Hi, I’m Melissa, but I also go by Mel in North America or Melis in the Netherlands.

A Canadian with Dutch heritage, I moved to the Netherlands with my mother and my grandfather (opa in Dutch), the latter responsible for most of what you’ll find on this site.

So, what’s with the apple pie? Well, for one, I love baking (I love how it brings comfort and happiness, especially when shared). And two, the person I felt the most comfortable with (my grandfather) also loved apple pie. His recipe is the one shared on this site.

To understand how all this came to be, let me tell you about the person who inspired me.

My grandfather greatly influenced me and lived by the phrase: ‘It’s not a life without the things you love’. Opa loved many things, from baking to gardening to riding his bike (even at 75), a special type of crossword puzzle where they leave out the spaces (I forget if he played 7 or 8 stars), and painting pastels (I was his assistant/eraser kneader when the arthritis in his hands made it hard for him).

From a young age, he wanted to be a doctor, but despite being praised by the local doctor, his parents told him that people from his poor background shouldn’t even dream of it. During WWII, he worked as a medic, of sorts, where he met my grandmother, an assistant nurse and five years older. Charming and playful (but responsible, Dutch ladies are very practical you know), I don’t need to tell you how that ended. The fact that you’re reading this says it all.

After WWII, he joined the army as a medic and went to Indonesia, where he married my grandmother by proxy, that way if anything happened to him she would receive his pension (practical and responsible, I said).

He got adopted by a wild monkey during his stay (even monkeys liked him), and it even saved his life (while curled up in opa’s jacket, the monkey noticed the enemy approaching and quietly tapped his cheek so he could sound the alarm). I lost count of how many times I made him tell me that story.

Upon his return to the Netherlands, my grandmother, thirty years old at the time, heard from the doctor that she would spend the rest of her life in a wheelchair due to an issue with her back. My grandfather felt it was nonsense, and this kicked off a journey to become a well-appreciated physiotherapist (after they moved to Canada in the 1950s).

Thirty years later, my grandmother, standing a whole 5 feet, played tennis with my mom, aged twenty (and 5”9) at the time, and wiped the floor with her… Needless to say, she never needed a wheelchair.

After my grandmother passed away, my grandfather lived with my mom and me. Taking me on trips, he never needed ‘things’ to have fun. He created the rhyming games, which led to the poetry you see on this site. That, and a Dutch tradition called Sinterklaas (I mention more about that in my book), where they attach poems to chocolate letters. My grandfather wrote many, and the baton got passed to me.

As for the pastels, I used to watch him paint and, as I mentioned, had the honour of helping knead the eraser when it became too hard for him. Like many young kids, I didn’t become interested until I was much older. Thankfully, my mom had kept some of his old pastels and gave them to me. Some of his pastels helped create the paintings on this site.

Now, why fiction, you ask? Because it’s so interesting to consider what if and so much fun to dream up.

Sometimes, people who know what they want to do when young and they just go for it. I envy those people. In my case, I had no idea. I just loved to read, and as I got older, stories were running in my head all the time. At age 10, I started writing one. I’d watch a show and rewrite the parts in my head over and over until satisfied. Later, I realized that, while I spoke Dutch fluently, it flowed more when I wrote in English (it didn’t feel forced).

Finally, I decided to go for it. After composting ideas for at least 10 years, it was more than time. The problem now is that I have more ideas than time, which I suppose is a good problem to have.

Since I also love many things, this website combines several interests that go well together, united by a common theme that keeps popping up in things I do (comforting/helping people), so I can make one website instead of three. Stronger together, right?

Helping people motivates me more so than doing things for myself. A real conundrum, I tell you.

Well, time for a coffee… or sugar water with milk and coffee flavour, to be precise… and a slice of pie… Definitely pie... Pumpkin pie, pecan pie, or even cherry pie (little-known secret: both pumpkin pie and cherry pie are EXCELLENT with meringue on top).

To quote Chip from Beauty and the Beast: “You’ve got to try this thing.”