Just a Different Zipcode...When was the last time you did something for the first time?

原本想說宣誓完後當天去辦護照, 應該可以趕在4月下旬回台的說.  但是最近又一堆事在忙, 所以又要延了.  至於要延到啥時也還說不一定呢...><

計畫永遠趕不上變化...原本接下來兩年是要東西岸兩邊跑, 但因為某些原因, 所以回來加州了.  這樣也好, 畢竟加州的天氣怎麼說都比要待的(東岸)那個地方好太多了...所以, 我們回到原本可愛的家了.  

2010~2012 對我來說是個非常不同的時期, 離職, 到歐洲一陣子, 生了小孩, 今年4月開始了一份兼職的工作.  現在有時間就陪小寶貝囉 ^^  看著寶貝一天天的長大, 我也很開心.  想想, 從單身到已婚, 再到有自己的家庭, 對我來說真是不可思議啊.  有了家庭後, 想法也會有些不同, 當然重心會以家庭為主, 但是還是會有私心, 希望自己還是有想單身時的私人空間及生活.  所以偶而喝喝我的最愛scotch來回味一下囉.

最回味的就是 歐洲之行, 第一次去歐洲, 跟Dave去了很多地方, 其中跟Lena的鬼混自助之旅算是已婚後的第一次單身之旅, 所以有著深深的懷念跟回味無窮啊.  但在歐洲之行之後, 加上回來美國後剛開始東西岸兩邊跑, 突然覺得旅行很累...所以現在休息, 等小孩大了以後, 再恢復旅遊的日子...想著帶著小孩重遊舊地是多麼興奮的事情啊...呵呵

Below information is from http://www.zaanschemolen.nl
DE KAT (The Cat)
Dye mill on the Kalverringdijk
Zaanse Schans, Zaandam, The Netherlands

This windmill is a smock mill: only the cap with its sails are turned to face the wind by means of the capstan wheel at the bottom of the tail-pole. The horizontal rotary motion of the sails is converted into vertical rotary motion movement by the brake wheel and the wallower in order to power the machinery on the floor below. The brake wheel is surrounded by a wooden brake which makes it possible to stop the mill from turning.

The Zaan
The story begins outside, just around the corner! There is the river Zaan. The people who lived along its banks, and who had grown rich through trade and fishing, built their first windmills around 1600. Initially they used the wind to keep their feet dry, but later on they used it to develop an entire industrial area. Barley, rice, paper, wood, cooking oil, mustard, tobacco, hemp and many other products were processed in 1,000 windmills in the Zaan area. From 1850 on the work of the windmills was taken over by soot-spewing steam engines. Only 13 windmills survived, as monuments of industry and technology.

The wind
It is the wind, a rather capricious source of energy, that makes our windmills work (or not work, as the case may be!). But they cannot work without the miller, who turns the sails, mounted on the 15-ton cap, into the face of the wind. He also regulates the speed of the windmill by means of the sails and boards.

Color
The product of this windmill is color - or rather, dyestuff! From 1600 onwards tropical dye woods were imported on a large scale in order to dye fabrics. They heavy pieces of wood were cut into chips by choppers in a big vat. The chips were then pulverized by edge runner stones weighing 5000 to 7000 kg and later sifted in a rotating drum. They were then packed into bales or barrels and delivered to the customers.

Just before 1700 the windmills were also put to use to process mineral dyes, chalk and abrasives. The wet stones, which came from quarries, first had to be dried off in warehouses. Painters made paint by rubbing the dye powders into a medium such as linseed oil.

Around 1920 there were only about 50 windmills left of the 1000 that had made the Zaan district the oldest industrial area of the world.

"She's got attitude to spare"