Tulip and Windmills: Veere

  

Back in The Netherlands once again, here and there was orange evidence left over from the King's Day revelry. Once again, there was a choice to be made: We were scheduled to spend the morning visiting a charming village called Veere and, if we wanted, could precede that by a stop at the Delta Works, a site devoted to water management and education about same. Water management in The Netherlands is a fact of life, and over the preceding days, we'd already learned a lot about dikes, reclaimed land, water, water level, and polders. Joe, it seemed, couldn't get enough of all of that. For me, bring on the shopping village!

Our friends C and M were also on the bus I was assigned and their conversation filled the journey. After a short guided tour, I wandered around on my own, in and out of delightful little shops. In one, I bought a new apron (I wear aprons any time I'm in the kitchen) and in another, a half-size coffee mug in Dutch blue and white. In a third shop I discovered some dinner ware that I loved and wrote down the name in case I might be able to find it once I got home (So far, I can't). 

At one point, I sat down on a bench at the meeting place to rest a bit before proceeding onward. And, suddenly, who should I see coming down the path, but Joe! He said he'd been told of a place that had amazing apple pie and he was heading there because he believed he had just enough time for a slice before he had to be back at his bus and would I care to join him? I would.

The pie was everything we'd been led to believe it would be (and then some). Oh, my. But when it was time to pay, the server became elusive and Joe began to worry about missing his bus. So I sent him on his way and waited to settle the bill myself.

By the time I found my way back to the bus, I was the last one to board. C and M had apparently been concerned about me and asked if everything was okay. "Oh," I told them, "I just loved that village! And I met the nicest guy! He was tall and very handsome and I bought him a piece of apple pie." They were speechless. We hadn't known each other all that long and I think they were focused on my being a retired chaplain. I let it stand for a beat or two and then said, "I took his picture, too! Would you like to see it?"