The 'Hooglandse Molen', Hellouw

'Hoogland' = 'Hoegh-land' = 'Highland'
'Hellouw' does NOT sound like 'hello' but like 'hell-AUW'.  Funny name!

Built in 1803 but still a beauty!  And with the blue backdrop, even more so.  Notice the 'hump' on the side?  There used to be a watermill, and it's been preserved but that's as far as it goes.  To prevent damage, it's been permanently protected with the round casing.  Extra shot will show how it looks close up.

Quite a bit of history connected to this windmill.  RAF pilot Basil Henri Scarff was on a reconnaisance mission above this area when Nazi anti-aircraft artillery hit his plane.  He was able to bail out but his plane plunged into the polder and it's still there somewhere, but I don't think anyone will give the necessary permit to dig it up.  Scarff was picked up by the Germans and interrogated and he even shared some of his cigarettes with them.  He was then sent to a POW camp and he stayed there till the camp was liberated.  In order to keep this anti-aircraft artillery dry (polders are ex-wetlands, of course), the occupiers ordered the miller to keep the mill working, pumping the polders whenever water levels threatened to rise.  Of course, the miller did not want to cooperate with those orders, so he secretly buried his oil and, instead, used the wrong kind of oil to lubricate the rods.  This oil was not good for the wood and the miller told the occupiers that he'd simply run out of the right kind of grease, and it was no longer available or easy to find.  They took him at his word, but using the wrong lubricant damaged the turning mechanisms of the mill, and repairs were costly at the time, so it took quite a while before it got going again after the war.  This is actually the fourth mill to stand on this spot.  The first one was built in 1572, the second in 1627, the third in 1802.

A wider window of blue today, but close nonetheless.  A huge, thick band of dirty-looking black cloud was behind me, the sun just a bit to the right of it.  I had my fun but it rained part of the way back.  This location isn't very far from our town, thankfully, and I was early enough to avoid the afternoon rush hour.

At home, the usuals -- heavy MOOCking, some colouring, some reading, kitchen duties, some bookkeeping for AW, not much because there's not much money to keep or keep an eye on these days.  *huge guffaw*

There is a little story I've meaning to share, though.  Shortly after I shut my FB site last week (still no regrets, by the way), I got a sudden phone call from Germany -- Grünhilde!  She'd seen my leavetaking post on FB and scrambled to find my number!  Luckily, she still had an old mobile phone and it was still there, so she gave me a ring.  Actually, she'd already been trying to reach me for days but kept pressing the '0', so only later did she realize that she had to skip it.  We chatted for quite a while, and she said that perhaps I shouldn't have deleted my site because everything I do online is traceable anyway, but never mind, she found me again, and that was a relief.  In short, we've made an appointment for next year!  I'll drive over to her place again in Marktbreit, stay as long as I wish, we'll visit Würzburg together, and perhaps a few other places.  What an adventure to look forward to!  

This was the shot in Marktbreit in 2020.
https://www.blipfoto.com/entry/2737226825229927455

That phone call was truly unexpected.  What a wonderful surprise it was!  I am very thankful.  True friendships never fail.