That reminds me
@Songbird76 and
@RedNoseMickey. I have a question about sports in The Netherlands. We have a relatively new cable station here called The Olympic Channel. It is really cool because we can finally watch sports they never show on regular tv here anymore like bobsled, luge, speedskating, biathlon, etc. Speedskating US Olympic trials were in the other night and the commentators were saying that speed skating is a huge and popular sport in The Netherlands were everyone goes crazy for it. Is this true?
Skating is really popular. I think it used to be more so, back when it was colder, but winters aren't as cold as they used to be and it doesn't snow/freeze as much. Have you ever heard of Hans Brinker and the Silver Skates? I will say, every year when it snows, people get all excited at the prospect of a possible Elfstedentocht (11 cities tour) which is a skating race where they skate through 11 cities on natural ice, like in canals and streams. They can only do it when the ice is thick enough and it hasn't been for YEARs now. There was one year they thought they'd be able to have it, but it came to nothing, though there were a lot of people who went out anyway. So, it's a big thing...just not as big as soccer. (Though our soccer team has been horrible the last few years and the Dutch speed skaters are actually doing well in the international arena.) But people DO go pretty crazy at the thought of the elfstedentocht...maybe because it doesn't happen often?
While my brother was still here we went to Madurodam. It is a miniature version of the Netherlands with all the famous buildings done to scale, with a view interactive bits.
Among others there is a beautiful version of the St.Jan.
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Village square with Christmas decorations.
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There were several games for kids to play, seeing how heavy cheese is and matching art work with Dutch artists. You could also "fly" over the Netherlands in a simulator.
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Oh I was just thinking about this the other day when I was reading TRs and someone had a picture of that miniature area in the World Showcase and how it wasn't decorated for Christmas and I wondered if Madurodam did! That's really cute that they do that! I've been there a couple of times, but we have yet to take the kids...I'll add it to my list. Along with the Rijksmuseum as DD didn't get to go today.
Yeah, my Uncle does all tech well including his phone but he was always the type to 'keep learning' so new updates to his computer or a new phone did not bring on any meltdowns and he is 90. He is the rare elderly that I know that totally embraced tech. I've embraced tech more than I give myself credit for but I am a far cry from my kids especially my DD.
My Mom will read her email and she is out. She has a basic cell, takes it with her but doesn't turn the freak'n thing on. So yes she can reach someone in an emergency but nobody in the same situation can reach her out of the house. It was a real problem when my Dad was in and out of hospitals for 7 months, then they'd call me like as if I could find her. Did I mention that my Mom was the English HS teacher for the English Tech Lab? She never progressed beyond the floppy disk era.
Man....my mom was terrible. I went to college just as email was starting to get popular, so I had an email address and my mom kept complaining that I was never home when she called. Well....yeah, I'm in class up to 14 hours a day (life of a music major) and I had a job...I was rarely home! So she decided she needed an email account. She had no computer, so she had to go to the library to make an account and check it, and I had to write down step by step instructions....DETAILED instructions. "The screen will look like this, and there will be a rectanle in the middle and to the left it will say log in: Move the mouse until the arrow is in that rectangle and click on the left mouse button..." She had to bring that paper with her every time because even if she checked it every day, she couldn't remember how to do any of it. My dad never had email or a computer...we talked on the phone a couple times a week...I miss that. And once in a while, I'd get one of his friends to show him pictures of the kids on facebook. He had an old clam shell mobile phone for emergencies that he didn't know how to work and that he kept turned off so he didn't run the battery down.
I kept telling him it doesn't help if you don't have it on...if people need to find you, you've got to have the phone on! If he felt like he needed to call you, he turned on the phone, called, and then turned it back off. I about had a heart attack at my brother's wedding because dad had said he'd be there and he'd call me for directions when he got into town...and he never called. I'm thinking he got into a car accident and is lying on the side of the road somewhere, but I have no idea where and his phone is off, so I just keep getting voicemail, which he didn't know how to check anyway. Turned out he had decided he couldn't support the marriage, so he didn't come, but didn't bother TELLING anyone he wasn't coming. But if he'd had his phone on, I would have been able to call him when he didn't show up and everything would have been fine.
One of my favorite quotes expresses my feelings of what my DD created tonight.
Oh dear God Almighty! That's incredible! I want to put it on the waffles tomorrow for breakfast! I want to take a bath in this stuff!
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Disney dessert worthy. S'mores cookie bars.
Your daughter is Sookie St. James???
Hello little groundhog...the idea of now a few inches of snow ontop of the ice.
Warning little fellow...winter best be ending when you peek your little head out....
You DO realize that the groundhogs aren't responsible for the weather...don't shoot the messenger!!
They already pre-treated our streets here with a brine. Get home safe.
