Can it Be ?

NO WAY, it hasn't been all that long has it?????

I have been reminded it has been WAY too long since I posted a blog. I could use the excuse the computer upstairs crashed, you know, the one with all my pictures on it~ I still have the laptop, but it is basically Terry's computer so mostly pictures of tractors! Every picture tells a story..........and most of my stories are stored on the hard drive upstairs. But truth be told that only happened a few weeks ago. I have started several blogs, I don't know why I havn't finished them....... Terry has been gone much of the time this summer, and as always it has been busy at the Osheim household.

Now that I have decided to write a blog or two.... do I backtrack and tell about our 5 hour lunch with an Italian family, my infamous dog blog idea, or let's not forget that Bruggelchen had it's annual summer kirmes, then there is always the evening having a beer (or two) with a former king....or perhaps I should keep it simple and begin with.....

Last Wednesday we toured a brewery in the Netherlands. Terry is taking a college class, something to do with management or production, in any case, as a final project the class arranged a tour of the ALFA brewery, and spouses were encouraged to attend, the more the merrier, right! Due to a mix up on time, the whole group was an hour late, we got an abbreviated tour that had our tour guide Margurite leading us up and down conrete steps at a dizzying pace. After the tour ended we were lead to a huge bar room free samples and plates of food. We were the last tour of the day and caught up with the previous tour already well into there samples......turned out to be quite the party, even the tour guides were behind the bar sampling away. We came home with a few purchases as well as a commerative glass.

The brewery is family owned and started in 1870, there are three duckheads on the logo, and Terry naturally wanted to know the significance.........Margurite just laughed, the story goes, she said the founding family couldn't come up with anything, so they said how about duck, then how about three ducks. She hinted more but wouldn't say .....The brewery follows the Reinheitsgebot, which is simialr to the purity law, and is the only brewery in the Netherlands that uses an (onsite) officially certified underground spring. My favorite part of the tour was a poster sized picture of a 97 year old smiling woman, Tante Wies who claims to drink at least a beer a day!

Do you want to tour the brewery? Well, just follow the link below/select English/select introduction and take the virtual tour on their website. You just gotta love it!

http://www.alfa-bier.nl/en/index.htm

love and miss you all