Photos from my new home in the Netherlands...
Blazing Reader,
This is my first Blazing Pine Cone email newsletter from my new home in the southern province of Brabant in the Netherlands. Last Monday, my son and me packed up everything from our two-bedroom apartment in Ontario. Here's a photo of my near-empty writing studio (where I wrote both my published novels)...
And here's a photo of the moving truck...
We were supposed to fly out of Toronto on Tuesday and land in Amsterdam on Wednesday (which was my birthday), but a mistake with our plane tickets resulted in a two-day delay. Instead of spending my birthday in a beautiful European village, I spent it in a hotel in Mississauga (Canada's ugliest city).
After a lot of hardship and time wasted, we took off at 4:45 pm on Thursday and landed at 5:30 am (local time) on Friday in Amsterdam. We then headed south to the province of North Brabant, where Ina took this photo of our train arriving...
From there it was a short drive to our new home, where my new wife, Ina, already had this shingle hanging...
...and a belated lemon-strawberry birthday cake awaiting me. Here's a photo of the birthday dessert with my son Jonah and our new best friend, Harley (the family dog)...
Here's Kevin, my step-son (or "bonus son" as they say in Dutch), being silly while I try to be serious wearing my 47th birthday crown...
The locals say we live in a village, but by Canadian standards it's a town, with a population of nearly 6,000 (who have been very friendly and welcoming). Already well into spring, the townscape is beautiful, as you can see here...
The surrounding area is heavily forested, with plenty of farms, including more sheep, goats and llamas than I'm used to seeing on a daily basis. Wikipedia says the area also has the highest pig density in the Netherlands, but so far I haven't heard a single oink.
The 400-year-old town, however, does have a fully functional windmill, which we had a tour of by a local windmill enthusiast named Otto...
Here's Jonah and me trying to become one with the windmill...
From the other side, Ina and me, before a very narrow stairwell...
Jonah feeling the wheat before it goes through the grindstone...
Jonah, Ina and Otto at the base of the massive, rotating structure...
Oh, and we also stopped by the nearest castle, in the neighbouring city of Helmond:
I'm currently working out of the corner of our third-floor attic bedroom, while we await architectural drawings, city permits and contractors to add an extension to the house. I'm going to be busy over the next few months learning Dutch, completing the immigration process, unpacking (whenever the boat arrives in Rotterdam) and... releasing the audiobook version of Much Ado About Corona.
John C.A. Manley
PS On Saturday, we also took a two-hour road trip north to visit Keukenhof Park, a 32-hectare flower garden where over 7 million bulbs are planted annually. Here are a few photos from the fantastical floral scapes...
John C. A. Manley is the author of Much Ado About Corona, All The Humans Are Sleeping and other works of philosophical fiction that are "so completely engaging that you find yourself alternately laughing, gasping, hanging on for dear life." Get free samples of his stories by becoming a Blazing Pine Cone email subscriber.
