The 'Broekzijdse Molen', Abcoude

'Broekzijd' sounds like and literally means 'brookside' = beside the brook.
'Abcoude' = 'AP-COW-duh'  (nothing to do with cows)
According to blipper H0tamer, 'The Dutch word (broek) means the land, area, whereas the English word means little river, stream.'  You can see, though, how words have crossed borders and changed meanings.

After more than a week, finally, hunting weather.  To be honest, thankful that I was not distracted by fair weather during the week, as there was a lot to do and I spent my energy as well recovering from the intestinal flu of two weeks ago.

The 'brook' in the area of Abcoude is called the 'Gein', which is also colloquial slang for 'joke'.  I don't believe jokes had anything to do with it, though.  If you look at the map, it resembles a narrow canal, and, indeed, most of it has been 'domesticated', if you get my drift.  There are very, and I mean very, narrow dike roads on either side of it, good for a single carriageway, with a limited number of 'wider' parts where two vehicles may pass each other.  In short, one needs to keep one's eyes peeled so that one can spot an oncoming vehicle ahead of time, which can be a challenge since the dike is long and winding.  A driveway is convenient, if one is lucky, as many houses have been built along the dike, on patches of reclaimed land, and most of these homesteads are old.  In short, a rather rural-looking but nevertheless rich and 'landed' area.  The whole place must have been one large swamp till perhaps a century ago.  To shoot this, I slipped through the bars of a gate (no 'Off-Limits' sign anywhere) and stood in the muddy polder, hopscotching on some squelchy patches so that I could take pictures from various angles.

The Brookside Windmill was built in 1641, which makes it just over 380 years old.  In 2021, problems emerged regarding the rods (backbone of the vanes and sails), so they were secured and won't be turning for a while until repaired, who knows when.  The mill was named after the polder which it drains and maintains.  Having seen the area, it's not hard to imagine how useful it must have been, but it is not the only windmill along the Gein.  I won't mind returning time and again for the others, most of which were facing the 'wrong way' today.

Kitchen duties, colouring.  Thankful I am up to date with my work, even given the fact that there's always something to finish, but also with the issues in MNL.  As for the housekeeping, well, that's never completely done, is it.  Less-than-fair weather coming again, and I wonder for how long.  Thankful for the lengthening of the days, even if they're grey.