Sepia Saturday - Passion

The theme this week reminded me of the saying "ships that pass in the night". Not that this picture was taken during nighttime but as far as I can see both lovers are standing on a ship. Also the famous picture of the sailor kissing a girl on Broadway (?) just after WW2 in tango like fashion, emerges from my memory. Although this latter picture seems to have been staged, the theme picture looks "natural" and one wonders what happened to the couple in later life. 

Confidentially I can tell you that my wife and I were equally passionate kissers. (Don't draw any conclusions because the previous sentence is in the past tense.) However, with no photographers on the scene I can't show you any proof. So I have to turn to the family archive instead.

The picture that I found is a postcard used by my grandfather Gerardus Theodorus de Langen to inform my grandmother Antje Doelman, that he would see her next Sunday.  The text implies that we are looking at circumstances taking place before their marriage on December 27, 1916.

I can't say this is a love letter but it is clear Theo is very fond of her. He starts with referring to the little boy in the picture and expresses his desire that one day they would have such a child together "if ever we would get to that point". He quickly disposes of that thought cause she will be very busy this Saturday. So busy that there will hardly be an opportunity for a quick kiss. (Before her marriage my grandmother worked in a pastry shop in Rotterdam.) He then discards the whole idea of meeting her on Saturday and announces his arrival for early Sunday morning "unless of course you are too tired to get up early. Then I'll wait." Earlier he informs her that an apparent problem with his lips is over now "so you know what that means." Coming to the bottom of the card he ends his text with: "Honey, I'll see you on Sunday and here's a hug from your loving Theo."

When I first saw and read this card, it really touched me. Obviously I knew my grandparents only when they were much older. And for one reason or another you do not associate your grandparents with a young couple in love. At least, I don't. But thinking about the text of the card, I feel it is very much in line with how I knew them: two happily married, spiritual  people with a lot of respect for each other. Therefore, the possession of this card is very dear to me.
To the best of my knowledge my grandfather wasn't much of a sailor, nor did grandma fancy boating. But I'm sure they loved each other. And that brings us back full circle to the theme of this week.
I'm sure my fellow Sepians (thank you, Ticklebear) have written similar stories. You can read them via the Sepia Saturday site.

Sepia Saturday - Vehicles

Alan suggests that this week's theme could be overalls, workwear and the like. That is an interesting subject and what is more, I covered it already a couple of months ago. You can see my granddads at work here. Having thus accomplished my mission for this week, I might as well wish you a very nice weekend. However, I do not want to be the cause of Sepians in literary distress, walking around and desperately asking themselves what to do now. 
Looking at the "Oshkosh picture" it occurred to me that we are looking at a photograph of buildings in a street. And what is a street without vehicles? So I have been digging in my many shoe boxes and came up with a few, I hope nice examples of not so current models.

Austin A40

This first picture is that of an Austin A40. It was taken in the Mimosastraat in The Hague approx 1955. My mother is next to the car.

Austin A30

A little earlier, it must have been 1954, my kid brother is standing next to a smaller model Austin, the 2-doors A30. The location I don't know but it looks like somewhere in the middle of the country, possibly the Veluwe.

Me, on my first motorcycle

I still recognize the location where this photo was taken. It is the Thorbeckelaan, again in The Hague. A relative of ours lived there. I guess I was about 3 or 4 years old. So it is 1947 or '48. I haven't got the foggiest idea about the make of the motorcycle. It looks like a single cylinder engine.
Update Apr. 30, 2015:
An unknown person commented that this motorcycle might very well be a CZ 125 t. And indeed there is some resemblance!

The Czech CZ 125 t

My father on his motorcycle

This picture makes clear that I inherited my father's motorcycle genes. However, I have to truthfully declare that I never rode one again after 1947/48... The woman in the passenger seat is probably my mother but it is difficult to see. The people looking at them are my maternal grandparents. They are doing so from their house in the Mispelstraat in The Hague. The year? 1938 or '39.

A pre war Opel cabriolet

I am not an expert on vintage cars so off hand I couldn't tell you the make of this car. But enlarging the wheel caps reveals that we are looking at an Opel. The model? Don't know. I'll leave that to the experts. My father is seated next to the driver, my mother is seated in the left hand rear seat. The other couple are friends of my parents. Also this picture is taken in 1938 or '39. The car has German plates, my father's friend was employed there.

During a school trip in the German city of Göttingen

My mother is the girl on the far right looking to us from her roof position. The school bus was owned by the then well known company VIOS from Wateringen near The Hague. The trip probably took place in 1933.

During a sightsee tour in Koblenz, Germany

Here is another of my mother's school trips to Germany. I couldn't even start to guess the make of this roofless bus. 

Austro Daimler

But it looks a little like the 1934 Austro Daimler (thank you, Google). I am led to believe this school trip took place in 1932 so maybe this is one of its predecessors.
Having finalized my post I just hope you did not forget that this week's theme is about workwear. So for the latest models I can recommend you turn to the Sepia Saturday site.
BTW In the unlikely event you want to see all the cars I ever owned, please see this post. The text is in Dutch but the pictures are not ;)

Sinterklaas en Piet

For a brief explanation of what this post is all about, please scroll down.
De manier waarop Sinterklaas gevierd wordt, kent vele verschillen. Van niet tot uitbundig, alleen voor de gelovige kleintjes of voor de hele familie en met gedichten of surprises. Het belangrijkste, vind ik, is dat het gevierd wordt en dat deze traditie niet door de Kerstman wordt weggedrukt. Maar zo lang de commercie daar nog enige say in heeft, hoeven we de hoop niet op te geven. Hoewel, begin oktober al pepernoten in de schappen leggen, dat hoeft voor mij nou ook weer niet. De tijd gaat toch wel snel genoeg.
In onze familie, van mijn vader's kant, was Sinterklaas toch wel één van de jaarlijkse hoogtepunten. Een paar ooms verzorgden het trekken van de lootjes. Dat daarbij gemanipuleerd werd, werd ons kleintjes pas later duidelijk. Iedereen keek naar het avondje uit en had/heeft daar ook hele goede herinneringen aan. Die bijeenkomsten werden gedomineerd door gedichten en banketstaven. Er slipte wel een enkele surprise door maar dat was uitzondering. De voorgelezen gedichten, daar ging het om. Om een gedicht goed tot zijn recht te laten komen, is het zeer aan te bevelen het voor te laten lezen door de auteur. Dat ging dan wel ten koste van de geheimhouding maar daar tilden wij niet zo zwaar aan. In onze ogen was een goed gedicht er eentje waarbij de aangesprokene er op humoristische wijze van langs kreeg. Sommige familieleden hadden op dat vlak een zekere faam op te houden. 

Piet Miebies  Aug. 15, 1938

Evelien ca. 1955

En dan waren er nog de gedichten die de jongste broer van mijn vader, Piet, voor mijn nichtje Evelien maakte. Die gedichten, bijna een traditie op zich, hadden slechts bij toeval iets met Sinterklaas te maken. Het kon echt overal over gaan en meestal om niets. Zwetsverhalen van klasse waarom wij ons tranen lachten. Daar zal de ambiance van de avond en het verwachtingspatroon wel aan bijgedragen hebben maar ik lees ze nog steeds met plezier en bewondering. Hieronder plaats ik twee van die gedichten, met dank aan Evelien, en aan oom Piet natuurlijk.

Sinterklaasgedicht door Piet Miebies (1924-2001)

Evelien

Waar ambachtelijke normen

En kunstgevoel elkaar ontmoeten,

Daar huppelen subtiele vormen

In het rond op kousenvoeten.

Het uitbundig liefdesleven

Tussen kunst en noeste vlijt

Heeft ons opnieuw een vrucht gegeven

Die uitstijgt boven vorm en tijd.

Dit heeft de wereld iets te zeggen,

In eigen stijl, in eigen taal.

Maar vraag mij niet dit uit te leggen,

Want ach, wij zijn toch allemaal

Slechts gastarbeiders in de verte

Van het onbegrepen “hoe?”,

Eten worteltjes of erwten

En Zondags tutti frutti toe,

Waarin de edele vrucht verschraald is

Tot een weeë zoete brij,

Waar elke pit al uitgehaald is

Door de consumptie-maatschappij.

Proletariers aller landen

Stelt u eensgezind te weer

Opdat het heilig vuur blijft branden,

En eet geen tutti frutti meer.

Het leven gaat niet over rozen,

Wij moeten hard er tegen aan.

Maar wie het goede heeft gekozen,

Die kan de voorwas overslaan.

                                                           Sint

Ik zei hiervoor dat wij geen familie van surprisemakers waren. Een kleine uitzondering daarop is, alweer, de eerdergenoemde Piet. Die maakte jaarlijks voor zijn nichtje een contraptie waarvan niemand wist wat het voorstelde, ook de maker niet. Maar daar maakte hij wel een gedicht bij waarvan er ééntje hieronder staat.

Evelien

Dit is een kartonnen doos

Dat stekkertje er aan, is loos.

Zit trouwens maar één pootje aan,

Dat is met opzet zo gedaan.

Vernuftig heeft men zo vermeden

Dat er sluiting op zou treden.

’t Betekent aan de andere kant,

Dat nu het lampje niet meer brandt.

Dit wist men handig uit te baten

Door ’t lampje dan maar weg te laten,

Waardoor je nog meer ruimte kreeg.

De doos is nu volkomen leeg.

Wat dat betreft verschilt hij niks

Van ’t duurdere type GTX.

Daar zijn twee lampjes weggehaald,

Vandaar dat je wat meer betaalt.

En ’t pootje wat er hier mankeert,

Is aan die andere gemonteerd.

Dus ’t enige verschil is slechts,

Hier zit het links, daar zit het rechts.

Omdat je ’t niet gebruiken kan,

Heb je daar weinig hinder van.

’t Is trouwens zelf te corrigeren

Door de stekker om te keren.

Elk stopcontact heeft al 2 gaten,

Dat kan je dus gewoon zo laten.

En of je ’t links of rechts aansluit,

Maakt in principe weinig uit.

Men heeft, om speciale reden

De bodem uit de doos gesneden.

Als hij nu vol is tot de rand,

Dan pak j’ em met de rechterhand,

Schudt hem voorzichtig heen en weer,

En zet hem dan gewoon weer neer.

Zo kan j’ em eeuwig blijven vullen

Met de meest bizarre spullen.

Brief explanation in English.

Ex Seniorennet

This post is about the Dutch tradition of celebrating the birthday of Sinterklaas. To begin with, Sinterklaas is not the same as Santa Claus. The birthday of the Dutch colleague of Santa is on December 6. He is known as the friend of little children; they all firmly believe the Sint exists. Until they find out he does not and that they have been "cheated" by their parents. Many Dutch families celebrate Sinterklaas the night before his birthday. Lots are drawn and a present is bought for that person. Tradition has it that there should also be a poem highlighting the "virtues" of this person. The present may be hidden in a surprise package. It can take any form or shape you like. 

As long as there are small children present, all gift parcels are put in a bag. When everybody is there, the festivities start. Usually a neighbour then knocks on the door or the window and leaves the bag there for the kids to find it.

Another difference with Santa Claus is that Sinterklaas rides the roof tops on a grey horse. His logistics assistant is Zwarte Piet (Black Pete) who takes care of the distribution of presents by dropping them in the chimney. But Black Pete also carries a big bag. That bag serves to carry back naughty children to Spain. That's where Sinterklaas lives the rest of the year.

But the Dutch wouldn't be Dutch if they didn't develop a liking for Santa as well. So you can imagine that a substantial part of the turnover of shops is realized in December! Therefore, if you value the well being of your economy, do your local shopkeeper a favour and buy your beloved a present, or two.

Update Dec. 6, 2012: Irish Dutchman Pier Kuipers wrote an excellent post about the Dutch Sinterklaas tradition. It's titled "Why I don't believe in Santa" and well worth reading!
Also Karen mentioned a lot of detail regarding Saint Nicholas. For true believers only!
A year ago I wrote another post on the subject. 

Sepia Saturday - Bridges

This week's picture shows a bridge across a river that won't see many tall ships, be it with or without sail. The bridge hardly allows the passage of a rowing boat. If the man at the oars is distracted by the photographer for another ten seconds, he will surely lose his hat if not more. What really intrigues me is the body language of the lady on the bridge. The way she holds her right arm indicates either that she is giving the man a piece of her mind or that she has got a back problem. For the well being of the man I would hope it is the second option. But you may justly find this a woman unfriendly thought. In any case, this picture offers many possibilities. Nevertheless, I'll go for the obvious: bridges.

I know the two starting bridges from own experience. That almost automatically means they are not very sepia. I am not that old, you know. 
The first one is a French bridge. It is situated near Millau in the south of France, part of the A75 and it has been there since 2004. 

My wife looking up at the Viaduc de Millau

The bridge crosses the river Tarn and is almost 2.5 kilometers/1.5 miles long. The highest bridge pillar is 343 meters/1125 ft, the longest span between two pillars 342 meters/1122 ft. My wife (1.64 m/5 ft 5 in) felt like a dwarf looking up! It is a very impressive construction! Here is a 3min 15sec YouTube video worth looking at. 
The next one is a Canadian bridge. I never set foot on it but we saw it from the air when visiting friends in nearby Belleville.

Thousand Island Bridge crossing the St Lawrence near Gananoque, ON

Our friends Tim & Diana knew of a seaplane operator in Gananoque. The carrier's name was 1000 Island Airways and we flew in a De Haviland B. So we made a very nice trip over the St Lawrence River.
Well, so much for colorful bridges, let's go back to the sepia era.

Bridge over the river Kyll near Kyllburg 50 km north of Trier, Germany

During my mother's high school period many school trips were spent in the western part of Germany. This photo dates from approx 1933. It is difficult to be sure where she is in this picture. She might also have taken it. The only known name is her teacher's name. He is the man on the very right, Mr. Van Ramshorst.

Dausenau a.d. Lahn 100 km northwest of Frankfurt, Germany

During one of those school trips the above picture was taken in the small city of Dausenau in Germany. Again I assume my mother is part of this group but that is not the reason for showing this picture. It is the banner over the street showing the logo of the Nazi-party that makes this photo special. Although WW2 started in 1939, the Germans knew Hitler and his ideas long before that. The banner says:

Adolf Hitler

schaft Arbeit und Brot

Wählt Liste 2

Translated this says: "Adolf Hitler creates labour and bread, Vote list 2."

Obviously social circumstances in Germany were very poor in those days. And Hitler made use of the bleak future staring in the face of many Germans. Promises for a better future and at same time blaming a.o. Jews for the situation they were in, made excellent elections.

Usually the largest party has the lowest sequence number. In January 1933 Hitler became Chancellor of Germany and his Nazi-party the absolute number 1. In combination with my mother's age there, my conclusion is that this photo dates from 1932. Little did these boys and girls know how the banner over their heads would influence their lives in less than 10 years time...

For more ladies, rowing boats, bridges and anything else you would never have thought of, please see my fellow Sepia Saturday bloggers.

Update Apr. 7, 2014
Out of the blue I received the following email from Germany:

Good evening,

I've found this picture of Kyllburg in your blog by accident:

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyZ_oBkGiDJ79fHJx3XNTn0T15-5AS2EV6SZRmQGh5i6odK3pGrsmsLATcGpzo9WuMMBBnO8As-45rVhi_xVr_UKxKajvCIpE0AcZSIFL9Th-qEKpU88bm5Duc7QagdV6zNAooTx1REoQ/s1600/Brug+over+de+Kyll+bij+Kyllburg+50+km+N+van+Trier.jpg

I was born in Kyllburg in 1958, but away from home since I'm 15 year old. I am very interested in the history of my home town. (By the way: Kyllburg is, with a population of about 900 people, the smallest town in the federal state Rheinland-Pfalz. Until  World War II it was a famous spa in the Eifel, specialy for the Dutch.)

The bridge over the river Kyll with your mother on it is probably this:

https://www.google.de/maps/place/50%C2%B002'20.5%22N+6%C2%B035'06.0%22E/@50.039036,6.584998,1684m/data=!3m2!1e3!4b1!4m2!3m1!1s0x0:0x0

I have a very private request: Do you have any other pictures or other information from this trip of your mother's school form to Kyllburg in 1933 where this picture was taken? Needless to say that there are a lot of postcards from Kyllburg at the internet. But the private sight of such a trip is of course more exciting for me.

I would be very pleased to hear from you.

Best regards

Toni Nissen

Wiesbaden

Obviously I replied to Tony. Fortunately my mother's album is still in my possession and there are a few more pictures made in Kyllburg which I forwarded to Toni in the meantime. There was also this picture postcard. I was able to put a date to the bridge picture: July 23, 1932. So I was wrong by a year. 

Kyllburg pictured from up high

It is nice when the internet provides you with reactions such as the one above. Thanks, Toni!

Sepia Saturday - Oohlala & LG

I like to thank Alan for providing us with a beautiful picture of two young ladies named Lala Williams and Elgie Crook. However, he is trying to seduce us to do some googling and find out more about these two children. But I don't fall for that trap.  It will no doubt lead me into all kinds of interesting views and thoughts and I have had it with that! Intellectual challenges, not for me, not this week! The only associations I will allow myself with regard to these two, are a sense of oohlala and LG, the Korean electronics giant. I estimate that your SS-interest in electronics is next to nil.  And sharing my wildest oohlala-feelings with you might result in this blog being put in a mature content section. Therefore, my choice this week is a very ordinary, run-of-the-mill photograph of my mother and her younger sister.

Johanna Huberta de Langen (*1917) (l) and
her sister Theodora Gerarda (1921-1996)

I estimate this (summer?) picture was taken in 1923 possibly on the occasion of Thea's second birthday in July. The most likely place is The Hague.
For more daring interpretations of this week's theme, you may have a look at the Sepia Saturday site.

Sepia Saturday - Classy pictures

This week's theme picture tries to steer us in the direction of boys, libraries and/or books. With a little fantasy subjects such as old buildings and central heatings come to mind. I can't connect any of these notions to any of the numerous photo's stored -literally- in my shoe box archive. Apparently I suffer from subconscious Sepia Saturday thoughts during nighttime. Because when I woke up this morning the word 'education' popped up and I had to think about a number of old school photo's I have. And old school photo's by definition have been taken in old buildings. With a sigh of relief I got out of bed and started this post. I have to be honest here, I had breakfast first. Just in case you would worry about that.

Nicolaas Orie (1897-1977) bottom row, third from the left

This picture shows my wife's paternal grandfather Nicolaas Orie in grammar school. He was born in the village of Loosduinen near The Hague. We estimate that he is about 10 years old here. What strikes me most in this picture is his serious look. In fact many of his fellow pupils show a similar expression. There are only one or two faces where a smile can be detected. That is not very surprising if you realize that Nicolaas was the eldest of nine children. So I assume he had to earn his keep and probably more. Likely other boys had similar duties. 
Seven boys are wearing the type of knotted tie that I have seen recently in someone else's blog post; I forgot who that was, sorry. Possibly that picture has been made in the same time frame.
No girls in this picture! A possible reason can be that Nicolaas was on a Roman Catholic school with separate classes for girls.

Johanna Huberta de Langen (*1917) second row, third from the right

Possibly because of the lamp that hangs from the ceiling, I find this a typical 20s classroom. In it is my mother. I estimate she is 6 or 7 years old here so the photo can be dated around 1923/24. The school is the Herman Bavinckschool in the Cypresstraat, The Hague. Compared to the first picture this seems like a fairly large class, even by today's standards: 34 students of which 16 girls. (In Nicolaas' class I count 24 pupils.) In total there are 9 boys wearing a navy type blouse.

Lena Bakker (1880-1959), see arrow

I had to put the pieces of this picture together, literally. It shows my paternal grandmother when she was approx 10 years old. So we are talking 1890 here. Lena was born in Heenvliet, a small village in the south of the province of South Holland. So I presume she went to school there as well. The thing that strikes me most is the resemblance to her grandchild Marijke. In total I see 35 pupils and one teacher. Possibly there are a few lady teachers in the middle of the photo. If that is so, this may be the complete population of this village school.
In case you wonder where the red arrow came from, my father put it there. He used this picture for a presentation when his parents had been married 25 years in 1938. He apparently felt the need to point out to his audience who his mother was.
Curious to see more kids or books or..., go to Sepia Saturday and enjoy yourself.

Postmarks (3)

In this last post on postmarks I'll show you the remaining nine promoting a wide variety of things. The first three are pre-WW2, the others are all from 1944. In 1944 my country (The Netherlands) was clearly not in good shape anymore. The occupation by the Germans was in its fourth year and the texts reflect certain "problem areas". But first three earlier ones.

July 28, 1932: Nationaal Padvinderskamp Landgoed Oosterbeek
Wassenaar 2-12 augustus 1932

This 1932 postmark refers to a national pathfinders camp in Wassenaar, a city near The Hague.

January 19, 1933: Steun het Nationaal Crisiscomite

"Support the National Crisis Committee" tried to interest the population in aiding primarily tradespeople but also the unemployed and people forced to work in certain projects set up by municipalities.  The Committee existed from 1931 - 1936 and never was a great success. During those years a total 7.5 million guilders was distributed to those in need. And like in other countries, also here the unemployment rates were high, very high. So the financial aid per person was limited.

June 12, 1934: Adresseer volledig

People were encouraged to provide a full address. I wrote about the background of this recommendation earlier.

January 26, 1944: Help onze industrie aan grondstoffen Lever afval in

"Help our industry to obtain raw materials, hand in your waste."  It is unlikely that the collected materials would go to industries benefiting the population. My guess is that most of it went straight to Germany to keep the war industry going. With imports of all commodities coming to a standstill, Germany had to depend on its own resources and on those of the occupied territories. One of the consequences of material shortages was that a large percentage of all church bells and radio's were confiscated as well.

January 28, 1944: Bewaar oud papier Uit oud wordt nieuw

"Save waste paper New is made from old" If you were of the opinion that recycling of paper is a fairly recent thing, you are wrong. Like many things, it has been tried before.

February 3, 1944: Afvalstoffen bewaren Brandstoffen sparen

The idea behind "Save waste, Save fuel" was probably that waste could serve as fuel for industrial purposes. It would then replace existing fuels such as coal. In this way coal could serve as fuel for vital (read: war) industries.

March 18, 1944: Laat voor den Post langs den gehelen bovenkant 4 cm vrij

Apparently it was a wide spread custom to write the address across the whole face of an envelope. Hence the request to "Allow the Mail to use 4 cms along the top". In this manner both the address and the stamp would remain legible. 

September 21, 1944: Frontzorg is eereplicht Stort op giro 106156

A soldier with a German helmet symbolizes Dutch men who collaborated with the Germans by doing military duties, also abroad. The stamp calls for (financial) support of these men: "Front care is a duty of honor, Transfer money to account 106156". I have been unable to find out how much money was collected for this purpose but I cannot imagine the amount was of any significance.  

October 10, 1944: Zand en water zijn bij brandbominslag de beste bluschmiddelen

"Upon impact of a fire bomb, sand and water are the best extinguishers". Although it is not mentioned here, the implication of this message was that these bombs were used against civilians by the RAF and US Air Force, often en route to Germany. This stamp must therefore be regarded as a subtle hint as to who was the real enemy!  

All stamps shown in this series come from envelopes addressed to my father and mother before and during WW2. The January and February 1944 letters are congratulatory letters written on the happy occasion of my birth. All envelopes are still undamaged and so are the letters. I'll write about those another time.