Join me at Rio Grande Winery, Saturday, April 13th, from 3:00 to 5:00pm! I'll be signing and selling the David Elliott Mystery Series in the Clubhouse. I'll read an excerpt from one of the books and also a preview of "Vested Interest," the next David Elliott adventure.
"Paint With Us" also is on the ticket. Here's a chance to reveal your inner artist! Choose from a variety of planters. You'll be using acrylic paint with a gloss sealer, so you can take your freshly painted planter home with you.
Tickets for this event sell at $25 per person, and includes a complimentary glass of your favorite Rio Grande Winery selection! It promises to be a fun afternoon. See you there!
Hilarious Idioms From the Netherlands
By Laura van der Most
To use a cart made of legs
de benenwagen
Although this expression sounds very gruesome, it actually makes sense (kind of). You just have to take it literally. When you use a cart made of legs (de benenwagen), you are traveling using your legs. In other words, you are walking.
It stands like a pole above the water
The Netherlands has a lot of sayings and idioms related to water and seafaring. One of these is ‘it stands like a pole above the water’ (dat staat als een paal boven water), which means that you are absolutely certain of something.
This metaphor can be taken quite literally: it (the pole) is so visible, everyone who has eyes can see it. It’s unclear how old the expression is, but it likely goes back a few centuries.
To tape someone behind the wallpaper
People can be very irritating and the Dutch have a very inventive way of dealing with that. ‘Taping someone behind the wallpaper’ (iemand achter het behang plakken) means that you find someone so annoying that you’re completely done with them and don’t want to see them for a while.
Using the wrong leg to get out of bed
When someone has a bad mood, they’ve probably ‘used the wrong leg to get out of bed’ (met het verkeerde been uit bed stappen).
The original expression used to be ‘to step out of bed on the left side’ or ‘to use the left leg to get out of bed’. For centuries, everything that was left was evil and bad. This idea goes back to the Bible and the story of the crucifixion. The good thief on Jesus’ right side repented and went to heaven. The bad thief on his left stayed unrepented and went to hell.
Unfortunately, peanut butter!
A Dutch person will sometimes shrug their shoulders and tell you helaas, pindakaas!. And if they really feel jovial, they’ll translate it to ‘unfortunately, peanut butter!’ or dommage, frommage! in French.
This idiom dates back to the 1980s and is used as a blasé way to say ‘that’s too bad’. It’s disputed who used it first, but what is known is that it was used as slang by teenagers. Pindakaas was merely chosen because it is a good rhyming word for helaas.