Not to mention the cheese!

This is a picture of the town I grew up in while we were living on Texel. Like I said, my parents are back and are still glowing from the trip back “home”. I wanted to show you all a picture that did the island justice and gave you an idea of the place that truly defined part of who I am…this was easier said than done.

You see, the island is only 6km by 12km but it manages to have fields of daffodils and tulips like the one above, sand dunes with highlandy horses running wild, mudflats with thousands of little stick-legged birds running around like maniacs, dikes and windmills (both working and completely authentic), and 80 year old farmers biking in wooden shoes (seriously) to check on their lambs.Listening to Mom’s stories, it really struck me how cool it is that there’s a place in this world where after ten years since I last stepped foot on the island, I could bike along the fields and watch a tractor pull to a stop, an old man jump out, run over and give me a big hug for being part of the Canadian family that left such a lasting impression.