Schiermonnikoog

Schiermonnikoog is one of the islands in the north of the Netherlands. Cars are not permitted, but there are many bicycles for rent. We really should have reserved the bikes ahead of time, but in the end we were lucky. One rental shop had some children’s bikes and we were about to take a bicycle built for two, but then found that the chain was off. The young fellow at the shop took pity on us and gave us his own bike, rusty though it was! After a little while we went back to the shop and found that someone had returned a bike and so we were all set to go a little further through the island.

We went through some of the farm land, stopping of course to pat the horses. We also biked through the sand dunes next to the beach. I think it must be one of the few hilly places to bike in Holland!

We stopped at the beach and despite the cool weather, the girls had a quick swim. There was a sand bar a little way out and on it were resting several seals. It would have been nice to get a better view, but the water was too deep at that point.

We caught the 4:30 pm boat back to the mainland. It might have been nice to bike a little longer, but Yasmin and Roya had tired legs and they were very excited to go back to Maria and Marieke's house because we had asked Marieke if we could do art with her that evening.

After a pizza dinner we set to work on our paintings. Marieke asked us to first close our eyes and think over the past few days and the fun we had had together. She asked us to think of emotions and told the girls that they could draw either something with form or something abstract. She showed the girls some examples so they would know what abstract meant. We first used pastels, and then we wet the paper and used water colours. I especially enjoyed the water colours and the way they could be made to blend together.

We had some tea, coffee, and juice and some cookies as we painted. When we completed our works of art, we also discussed and explained them. It was a lot of fun, and I enjoyed watching the shining, happy faces of both my children and my aunts, as much as I enjoyed the activity myself!

CM

Home in 5 days!