Dank U wel for stopping by. I haven't a clue why so many Netherlanders have visited my blog in the past couple of months but I am thrilled nonetheless. My two oldest children, you see, are three-eighths Dutch and are saddled with a surname that translates to "keeper of the dyke". Their great-great-grandfather was your Queen's tailor before emigrating to the United States. De wereld is zo klein! De wereld, mijn dorp!
Yes, it really is a small world. The Netherlands and Japan enjoyed a friendship long before Commodore Matthew Perry sailed into Tokyo Bay. This relationship is described in David Mitchell's book, The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, which I recommend to anyone interested in history.
You would probably feel even more at home in Japan than I do. Your ancestors brought tulips here and many of the rivers, especially in urban areas, have concrete banks that make them look more like canals than rivers. I have not yet spied a windmill but that doesn't mean there aren't any.
Although I've never visited the Netherlands corporeally, my imagination has taken me to your lovely country often thanks to authors like Mary Mapes Dodge, John Irving, Jeffrey Lent, and someone else whose name escapes me and I'm too lazy to thumb through my reading log this morning. In my dreams I've raced down your frozen canals on silver skates more nights than I can count.
Zo, dank U wel.
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