Put On A Happy Face

Both Jackie and I had to arise early for work this morning so last night when we were talking about what time to get up Jackie told me to wake her after I took my shower.  This I did.  It may help to know that my wife can stay up to all hours of the night without a problem but she has never been much of a early morning person.

I come into the bedroom fresh as a daisy after my morning wash up and softly say; "wake up Honey."  From Jackie I get something like "mumble jumble, mumble mumble" so I sing her this little tune:

"Good morning to you, good morning to you.  We're all in our places with bright shinning faces" to which Jackie responds;  "I'm getting up but I will NOT put on my happy face."

Jackie ended up with her happy face later this afternoon when she came back home and got to continue working on one of her sewing projects.  This time it is a mass production of little Dutch costumes that fit the American Girl dolls that most of our little granddaughters love.  I'm talking skirts, those blooming pants, scarfs, the classic Dutch caps, blouses and of course a bunch of little accessories.

There are patterns from Dutch regions such as Middelburg, Achterhoek, Volendam and the Isle of Markan.  Some are for girls and some are boy outfits that the girl dolls will wear, just like the famous Dutch dancers from my hometown, Holland, Michigan.  Looking at all the piles of outfits and various materials sitting on the work table makes me wonder if Jackie is outfitting a little army of Dutch dancers.  The piles sure brings back a lot of May memories of Tulip Time.

When I was in early grade school at St. Francis I would dress up Dutch and march in the Thursday parade with my classmates while holding a long horizontal pole displaying the diamonds of Amsterdam.  The same props were used by subsequent classes for the next 50 years.  By 4th or 5th grade I graduated to decorating my bike with crape paper and sticking baseball cards in the spokes and riding the route, dressed up Dutch of course, while doing so.  I was cool Hans then. 

Other relatives fared better.  My girls while in band in middle school and high school marched in all the festival's parades.  My older brother dresses Dutch each year and pulls some of his little grandkids in a red wagon during the street scrubbing parade.  And my young blond girl cousins would just sit in the middle of a patch of beautiful tulips while wearing their Dutch costumes and collect dollars from the thousands of visiting senior citizen tourists.  I asked my mom if I could do that but she said it was a Vermont custom.

Just to continue the Dutch theme for a little longer, I did a road test yesterday for a college student from the Netherlands.  He is 6'10" tall and came over here to play hoops.  Unfortunately both ankles went bad.  He says that his teammates yell "dunk the ball" but he doesn't because it hurts to jump.  That now is my excuse. 

I asked him if young guys like him, because they all travel extensively through Europe, now consider themselves to be first Europeans and then as someone from their country.  "Definitely the Netherlands" was the answer.  "The European Union is falling apart."  That surprised me but then thinking about the recent bailouts of Greece and Ireland and the financial troubles in Spain, Italy and others I could understand. 

He told me his parents who are prominent journalists in Amsterdam actually phoned him after this weeks EU's attempt to confiscate bank funds in Cypress and asked if he wanted them to remove his money from their Dutch bank.  That's how worried his parents are getting.  He put on his happy face and told them no.  "I'm just a college student.  I don't have much money to worry about."

Another test I had test this week was with a woman who was 50 years old, about 5 foot tall and was missing all of her front teeth.  She wasn't Dutch but she was from Loose E Anna.  When I told her I could hear a little Cajun in her accent Mary told me that she was part Indian.  I asked; "American Indian or Indian from India".  Mary replies; "Indian Indian. Part Cherokee, part Chippewa."

When I tell Mary that she passes she puts both arms over the steering wheel, rotates them and does her little happy dance.  She tells me showing her big no tooth smile that she is going to save her special happy dance to show her husband.  "I would show it to youss but youss is a married man" she laughs.  "That I am" I assure her.

Mary's happy face was big but not as big as the one I see on Jackie when she is sewing those little Dutch outfits.