Where Auke (Art) and I have met every now and then in recent decades, both in the USA and in The Netherlands, the differences between us dominated our contact. Trapped in our own clichés, we had difficulty finding, understanding, each…
As I was playing with our dog Beke along the Boterdiep in Beijum in the early 80s, I was suddenly shouted at by a cyclist from the other side of the canal“Animal abuser!” I looked up, disturbed. It was Uncle…
In the Schoonveld family, birthdays were always very important. Uncles and aunts would gather at the birthday party – the living rooms were usually not very big – and there was a lot of chatter. Aunt Elly describes in Gronings…
Men from previous generations of Schoonveld are not known for experimenting with food. The anecdote goes that Grandpa Willem stayed with us on Ameland. He was used to getting brown beans on Mondays. My mother was not averse to teasing…
Daniel: When I was about 8 years old, I went on one of the famous Plas bike rides with my grandparents. I don’t remember exactly where we went and there are different stories about how it went, but we…
Today marks 25 years since our father Johannes Schoonveld passed away. We still miss him often. We want to ask him things, we miss his support. Yesterday, when I visited Uncle Harke, he spoke several times about his older brother…
