The 'Zemelmolen', Lisse

'Zemel' ('ZAYmul') refers to the polder which was under its 'jurisdiction' at the time it was built, which was in 2003.  In short, a fairly new mill.  This is not the first time, though, that a mill was built here.  The previous one burnt down completely.  It is terrible to watch a mill on fire, I think.  I've seen pictures... horrible and sad.  There's an extra.

Lisse has two windmills.  The other one is inside the world-famous tulip garden Keukenhof (googleable), which has been closed for more than a year due to the pandemic.  I have been to the Keukenhof a handful of times and have seen the mill, of course, and I will visit again when it reopens, which won't be till next year.  At that moment, though, I wonder what I will focus on -- the windmill or the tulips.  I experienced that today, when my purpose for driving to the area was to see the tulip fields.  However, the tulip farmers have decided to 'help' people follow the COVID restrictions by planting narcissus and hyacinths instead.  There are a handful of large tulip beds close to the Keukenhof itself, but they are either behind a fence or across a ditch, and of the small variety, and there was no way to really get close for a good shot of the dwarf plants.  Even the windmill, which is visible from the road, had its face in the opposite direction.  Everywhere I drove in that area, it was narcissus or hyacinths or just plain empty fields, and I visited all the spots where I used to take shots.  No tourists means no sales of anything, so no investments.  Even a non-business person like myself can understand the logic there.  And yet, whole towns have prospered as a result of the flower business, which is huge in this country.  I suspect a lot of the stuff is now being grown in greenhouses.  How would one otherwise produce the bulbs for next year?

In short, I was lucky to spot the field yesterday, which was only half the distance I needed to get to Lisse.  I'm now also questioning my motivation to continue looking for fields further north.  I could still go on with the hunt and then, if I spot any, return another time for the local mill.  Looking for bulb fields, though, means a lot of extra driving around, and might be a waste of time.

There was a shot I'd made showing how much higher this body of water is compared to the polder behind me, but it was not clear enough.  The canal in this picture is at least a full 5 meters higher than the polder, and it was interesting to mark the difference between the 'high' water and the 'low' water.  In short, if the dike were to crumble, half the town would be flooded.

Housework and a lot of research the rest of the day and evening, while AW had his Tuesday evening bridge online.