08-13-2020 Pella, Iowa

We have a leisurely morning  and get on the road around nine, with the three of us piling into Ginger’s car.  We’re heading for Pella, where Ginger grew up and went to college.  We go by way of Oskaloosa, where Ginger lived between one and ten years of age.  We see her house and the Oskaloosa Daily Herald where her dad was the farm editor and her mom wrote the Recipe Roundup weekly column.  One of the typesetters gave her “Ginger” set in type! 

We pass through Ottumwa, a name that should be familiar to fans of Radar O’Reilly!

                                                          Quick!    Name the TV show!

 

And here we are in Pella, a town justifiably proud of its Dutch heritage.  Of course we’ve missed Tulip Time, despite our best laid plans – curse that virus;  But all the places that had tulips in May now have a myriad of other beautiful flowering plants.  The whole place is like a garden and all the architecture is Dutch.

 

We park just off the town square and visit the welcome center,  located inside a small windmill, of course! Ginger is hoping to connect with a few of her old friends who still live here and makes a phone call or two.  We decide to have lunch and then Bonnie and I will explore while Ginger chats with Kathy.

 

Lunch is at the Windmill Café, where Ginger and Bonnie have the pork tenderloin.  I’ve done that once, so I have the chicken salad on a croissant with a slide each of watermelon, cantaloupe and honeydew melon.  We finish up and meet Karen on the sidewalk, exchanging hellos before we take off

 

We duck into a little shop that sells cards, crafts, and assorted other things.  I find a little Dutch girl who will make a perfect ornament for my tree and Bonnie find – you won’t believe it – sheet garters!  Okay, that’s probably not what they’re called, but they look like a garter belt and are meant to hold a sheet in place.  She’s been looking for them;  but who would have thought this would be the place to find them!

 

Our second stop is the Pella Opera House (since Paducah has a symphony orchestra, I’m not surprised that Pella has an opera house!)  It’s a lovely old building from 1900 and has been many things in its time, including a bowling alley!  But it is back to its original function and has been completely refurbished, back to its original design, much like our beloved Tampa Theatre.  They even have a theatre organ!  It’s Barton from 1928 and had to be reassembled, a project which took over two years.  You can still see the pillow and blanket that belonged to the man who dedicated those two years of his life to the project. 

 

The house seats about 323 and doesn’t have much in the way of wings or flies;  but they put on about fifteen productions a year, including plays and musical acts.  Their organist does a Christmas show every year and they do “PJs and Pancakes” for the kids.  As we’re chatting, comparing our theatres, our tour guide asks how we go about procuring our movies and I promise to put her, and her CEO, whom we also meet, in touch with someone from the Tampa who may be able to help.  They are a 501c3, so that should help, I think.

 

From there we go to the tallest Dutch windmill in the U.S. for a tour of both the mill and the Heritage Center.  The tour is fascinating and includes a model Dutch village.  Our tour guide tells us about how cheese is sold and distributed and about Sinterklaas and his helper Pete.  That’s not his name, but, rather, a word that means helper.  Pete carries two buckets, one with candy canes and one with coal.  The children leave their wooden shoes on the front steps on the night of December 5^th and they receive their presents on St. Nicholas’s birthday, December 6^th.  We see the long pole called a “rumpstopper  (?) that’s used to teach ice skating.  There is a good skater at either end and the beginners in the middle, holding on.

 

We learn the difference between a graveyard and a cemetery.  The graveyard is actually part of the church property and only members of that church are buried there.  A cemetery is on separate property and members of several churches can be buried there. 

 

The interior stairways in old Dutch houses were too steep and narrow for furniture to be moved on them, so the houses had furniture hooks near the roof of the house, and large windows, so the furniture could be hoisted up and brought inside through the windows.  Sometimes the second and third floors protruded so that there was less chance of the furniture banging into them.

 

Next we go upstairs to see how the mill itself works.  First we examine the sails and I was surprised to learn that there is actually canvas attached to the wooden frame.  The more wind there is, the less canvas you need, so the miller can furl and unfurl the canvas.  Bonnie asks how that actually happens and Don, the miller in residence, demonstrates, even climbing up the twenty-five foot vane!  We also learned all about the actual grinding process and that the expression "keep your nose to the grindstone" comes from the need for the miller to smell the grinding surface to make sure nothing smells burnt.  It is easy for the friction to cause the flour particles to catch fire.

The miller and his wife slept in here, sitting up essentially, because the air was full of flour and breathing                                           was difficult.  The kids slept on straw mats on the floor.

 

After being suitably impressed and educated we go back downstairs, stop by the gift shop, and go outside to see the Heritage Museum.  There is a log cabin, a sod house, the blacksmith, the bakery and several other buildings, including Wyatt Earp’s boyhood home and, most importantly, the church where Ginger and Dan got married!

                    Wyatt Earp lived in one of the red rowhouses as a child, before going to California.

 

We’re just finishing up when Ginger calls to check in.  She wasn’t able to meet up with her friend, Lisa, so she’s ready for us to reconnect.  We stop into the Cellar Peanut Pub where I have a Millstream Windmill wheat beer brewed in the Amana Colonies.  Ginger has a beer brewed in Newton, where she was born, and Bonnie has a ginger beer that comes in a glass with the word “Gezellig” on it, Dutch for cozy!

 

          There must be at least eight screens like this listing all the Iowa beers that are served here!

Fortified, we go to the best bakery in town, Jaarsma, where the choices are overwhelming.  I get some cream horns, some lemon poppyseed wonders and a Dutch Letter!!  That’s a flaky pastry filled with almond paste and shaped like the letter S.  Oh yum!

 

The meat market is closed now, so we’ll have to come back for Dutch bologna tomorrow!

 

It’s time to head home for dinner – homemade tabbouleh, corn on the cob, and the last of the enchiladas.  And, you guessed it, DESSERT!  Then it’s time to chat and think about tomorrow .  I’m looking through my  photos and realize that I’ve gotten another message from Harry  (see photo). 

Bonnie is about ready for bed, so Ginger and I head out to one of the docks to see the stars and we are lucky enough to catch one of the Persied’s falling stars!  On the way back we check out the bathhouse, which is quite nice.  When we get home Bonnie has made up our bed!  She wanted to try out the new sheet holders she got today!  It’s time for bed (except for me – I’ve still got to write!)