Renewed Passports

Our trip to Holland is just over a week away, with our flight scheduled to leave on April 2 from the Buffalo International Airport.  I thought all our ducks were in a row,  until Cliff received a phone call on Monday morning from our friend Brent who is a pilot for Jet Blue/Aer Lingus, the airlines I booked our flight with.  “Hey Cliff, you might want to check on your passports for your trip to Holland.  The other day a guy was scheduled to fly to the Dominican and couldn’t enter the country because his passport was too close to expiring. Call the airline to make sure your passports are valid.”

     Brent’s wife Pam stopped by on Saturday to buy a couple dozen eggs and I was telling her about our trip.  I mentioned that our passports expired on May 25^th, 2014 so we were under the wire. Pam told Brent about our trip.  When I came home from work on Monday I checked on the internet and read that there are ten that countries require a six month validity for passports.  Holland wasn’t one of them.  I thought we were off the hook, but I called the airport just to verify things. The woman didn’t know for sure so told me to call the US Consulate.  The US Consulate didn’t know so I called the JFK airport.  The woman there told me that the passport would be fine.  I told her about the ten countries that required a six month passport validity and she said I had better check with the Netherlands Embassy.  I found their phone number on the computer and learned that Holland has a three month passport validity and that we wouldn’t be allowed to enter the country and would have to return home without the correct passport.     When Cliff got home from work I explained our dilemma. It would take six to eight weeks to get the passport renewed at the post office and at least three weeks to get it renewed online   I searched for ways to expedite getting our passports renewed.  One of the services had a 600.00 fee plus the cost of the expedited passport from the U.S. Passport service. There are twenty six passport offices in the U.S. and one was in Philadelphia.  We considered what it would cost in gas, food and time and decided to pay the extra money to have it done online.  The only glitch was that it would take five to seven business days, which would be cutting it really close.     Both Cliff and I were feeling really grateful that Brent had told us about the passports. It would have been terrible to get to land at our stopover in Ireland and have to return home.  If we didn’t get the passports back in time we could reschedule our flight for later in the month.  When Cliff called Brent to thank him, he told us that he was making breakfast and cracking the eggs from our farm when he thought about us and it was on his heart to call.  His wife Pam didn’t want to alarm us if it didn’t apply to us, but he said God was telling him to call us so he did.  He also told us that we could go to Buffalo Passport Office and get the passports renewed in one day.  Buffalo is only two hours compared to the five hour drive to Philadelphia, so we decided to go that route.
I was able to schedule an automated appointment for Wednesday at 11:30 a.m. We would have the passports within five days.  The proper forms needed to be filled out, which I was able to access online. For our passport pictures Cliff went to CVS in Johnsonburg and I went to the post office in Ridgway.     We left this morning at 8:30 am to make the trip to Buffalo.  We have a GPS our kids gave us for Christmas a few years ago, but I wrote down the directions to the Buffalo Passport Agency just in case.  I’m glad I did because we got as far as Wilcox and the GPS quit working.  Cliff got out the trusty atlas and mapped out the route to Buffalo.  I drove up and when we crossed the Pennsylvania border into New York, Cliff reminded me to watch my lead foot.  I’m glad he did because we passed at least five police officers.  The New York roads are full of potholes that slowed us down.  It took a little over two hours to get downtown Buffalo.  We found a place to park the car and walked a few blocks to the Passport Agency. On the way I spotted a sky scraper with painted black and white block letters reading FIRST EDITION BOOKS.  I thought it would be nice to go to a book store if we had time.We found 111 Genesee St. and went through the glass doors to the Passport Agency. Our personal belongings had to be x-rayed and we had to go through a TBS (total body scan). Cliff had his pocket knife and was told he had to take it back out to the car. “Our car is three blocks away and the wind chill factor must be below zero.” I said.Cliff told the officer “I’ve been carrying a pocket knife since I’ve been seven years old.”  The officer kindly held the pocket knife until we left.     The lady scheduling the appointment didn’t have a record of our 11:30 appointment but let us submit our papers anyway.  After everything was processed we were told we could pick up the passports between three and four in the afternoon.  That gave us time to have a nice lunch at the Washington Street Market Deli and find the bookstore I had spotted earlier.  The two story bookstore was chock full of books neatly arranged, library style on shelves.  We looked around a couple of hours and found a few good reads.  We walked down to pick up the car from the parking garage and drove up to the Passport Agency.  Cliff left his pocket knife in the car, which made the security officers happy.  After waiting about a half hour to get the passports we were on our way home with our new passports in hand.
        

A Torn Meniscus

It’s been a long winter this year.  We haven’t had any significant accumulations of snow, but the ground has been covered since November.  About a month ago six inches of wet heavy snow fell overnight.  I headed out to work and made my way up a flight of twenty steps to the house of a woman I care for.    Before it was time for me to leave her house a snowplow had plowed a huge pile of snow at the bottom of the steps.  As I was forging my way to the car I stepped into a snowbank that was up to my knees. And fell. As my right knee twisted the pain was excruciating.  I pulled myself up and was happy that I could stand on my leg, albeit a little painful. While getting out of the car to my next patient's house the knee was still sore getting in out of the car so I made an appointment with the orthopedic doctor’s satellite office in Ridgway.

After a few x-rays the nurse practitioner said I have degenerative arthritis in both of my knees and what looked like a chipped bone.  She gave me a prescription for crutches and ordered me to stay off my feet for at least a week until a CT scan, that the doctor’s office would schedule. I was hoping for something less drastic like a torn meniscus or ligament.

When I returned home I researched treatment for a chipped bone and the outlook wasn’t rosy.  I could end up in a cast and be off my feet for six to eight weeks, putting a dent in my trip to Holland.  I wasn’t relishing the idea of hobbling around airports and touring Holland otou on crutches.  If the bone was chipped I would probably have to delay the trip a few weeks and give up seeing my brother Jack while there.

Four days went by and I hadn’t heard from the doctor’s office about the CT scan.  When I called the office they told me I would have to call back tomorrow.  I called the main office in St. Marys and asked what was taking so long and that would prefer an MRI to determine if I might have a torn meniscus, which might not show up on a CT scan.  The nurse practitioner apologized for the delay and  agreed to the MRI which was scheduled for the next day. 

In the meantime my knee was feeling better each day.  I made sure to elevate it, took Epsom salt baths and applied DSMO to relieve the arthritis pain.  I read WILD by Cheryl Strayed and Girl with the Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier. The latter being a novel about Vermeer’s art in Holland during the 1600’s.  I did my best to stay positive about the trip and used the time to shop online for a set of a new luggage, clothing and even a new striped umbrella in case of rain.

When I went to my next doctor appointment the good news was that the bone wasn’t chipped, but the meniscus was tore. The nurse practitioner referred me to the orthopedic doctor to determine if arthroscopic surgery would be needed. I wasn’t as unglued about the surgery as it could be delayed and the healing time wasn’t nearly as long. I was more than happy when the doctor told me I had a serious, but clean meniscus tear, and that surgery wouldn't be necessary. 

     As of now it looks like clear sailing to Holland.  Justin and Caleb will be feeding and watering the animals in the morning and on the weekend. Our neighbor Mary Hosmer and her brother Mike offered to feed and water the critters in the afternoon. Cliff quit milking the goats this week as they are now about three months pregnant and are scheduled to freshen in early May.  Tasha and Tucker will be spending the week with our neighbors, Paul and Shirley Oldland and their pack of black labs.  I’m sure they will get more than enough exercise and attention.

     I’ve been doing some exercises to strengthen my leg muscles and have been out cross country skiing a few times. Today  the dogs and I went for a long walk and my knee is feeling pretty good.  In less than a month I should be tip toeing through the tulips. 

Planning our trip to Holland

On April 3-8 2014, fifty years later my dream of traveling to Holland, a country the size of Maryland and a population of 16 million people will be realized. I purchased airline tickets from cheaptickets.com.  We will be flying out of the Buffalo Airport, with a stop over the JFK airport and then on to Dublin, Ireland with a four hour layover.  We are scheduled to land at the Schiphol airport in Amerstdam 12:30 a.m. on April 4, 2014.  
I reserved a room not far from the North Sea at the Tulpenzicht Bed and Breakfast, in DeZilk, Holland. It's equipped with a kitchen in case we want to prepare some of our own meals.  The world famous Keukenhof Gardens are nearby. 

My brother Jack will be traveling to Holland from Weisbaden, Germany on April 5 & 6.  We plan on visiting the town of Alblasserdam where my ancestors are from. On Saturday we will be spending a day at Keukenhof together. Along with seeing the array of colorful tulips we are looking forward to riding bikes along the canals lined with windmills, visiting the town of Gouda to taste the cheese and finding the pickled herring kiosks that I hear are scattered about Amersterdam.

Last Thursday, my friend Mary Lisa who is a traveler stopped by for lunch before she left for a month long trip to Instanbul and gave me The UnDutchables, a comical, useful book about Holland.  I ordered  Lonely Planet Netherland's Travel Guide from Amazon.com.  In the book I found the location of Anne Frank's Attic in Amsterdam and a Delft museum where I can paint own piece of Delftware to add to my collection.
 I hope we have enough time to do everything on my growing list!  

A Dream Come True

I've been dreaming of going to Holland ever since I was seven years old and my mom went on a vacation to Holland, Michigan. She  brought back Dutch Cocoa in a tin with Dutch Girl on the front and  a Dutch dress, apron and hat for me to wear as a Halloween costume. Singing "I'm a little Dutch girl dressed in blue" I clomped around the hardwood floor of the auditorium wearing the costume and  my older sister's authentic wooden shoes from the country Holland. I was elated when the judges presented me with a blue ribbon for first prize in my age group.  

Over the years I've read about Holland, collected the infamous Delft porcelain, indulged in pickled herring from the time I was a child, savored black salty licorice and envied everyone that has been to Holland. I belong to a Holland Facebook page and enjoy sharing posts of the scenic country.  

When I tell people about my dream of going to Holland they generally ask
"Why Holland?"  

 "My father and his family immigrated to America from Holland in 1920 when he was nine years old. I've always longed to see my homeland." I reply.

I only knew my father, my Dutch Oma and my Aunt Gerty who smelled of camphor for the first three years of my life. Their presence  left a deep impression on me.  My father passed away in November 1960. In April 1961  my mother, six siblings and myself boarded a train to an orphanage at Mooseheart, Illinios. I only saw my Oma and Aunt Gerty once or twice after that. Although my mother wasn't Dutch she kept our Dutch Heritage alive not only by bringing us souvenirs from Holland, Michigan but by keeping my older brother and sister's wooden shoes and much to the dismay of the matrons, serving us pickled herring and Mogan David wine when we visited her on Sundays. 

The only thing that has kept me from going to Holland is the cost. Three years ago I knew my dream would come true when I was caring for an elderly man and his wife. The husband was of Norwegian descent and each year they traveled to Europe.  When I told the wife that my father was an immigrant of Holland she gave me 2 euros from the Netherlands as a keepsake.  I brought the coin home and tucked it away in a little blue pouch that I keep treasured items in and began praying each day that my dream would be realized.

Last year Cliff and I finally had enough money in the bank to make the trip. At times I can talk myself out of things hundred times before they happen.
Over breakfast one morning I attempted to talk myself and him out of taking the journey. 
 "What if we need the money for a new vehicle?"  I asked Cliff.
"That will take care of itself when the time comes." he answered.
Coming up with another roadblock, I told him maybe it was just too long of a flight.  "Remember how long the flight was to Vietnam?  I don't think I can sit still for that long."
After checking the flight length I learned it was only six hours. Surely we can do that I thought.

Throughout the month of December Cliff brought me home trinkets from Holland he found at antique stores. It seemed like the twelve days of Christmas with him giving me a copper tea kettle with a delft handle, two delft teacups and a delft salt and pepper shaker.  At a dinner in December I won a gift basket of smoked Gouda cheese and a bottle of chocolate red wine made in Holland. For Christmas he gave me a beautiful pendant with a ceramic windmill he hand cut from a tile he discovered at an antique shop, along with earrings to match.

As I opened the gift box he said "Jeanette, going to Holland is something that would make me feel like I made your dream come true." I knew then and there that we would definitely be traveling to Holland in 2014.