pieces, served with a variety of sauces. One place had over 20 types! The most popular dipping sauce is mayonnaise, but gravy is a popular second. They must have been able to tell I was American, because she said, "Do you want ketchup?" For those of you that know me well, you know the anwer was yes! Here I am with a paper cone full of Vlaamse Frites, hoping my Weight Watcher's leader doesn't check my blog page!Our next stop was the Van Gogh Museum. Mike wasn't sure about this one, but he ended up enjoying it as much or more than I did. We stood outside in the snow, and waited about 30 minutes to get in. Just so you know -- I was a good girl and didn't take pictures inside the museum. The pictures of his paintings were taken by someone else (that disobeyed the rules) who posted them on Webshots. I have pilfered them for your benefit! This is Van Gogh's painting of his bedroom in Aarles, France: This one is one of several self portraits that he did:That night, we discovered another Dutch food that turned out to be our favorite -- the Dutch version of thin pancakes, or crepes. Of course, it is somewhat of a favorite of ours at home, too, Mike makes them. He is not nearly creative with his "big pancakes" as the Dutch are, we may take some of their ideas home to try. The "Pancake Bakery" was a delicious place to have dinner. They make the pancakes, and then top them with an entire menu full of choices. The first time we went, I tried ham and cheese -- not so good. The second time, I tried pears, ice cream, whipped cream, and chocolate sauce. MMMMMmmm...good. Much better. Mike got apples, ice cream and whipped cream each time we went. The chef seemed to enjoy the fact that Mike wanted to take his picture, he even volunteered to flip a pancake for the camera! Apparently Mike thinks beer goes with anything, even pancakes!That's all for today! Tomorrow I'll take you to some beautiful places, Keukenhof Gardens, and the windmill village of Zaanse Schans.
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