Author: Jen

Despite our upcoming holiday in Chicago, I thought it would be nice to decorate for Christmas. I spent a few hours putting up the Christmas tree, garlands, and lights. It’s only a small box worth of decorations, but it makes quite a difference in atmosphere. The twinkling lights and candles…

It seems like only yesterday the days were filled entirely with rain and wind. I started school at my university in September, and the first few weeks of school quickly turned into typical Dutch autumn weather. Even on the lowest portions of the school, it was still possible to hear…

I spent Thanksgiving evening with G in the middle of Amsterdam. Hard Rock Cafe had a Thanksgiving dinner special, with every part of a traditional meal. We had corn chowder soup, turkey with stuffing/mashed potatoes/ etc, and pumpkin pie. We saw quite a few Americans and Netherlanders enjoying the dinner.…

During the past two weeks, the Dutch flower season has come into full swing. The first flowers out were not tulips, but other species like hyacinths.  The flowers grown here vary in wide ranges, and include more than tulips. I’ve seen fields of hyacinths, daffodils, narcissus, and more. All of…

It’s a very busy Queen’s Day, with sales, bike riding, and a new King! I’ve seen all sorts of things sold in the stores, including orange cowboy hats. I had no idea they’d put the House of Orange on food Dutch royalty on a Hagelslag (sprinkles) tin, now I’ve seen everything.…

With the onset of spring, it makes traveling and photography much easier with temperate weather. The temperature outside has a particularly strong effect on certain aspects of photography, especially when shooting with Polaroid film. It is G’s medium of choice when shooting with his vintage cameras. This Saturday we drove…

The Bloemencorso Bollenstreek flower parade went through our region of Zuid-Holland today, and through Noordwijk. All of the cars are decorated primarily with flowers, and celebrate entities from around the area. We stood near the entrance of a roundabout to get pictures. I’ve never had to fight to shoot photographs…

Spring is in the air, with Dutch flowers beginning to emerge in the fields. The daffodils color the fields bright yellow. We’ve been driving out in all kinds of weather to see the emerging flowers. We also managed to take drives all the way up to Schiphol Amsterdam airport to…