This week's POB photo contest, hosted by @friendlymoose, has a topic that really no one would have an excuse to join. I mean, everyone lives somewhere. Everyone is a resident of a country! And that is exactly what this contest is about this week.

YOUR COUNTRY

Now it is no longer a secret for many people that I blog from the small Netherlands. And I'm not going to tell you how great the Netherlands is, because in many ways the Netherlands isn't that great anymore if you ask me. That aside.

What is the Netherlands known for?

Tulips of course! Only did you know that the Tulip does not come from the Netherlands at all. This flower associated with the Netherlands comes from Turkey!

Yes, of course I know that the Netherlands is known for its tulip fields, but I'm far too far away from that. And given the circumstances, I haven't been there in years. Unfortunately! In fact, the last time I've been around there must have been in 2014. And then I went to Keukenhof, not really to the tulip fields themselves. A nice picture of the tulip fields as I would have in mind for this contest? I'll have to make that one someday. LOL.
^{Note to myself}


But you also have a lot of windmills, right?

Kinderdijk

Oh of course! We do indeed have a lot of windmills in the Netherlands. And not just windmills, we also have watermills. Also, there's something fun about that. Because although the Netherlands is known for its windmills, we did not invent these ourselves either. The Dutch have copied this idea from the Chinese and Persians! In the 16th century, the Dutch took over the windmills and put them to work here to help drain our land so that we could live there. Only later did the Dutch also start using mills for which the Chinese and Persians had been using the mills for some time. So yes, we have many windmills, in all shapes and sizes, but it is not a real Dutch invention! You will probably find the most beautiful windmills in Kinderdijk, which is even on the Unesco World Heritage list.

But guess what? I don't have any pictures of that either. I've driven past it on my way through to something else, but ... I've never consciously gone there to photograph myself. In the years that I could still do that, I simply had no interest in photographing this. When finances allowed, I was busy photographing dogs, driving across the country shooting all kinds of dog sporting events. Usually on order too. In retrospect I say, I had tunnel vision in photography for years. But the result is that I have no photos of Kinderdijk. Yep, that's still on my list. Conditions will have to improve for that too, and that is of no use to me now.

Then there are things like the famous Wooden Shoes, Delft Blue, and of course Cheese.

And again I have to disappoint you, I don't have any pictures of wooden shoes, I don't even have them at home. I don't own Delft Blue, and yes I do have cheese at home… but taking a picture of cheese is not what I had in mind.

Then what?

I can only rely on what is currently the Netherlands for ME. And when I think about that, that's where my house is, my home. Although sometimes it feels like I'm locked up, and it doesn't always feel good. In this country my house is located, my life takes place in a few square kilometers. Viewed from that point of view, I decided to go and see what my own hometown has. Because for me that is currently the Netherlands.
And then I thought of a photo I took when I hadn't lived in Heeswijk-Dinther that long. It is not a photo that was taken at one of the touristic or well-known places in the Netherlands, just in my own hometown. But a photo that will say to every foreigner, “Oh, that's the Netherlands”.

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A photo of the Kildonkse Molen in Heeswijk-Dinther, and about this mill I wrote an extensive blog before.





So a mill after all, and despite the fact that we Dutch have copied that idea from the Chinese and Persians, a mill is mainly associated with the Netherlands.
If you have not yet entered this photo contest, I would like to invite you to participate. The announcement post with the rules to enter can be found here.
I'm looking forward to all submissions!

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