TULIPS, TULIPS, TULIPS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Man... I have never been much of a flower guy... or so I thought. Gardenia's always did it for me!! Best smelling flower by far, and delicate white. But tulips... damn... how can you not like tulips?!?!? We have had an enjoyable time during the tulip festivities that last about 3 weeks or so here. As you may know, tulips are one of the symbols of Holland, but they have been surpassed by other flowers here in terms of production. But the tulip in all it's varieties (I believe I saw 600 somewhere) remains close to the hearts of the Dutch. We made 2 trips to the northern growing area about 45 minutes from Amsterdam, one with Dolly and John, and then a return the very next weekend. You can buy them there, or if you're willing you can pull over and harvest them yourself as they have somehow spread to the sides of the roads and shoulders in some places. Our apartment was home to about 60 flowers at one point. They have all wilted and died since we returned from our 4 day trip to Berlin (watch for the next post on that!), but what a joy to have them in our place for as long as they lasted. I'll see if I can keep from killing the bulbs I have for next year (as my non-stop struggle with my lawn and shrubs at home attests) as my luck with any vegetation has never been much above abismal. Driving around the 18 kilometer circuit through the farm country is almost like the wine country route above San Francisco. We had a nice time, a little adventure, and massive color in the apartment for a couple of weeks. We look forward to doing it again next year!