"Every house where love abides
And friendship is a guest,
Is surely home, and home sweet home
For there the heart can rest."
~ Henry Van Dyke

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Windows to another world.....

We have been 'on vacation' this past week. We have been away for a couple of days and those photos are yet to come but I wanted to share a window into the country we live in. We visited the open air museum earlier in the week before we went away. It had been years since we had been there and thought it would be nice to go again. It is a place where you not only walk back in time but also visit all the corners of Holland in one day.


Since I love architectural details, I noticed when I downloaded my photos that I had taken so many photos of windows with various types of shutters. It is fun to show them all to you. This first one is very unusual as they slide down over the windows. They are painted in the typical Dutch 'bottle green' as they call it.

A simple country looking wooden shutter on an small farm.

Again some green shutters on a Fresian farmhouse. These kinds of shutters are still seen on houses today.

The highly decorative shutters on a home from Hindeloopen. This city by the Ijsselmeer is famous for its colorful paintings on walls and furniture.

These shutters are on a farm in Limburg in the south of Holland. These seem more similar to shutters seen in France.

Another unique village in Holland is Staphorst. They are also know for the color combination of bright green, white and bright blue on the farmhouses.

These are one of my favorites. I love this sweet little heart carved into these shutters. And what a beautiful window! *sigh* Do you think they would allow me to move into this farmhouse?

The bright shutters on a daylaborer's cottage in Nunspeet. It was used only for the day that the worker was busy at a farm and then the family had to move on by foot to the next place for more work.

I hope you enjoyed peeking into these windows with me. I took so many photos at this museum that I will be sharing many more of them in the coming weeks. I just love all things old. It gives me a peaceful feeling that things last in this disposable world we now live in. It was difficult to find but here is a poem about looking out the shuttered window into autumn's begin...

"The pine trees bend to listen to the autumn wind as it mutters
Something which sets the black poplars ashake with hysterical laughter;
While slowly the house of day is closing its eastern shutters.

Further down the valley the clustered tombstones recede,
Winding about their dimness the mist's grey cerements, after
The street lamps in the darkness have suddenly started to bleed.

The leaves fly over the window and utter a word as they pass
To the face that leans from the darkness, intent, with two dark-filled eyes
That watch for ever earnestly from behind the window glass."

~ D.H. Lawrence

14 comments:

Caroline said...

Heidi,

So my thoughts are that you live near Arnhem then, or is there another open air museum? For half a tick I thought that you had taken a picture of my old home in Limburg, those shutter just look sooooo familiar!
Windows really are the eyes of a house. Your pictures reminded me of a photographer who made a series of pictures of windows from the inside outwards as it were, the series was called " elsewhere" and for some reason that always stayed with me.
Hope you had a lovely week off, can not wait to see the picures.

Groetjes,

Caroline

Judy said...

I love your photos. I love looking at windows. I always wonder who or what is behind them. I'm anxious to see your other photos. I'm glad you had a grand time.

Sonja said...

Your Dutch windows are lovely! And the music on this blog is also gorgeous! Did you have a good vacation?

Nancy said...

A very neat stroll though shutter land in Holland. I have seen many of these too. I know we have seen even more in other villages there too.
Love you, Mom

Fluitenkruid said...

Je hebt een hoop mooie plekjes bezocht!

Tracy said...

Hi, Heidi! Just loved this post of windows and history! So glad you've been having some lovely days and free time. Look forward to seeing more from your vacation. Oh, and much thank you for many lovely comments you left for me at my blogs--so lovely to see you stopped by! :o) Happy Day ((HUGS))

Elizabethd said...

Interesting windows, especially with the dark green. Here in Brittany the colour is blue, but I love the green!

le ciel flamand said...

Leuk, al die verschillende modellen bijeen! Ik vind luiken aan de ramen heel 'huiselijk', wij hebben er enkel achteraan het huis. Ik vind het een leuk karweitje om ze zelfs in weer en wind dicht te gaan doen. Het geeft me een soort veilig gevoel, lekker in ons nest, en laat het dan buiten maar regenen en waaien... Ondertussen zijn de jongens ook alweer naar school, maar deze week hou ik de jongste thuis. Hij heeft een grote verkoudheid en mag eens lekker verwend worden, alleen bij mama thuis...
Ben benieuwd naar de foto's van jullie uitstapje!
Groetjes, Annelies

Caroline said...

Heidi,

Just very quickly as this is just too funny, of all the places where you could live in this country... Guess where I am living, it is called Amersfoort!

Hope you enjoy the rest of your work and telephone free break.

Linda said...

Heidi,

I'm really drawn to windows and doors... So these pictures brought me real joy!!

Linda in VA

Saskia said...

I like the 'open lucht museum' it's been a long time, that i've been there.
The old houses are so nice, and it's sad that more and more old houses are taken down for new 'ugly' houses...
new and the future are good, and we have to go on,
but save the old and take good care of it!

Tone said...

Hi Heidi!
Lovely green shutters!! Made me an idea for my cottage! haha...
As if I have the time to do this...
Or - the knowledge...

I have been off blog for a while, - as I told you in an email.. -
But thinking of you often!
My cousin has now had the operation - and feeling well after only a few days!

Sun shining in Norway now - autumn coming up!

Take care! Tone

My name is Riet said...

Your pictures are beautiful .All these different windows. Which museum did you go?
COme to think of it, I love windows and shutters too. Gives me another idea for photo's.
Have a nice day
Riet

Anonymous said...

Hi Heidi...you just took me down serious memory lane and the timing couldn't have been more perfect. All day yesterday I kept posing the question to myself of where I was twenty years ago on the very day. You see, it was my son's birthday. I gave birth to him in Zeist, The Netherlands.