Wednesday, November 17, 2010

God’s Molen Malen Langzaam Maar Zeker

(God’s Windmills Grind Slowly But Sure)




Jill's Journal: For the first time, the girls got to see the workings inside of a windmill (the Old Mill at Diamond Vogel Paint), including the cheery and charming living quarters of a Dutch miller and his family. After seeing other mills which were powered by water, it was super easy for them to understand that windmills harness the wind (and wonderful to see they’re retaining many of the things they’re learning on this trip!).

Notice the Dutch storefronts downtown and actually throughout all of Orange City. I appreciate this town more every time I’m here. And Mom, yes, we went to the wonderful Woudstra Meat Market today and have as many saucijsjes as our little freezer can hold!! Saucijsjes are a Dutch-style pig in the blanket, a spiced pork/beef sausage wrapped in a delicate pastry. They are divine and can’t seem to be perfectly replicated anywhere outside of Orange City. Of course, we’ll have to try the versions in other Dutch towns as we travel. :)

The girls were particularly taken by the phone booths in town…

And visited Great Aunt Julie at work (she’s a librarian!).

But I think the most educational thing we did today, hands-down, was give the girls an idea of where their bacon comes from! They got to go to a hog confinement and learn a tiny bit about how pigs are raised. They’ve only ever seen one pig in their entire life – in Plymouth in September – so seeing 1,000 at once was wild. Erika found it fascinating, Madelyn was a little overcome by the smell, and Victoria was intimidated by their size and number. Erika got to touch several and was surprised at how “not-soft” they are and how clean they are in comparison to what she expected. It was something I don’t think they’ll forget. Thanks so much to Uncle Kim and Denny V.R. for giving us the opportunity.

1 comment:

gretchenhs said...

Are they all vegetarians now?