Found some good information today

and haven't been able to do much with it yet, because... tired,  but wanted to share 😀 

I went to the zoo with a friend over the weekend and on the way back went and looked for any sign of the temporary cemetery at Molenhoek, and actually found 2 monuments. I went out on a whim because a fellow researcher (With waaaaaayyyyy more experience in researching soldiers) had mentioned where one temporary cemetery had been, and gave me a more or less place to look. From the information I received, I didn't expect an actual memorial, but figured I "map" the site, for use in Story behind the Stars, as a  reference point. While checking googlymaps to see if I could glean anything from the satellite photo's, I stumbled upon an actual marked monument. This one was shared between the 82nd Air Borne and 1st Canadian Army.

It was the perfect day for cemetery hunting.... heavy fog :-) 

So, the "unknown" one, was actually really easy to find. The information I was given of where the cemetery used to be, was "behind the brewery De Raaf, in Molenhoek" And taking that information I scoured maps and figured, if I drive down the street running right behind the estate, I will either find something, or I won't. At the very least, I can take a picture of the plot behind the estate as indication where it probably was. 

Soooo..... It's in Molenhoek 😄 behind the estate and sits on the corner of Hoogenhofseweg and Molenstraat. You access it by taking the Molenstraat from the Rijksweg in Molenhoek. The spot was so, so special. While we were there, 3 other people stopped at the memorial. 

The inscription reads:

Here rested the remains of 637 gallant soldiers and airmen of the United States and British Armed Forces in the fall and winter of 1944 They gave their lives to free The Netherlands of Nazi tyranny

On the way to the second monument, we passed a marker for the Liberation Route, and (If I interpreted the information right) it looked to be the ninth on the route, so that's something I'll have to dig into a little more.....    

Darn.... more research! 🤣

The second monument also lay within the fields. 

I couldn't figure out what I was feeling. On the one hand there was the "happy" because I had tangible evidence where the cemeteries had been, and on the other there was the crushing sense of sadness because of the lives lost in liberation of the country of my birth, knowing that the tyranny these soldiers fought for, now lives in their own country.

The second part of the day was spent at the Liberation Museum in Groesbeek. The building is shaped like the canopy of an open parachute, because it was built on the drop zone of Operation Market Garden. It was an eye opener, for sure. If you are ever in the area, even if you are not a history fan, go visit. It is well worth the time. It's not really big, but it gives the Readers Digest version of the war, with an open ending to current affairs. I wouldn't really call it a War Museum, not even a military museum, more like a museum to make you think about what's going on and coming and reflect on what was.

Going thru the gift shop, I found a book on the temporary cemeteries in the area, and that's where the "haven't been able to do anything with it yet" part comes in 😏  There is SO much information in this book, that I know I will use it for several soldiers in my Stories behind the Stars research list.

This is all I wanted to share for right now, so

Don't forget to hug a loved one, tightly!

Love and hugs,

Pauli

Februari 9, 2026

 

The victor really DOES write history.....

The castle I used to tourguide for is up for sale. The story being told in the "sale add" by the municipality, is that they really did everything to keep the project alive, and even "bailed out" the organization when they went bankrupt... "The project just wouldn't come of the ground" "There was a disappointing lack of income" "milions of Euro's were invested but to no avail" are just some of the sentences used in the blowhard dismissal of the organization that put blood, sweat and tears into the project, on a budget, that in view of what was accomplished, is laughable.... so, I know we were told not to talk about the goings on. God knows why you would put a gag-order on the people who are supposed to promote the abomination it has become, but that's a different soapbox I'm not willing to step up on, right now. However, to see the project put in a light that is almost slanderous, just to polish their own buttons.... No. I'm done being quiet.

First off: The municipality started the project but seemed almost immediately dead set on killing it after the next election of boardmembers.
They took FIVE YEARS to approve the plans, in which we could not build, or receive paying visitors. We could line things up for "when the planning commission would approve the plans. Plans, by the way, they had helped draft. We improved the grounds, put up the visitors center, we planted the historical garden and lined up craftsman. We received a sizable gift to build our showhorse, the gatehouse, but we couldn't build, because..... planning permission. We had master craftsman lined up, but... we couldn't build, so they eventually decided to get jobs that would pay their bills instead of being paid in promises. We had plans in place with tradeschools, but... no masters, no building permit, so they fizzled out. Because of the time lapsed for some of the environmental tests done to garner the zoning change, they had to be redone, some twice! This was the reason the project was slow to take off..... And the cost made to get these done and redone, was non negotiable. There were no shortcuts or cajoling for a better price, so a big chunk of our initial capital went to these expenses.

The money spent, was stretched to the point of tripling what we got in return. Almost all labor was from volunteers. Nobody looked at hours worked. If something needed done, it got done. We had a core of about 25 volunteers that had been consistent over the life of the project, and at most 68 at any given time. This included the involuntairy volunteers thru workprograms from communites and dept of justice.

Did everything go smooth? No but what project that has never been done before, has no previous endeavor to look at to make sure you're going about things the right order does.
Did people clash? Yes. People are people. Passionate people are more apt to put their 2 (or 10) cents in whether it helps the cause or not, but they have ideas because they care.

As for the visitors..... The municipality pushed for a succesfull restaurant, instead of putting the available money in building, The restaurant did well in attendance, but very little people would venture onto the grounds and pay the entryfee, because the restaurant was advertised more than the project. As for not "making good on expectations of visitors"? The period they took the most offence to, was 2020 thru 2023..... Now, not sure about the timing, but wasn't there this litlle hiccup in socializing called COVID around that time? NOBODY made their projected visitor quota.

The "needed bailout" was not really a bailout, but the result of systematic sabotage of possible income streams. There were things lined up, that would have made it possible to thrive as the knowledge center we were striving to become. The only hitch in our gittelong? The other FOUR parties, were denied by the municipality, because they would have to commit 50K per year to the project....

The thing that bothers me about this, is the simple fact that they boycotted their own project, with no clear view of what they were getting into, but they spin it like it's the diamond in their community that just needs help. They're quick to take the credit, and even quicker to burn the hard work of 12 years to the ground.....  They didn't want to committ to 50K per year, not realising that, once they cut off the volunteer workforce the upkeep of the property alone would run them at least three times that, and it was clear pretty quick after the initial closure, that they were going to sell the property. Mind you, the buildings are cultural heritage monuments, so there are certain restrictions with what you can do with them. Although they haven't adhered to that part of their ownership responsibility since they bought it in 1947, so why am I surprised?

February 2, was my final farewell of the project that was so dear to my heart for many years. We had one more meeting with the officials to garner information about the sale. 

I took some pictures. Why? I have no clue. Something to look back at, maybe? No matter what the reason was I did it, I know it will be quite a while before I can look at them and not get pissed, so maybe I'll put them on a part of my teradrive I don't visit oftern, just to keep my sanity.. 

The meeting itself, was bullsht. They could have put the whole thing in an email, as far as I'm concerned. They, again, stressed the point that they would have liked to see the project succeed, while giving the impression that it wasn't their fault it went under, but everybody connected TO the project knows better. The bottomline still states: The project is dead, we will take as much of the credit for what was accomplished as we can, we will keep exploiting it to make the City Council look good and get people to visit the town and meanwhile, we will sell it to whomever is willing to take it off our hands.

End of an era.....

I broke GoogleMaps

 I've seen navigation navigate me straight into a dead-end street while telling me to turn right at the end,  I've seen it send me the wrong way into a one way, or telling me I really needed to take that walkingpath with the boulder in the middle, to prevent people from doing just that, but I have absolutely N E V E R..... E V E R   see it so tonguetied, it kept repeating the same sentence for a full 15 Kilometers!!!!

 I was hilarious and admittedly a little disconcerting, but mostly hilarious :-)

I went down to Maastricht to visit a mansion with gardens and a lot of walking paths, just to see if it would be worth making it a regular stopover, after filling up the  car, just on the other side of the border. (40 cents a liter less, lets me do a little more traveling, so well worth the early Sundaymorning getting out of the house....  an having something to do at the end of it, just seemed like a nice way to spend a little time outdoors, now that the weather isn't quite as cold as it has been the last couple of weeks.... Not spring yet, mind you, but nice.   It was a nice place to be, has a bistro for breakfast and lots and lots of space to take that brainclearing walk. Also, there's a ton of puppies to look at while enjoying the walk..... I think I was the only person there that didn't have one.  But I digress....

After sitting in the middle of nowhere, enjoying the sun and quiet while reading for about 2 hours, and realising that my asscheeks were so cold, I didn't feel them anymore, I decided to go home, have some lunch and finish my book.  I cannot activate navigation after I start driving, because it doesn't always react to the touch, and you REALLY have to look at the screen to hit the spots just right, so I either drive blindly in the direction I think I need to go, or I pick a point I think I need to pass to get where I need to go, if I'm almost certain where I need to be and ignore her once I'm in familiar territory..... and  not knowing for sure where to go, I plugged in the next town, knowing that I would pass the entrance to the road I needed to get home on, so..... I drove the way I thought I needed to go and took the first exit on the roundabout instead of the 3rd one as indicated, becaue I knew where I was and how to get home from there.... That's when the fun started. Instead of telling me to turn left, so I could get back to the route she wanted me on like normall, she kept telling me "go west..... go east.... on the roundabout take ...... go east" than she got quiet for a bit, and started up again.... "turn.... turn ..... turn...keep right... go east..... turn left.... slight right, follow......follow..... follow..... go east.... follow...... follow......" never giving a streetname, at all.   At this time, I was on the highway, with no turns I cared to take, as they would have taken me down into a meadow or across the divider....  and I kept picturing a doll with its head spinning while springs and things were shooting out of it....  

People looking into the car would have thought I completely lost my mind. It was just me in the car, but I was laughing like I was in the middle of George Carlin concert.... Getting into town, she really got lost... On the Valkenburgerweg, she told me to follow the ramp towards Heerlen (there isn't one on this side of town) When I turned on Tenelenweg, she told me to turn right on Valkenburgerweg, and take the 3rd exit on the the roundabout, than go west on hoogstraat (no such street) and follow the tenelenweg,.... follow...... turn..... follow......  When I stopped in front of the house she clammed up until I got into the house and tried again to make me "follow". That's when I mercifully, although regretfully because of the entertainment value, switched off GoogleMaps.   

I'm kinda dreading the next time I need it, because if she holds a grudge for freaking her out.... I'll end up in a canal somewhere.......

A New Year.....

 You'd think I would have a plan.....

but all I have is a humongous to do list, that's spanning the last 4 years of shit that needs taken care of and absolutely no fuckin' clue how to go about taking things off it.....   

I collected all the "to do's" and combined them on one list.... You had the ovbious ones that kept resurfacing on practically every one of them, organize the house, clear the crap, plan the yard, decide where we wanna live in the States. And than there were the surprising ones, that surfaced on maybe 2..... Set time aside for writing, orgainze  family tree research and write our story, put together photobook, check out "insert town or museum to go to". And that's when I realised that we've been doing things for ourselves when we could fit it in, so mostly...... Never. 

That's when I made a decision, and started, another list.  I know..... anOTHER one, but this one is not more of the same!  This one with stuff NOT related to organizing the house, getting rid of stuff or trailing paperwork, but, perish the thought, FUNstuff. Stuff to do, and not being another chore, something "just because"  Some, I won't be able to do until the bulk of the shitlist is done, like sitting down and organizing the familytree research, (you'd have to be able to find it all, first) or making the photobooks, (no patience with the house a mess and no deskspace) but I can put aside time for writing, I can do research and write the Stories behind the Stars, I can take a day and go up north to spend on the water, maybe stay the night somewhere in the middle of nowhere and go for an early morning walk on the heath...... I wanna "go somewhere" once a month. Plan it out good, pack a bag, just in case I wanna stay or I'm too tired to drive back, pack a picnicbasket and just go. I'm going to split the weekdays into 2 hour blocks. (go thru crap, clean house, do yardwork/car, indidental crap like scrubbing doors and windows and such, keep track of the finances/other paperwork, grocery-/week-/mealplan, walk (3 times a week),  writing/research.... Start my day no later than 08.00 and hit "quittin' time" after dinner, around 19.00.

Picking a day to do one thing hasn't worked longer than a week, ever, so maybe this will get me to a point that the list gets shorter.... If I go away during the week, I do the work on Saturday and I'm keeping Sunday for funstuf. Most events are on Sunday, so that'll give me a "planned" unplanned outing. and Saturday morning 8AM will be groceryshopping, regardless of things that need doing.

There's one exception, though. When I'm packing up the (little) Christmas decorations I have actually sitting out, I will go thru every room, and collect anything that has to do with seasonal decorating, organize them by event, and put them in tubs, and shove them in the attic. That should take care of a good part of the loose breakable stuff, floating around.

Once every 2 weeks I'll make a dump-run including the recycleable stuff from around the house I've come accross, and maybe start putting stuff on Marktplaats... Although I'm not sure I want the hassle, some stuff is just wrong to put in the dump..... OH, and this summer, I'm going to sand down and maybe refinish the dining table and start using that again. Meaning, that part of the livingroom has to be clear before the weather gets nice :-)  Have to decide if I want to oil it or shellac it, but that decision can keep until I'm done sanding

So 

I'll start on that February 1st, because up to this part of January I've been down with the flue..... Boy, I thought I had bad dreams before... those fever dreams are  W I C K E D!!! 

So.... How've you been? 😆

 

That's it for me, for now. Hope you had a good beginning of 2026, are planning lots of fun stuff with people you care about and please, don't forget to hug them!! 

Love and hugs,

Pauli