My mother, Wine Blokzyl, (short for Hebowina Jantina Klazina) was born and grew up in Ten Boer, in the province of Groningen. She spoke the Groninger dialect, while my father talked Terschellings, a Frisian dialect with remnants of the English language. In 1666 Terschelling was occupied by the English for a short time, and because many men of the island become sailors and had frequent contacts with the British and their language, many English words crept into the Terschellinger dialect.

When I grew up, Dad would speak Dutch mostly, and my mother sort of mixed the Dutch language and the Groninger dialect to accommodate my father. Mother was somewhat more volatile, more bubbly. She was fun to be with and most of my conversations were with her. I can’t remember that I ever had a conversation longer than 3 minutes with my father. Because of many differences in language, intelligence, talking abilities, and many other things, one would say that their marriage would be greatly hampered – if it could succeed at all.

Mother was quite musical and could chord hymns quite well on the little reed organ. When her sickness (Meniere’s Disease) was not too predominant, she always was a member of the church choir. She was a very good actress, and her recitations of funny poems were widely known. My mother’s father was a carpenter/architect and some of the buildings he drew and supervised are still standing in the towns of Groningen. Through my mother’s mother there came some Jewish blood in our family. It is interesting to notice how some talents prevalent in both families continue from generation to generation. You want to look out for: music, drawing, love of nature, acting, love for water (sailing, swimming etc.), tilling the land.