Erin's Journals

Today, as this week comes to an end, I thought I’d put a ribbon on a trip that we counted down to for months – well over a year, actually – and that now is just a series of water-coloured memories. Make that canal-coloured.
 
I’ve shared with you moments with the guests who came with us (and from whom I’ve heard that so many want to attend next year if we take over the entire boat for the Rhine in 2020). But, of course, a trip to Holland and the rest of The Netherlands could not possibly be complete without a visit to one of the country’s greatest treasures, called the World’s Biggest Flower Garden: The Keukenhof.
 

 
Made up of 7 million flower bulbs blooming over 32 hectares, the work of nature, guided by 40 gardeners, was a lot to take in. And my former partner Mike Cooper was so excited to get there, he could hardly contain himself. Wasn’t my Robbie surprised! (Many of today’s photos, like the one below, are thanks to Mali Bickley.)
 

 
Open only 60 days a year, this is a world-renowned tourist attraction and, boy, we were lucky our cruise director Nick with AmaWaterways got us up and out on the buses early and through Amsterdam before roads closed in preparation for the big parade set for that same day. The attraction filled up hugely as the morning went on, but I was still so pleased to get pictures like the ones you’re going to enjoy here today.
 
It did remind me a little of Victoria’s own pride, the Butchart Gardens. Especially here.
 

 
I don’t know if Butchart has these incredible beauties – the Camassia – but it looks like a palm tree sprouted tulips!
 

 
Look closer….
 

 
And how about this glorious purple tulip?
 

 
What wondrous colours hath nature’s pallet!
 

 
Here are some more of the glorious sights of the Keukenhof, which includes plenty of indoor space and displays for those days when skies aren’t as gloriously blue as they were for us in Amsterdam that Saturday two weeks ago.
 

 
And there are lovely animal displays and play areas; you saw Mike and me on the teeter-totter, but in the petting area you can watch a couple of real kids at play…
 

 
….or take in the brilliance of a peacock who’s always ready for his close-up!
 

 
Speaking of which, here’s your hammy correspondent as we get ready to pose for our final group shot. Oh, brother! (Anyone think Norma Desmond here, Mr. DeMille?)
 

 
And here’s how that group shot turned out.
 

 
Ah, yes. So many wonderful memories and just a few that I’m saving for the middle of May for something special with did with our Lauren in mind. In the meantime, thank you for coming by and sharing this journal – this journey – with us. If you’re at all curious about the chances of coming along for a trip on the Rhine in 2020, do send Gerry Koolhof a note. He’s the koolest guy and a wonderful host…and he’s the guy on the left in this shot. Have a GREAT weekend!
 

I want to thank you. I know it seems I do that almost every day here (and the days I don’t, I’m thinking it). But I’m still just sitting here marveling at the outpouring of kindness in the aftermath of the Marilyn Denis Show on CTV yesterday and the segment that included my interview with her (and family therapist Joe Rich).
 
Marilyn conducted a lovely interview and it was so good to spend time with her. Her crew did a fantastic job editing the hotel room pre-interview and setting the scene so beautifully. Thank you to them, and to you for your emails and response to the interview. I’ve been hearing from people across this great country of ours today.
 
By the way, If you happen to be new to this journal, welcome! Please do feel free to scroll through some of the past, oh, 15 years’ worth (not all LOL) and it’s great to have you here. Also, on the home page (just above this journal if you’re reading it on Thursday) you may have seen WHAT’S UP. You can click there to learn where I’m stopping to talk in June in Ontario. And thank you.
 
Before I forget, don’t miss this week’s Walmart piece I wrote about organization. Helps to clear the mind – just like organizing and answering my emails has done in the past 24 hours. I hope you enjoy it.
 

 
(Some of today’s photos, like the one above, were taken by our friend Mali Bickley)
 
Today: enough words. How about some pictures of what was truly the most memorable day of our trip to the Netherlands and Belgium on our Tulip Time tour with AmaWaterways? Tomorrow will be full-on UBER TULIPS, I promise you, with a breathtaking day at a place open only 8 weeks of the year. But today: Kinderdijk. On bicycles!
 

 
Pronounced “kinder dike,” it means the “children’s dike,” so named for one of two reasons: because it was either dug in part by children or, as folklore would have it, a baby, whose cradle was swept up in a massive 1421 flood, was found floating along in the waters. On top of the cradle walked a cat, moving back and forth to balance the baby (later named Beatrix, as in “the blessed”) and her crib on the water’s surface. Thus began the “Cat and the Cradle” story, too. A much nicer tale, yes?
 

 
This Unesco World Heritage Site is not to be missed when you’re in The Netherlands. How fortunate Rob and I were to take a bicycle tour, feeling the quintessential Dutch experience of riding along a canal and looking at the majestic windmills! 19 of them, built in the mid-18th century, make up Kinderdijk and they are not to be missed.
 
At one time, there were 150 of these majestic structures; today, while there exist state-of-the-art equipment and engineering to protect the land and its inhabitants, these windmills are considered back-ups in the event of modern equipment failure, standing ready and able to help keep South Holland, most of which is below sea level, safe and dry if needed. The photo below shows the water at different elevations.
 

 
*Fun Fact: calling all of The Netherlands “Holland” would be like calling all of the USA “Dakota.” The Netherlands are made up of 12 provinces, two of which are North and South Holland.
 

 
It was a spectacular, wonderful day (albeit somewhat overcast, chilly and windy – but who cares?) in South Holland at Kinderdijk. To think that people still call these windmills (two of which have been converted into museums that visitors can enter and tour) home is most amazing of all! (Thanks again for the one above, Mali.)
 

 
Tomorrow, as we make our way home and take one last spectacular tour, you’ll see a bazillion tulips in one of the most incredible settings ever – I promise!
 

 

 
What a deeply gratifying moment it was to sit side-by-side with this woman who’s shared morning radio hours with me for almost my entire time in Toronto. Yes, our stations competed, but she was never anything but kind and gracious. As much as we had wanted to share a set one day and have a good talk in front of the cameras, it never came to be: I had invited her on my Rogers TV show (in about 2000) and for a little while it looked as if it was going to happen, but powers that be – or were – wouldn’t allow it, or so we were told.
 
Anyway, that visit finally came to be during my book tour in Ontario in February. I’m so grateful to her for helping to spread the word and message of Mourning Has Broken. I hope you’ll see our episode today at 10 am Eastern (and throughout the day on various CTV affiliates, or online at marilyn.ca). It was pretty special.
 
To be completely honest, I’m looking forward to seeing it for the first time – they did some pre-shooting with me in the Presidential Suite in the King Edward Hotel (I was NOT staying there – it was just a room that was borrowed for the shoot); I’m quite interested to see how it all turns out! After all, one’s never quite sure about lighting, editing and all of that. Here’s what that suite looked like. I know I will never see the insides of it again!
 

 
I must tell you that for a great many years I was envious of Marilyn. When the CityLine show needed a host, they only had to look down the halls at CHUM (City was owned by CHUM Ltd.) and there was the friendly, relatable, funny host, ready to take her place under the TV lights. All the while, I sat at CHFI doing my radio show year after year, wondering what I was going to have to do to get a chance, too.
 
I auditioned for various cable network shows. I toiled for two years on community TV (what I called my hands-on television university), and later, when I was without a radio job, I had the surprise and pleasure of hosting a season of live phone-in TV on W Network. Up against a talk show newcomer named Ellen somebody at 11 am. Um…yeah. I didn’t win that one, nor did I deserve/expect to!
 
Long story a little shorter: none of it amounted to anything and it turned out that radio was where I belonged and where I’d stay. Now, don’t get me wrong: I am grateful for everything that came my way and whatever I may have achieved over my career. But I always wished I could have succeeded in one more medium. I see now it was not about not having enough, it was always about not being enough.
 
So you see, Marilyn was always the reminder of what I perceived as my failure. The fact that people so often called me by her name was a further poke, coming at unexpected moments (like when I was handing out free stuff at a CHFI event) just so the gods kept me humble, as they always do.
 
It didn’t take long for envy to turn to respect and some incredulity that she was able to co-host her morning show and then go on to do a television show a few hours later every single day. It made for what I know were extremely long days, year after year. Every accolade, every bit of praise and every award she’s won has been hard-earned and much deserved. My wish now is that she finds the same satisfaction and joy in her role (later this year) as a grandmother. Those of us already in that club know how much fulfillment and excitement await.
 
I’ll always look up to Marilyn Denis, as so many do, as an example of someone for whom no one has an unkind word. She works hard, has a good heart and deserves all of the success and, most of all, all of the happiness in the world.
 
Thank you, Marilyn, for your kind words printed on the back of my book and for proving, as always, there’s bounty enough for all.
 

Hey there – and welcome back. If you missed yesterday’s journal because of Easter Monday, we took a quick side trip to Paris with some special pictures that you might enjoy, including some banners that were hanging in Notre-Dame. Please check it out here. 
 
We had a peaceful Easter Sunday; after putting on our Rotary aprons and volunteering downtown for a few hours, we came back, got changed, got snacks out and started watching the hockey game on the PVR. In case you didn’t see it on Facebook or Instagram, here’s our table, replete with chocolate and some eggs (nestled in blue shell candle holders) that I blew out and painted YEARS ago. How long? There were 12. I think five survive.
 

 
The snacks, by the way, were mixed nuts combined with Cadbury Mini Eggs and Hershey Eggies, but the real star – sorry I didn’t take a picture – were the devilled eggs that had a little “nest” of shredded Tex/Mex cheese on top and a few (real) bacon bits. I picked and chose elements of different recipes and ended up adding puréed dill pickle relish, a hint of curry (my usual touch for eggs as well as turkey) and even a dash of Tabasco.
 
They went over very well and certainly kept our tummies full while we rode the rollercoaster ride that was the Leafs/Bruins’ game 6. So here we go again tonight. A seventh game. In Boston. Isn’t it time we changed the trajectory of this team’s recent history? Let’s do it! (And GO RAPTORS!)
 
Hey – while you’re near the TV tonight – I’d like to remind you to set your PVR for tomorrow’s Marilyn Denis Show on CTV. The network is airing the conversation that Marilyn and I had along with her regular guest, family therapist Joe Rich. Here’s a shot they took after the interview of Marilyn and me.
 

 
I hope you’ll see our episode tomorrow at 10 am Eastern (and throughout the day on various CTV affiliates). It was pretty special. Tomorrow I’ll tell you why – there are a lot of layers to this one that go back decades – and then we’ll get back to tulip pictures, I PROMISE!
 
Okay – here are a couple from one of the most special places in the world, the Keukenhof. I’ll explain later!
 

 
Have a great day!
 

Oh, I hope you’ve had a wonderful weekend and that the Easter Bunny was good to you. Me? I decided (rather unwisely) to answer the question: which are better, Cadbury Mini Eggs or Hershey Eggies? I’m not sure I’ve come up with an answer, but I will leave my sugar-coated body to science and let them work it out!
 
Actually, yesterday, Rob, our friends Charles and Nancy and I volunteered to serve meals to the homeless in downtown Victoria. It’s the first time I’ve done this (as we were always away or cottage cocooning on long weekends in the past) and the experience is still settling in. Maybe I’ll write about it in the future; maybe I won’t. We’ll see.
 
Ah, but the international news was tragic yesterday and our hearts ache for those who’ve suffered so horrendously on a South Asian island named by Lonely Planet as the country to visit in 2019. As of this writing, 290 innocent people have died and over 500 were injured in numerous Easter Sunday explosions blamed on religious extremists, but for which no one has yet taken responsibility. So much sadness, pain and loss.
 
Before the news headlines yesterday were darkened with the horrific toll out of Sri Lanka, my thoughts were with another church that has also been on front pages and at the top of websites for the past week now. 
 

 
Rob and I have been fortunate enough to visit the City of Lights a few times; our favourite spot is the Musée D’Orsay, a former train station that was converted into an incredible art gallery, set on the shores of the Seine. It also affords a stunning view of another famous gallery, the Louvre, across the river.
 

 
But it was a venture to Paris that we shared in April of 2005 that will always stay in my mind now, especially in light of the awful conflagration that hit the beloved Unesco World Heritage site, landmark and place of worship and admiration, Notre-Dame de Paris, one week ago today.
 
You see, we visited in the days just after the passing of one of history’s most beloved popes, John Paul II. Rob and I were just two of the some 30-50,000 visitors to Notre-Dame that day (as there were every day) and I just had to capture the image of these massive banners.
 

 
And now, we wait and watch as the rebuilding begins and the inventory of what musical, artistic, historic and religious treasures were saved, and which have been lost to the inferno.
 
I came across this story about the timeline of the firefighters’ efforts to save the treasures inside Notre-Dame. One of those is this tunic, from the 13th century, worn by Saint/King Louis IX (who is purported to have brought the precious Crown of Thorns – which also survived the fire – to Paris).
 

 
And safely ensconced in this elaborate display is the relic of the Cross of St. Claude. Just imagine the pieces that were hidden in the massive vaults below the cathedral. 
 

 
I was amazed to read of a robot that was doing some of the salvage work in those incredibly tense hours during and after which the flames blazed. Of course, at the top of the list of heroes and heroines, though, are the firefighters who lugged immensely heavy equipment up the narrow steps of the Cathedral to fight the flames with careful urgency. No doubt their efforts saved the bell towers and give the city hope of rebuilding this massive and majestic piece of history once again.
 
Have a gentle day and I’ll be back here tomorrow with a salute to a former competitor who welcomed me like a sister.