The other day the kids and started learning about what’s around us – Gouda’s history seemed a logical starting point, so I showed the kids Gouda’s crest, talked to them about the symbolism used in heraldry, and showed them lots of other crests and shields. Then we got busy making our own, and discovering what the symbolism behind our choices revealed. It was fun and I was pretty impressed with what the kids came up with.
We also talked a little bit about the famous buildings downtown and the kids chose one to visit that afternoon: St Jans Kerk. It’s most famous for its stained glass windows, and rightly so. We’d visited the cathedral last year when Jim and Gaby came to visit. Nicky recognized it immediately (the day we visited, Max was in school and Rowen was in daycare, so only Nicky had been there). We set about looking for other shields and crests, and the kids got really excited because they were everywhere – in the stained glass windows, on the burial stones – it seemed that the more we looked, the more we saw.
I picked up a few tourist booklets on Gouda and have been happily reading up in the city’s incredibly rich history, and I hope to share some of that here in the near future … but tonight I’m wiped out. We went to a special evening at the zoo (pictures tomorrow, I hope!), and I think I walked my feet of up to my knees. LOL. Those kids are like Energizer bunnies – I just wish I was, too!
To answer Chiloe’s question, no, I’m not on maternity leave anymore. The Netherlands has roughly a three month maternity leave, better than many places, not as good as others. I’ve been on a sort of leave of absence for an additional 4 months, but during that time I’ve done editing and writing that absolutely, positively cannot wait. Naturally, those rush jobs always come when it’s really busy at home, too. LOL.
