Wash, rinse, repeat

I woke up late Thursday morning -- about 9 a.m. I had time to start some coffee and plop my butt on the couch to catch the news. Then, a delivery truck showed up in front of the house. Sears!

Seems the company had shipped the new, undamaged washer and not called us to tell us they were delivering. That's OK. I like surprises. I like talking to burly delivery men while I'm in my Mickey Mouse pajama bottoms and slippers.

At least Sears delivered. So, the washer debacle is over. ...

But, wait. I came home Sunder from an afternoon with the kids and my mother-in-law informed me that the rinse cycle doesn't work properly on the new washer.

Here we go again.

Tulip Time

That Sunday afternoon, Jayne and I took the kids to Kinderplaats at Tulip Time in Holland. Kinderplaats means "kids' place," or something in the beautiful Dutch language (that's why there are so many popular Dutch poets, you know. There are tons of rhymes for "Graafschap" and "Goeningen"). Kinderplaats is a giant play area for kids with slides, bouncy places, animals and tulips.

The girls had fun. The lines weren't too long because got there early -- it opened at noon. By 1:30-2 p.m., it was packed with the church-going crowd. The girls loved getting their picture taken with a human-sized SpongeBob. Really.

I generally try to avoid Tulip Time because, well, I don't get it (and I hate crowds). I know the event celebrates Dutch culture as viewed through the rose-colored glasses of a town hungry for tourist dollars, but the thought of all the municipal money spent on it when people in Holland are losing jobs left and right and many can't afford food for their children makes me uneasy.

Also, the worship of tulips is obscene. A year or so ago, the city authorized the hunting of deer on public land because they were eating the tulip bulbs! The city was killing living animals so it can keep its tulips blossoming. This is so wrong.

But, the bottom line is that the Dutch settlers who came to Holland didn't come to form a utopia where all people could live together in harmony. They came to Michigan and drove out the Native American tribes so they could have a place where they could worship their religion without worrying about having to accommodate people of other denominations. This hauty attitude thrives to this very day, though Holland has gotten better in accepting Hispanics and African Americans -- as long as they don't get too uppity.