Hoofddorp, Netherlands

The fact that I find the Dutch language inherently hilarious is not something I’m proud of. I go to great lengths to accept linguistic uniqueness, to understand the cultural forces at work in how people communicate with each other in local contexts. I read up on the origins of expression patterns among waves of religious refugees, and I try to grasp the influences of empire after republic after empire.

And then I see that the Dutch word for baseball is “Honkbal”, and I have to stifle a damn giggle.

Absent any other visual clues, baseball stadiums are a pretty good landscape proxy for “Places where the American military has been located for more than a few weeks”. See: Japan, the Dominican Republic, Italy, etc. The Netherlands, or course, fits this description from the aftermath of WWII, with plenty of GIs hanging around long enough to set up fields, hit around a ball, and pique the interest of the locals. By 1953, professional baseball was sufficiently well-established there as to warrant a note in the New Yorker. So it was not very surprising to stumble on the stadium of the Hoofddorp Pioniers while doing QA on some new aerial imagery of the region.

The network of different-size playing fields make it clear that this is a mature club, with provision for youth development and accomodation for game variants. The house rules of the club include standard notes on uniform appearence and trash disposal, but perhaps my favorite is this:

Arguments with referees are not permitted. That’s what coaches are for.

The Pioniers finished second from the bottom of the Honkbal Hoofdklasse league of the Royal Netherlands Baseball and Softball Federation last year. Let’s go for a stronger finish in 2025, Pioniers! You got this!

Grangemouth, Scotland

Grangemouth Oil Refinery on the Forth, upriver from Edinburgh, was built in the early 20th century to postprocess the bountiful fossil fuels pouring in via pipelines from platforms in the North Sea. It ceased operations earlier this year, shut down by its multinational conglomerate owner, the latest in a hot-potato string of sales since Thatcher’s wave of privatizations in the 1970s and 80s.

At least 400 have lost their jobs, and thousands in related industries are impacted. The U.K.’s plans to decarbonize the economy - aggressive and hopeful as they are - have not yet materialized in the form of new jobs in cleaner sectors, leaving many adrift. It’s part of what seems less of a shift in production than a deindustrialization with nothing on the other end.

The risk, of course, is that there is anger here to be tapped by rising populist forces.

Wellfleet, Massachusetts

It’s getting toward cranberry harvest time on Cape Cod. Bogs there tend to be engineered in convenient kettles, remnants of the massive ice chunks left behind when the last ice sheet retreated. The Cape is famous for its cranberries (and things can get spicy when the subject of rival Wisconsin farms comes up), but Welfleet is known for a different type of farming: shellfish.

My Mother-in-Law works for the town of Wellfleet, and alongside the usual permit applications, she handles the aquaculture permits. The rich harbor waters around Lieutenant Island shown here are perfect for oyster farming, and the waters within and beyond are excellent for scallop-hunting. Coincidentally (I swear I just learned this), scallop season in Wellfleet begins today. Some things to keep in mind, per the regulations:

• Permits cost $70 if you’re a resident, and $200 if you rolled down from Boston in your Lexus with nothing more than a snorkel and some high hopes.
• Scallops have a special exemption to the rule that all shellfish must be brought to land before shucking.
• “You must be able to feel an annular ring on the outside of the shell for it to be legal. Size doesn’t matter.”
• The town’s Shellfish Constable will catch you if you violate any regulations.

I wish you all the best with your scalloping and oystering, and remember to join in with the most Cape Cod activity I’ve ever heard of:

25th Annual “Shuck and Run” Oyster Festival 5K+ Road Race, Sunday, October 19, 2025, at 9:00 a.m., Meet at Dunkin Donuts.