The Reflexive: ‘s-Heer Abstkerke

The house I stayed at in ‘s-Heer Abstkerke

I’m headed to IJmuiden in North Holland to take a 16 hour ferry journey across the North Sea to Newcastle upon Tyne in The United Kingdom after spending 2 months in the Netherlands. In early December, while in Amsterdam on my cat sit, I had to figure out where I would go next. I went on Workaway, where you do various tasks around a person’s house or property, averaging around 20 hours in a week in exchange for room and board, and found Iris de Leeuw, in 's-Heer Abtskerke, a little village in the municipality of Borsele in the province of Zeeland in the southwest area of The Netherlands.

‘s-Heer Abstkerke

The village of 's-Heer Abtskerke (The Lord Abbot's Church) is tiny, population 500, but it’s not remote. There are many small villages in the area with vast farmland and orchards between them. The main town Goes(pronounced hoes) has a population of approximately 30,000 people. The train station that can get you to Amsterdam in about 3 hours is less than a 10 minute drive from where I’m staying. The home I stayed at for the last month is the home Iris has called home for over 50 years.

Iris told me in the early 70’s she was looking for a house. She went up and down The Netherlands looking and looking but to no avail. When she came to this house in ‘s-Heer Abstkerke, she knew immediately it was hers, without even seeing the inside or what the condition was. It did need a lot of work but she’s made the home hers. Iris is a multimedia artist. Throughout her home there is silkscreen equipment, presses, movable type, paint, pastels, brushes, charcoal, photo enlargers, fabrics, threads and papers of all kinds. And many types of cabinets to store her years of work, most flat file cabinets. In the mid 1960’s Iris was part of a group known as Luuks Laboratorium, a “ workspace in which creative behaviour is provoked in a completely new environment.” Through this group she created her space suits and poster art. Her work has been featured in the collections in The Rijksmuseum and The Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam. During my stay, Iris was commuting to Amsterdam, working on a huge article with other artists and editors for a presentation that will be unveiled in October, focusing on her work. As a workaway host, Iris has welcomed people from all over the world.

Iris de Leeuw, silver red space suit, 1966 – 1967. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Iris de Leeuw, Lila space suit, 1966 – 1967. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Iris de Leeuw

On the same day I arrived, Tristan, a young man from Toulouse, France was also welcomed. A few weeks later, Shervin, an Iranian man by way of Sweden showed up as well. The basic tasks Tristan and I took care of were gardening, dealing with wood for the stove, which consisted of making kindling to store and splitting the wood. I also did basic house stuff like installing shelves and lamps and general maintenance around the house. Shervin brought the real skills of carpentry and plumbing, where I was his assistant. In exchange for this we got a place to sleep, were able to see and go to the beautiful areas around 's-Heer Abtskerke and were, most importantly, fed delectable dishes. Iris excels in another art, Ayurvedic cooking.

Iris de Leeuw-portrait by me

Tristan from Toulouse-portrait by me

I don’t think I ever ate so good. Seriously everything was so good. All the fruits and vegetables were scrumptious. Lots of stews, soups and delicious salads. The next morning we would put a couple of eggs over the leftovers. One of the best meals we had consisted of dahl with brown rice, saag paneer and apple chutney. We all made meals for each other, adding our specialties from our home countries. Tristan made beef bourguignon, without the beef(he’s a vegetarian too) and Gnocchi. Shervin made use of Iris’ Terracotta Tagine, cooking a number of dishes with lentils and mung beans. I made several soups, potato leek soup being my favorite. And we all took advantage of Iris's wall of spices. She also taught us how to make soda bread. Me and Tristan made several each, of many varieties. The best snack was a slice of soda bread with butter, miso paste, tahini and a tomato-this was the best combination of flavors ever. Often, I would walk to the next small town, Nisse, where they have a cheese farm. But I didn’t go for the cheese, it was the ice cream. It was really incredible. In another village, there was this little kiosk on the side of the road. It looked like a small wood shed. In it were fresh eggs, potatoes, apples, pears and onions. You took what you wanted and put money in the cash box. It was on the honor system. Then there was the weekly Saturday market in the center of Goes, Grote Markt, with all sorts of fresh foods. During our meal times, we sat together and discussed many things, our histories and what led us to be sitting at Iris' kitchen table. Iris would tell us about her art exploits, husbands and experiences. I especially liked talking about the idioms and slangs of our own languages. And then Iris would make a tasty chai tea before bed.

The Wall of Spices

One of the many soda breads I baked

My bed was on the second floor in the loft, that I had to access with a ladder. My first thought was, if I roll outta bed, it’s quite a fall. But then I also thought, I’ve never rolled out of bed before so why should I start now. After a little bit, I started to get into a routine. I’d wake up around 7ish and lie there for a while. On sunny, cold mornings, I would walk around the village. I found this bench to sit on where the sun would pour down on my face. After that I’d head back to the house and to make a fire in the cast iron stove. I initially sucked bad at this but eventually got quite good at it. We tried to keep this stove lit all day for warmth and for cooking. We cooked all the bread there. As the fire is beginning, I’m trying to feed the 4 cats that also occupy the home. They don’t get along particularly well so they have to get fed in different areas in the house. But they are all following me and then they inevitably cross paths with one another and hiss and growl. At one time, three of them met me at my feet. It was like the three-way standoff in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. After the cats are fed, I’d check on the fire and make sure it’s going, adding some more kindling. Then I’d go to the pantry and get some seeds for the bird feeder just outback by the kitchen door. I’d clean any dishes or pans from the night before, check the fire again and begin the most important step; making the coffee. Then I’d have some soda bread with a variety of spreads or some eggs. Then Iris would come downstairs(If we come down at the same time she would feed the cats) Then the other workawayers. We would gaze out of the window and watch the variety of finches, sparrows, tits and doves take their turn at the seed. Then I’d put on some pants and begin the workday. Just to be clear, I was not in my underwear while undertaking all of these kitchen tasks but in my PJs. Then time to start our tasks.

My ax for wood choppin'

Embers from the stove

Of course this was a wonderful experience. Part of the reason for this journey is to broaden my horizons and meet new people. Tristan has insisted I need to visit Toulouse and that there's a couch there for me to sleep on. I had many pleasurable bike rides and saw some many beautiful things, that I photographed of course. Just walking from one village to another, just 2 or 3 kilometers, was so serene and peaceful. Gazing upon a row of trees in the town of Wilhelminadorp was breathtaking At one point, in front of Praxis, a Dutch chain of home improvement stores, where I had to get some firelighters for the stove, I had an incredible sense of gratitude. I also saw, in this dynamic with the different personalities, that the roles I had played in my childhood days found their way into present day adulthood. For example, I’m responsible for everyone’s happiness and if something goes wrong, like a project, it’s my responsibility. Then subsequent feelings are informed by those thoughts. Can you believe that? And I’m a full grown man, way past twenty-one. On a walk one day, I had say to myself, stop that. Some defects always stick around.

Powerlines close to 's-Heer Abtskerke

Kaasboerderij "Ter Nisse" the cheese farm where I purchased many litres of ice cream

The road to 's-Heer Abtskerke

Maybe I wrote this blog to soon. I feel like I'm still processing the experience. Maybe I'll add to it later. Right now the ferry ride is over and I’m in Newcastle upon Tyne. I’ll be here and in towns close by like Penrith and Corbridge for the next 3 weeks. I’ll be down in London for a bit after that with a quick jaunt to Paris and then back up north in The United Kingdom and eventually to Glasgow. Here are a whole mess of photos from Zeeland.

In case you missed it, here are photos from Den Haag and Amsterdam.

Here's a little video of me walking around 's-Heer Abtskerke.

As always to help fund this trip you can purchase photo prints here. If you happen to see any photos you like from the above albums, those are available too