Kasia Meller and Judy in Warsaw

Kasia Meller and Judy are standing in front of Kasia's shop, Mellina, where she sells clothing, accessories as well as serving coffee and cakes. We have known Kasia and her twin brother, Andrzej, and their older brother, Marcin, for 21 years, since they were little children. Warsaw is their home city and we have made a pilgrimage there every Thanksgiving WITH a frozen turkey, sweet potatoes and cranberries to make a party for them. We have loved watching them grow up into successful adults. We had a wonderful, fun filled summer vacation with Kasia and the "boys" in Greece with their father, Stefan and their mother, Beate. For the last 21 years, we have visited them several times and they have been here to our home in The Hague. Also, they spent a year in Atlanta, Georgia and we flew the twins from Amsterdam to Boston and then drove them to Chapel Hill, where our son, Michael and his wife, Rikki, drove them to Atlanta.

Huibert and his caravan

This is Huibert standing in front of his caravan in Amsterdam. This is one of four caravans in the park, which was once the place where circuses would winter. Huibert has painted the inside and outside of the caravan. A visitor to the caravan park would be reminded of a Hippy campground, but there is also a huge quonset hut where parties are held, and a sort of airplane hanger where a boat is being built. Huibert's family and friends gather for meals around a central campfire. The whole site is very unique and, in fact, a Dutch TV program once filmed Huibert painting his caravan. The park is on a small island on the Ij River right on the outskirts of Amsterdam. Huibert is waiting for the day that the city fathers roll up and close the place down.

Rob Brandts Gold Potato Compost Chandelier

Rob Brandts is a sculptor who lives outside of Rotterdam. About 5 years ago, he was drinking coffee out of a plastic cup and the indentation left by his thumb suddenly caught his attention. He decided to have the indented cup turned into a ceramic model and made a few for a show in a gallery. They sold out immediately and he decided to mass produce them for steady income. These plastic-ceramic cups have been a big success for Rob. This chandelier has nine of the cups with a halogen bulb inside and the black wires are heavy duty electrician's wire so they can be bent back and forth. The idea is of an upside down compost heap with the gold dripping off the black base onto the gold "potato".

Greek willow revolving bar table

About 30 years ago we were driving on Halkidiki peninsula and stopped for a snack in Kassandra. On the other side of the street was a derelict workshop filled with old wooden furniture. A man was busy cleaning out the shop and loading pieces into a small van. Suddenly, we noticed this table. We walked over to the site and found this dusty item under a pile of old workclothes. We asked the man if it was for sale and he said yes. It is all handmade, even the glass top was hand cut, and the central bottle holder revolves around a post. The design is bent willow twigs upon plywood. There are two small side shelves with glass tops also. We put it in the back of our station wagon and drove it all the way back from Greece to The Hague. Then, the reaction to the Dutch weather was a bit shocking because a mold began to grow all over the willow. We went to a garden store and they advised buying a mold-killing spray, which worked perfectly. The table is a bit wobbley on its legs, but otherwise it is still in good shape. Each of the bottle holders is a cheap pressed wood circle with the willow twigs glued and nailed to the side. This is nothing fancy, but it is a unique piece and with all the fun of bringing it back from Greece, we will take it to the States.

"Our man" Andi

This is Andi, from Indonesia. Andi is a singer, guitar player, member of a band AND a pharmacist. He put himself through pharmacy college in Indonesia by making music. It took him 7 years, and now he, and his wife, have come to The Netherlands to earn money by cleaning houses so that they can return to their country and buy a pharmacy. Behind him you can see the door telephone on the wall, the line phone on the black holder, and on the left, the photo montage of me and Judy from our original passports. Sometimes, when Andi is working here, we speak to Peter, our son in Boston, and also my father.

Scheveningen harbor during a storm

In the last 40 years there have two or three storms in the Scheveningen harbor which have been so strong that the large fishing boats have been picked up from their mooring positions and the sea water has come up over the quay. You can see our little VW Polo parked next to the Tridens trawler, which has risen far into the air. Its lines are stretched upwards as the ship rises. The sea water is sloshing ovr the edge of the quay and you can see the white caps on the sea face. On the days when the winter winds are very strong and from the South, the beach roads along the dike faces are covered with blowing sand and the police stop all traffic. Once, in the 1970's, a ship was blown onto the beach from its mooring 10 miles out at sea. It was the pirate radio station, Radio Northsea, and it became a huge tourist attraction, until a channel was dug and the ship was towed out to sea again.

Rowing teams on the Suez Kanaal

This view from our balcony shows two teams of rowers in a competition held in the Spring each year. There are 12 rowers, one helmsman, and one man on the bow. They race from the harbor in the center of The Hague along a course that brings them to each section of the city's waterway. There are some sections of the canal system that are so narrow that the boats can only go one at a time, and these are the select spots for a bit of aggressive rowing and steering. You can also see the houseboat at the end of canal right at the bridge on the Laan van Meerdervoort, where only one boat at a time can pass. In this case, the yellow boat was able to make the first pass.

Sinter Klaas, Zwarte Piet, and Judy

December 5 is Sinter Klaas holiday in The Netherlands. The Sint arrives in The Hague on a fishing boat, supposedly from Spain. He is accompanied by a group of Zwarte Piets, who throw a sort of candy to the people. All the children sing songs to welcome the Sint, and that evening, the families gather to hand out gifts. The special aspect of Sint day is that the gift is attached to a poem and is hidden inside a packaging that disguises what it is AND together, the poem and the package, are supposed to make a sort of funny, sarcastic comment on the person getting the gift. In the schools, each child is brought with the class to meet Sint, who reads from a large book in which the teachers have described the children. In some cases, the Sint says that "you have not worked hard on your spelling, have you?" Of course, the little children are amazed at his knowledge. On the street outside our apartment, (and on many streets in the whole country) The Sint and the Piets parade with music and make a lot of fun with the shoppers. All the families arrive and greet Sint, who has ridden up on a white horse. Lots of laughing, lots of singing and just plain fun. We used to have fun with the friends and our kids in a big Sint party where poems and gifts were exchanged. You would pick a person's name out of a hat and buy them a present and write the poem. It was great when one of the children got an adult's name and wrote a poem that could be quite funny(and true).

Pieter Defesche, "Neighbors"

This lovely painting is our favorite. Pieter painted this of the lady and her two children who lived next door to him in the village of Ulestraten, near Maastricht. She had asked him to make a portrait of her and the children and he made it on the condition that she let him make the same portrait in is own style. She agreed. Pieter was a professor of art in Maastricht and a charming man with a wild twinkle in his eye. We visited him and his wife, Dolly, in their home and they also visited my mother and father in Boston. Pieter died in 1998, a much admired and loved Dutch painter.

Huibert van Dorp--mini theater

Huibert is one of our longest running friends. We met him when he was 19 years old and a student in the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague. He has made many pieces of art for our apartment. This theater has flashing lights in the back and overhead lighting. There are stage curtains and teeny steps leading up to the stage floor. When you play music, and the lights flash away, the effect is lovely at night. The four figures on the stage are independent and can be moved around in a dance. The little green floor lamp is also free to put either on the stage or next to the steps.

The Peace Palace, Carnegieplein, The Hague

The Peace Palace houses both the International Court of Justice and the Permanent Court of Arbitration, where Judy works as the General Counsel. She also works for the International Council of Commercial Arbitration as Managing Editor of their Yearbook and other publications. This building was constructed with funds from Andrew Carnegie at the beginning of the 2oth Century. Queen Wilhelmina of The Netherlands and Tsar Nicholas II of Russia were the leading figures in the creation of a court to settle international disputes in order to avoid war. The Peace Palace is filled with lovely pieces of art donated by many countries. Judy worked here from 1997 until her retirement in 2007.

The memorial placque on the Reinkenstraat

This placque above the door of number 19 Reinkenstraat was organized by Herman Niebhor, the owner of the cheese store. He wanted to remind present day residents of the history of the street. The basic story is that 24 Jews were secreted in the building and were betrayed by a neighbor during the German occupation of The Netherlands during World War II. The inscription says: "This memorial to the dead is, for them, a second life." Jean Bartou.
The text is: "On March 22, 1943, 24 Jewish neighbors who lived at #19, were arrested by the German occupiers. They were transported to Sobibor(Concentration Camp) and murdered."

The Reinkenstraat, our shopping street

The Reinkenstraat is a typical Dutch shopping street. This is the front door of the Boot family hardware and handyman store. There are two flower shops, two butchers, a shoe repair shop, two bakeries, one laundromat, four cafes, one bar, one clothing repair shop, two pizza restaurants, one Indonesian restaurant, a cheese and milk store, two gift shops, one leaded glass workshop, two real estate agencies, an upholsterer, a bookstore, and a late night snack shop. The only store missing is a fishmonger, but on two days a week, a herring cart is brought out and we buy fresh herrings, or smoked mackeral sandwiches. The Reinkenstraat used to be a workers' neighborhood, but now has been yuppified and gone up market. There is also a bicycle repair shop around the corner and two tram stops at the end of the street, so this is one of the most convenient streets in the city. We have loved living in this neighborhood, especially because the people are so friendly. Judy teases me that I am the "mayor" of the Reinkenstraat becuase I say hello to everyone. Our dream would be to find a street like this in Miami when we move.

A View of the houseboats on the Suezkade

These houseboats have permanent locations rented from the city. All services are supplied just like a normal house. The water in this canal is too warm to swim in, and once in a while, a fisherman hauls up an immense carp and all the newspapers come for photos. The houseboats can not be shifted outside this location unless they are demolished down to the underwater boat section. Usually, the basin is made of poured concrete and it is floated in under the bridge. All construction materials are delivered from the roadway on the right. This is a peaceful canal with no traffic, so the living is comfortable. In fact, there is even a two story houseboat at the other end. Every year, a family of swans comes to raise a family. We lived overlooking this beautiful canal for almost all of the 39 years that we were in The Hague.

Suezkade 124, our home for 27 years

This apartment was our home from 1970 to 1997. Officially it is called a double ground floor gentleman's house. On the left is the wooden-walled gentleman's smoking room(we used it as a guest room), the master bedroom, a second bedroom, the kitchen and, at the back, a pantry. On the right, is the living room, the dining room, and the sunroom, which opened into the garden. There was also a smaller bedroom on the right opening on the garden. And, in the end of the 14 meter long marble hallway, was the door to the wine cellar. As a special treat, our landlord, Mr. Jasperse, spent 5 years digging a secret underground tunnel from the sidewalk to the back garden, because he also dug out(by hand!) a hole for a swimming pool. Unfortunately, he struck ground water from the Beek River, and the hole flooded so badly that the pool could not be finished. The floor in the pantry cracked and broke because he didn't support the roof of the tunnel. We loved this apartment, especially the huge old fashioned kitchen which became the central location for many dinners with our friends and family when they visited.

Maggi Giles' ceramic dinner set

Maggi Giles has been our friends since 1972 when we were lucky to have seen a sculpture she made in the Galerie Nouvelle Images in The Hague. I called her up at her studio in Amsterdam and told her we loved the sculpture. Since then we have been close friends. On our 25th anniversary, we asked Maggi to make us a set of dishes and she agreed. This is a place setting for eight, including two candlesticks, two serving bowls, a fish platter, a coffee pot, salt and pepper shakers and a tomato plate. Maggi helped us choose the appropriate utensils. Maggi said that we were obligated to use the dishes and keep them on display, and when we have a fancy party, we bring them out of their cabinet. Each one must be hand washed in order to protect the edges. these dishes will be specially packed for safe transport to Miami, and the cabinet will go also. Maggi's book, "The Piggy Chef" and her book, "The Perfect Planet" will get featured space in our new home.

Farewell dinner hosted by Boelie and Ellen

Judy and I have been lucky over the years to have met interesting people. Some Dutch people have become close friends. Boelie Woelders (real name is Arian) was 19 years old when he first came to our house for a party. Boelie had a relatively wild life when he was younger, but now, a married man, he is the owner of a successful graphic art company. He and Ellen hosted a farewell party in our honor in their home in Oestgeest, outside of Leiden. The chef gives private lessons and also cooks for private parties. We were picked up at six by a taxi and driven to the house. Champagne and "hapjes" were served before we sat down. And then a four course meal was presented, and the chef explained every dish. Finally, coffe and three cakes(baked by Ellen) for the closing and we were taken home by the taxi at about midnight. Patriek and Maria van Dorp were among the guests. What a pleasant evening and an emotional one.

Faisa's Family waves goodbye.

This is Mohammed and Faisa and Naeem and their mother. Mohammed is the son of the Moroccan man from The Hague open market. We have been shopping from this family for almost all the 39 years we have lived in The Hague. Faisa turned 21 and we sold her our VW Polo. This family is typical of what we are leaving behind here. The grandfather immigrated from Morocco and now his son and grandson operate the same market stall. We usually buy zucchini, parsley, sweet potatoes, artichokes, fennel, and wild spinach from Mohammed. Every Saturday morning at 10, we drive to the market and head for Mohammed's stall. Then off to Barbara for fruit and then to Jan for vegetables and finally to Willem, the Kaas Boer(Cheese Farmer) for a selection of Dutch cheeses. We hope to find a similar type of market in Miami when we move there in October, but we have heard that Miami does not have a daily market like this. The Hague market is the biggest in the Netherlands, with food, butchers, bakers, fishmongers, antiques, clothing and flowers. You can buy very cheap clothes there(€ 1 for a handmade shirt from India!) and handbags, shoes, coats from Russia, bicycles, and even fresh herring eaten raw right on the spot.