Windmill 'De Hoop', Zoetermeer

'Hoop' sounds like and means 'hope'.
'Zoetermeer' = 'ZOO-tur-mier' = 'sweet lake'.

Zoetermeer is sometimes labelled 'that village outside The Hague'.  In fairness, it's not 'that' small.  That said, its centre is tiny but the rise in population through the decades coupled with the sharp increase in the industrialization of the entire western half of the country has stretched its borders extensively so that it is now 10X what it used to be.  As one might expect, the windmill is in a residential neighbourhood, crappily squeezed in among the houses, in its own tiny 'square'.  It's not that old (1897) and is clearly well-maintained.  There used to be a much older mill here, already in existence in 1531, and this one was built almost immediately after that one burned down to the ground.

It was dark and grey when I left the house, and I drove straight into the downpour on the A16, but the sky cleared quickly after that, and by the time I crossed the Hollandsche Diep, the sun was truly out, and it stayed that way till I got back home.  Truly thankful for the information from the cloud radar site.

In better spirits, but I'm aware that 'these things' come and go.  Keeping busy is key, and finishing chores and meeting self-imposed deadlines, and then getting some rest.  I knew I was going to stay up to watch the Games, so I took a short nap in the afternoon.  Later in the evening, just after midnight, spent half an hour in the kitchen cleaning up even more stuff.  This cleared up my head, too.  Let's go again, Team NL!

Thanks a lot for dropping by yesterday and leaving some stars!