More snow has fallen, but the pussy willows are out and I have forced some yellow forsythia branches in the house. They look beautiful with the red tulips. To force something in the house just cut a few branches from a shrub outside and put them in a vase of water in a warm room. They will blossom long before they blossom outside. It leaves you feeling spring-like and happy.
I had a great time with the grade six students at the Ellison Elementary School in Kelowna. Some of the questions they asked about my book "BRAVE DEEDS How One Family Saved Many From the Nazis" follow.
1 How did you get all those neat old photographs from World War Two?
Answer: They are mostly photos that Mies Braal, one of the two heros BRAVE DEEDS is about, let me use. That's why in the back of the book it says photos from the Braal archives.
2 Did you have to go to Holland to get all the things you showed us?
Answer: Some of the things, like the wooden shoes I use to dance with, the old-fashioned skates, and the copper measures are mine from when I grew up in Holland. Some of the papers with the Nazi stamps and the certificates I got in Holland when I went there in 2006 and again in 2007 to do research on the details. Some of these things are keepsakes that senior Dutch people gave me to go with the book.
3 Do you feel sad when you talk about the Holocaust and all the things you talk about, like the starving people?
Answer: Yes, it is sad. War is always sad. But there are also important things we can learn from our history. Mies and Frans Braal hoped that what they did during the war, mostly standing up to bullies like the Nazis, would be passed on for others to read about. It makes me happy that I could do that. It makes me even happier that so many kids (and lots of adults too) are reading BRAVE DEEDS and finding out what the Braals did in 1944-1945.
4 Have you ever made poffert?
Yes, I make poffert at least once every winter. It's tasty on a cold winter's day. It's also fun to make. And it leaves my house smelling like Het Buitenhuis, where the Braals hid all those people from the Nazis. Their place must have smelled so wonderful to those hungry children when Mies made poffert. When Mies was still alive I used to make a poffert on a cold day and take it to her house. We would eat a slice each when it was still warm and talk about the war days.
Have a happy spring.
