Postcards From Holland

I’m going to Holland in January. I didn’t pick that month. Stewart is teaching a workshop then and I will tag along. (Check it out if you want to get creative in the Netherlands.) I know it will be cold. I know I won’t see fields of tulips gracefully nodding their heads in the breeze. I read somewhere that Holland has more museums per capita than anyplace else in the world, so I hope to see some of those. And maybe a windmill or two.

I found these images today, when I was browsing through an “antiques” store which, as habits go, is one of my better ones. In a moment of synchronicity, I came across a pile of old postcards, including these from Holland in the 1980s. (I always gravitate toward bins of old letters and faded photos. I can’t stop pawing through them even as I send up a silent plea that my own personal papers never end up in an old plastic bucket in a junk shop that smells a little like pee, as this one did.)

These postcards mostly depict the stereotypical, summery sights that I will not see. This one of a hotel in Arnhem is my favorite . . .

And this is why . . .

Dear Janet, thank you for making me laugh out loud. When I get to Holland, I hope all the cows aren’t in the barn.