I want to thank you. I know it seems I do that almost every day here (and the days I don’t, I’m thinking it). But I’m still just sitting here marveling at the outpouring of kindness in the aftermath of the Marilyn Denis Show on CTV yesterday and the segment that included my interview with her (and family therapist Joe Rich).
 
Marilyn conducted a lovely interview and it was so good to spend time with her. Her crew did a fantastic job editing the hotel room pre-interview and setting the scene so beautifully. Thank you to them, and to you for your emails and response to the interview. I’ve been hearing from people across this great country of ours today.
 
By the way, If you happen to be new to this journal, welcome! Please do feel free to scroll through some of the past, oh, 15 years’ worth (not all LOL) and it’s great to have you here. Also, on the home page (just above this journal if you’re reading it on Thursday) you may have seen WHAT’S UP. You can click there to learn where I’m stopping to talk in June in Ontario. And thank you.
 
Before I forget, don’t miss this week’s Walmart piece I wrote about organization. Helps to clear the mind – just like organizing and answering my emails has done in the past 24 hours. I hope you enjoy it.
 

 
(Some of today’s photos, like the one above, were taken by our friend Mali Bickley)
 
Today: enough words. How about some pictures of what was truly the most memorable day of our trip to the Netherlands and Belgium on our Tulip Time tour with AmaWaterways? Tomorrow will be full-on UBER TULIPS, I promise you, with a breathtaking day at a place open only 8 weeks of the year. But today: Kinderdijk. On bicycles!
 

 
Pronounced “kinder dike,” it means the “children’s dike,” so named for one of two reasons: because it was either dug in part by children or, as folklore would have it, a baby, whose cradle was swept up in a massive 1421 flood, was found floating along in the waters. On top of the cradle walked a cat, moving back and forth to balance the baby (later named Beatrix, as in “the blessed”) and her crib on the water’s surface. Thus began the “Cat and the Cradle” story, too. A much nicer tale, yes?
 

 
This Unesco World Heritage Site is not to be missed when you’re in The Netherlands. How fortunate Rob and I were to take a bicycle tour, feeling the quintessential Dutch experience of riding along a canal and looking at the majestic windmills! 19 of them, built in the mid-18th century, make up Kinderdijk and they are not to be missed.
 
At one time, there were 150 of these majestic structures; today, while there exist state-of-the-art equipment and engineering to protect the land and its inhabitants, these windmills are considered back-ups in the event of modern equipment failure, standing ready and able to help keep South Holland, most of which is below sea level, safe and dry if needed. The photo below shows the water at different elevations.
 

 
*Fun Fact: calling all of The Netherlands “Holland” would be like calling all of the USA “Dakota.” The Netherlands are made up of 12 provinces, two of which are North and South Holland.
 

 
It was a spectacular, wonderful day (albeit somewhat overcast, chilly and windy – but who cares?) in South Holland at Kinderdijk. To think that people still call these windmills (two of which have been converted into museums that visitors can enter and tour) home is most amazing of all! (Thanks again for the one above, Mali.)
 

 
Tomorrow, as we make our way home and take one last spectacular tour, you’ll see a bazillion tulips in one of the most incredible settings ever – I promise!