Seasons Change: Part 1 - Springtime in the Netherlands

Elder & Zuster Romig at Keukenhof Gardens

How can we even begin to describe the Netherlands in the spring?  When we think of spring we picture bright colored tulips, crocus' and daffodils. Well, there you have it! That describes this beautiful country perfectly! Everywhere we looked were beautiful flowers.

Most of the homes in Friesland have beautiful crocus' growing in their lawn. This home is one of our favorites. After the crocus' bloom, it is time for the daffodils.We will try to get a picture of the daffodils at this home next spring. Everywhere that is purple in this picture turns to bright yellow with the daffodils.

We also saw the daffodils and crocus' along the roads in towns and villages. For that reason, they do not mow the lawn until these flowers have had a chance to finish blooming.

No words can explain the beauty of the fields of tulips as you drive down the freeway.  The tulip season is short, only about a month starting the end of March until the end of April.  The tulips are shipped all over the world.  So are other kinds of flowers which are grown in huge greenhouses throughout the Netherlands.  These are not the ordinary greenhouses we are used to seeing.  One greenhouse will cover acres of land.

One of several fields seen from the freeway.

The colors are so vibrant it surprises you each time you see another field!

"Tiptoe through the tulips..."

These pictures show how the tulips are grown and then harvested in rows.  Some of the colors bloom earlier and some bloom later, as you see rows of green above.

We took a picture of another photographer...one of many!

Springtime isn't just for flowers here...

One Sunday, after taking Zuster Operman home from church, we stopped to take pictures of some baby lambs in the field with their mother. The farmer noticed us taking pictures and was surprised when Elder Romig spoke Dutch to him.  He invited us to come and see the birthing pens and the day old lambs.

Farming is a way of life for many in the rural countryside.  The sheep are a large part of the people's livelihood.

We loved the time spent with the farmer talking about his lambs and sharing a bit about the gospel and our reason for being in the Netherlands.

Five cute lambs...only one day old!

Looking down from our apartment we have a fun view of the pond in back of our building, next to the port.  We thought it was just lily pads...until they started to move.  We had a mother duck with her eight baby ducklings in the pond.  It has been fun to watch them grow and change from yellow heads to dark color.

Your eyes are not deceiving you!  This
IS a camel grazing with a horse.  And another camel grazing with a pig!

On our way home from Leeuwarden one day we looked out into a field and thought we saw camels.  CAMELS???
They are desert animals and Netherlands is anything but desert! We have since learned that Netherlands experiments with raising several types of animals, including these camels, and there are twelve living on this farm.

And we also found some wallabies in a little village outside Leeuwarden!  This is the mother and she has an albino baby in her pouch.  The owner saw us taking pictures and invited us to come closer for better pictures.  The baby actually poked its head out and then quickly went back inside.

Again, we had a great opportunity to visit with a delightful Frisian woman and talk with her about the gospel.

All those baby animals are cute, but nothing is more precious than a new grandson, son of Sarah (our youngest daughter) and Adam Dowland:

    Logan Randy Dowland,
   was born March 28, 2014.







Part 2 - Springtime in Netherlands will take us to the beautiful Keukenhof Gardens after two wonderful mornings spent at the temple with all the 
Belgium / Netherlands missionaries.