KINDERDIJK: Typical Holland, read about the 19 windmills, history & legend...

Welcome to ABC Wednesday Round 3. A fun project, now in it's second year! If you have something to share, be it a photograph, piece of art or poetry please post in on your blog and sign up here with Mr Linky! At 8pm onwards Tuesday-evening, British Summer Time. "WE all think of or friend Michelle " with the todays " K" for KINDNESS"
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Welcome on "JoAnn's-D Eyes" Blog

K for (Dutch) KINDERDIJK ....19 Windmills

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Thanks to A blogfriend "Ray" he gave me this Windmill song called:

" Windmills of Your Mind"

Round,

Like a circle in a spiral - Like a wheel within a wheel-

Never ending or beginning- On an ever-spinning reel-

Like a snowball down a mountain- Or a carnival balloon-

Like a carousel that's turning- Running rings around the moon-

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Like a clock whose hands are sweeping- Past the minutes on it's face-

And the world is like an apple- Whirling silently in space-

Like the circles that you find- In the windmills of your mind-

Like a tunnel that you follow- To a tunnel of it's own-

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Down a hollow to a cavern- Where the sun has never shone-

Like a door that keeps revolving- In a half-forgotten dream-

Like the ripples from a pebble- Someone tosses in a stream-

Like a clock whose hands are sweeping- Past the minutes on it's face-

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And the world is like an apple- Whirling silently in space-

Like the circles that you find- In the windmills of your mind-

Keys that jingle in your pocket- Words that jangle in your head-

Why did summer go so quickly? Was it something that I said?-

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Lovers walk along a shore- And leave their footprints in the sand-

Was the sound of distant drumming- Just the fingers of your hand?-

Pictures hanging in a hallway- Or the fragment of a song-

Half-remembered names and faces- But to whom do they belong?-

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When you knew that it was over- Were you suddenly aware-

That the autumn leaves were turning- To the colour of her hair?-

Like a circle in a spiralLike a wheel within a wheel- Never ending or beginning-

On an ever-spinning reel- As the images unwind- Like the circles that you find-

In the windmills of your mind.

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Music by "Michel LeGrand"

Does anyone know who wrote the poem?

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Above: A row of 19 windmills on The KINDERDIJK ...

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Historie of the Kinderdijk:

The history of the World Heritage site of Kinderdijk ...

The nineteen windmills at Kinderdijk are a symbol of the way the Netherlands manages its water. For a long period of time they kept the land dry as it was plagued by subsidence and flooding: the Alblasserwaard, once a rough, wet area of peat, was eventually colonised and reclaimed by men.

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Pastures with grazing cattle, pollard willows and windmills, elongated villages along dykes and rivers, historical farms and standard-tree orchards in full bloom: this is the typically agricultural landscape of ‘Alblasserwaard en Vijfheerenlanden’, the southern edge of the Groene Hart (Green Heart) of the Netherlands.
The Kinderdijk windmill area is situated in the Alblasserwaard between the rivers Lek and Merwede, about 25 kilometres from Rotterdam. In 1997, UNESCO inscribed the windmill area on the World Heritage list, a recognition of its unique CHARACTER

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Above: 4 of the 19 windmills on the KINDERDIJK in Holland
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Drainage & windmills in historical perspective.

As early as the fourteenth century, the windmill was a familiar sight in the Dutch landscape. The grain mill ground grain, the oil mill pressed oil and the sawmill sawed tree trunks into planks. But the watermill only lifted water to a higher level. It did not produce a product to be sold. As an old saying goes: ‘The polder water at the proper level will make the farmer happy’. *
Whoever thought of adapting the windmill so that it could lift water is not recorded anywhere. Early in the 15th century, this method was first used near Alkmaar. Thus the drainage windmills had made its appearance on the Dutch water management scene. Its role would only increase in importance in the following centuries.
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Above: 19 windmills in a row on the KINDERDIJK......

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The Kinderdijk ...

is a great location to go to to show your friends and relatives a very typical corner of Holland. This place, located 50 kms North East of The Hague has been on the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites since 1997, when the 19 well preserved windmills built between 1738 and 1760 were recognised as being the symbol of the way The Netherlands managed their water ever since. Those mills were used to get the surrounding Alblasserwaard polder dry, as it was under sea level.

The name Kinderdijk .....

is Dutch for "Child's Dike". The Wiki entry on this explains the origin of the name as follows: "in 1421 during the Saint Elizabeth flood of 1421, the Grote Hollandse Waard flooded, but the Alblasserwaard polder stayed unflooded. It is said that when the terrible storm had subsided, someone went on to the dike between these two areas, to see what could be saved.

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KINDERDIJK

A Legend? ...Its said that:

"He saw in the distance a wooden cradle floating....... "

There was no hope that anything would be living in it, but when it approached, movement was seen. When the cradle came nearer, someone saw that a cat was in the cradle trying to keep it in balance by jumping back and forth so that no water could come into it. When the cradle eventually came near the dike, someone fished the cradle out and saw that in it a baby slept quiet and dry. In some of the stories the cat kept it balanced and afloat. This folktale and legend has been published as : "The Cat and the Cradle" .

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The amazing thing is that most of the mills are still inhabited!!

One of them is open to the public and you can get an idea of what it can look like to live in one of those. Try to get there on a windy day, when the mills are working, and if possible, bring your bikes with you (at least for the kids!) as you will need to walk around to get closer to the mills, Its fantastic!

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Thank you so much for your interest and for watching my blog

Thank you for your comments

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TIP: Scroll down on my blog to see our SAILING trip of last weekend...