Windmill 'de Nijverheid', Ravenstein

'Nijverheid' sounds like 'NIGHverheid'= 'industry' or 'hard work'

There's an extra with a side view.

The morning was cloudy but then, around lunch, the sun broke through.  This was not the windmill I had planned to do last time, nor what I planned to shoot today, as I had thought of Dieden, a little further away.  When I saw this on the way, though, so close to my intended route, I knew I had to snatch the chance as the sun was about to go under cloud cover again.  Couldn't have chosen a better one for the first day of this hopefully more positive year.  Thankfulness is good to cultivate and it's easiest to do that when there are more things to be thankful for.

An otherwise ordinary day, with the usual routine at home, except for the fact that AW didn't go to Friday bridge at Sweed's.

There is something that has been making me feel good since my chat with Mimi.  She finally solved the riddle of why I was taken in by the steps -- an old wives' tale that if a couple who haven't had any children after many years of marriage take in a child, the coming of the child will kind of stimulate them to go for a real offspring and this will eventually 'bear fruit'.  In short, my job from the start was to kind of 'kickstart' their 'system', or whatever anyone calls it, so that she could get pregnant.  I had already heard something similar decades ago, but couldn't believe the steps even considered this reason, as they're supposed to be 'educated' and 'not superstitious'.

Anyway, everything fell into place, and I realized that I had already done what was expected of me when they got Jay.  The thought has left me rather 'bemused' the whole time, and maybe it's not the type of thing to put here on the first day of the year, but it has lightened my mental load considerably.