Landzigt, the Local Windmill, Zuid-Beijerland, ZH

Attended a kind of training seminar today in connection with interviewing candidates for next schoolyear.  To think that this schoolyear is halfway done and it feels as though I'd just done my last interview last year ... where has the time gone?  In the meantime, I'd gone to India for the third time.

Intend to work some more tonight here at home.  On the long and circuitous way home, though, guess what -- two windmills!  I thought I'd explore the area known as the Hoeksche Waard, a farming area quite close to Rotterdam.  It is a beautiful countryside area!  Of course, many of those who live here have the luxury of working in the big city and at the same time living in a country house.  I will blip the other windmill next time, of course.  THIS one is called 'Landzigt', which translates as 'view over the land'.  I couldn't agree more!  It's perched on top of a high dike and is highly visible.

As for the name 'Hoeksche (also spelled 'Hoekse') Waard, it translates literally as the 'waard' at the corner.  A 'waard' is what people call a low-lying area between a body of water and a dike.  Imagine a river and then imagine a dike about half a kilometer or perhaps a mile further.  The land between the river and the dike might be dry, but if the waters rise, that same strip of land will be the first to be inundated, which is okay because the dike further away will protect the rest of the land on the other side of the dike.  In short, the 'waard' is expected to act as a buffer.  It gives the body of water, like a river or lake, the room to expand without putting the farms and houses in danger.  Of course, people simply use the dike to build their houses; the higher the better!

THANKS for dropping by for tea yesterday! You can see how variable our weather is these days.