| Volume 14 Issue 5 |
5/24/2022 |
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In this issue
Store Hours
Follow Us
Contact Us
Letters From Ralph
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Well we have just finished the busiest week of my year. Three days getting the Straatwinkel set up, three days selling and then one day taking it all down. The more we sell the less work it is to take it down. It was a good year again this year. The weather wasn't perfect, but it was good. We had all six parades, which makes it a success already. Thursday was pretty warm and Friday and Saturday were pretty cool, but the crowds were good and they loved buying Dutch souvenirs, especially wooden shoes. It is kind of fun trying to figure out what people will like each year. This year I bought a ton of key chains with little wooden shoes on them. It took me quite awhile to get them all priced, but I sold everyone with the shoes on. The only key chains I had left were one with a big heavyset Dutchmen and I think that was because they were $6.00 each instead of $2.00 or $3.00. We sold several of the nice art prints that the city had for sale and a lot of wooden shoes, both the city's and Jubon Juweelen's. All in all I think it was a very successful Tulip Festival. What made it especially nice for me is that all three of my uncles attended. My uncle from Florida also brought his two daughters along from the east coast and we had some nice family time together. I'm always sorry I don't have more time during the festival to spend with them, but several of the family stayed through Sunday and that gave us some time to visit. I hadn't seen them since before Covid.
Disc Golf 2022 Tour Several people stopped at the Straatwinkle asking about Juliana this year. Juliana is back on tour. After playing in some smaller tournaments closer to Sacramento, Jim and Juliana are on the road again. She just finished the OTB Open in Stockton, CA and came out a nice clean 3rd. She was actually tied for first on the first day for several holes and then she got into out of bounds troubles and ended up tied for 14th at the end of the day. The second day she worked her way back up to 6th with the 2nd best round of the day (out of 47 women) and the third day she again had the 2nd best round which was enough to move her up to 3rd place. This is her first podium finish in an elite DGPT event. On May 27 she will play in an A-tier event called the SeaTac Takeoff in Washington state. For the first time since his open heart surgery, her finance, Jim Oates, will also be playing. He will be competing in the MP60 (pro masters 60+). The following week Juliana will be playing in her second DGPT elite series event in Portland at the Portland at the Portland Open with 52 other women. Following that she and Jim will both be competing in the Beaver State Fling in Estacada, Oregon (just south of Portland). The Beaver State event is played at Milo McIver, a stunnly beuatiful course that both Jim and Juliana love playing. On June 24 (date of our next newsletter) she will play in the Preserve Championship in Clearwater, Minnesota. The Preserve will be her 3rd DGPT elite series event.
Book Reviews
My Journey, God's Grace An Autobiography by Steven Laman.
This is a wonderful little book. I don't sell it, but you can access it on the Words of Hope web site. Just type in the title on your browser and it will take you to it. It looks like you can either download an audiobook or send for a printed copy. Anyway, this is a book written by the son of a high school classmate of mine. Steve was born with cerebral palsy and cannot talk or write by himself. He is a very bright young man (about 50 -- around the same age as my children) and all his communication is through technology. He learned to type at a very young age and he is also a public speaker, also through technology. But the great thing about the book is his gratefulness of being alive and having a loving family. He tells how frustrating it is to have a sharp mind trapped in a body that doesn't respond the way he would like. His greatest desire is to be a blessing to others and just by reading the book, he is a blessing. I highly recommend this wonderful book.
The Farmer's Daughter by Jim Harrison.
This is an interesting book consisting of three novellas. It was copyrighted in 2010 and is a soft cover that sells for $3.00. I only have one copy. There are three completely different stories each about 100 pages. The only thing they have in common is that all three are about really dysfunctional families. The first -- called "The Farmer's Daughter"-- is about a young girl whose parents moved her to Montana when she was 9 years old and was quite an enjoyable story. The second was entitled "Brown Dog Redux" and is about an American Native who is trying to raise a special needs child. The last story was entitled "The Games of Night" and was kind of a strange story about a young man who was bitten by a wolf cub and developed some serious health problems as a result. Some folks might be offended by some of the language in the book. It is a little rough, but the stories are quite entertaining.
Receptenboek Van De Nederlandse Huisvrouw by Bonnie Meier and Renae B. Vander Schaaf.
I have mentioned this book before, but we completely sold out of the first batch we had. We just purchased another box of them and these will still be the same price, $14.95. However, when these are gone, the next batch will be quite a bit more expensive. Our publisher still had some on hand that we could purchase, but the next order will have to be reprinted and they said that paper and printing have both gone way up. So if you still want to purchase a book at $14.95, you should order from this shipment. This is a Dutch cookbook that Renae and I wrote in 2018. It not only has recipes, but contains a lot of history of the Netherlands plus some articles about Agriculture in the Netherlands, Tulips, etc. We have 48 available, but several are located in stores around the midwest including Wall Drug in South Dakota.
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