What the Warmerdam's didn't knew about the Van Leeuwen's

We knew they were coming.

38, or something like that.

We knew they were coming by Beuk bus from Woubrugge.

We knew they would arrive at circa 11am.

We thought they would like coffee at that time.

We did not knew they would prefer beer at that time.

We knew they might like to see Liesbeth's house, just across the street.

We did not knew they would like to see her bedrooms.

We knew they would need to use the toilet.

We did not knew they would need that much paper.

We knew they would like to have some bitterballen.

We did not knew they would think that would be all they would get to eat.

We told them to have as many Frikandellen Speciaal as they wanted.

We did not knew they would only order once.

We did not knew what would happen

when we told them to order as much as they wanted at the Patatkraam

We did not knew they would like beer

at coffee time, before lunch, after lunch, at tea time,

before dinner and after dinner.

We did not knew they had to go shopping for the potluck dinner the next day with 190 Van Leeuwen's.

The Jumbo Supermarket Winterswijk did not knew they would come at 6.30 am to do that shopping.

We do not know if all 38 went inside.

We do know they took cold beer and frikandellen with them in the bus.

We do not know if they did prepair dinner for the next day when they arrived back at Mariahoeve.

The Van Leeuwen's are finding their way !

 The best way to get to know Holland and Dutch people

is to go into a "Bruine Kroeg"

The Van Leeuwen dynasty is arriving in Holland

Tante Paulien and Jackie & Tom have already arrived in our polderland.

Paulien went to Alphen aan de Rijn and Jackie & Tom to Giethoorn.

Paulien has visted the Mariahoeve in Woubrugge on bike

to see what it lookes like.

Well I can say, after this afternoon: it is beautiful.

And it's so easy to get there:

from the highway between Schiphol Airport and Leiden/Den Haag you take exit 6 to Hoogmade, follow the signs "Hoogmade" and there it is:

the Hollandse polder in all it's beauty.

Flat, green, cow's, windmills, dikes and water.

At Hoogmade you follow the sign "Andere Richtingen" (other directions), and after a few curves and a P space, you'll see, on your left,

the drawbridge to the farm Mariahoeve.

The farmer Van der Salm will welcome you

if he is not at work on the fields or in the stables.

The owners farmhouse is in front
and at the back, in the old stable, the reception.

You can park on the farmyard, see, hear and smell the good old farm.

More at the back are the cottages where the Van Leeuwens will stay in, 

with a wonderful view to  the polder and the Wijde Aa.

Enjoy !

Not what it is, but how it was. Corle 1965.

 Your Tante Lia would probably tell it all different,

but these are some of my memories when we arrived in Corle in 1965.

Fresno, 1090 North Armstrong, 1964 ?

I was 7 years old.

I learned Dutch in less then no time

(ask my Tante Bets Warmerdam)

The first Dutch song I remember learning was:

"Zeg ken jij de Mosselman,

de Mosselman, de Mosselman.

Zeg ken jij de Mosselman,

die woont in Scheveningen"

(ask you Tantes and Oom Paul for the melody)

First we lived a few month's in Noordwijkerhout, the homeplace of my dad

Adriaan Warmerdam.

His sister, Tante Bets still lives in their family house.

It is a farm in the middle of the centre of the village.

In the mean while Dad went looking for a place to live.

Nice, rural, quiet, with space and affordable.

The Achterhoek was the place to go.

About 4 kilometers outside the village Winterswijk: Corle

a neighbour called "De Pieper", our road looked like this

There only was a dirt road to get there.

Imagine how that was when it had rained or snowed.

On some days we could not get there by car, we had to walk.

Blurp, blurp, blurp.

When we arrived there in 1965, there was electricity.

But only since 1958.

In the kitchen was a waterpump you had to swing to pump the water up from somewhere below.

We first lived in a chicken barn next to the house. Oh well, it had been a chicken barn, but it was turned into a simple holiday-let by the previous owners.

The farmhouse itself had no central heating, only a coal fire in the living room.

Brrrrrr.

I remember my mom Lia, not swearing, but something near to that,

while trying to start the coals to burn in the early morning.

Do know she, we, were used to so much more comfort in Fresno where we came from.

What was she doing there in Corle besides following her man ?
She, and we all, survived and had a great time.

June 18, 2016 The van Leeuwen's are coming !

A start of a special Blog to read and write about

the visit of the Van Leeuwen's  to Winterswijk in Holland

on June 18, 2016

a typical "Achterhoek" barn

 Not wanting to begin with the start, a mill, although the visit will start in a mill, because the van Leeuwen's will probably see that kind of dutch architecture quite enough during their stay in Holland;

I will start with Corle.
No mill in sight.

Corle belongs to the dutch village Winterswijk.

Winterswijk lies in the "Achterhoek", the east part of the dutch province "Gelderland"

We call Corle a "Buurtschap".

No, it is not a neighbourhood.

It's more complicated.

On a later blog I will try to explain.

Any way, you got:

The Netherlands,

also called Holland, Nederland, Les Pays Bas, etc. 

the people there speak Dutch,

a part is called Gelderland,

a part of that is the Achterhoek,

and there is the village Winterswijk,

with the "buurtschap" Corle.

Corle has also different parts:

such as:

Geelinkhoek, Mentinkhof, Korenburgerveen and more.

Pauline's sister, Lia Hofman, with her husband Aad Warmerdam

went to live in Corle after they returned from the US in 1965.

With us, their 5 children, all born in the USA;

Ann, Paulette, Marx, Adrian and Liesbeth

We grew up in Corle.

Well, that's a complicated start !

More will follow.....

And please, do understand,

my English is not great, it's simple, plain and, yes, probably silly

south view from Lia's house