wornout wrote: ↑Sat Aug 01, 2020 11:49 pm
Hi Luthien,
If I did upset you, in regards to your country of your birth, I'm sorry...didn't mean to.
Oh gee no, you didn’t upset me at all!
If anything, I liked it that you asked. It gives us a chance to be a bit more personable
wornout wrote: ↑Sat Aug 01, 2020 11:49 pmIt's just that when it comes to world travelers, it's hard to tell via written comunication unless someone right from the start says so. The misunderstanding came into play because you were in Canada for a number of years.
When my wife and I were in Europe back in the early 1980's, we made a point to stop in Maastricht and enjoy the central market place and a wonderful lunch that day. I will never forget that dark delicious beer from the tap that I had. Right now I don't remember the brand, but I never could find anything like it here in the states.
If the beer was dark, it was probably Belgian, maybe Rochefort. Belgium has a great tradition of Monastery breweries (Trappist monasteries)
Rochefort is really good! It comes in two strengths, 8 and 10 (percent alcohol). I prefer the 8, the 10 is just a bit too heavy for my taste. Maybe you can buy it in some larger stores in the US?
The province of Limburg (where Maastricht is the capital of) also has great beer though that’s mostly of the “pilsener” variety: the regular yellow stuff. One of the most well know is called “Brand” (no kidding, a brand named “Brand”
see
here )
And there’s many more, like Gulpener.
In Vancouver there were also quite a few great micro-breweries (Granville Pale Ale is one that I remember). I’ve never yet tasted Budweiser, mostly because of its reputation. Actually, I don’t like like the largest brand here (Heineken) at all. It’s rather bland and almost sweet, as if it has some sugar added. Yuck
There’s so many great beers: English is great but is very characteristic (especially Guinness). I love Irish Kilkenny beer though, that’s superb. And German beer is also almost universally good, and it’s devoid of any additives by law: only a few basic ingredients are allowed.
wornout wrote: ↑Sat Aug 01, 2020 11:49 pmWe knew a mother and daughter in the church that we use to belong to from the Netherlands who had not lived in the states that long (Columbus, Ohio). They were great people.
As far as loons goes, it looks that there could be two types in Europe.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loon
The black-throated and the red-throated and they are both very beautiful water birds.
I didn’t know that! It seems they occur only at the coast and in sea here, and rarely on the rivers. Apparently they are called “divers” here because they can swim under water very well.
I though that a Loon was a typical North American duck, there’s a Loon pictures on the Canadian one-dollar coin. Go figure.
I wonder if you also have the regular ducks there as we have here?
If you dig a hole in your garden and it fills up with rain- or ground water, chances are there’s a duck floating in it the next morning. They always make me laugh because they are just, well, funny.
For instance, when you are outside on a quiet evening and there’s some body of water nearby, you’ll often hear some duck suddenly bursting out in a long-drawn-our quack that sounds as if he or she suddenly found out that, hey! I’m a duck! and they find that the best joke ever:
QUAAAAAAAAACK QUAAAACK quaaaaack quaaaackquack-quackquackquackackackack ... following the same melody as someone laughing out loud. It’s almost impossible not to laugh when I hear that.
And standing on a bridge watching ducks passing underneath: they you can see that they‘re not actually swimming but rather
shipping - they propel themselves as if they’re a boat, with those feet peddling while they look around if anyone is showing signs of wanting to feed them (they love bread).
But I should go to bed
)
