Wednesday, February 4, 2015

The Windmill In Riverside Park

For those who might have wondered about my absence at certain Facebook groups like City Daily Photo or City Photographers, or why I haven't acknowledged your birthday wishes the other day, let's just say I'm quite annoyed with Facebook right now, and as of last evening, I was still under an unwarranted suspension that was supposed to end last Friday. I'm on a bit of a rant about the matter in my writer's blog today, so the details can be found there.

I have something else from Guelph that some of my long term readers might remember, but newcomers haven't seen before. This windmill is set in Riverside Park along the Speed River, which you can make out at the left. There is a large Dutch population in southern Ontario, many of them having had immigrated after the Second World War. You can see their markers in windmills like this, or Dutch stores to be found in many towns and cities. Guelph has one of those shops downtown. My grandparents shopped there when they lived near this park. My father, now living in the same retirement home as they did, sees this windmill often, and drops by the shop for, among other things, those awful black licorices that for some strange reason seem very popular among Dutch Canadians. 


I'm perfectly content with the spiced Gouda cheese. I've tasted one of those licorices, and one was too many.

44 comments:

  1. Well look at THAT!



    ALOHA from Honolulu
    ComfortSpiral
    <3

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  2. Sorry to hear about your FB problem. Nice windmill, but somehow it makes me want cookies.

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  3. Hi William, so sorry to heart about your issues with Facebook. I really like this windmill photo, thanks so much for sharing.

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  4. Not quite the same as the Windmill I posted from where I live but just as nice. I don't have any issues with FB but then I don't have an account, got fed up with it ages ago and got my details deleted.

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    1. I'm hearing this more and more from folks. Glad you were able to get your stuff deleted.

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  5. The mill looks very beautiful.

    Tomás.

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  6. I think you have lost your dutch roots in the last generation. Salted "drop" is the most delicious licorises which everybody loves here. :)

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  7. Da frio verla...un saludo desde Murcia...muy buena...

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  8. I'm with you, William, the licorice is too much. :-)

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  9. Great to see a Dutch windmill here, William, it's a beauty in that winter scene.
    If you don't like licorices or Dutch drop, you really lost your Dutch roots, I think.
    Sorry to hear about your troubles with Facebook. I don't have a FB-account, and I don't want it either, because I don't trust Facebook at all.

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  10. i didn't know you were suspended! hope you had a happy birthday! love the windmill, and gouda!

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  11. I did not know there was a windmill in Guelph. There are a lot of Dutch people also in the Alliston area also.

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  12. i am sorry to hear of the FB suspension ... hope it will work out. at time i want to walk away from all this cramp ... i enjoy the friends/friendship i have made but from all the silly-ness ... at times it is just too much. in the beginning of my bloggy time i got zillions of comments. i had more time to put into the blogging and visit people. but now i am more busy. i have less time to put in & i see how are my true bloggy friends. i appreciate your kindness. your honesty. but like the say, who is they??! any who ... you find out who your friends are. i appreciate you visiting as much as you can .. very kind. Canada kind. cheers to you!! enjoy another year and other ... keep celebrating!!

    Happy Birthday!! i guess i missed it.

    i enjoy/love windmill. what a gorgeous piece of architecture. Beth ( :

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  13. Love the windmill and the licorice.. Not so much thee face book problems William.. Remain calm :)

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  14. @Cloudia: it's taken me a long time to really appreciate windmills.

    @Linda: there's a spiced cookie in Dutch shops here in the shapes of windmills.

    @Linda: you're welcome.

    @Bill: I'm considering it!

    @Tomas: it has character.

    @Marianne: that's what they're called! I was trying to recall it.

    @Alp: thank you!

    @Revrunner: salty stuff disagrees with me.

    @Jan: the odd thing is I can understand quite a bit of spoken Dutch.

    @Tanya: yes, it's been an exercise in futility with Facebook.

    @Gill: they really spread throughout southern Ontario back in the 50s and 60s.

    @Beth: I'm doubting I'll be restored anytime soon. Yes, my birthday was on the first of the month.

    @Grace: remain calm and plot revenge!

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  15. I love windmills, William, and this one is very nice !

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  16. so cool! i like black licorice - i'm guessing those might be pretty strong, based on your reaction. i know they can be dangerous to eat, though, as it affects health or medicine interactions or something. i can't remember specifics, just have read warnings about them.

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  17. I'm with you on the licorice. I'll stick to the gouda too!

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  18. I like the windmill and agree with you about Gouda and licorice!

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  19. Lots of Dutch here too. They are still emigrating to this area. We hear Dutch on the streets all the time but we don't have any windmills.

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  20. Windmills and lighthouses are always attractive to me.

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  21. I wonder if they're the same as the German lakritz. I've never tried it... and you're not tempting me to!

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  22. What fun to see a windmill in Guelph!

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  23. @Karl: it has a lot of character.

    @Tex: I tend to have an aversion to salty, spicy things in terms of eating.

    @Norma: it's quite a standout.

    @Sharon: gouda tastes great!

    @VP: we always had the regular and the spiced gouda in the house growing up.

    @Red: a lot of Dutch people ended up spreading across Canada in many places.

    @Judy: the lighthouses have always had that effect on me. Windmills took time to grow on me.

    @Halcyon: it wouldn't surprise me if they're similar.

    @RedPat: it's a lovely setting for the windmill in that park.

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  24. Happy belated B-day . Sorry to hear FB is giving your probs . I do like that windmill lovely shot of it to ! Hope you get FB sorted out . Thanks for sharing , Have a good day !

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  25. I wish we had more windmills. In this country you can still find wheat that has been ground traditionally in a mill though I'm suddenly unsure whether it's windmills or watermills. Expensive stuff but organic and oh so good... You won't catch me eating liquorice. Or Gouda for that matter, unless it's old and smelly! Oh ze French cliché! ;-)

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  26. It looks lovely in the snow! This could easily be a photo taken here today.

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  27. Happy belated birthday! (I won't get started about FB.)
    My DH hasn't yet found any licorice he doesn't like. After 30+ years I've learned to tolerate if not occasionally appreciate it.

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  28. Interesting bit of history there regarding the Dutch coming to that area. I've only ever heard about the US immigrants and hubby's family who were from Norway. I need to educate myself a little more on Canada, so thanks for planting that seed.

    I loathe licorice. It used to be my mother's favorite candy bless her, and I used to run and hide when she ate any, pest of a child. Couldn't stand the taste, couldn't stand the smell. But apparently now I love the taste of Thai Basil which I read has a licorice taste to it. Maybe I ought to do homage to my mother and go buy some to see if my palate has changed in that area too. Facebook? Not a fan really.

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  29. @Whisk: well, what's happened has happened.

    @Country Gal: thanks!

    @Ciel: old and smelly cheese wouldn't agree with me!

    @Marleen: yes, you've been getting snow!

    @Kay: I occasionally have the red stuff, like Twizzlers.

    @Denise: there's a book I have at home on the immigrant child's experience written by a woman who came over with her parents to Canada. I'll have to take a look, and if there's a link for it out there, I'll add it to tomorrow's blog. I'm more of a chocolate fancier as it comes to candy.

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  30. Never seen a windmill in the snow before, lovely shot. I was a liquorice fan as a child but I seem to have grown out if it.

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  31. Miss you on Facebook! Love the windmill. There was one in Lyndonville, WA when we visited there. The Dutch people were there before WWII. Loved there baked goods, but didn't see any licorice. I don't like it anyway. Tweeted.

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  32. Happy belated birthday at a fellow Aquarian, William, as I now know your birthday was 2/1; mine was on 2/3. I would also prefer cheese to licorice and, of course, chocolate is my all-time favorite, especially dark chocolate!

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  33. A Dutch windmill in Ontario? It does look good there.

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  34. @Geoff: we had three of them on the property when I was growing up.

    @Mari: there is one somewhere near Grand Rapids, Michigan, a big one.

    @Beatrice: ah, I see you've got my birthday set. I do like chocolate, but not dark chocolate.

    @Jack: there was apparently also one of them up on Lake Huron, but I'm not sure if it's still there.

    @Randy: I certainly think so.

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  35. I hope things get sorted with facebook.

    Lovely windmill.

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  36. I like your snowy photo . Hope your fb problems are resolved .

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  37. I love windmills and it is so beautiful standing there in snow.

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  38. You have just reminded me how much I love windmills. This one is charming!

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  39. My husband is Dutch born but of course is now a Canadian. He is from eight siblings. He is the oldest being the nine and oldest. We know a dutch guy who makes the Windmill.
    Are you familiar with Dutch store in Scarboro, ont years ago. Kline, Horseman I think you say.

    There is a Dutch store not far from my daughters and oh it has the windmill standing.

    And the dutch food, candies. My young son mailed us a box with Dutch goodies for Christmas. Hope facebook will be kinder for you.

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  40. @Mumabaiiteanu: I'm just done my latest suspension.

    @TDP: they never really are. At this stage of the game, Mark Zuckerberg can rot in hell where he belongs.

    @Orvokki: it is!

    @Lauren: I agree.

    @Carolann: my mother might have known that one.

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