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Here I would love to share with you our travels and adventures as international mushroom consultants. MEMOIRS about husband Pieter Vedder, who was a SCIENTIFIC PIONEER in Mushroom Cultivation Education. His practical handbook is in 9 languages and is called the MUSHROOM BIBLE: https://mariettesbacktobasics.blogspot.com/2020/08/modern-mushroom-growing-2020-harvesting.html
Showing posts with label Childhood. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Childhood. Show all posts

Tuesday, December 13, 2022

Our Wreath with Silver Christmas Balls and Angel

Out comes of course our favorite wreath with Silver Christmas Balls and Angel...
LOVE the Silver Angel especially!
Love this quote:
'If we do not live, speak and think in the language of enchantment, including naming angels and recognizing spirits... then the soul will go out of our lives and communities, and we will wonder why nothing seems to hold together and nothing seems to have value anymore. ~Thomas Moore'
This is where I got the idea... from the hardcover book of Argenterie Giovanni Raspini, Florence/Italy.
Those wooden shutters remind me of my childhood as we used to have them like that!
Used to sell those silver Christmas Balls but they're all gone—only these silver gifts remain→click link: Spectrenoir
Oh and certainly candles belong to Christmas!
Different wreath as the natural moss one did not last...
But these are our solid oak indoor shutters. 
Only ONE final Angel Cherub is hanging around in Spectrenoir ←click link.
A very sweet French door knob lavender sachet...
Yes, made in France that is!

Tuesday, September 6, 2022

Montréal Old Port and City Hall


On August 17, 1998 in the afternoon we picked up our car in the parking garage below the Novotel Montreal in downtown.
Driving to the large parking area at Old Port of Montréal, from there we walked, with my Burberry umbrella in hand... to Rue Notre Dame.
It sure worked for warding off the rain!
On video you see the Old Port with the Jacques Cartier Bridge over the Lawrence River.
Also visible in beginning of our video is the 1922 Clock Tower, to the right of Jacques Cartier Bridge.
This year the Clock Tower celebrates its Birthday!!!
Now we continue to 275 Rue Notre Dame Est, to Montréal's City Hall.
Such a dream of a building! 
In French it is called Hôtel de ville.
Oui Montréal c'est toi ma ville! or in English: Yes, Montréal you are my city!
The exhibition that was going on was about 50 years of human rights.
Look at the exceptional Fleur de Lys ornaments in the garden design on our video!!!
Also a huge planter filled with herbs, me smelling them...
Incredible garden!
This French culture, including the language, made us feel so much home!
~
Then in the very end in the video, I walk towards a linden tree for seeing its seeds...
Thoughts of Dad came flashing back!
Fond memories of me, in the front seat of his bike, as a toddler as Dad took me to a pilgrimage place in Ommel, North Brabant/The Netherlands. There was a huge linden tree.
I let my tiny hands run through them and Dad did pick some for bringing home from that shrine...
Did mention that very fact in an earlier post: Monticello Gardens of President Thomas Jefferson and Mulberry Row  ←click link

Another fabulous part of our visit to Montréal and hope you enjoyed it as well!

Have you been there yourself?

Related links:

Monday, January 24, 2022

My Woven Sewing Basket

 One year for Saint Nicholas, my sister Diny and I received each a woven sewing basket...
Diny's was in a lilac color and mine was red.
This is how it looks after half a century...
Beautiful padded inside with red satin
From the outside...
No idea where it was made...
Do any of you have a similar one?

Thursday, February 11, 2021

Pieter's Music Booklet from WWII Era

Music Teacher Wim  Gesthuizen, painstakingly hand–copied each lesson for Pieter to practice...

Music booklet
Titles listed and to the right you see the name: Th. van Megen, a skipper on the River Rhine. He smuggled the Soberano accordion into the country for Pieter... 
The price for that instrument was six pounds of coffee that Pieter's Mom had stashed away!
Don't forget, this was during WWII there was absolutely no coffee available, it became valuable like gold for Germans.
An den schönen blauen Donau – Johann Strauss
On the beautiful Danube – Johann Strauss
Pieter seen above practicing from this music booklet during WWII on his Hohner, gifted from his Uncle, before he got his new Soberano...
Later when Pieter joined the military, he also played an S-trumpet and with their small military band they marched in front with the International Four Days Marches in Nijmegen.


This is what Pieter knew and studied and also what he played for his serenade: 1948 Gevaphone Record with Young Pieter Playing his Accordion for Brother in Uniform | you can listen to it via link from previous post...

Friday, December 25, 2020

Guest Column for Uncle Bo Whaley - Fond memories of a Dutch Christmas

December 23, 1987 my guest column for Uncle Bo Whaley
Mariet Vedder remembers childhood Christmas in Holland
Bo Whaley
(Editor's note: Today's special Christmas column was written by Mariet Vedder, a native of Holland, who has lived in Dublin for the past four years with her husband, Pieter, vice president, Fresh Produce Division (Mushrooms), an affiliate of Campbell's Soup Co. (CAMSCO). The Vedders travel extensively throughout the world in order for Mr. Vedder to lecture at various seminars inasmuch as he is recognized as one of the world's leading authorities on mushrooms).

At times, like now, I pause to consider the true meaning of Christmas. Are we still celebrating Jesus' birthday as one big Christian family? Or has it been transformed into one big commercial happening?
In my native Holland, we would not decorate (trim) our Christmas tree until a few days before Christmas, then maintain it until Epiphany (January 6, observed as a churchtain festival in commemoration of the coming of the three wise men to Jesus at Bethlehem).

Our Christian season began on the evening of December 24th, walking through a layer of snow, most often, to our Church for the celebration of Midnight Mass. A freezing night with a clear sky, filled with lots of stars, belonged to this season ⏤ like Baby Jesus and the angels. It was so quiet, so peaceful, with everything and everybody waiting to celebrate another birthday of the Savior.
I remember that as we neared the Church and heard the inviting voices of the choir, our pace quickened, and once inside we hurried to get a glimpse of the nativity scene. The aroma of burning candles, coupled with the joyful singing, completed the setting and afforded a sense of strength and unity, like one big family with a common goal: Peace on earth and love that came with the birth of Jesus.
After Church, families would gather for a great dinner, similar to the American Thanksgiving. This would be repeated the next day, the so-called Second Christmas Day.
Some memories are somewhat nostalgic, therefore not every Christmas was so peaceful. One of the strongest and most lasting impressions regarding Christmas for my husband Pieter, came on Christmas Day, 1944, near the end of World War II, when he was 15. (Pieter with his middle brother were evacuated at a farmstead away from home, parents and oldest brother elsewhere).
Accompanied by his older brother, they left night mass and were walking home when they saw a blaze behind a low hill. Being curious, as boys tend to be, they walked briskly toward the flames were coming from an airplane that had just been shot down. The light from the blaze illuminated the surrounding area sufficiently for the two youngsters to see a human arm and hand hanging in the barbed wire encircling a meadow.
This experience was so shocking for the boys, having just moments before left mass with peace on their minds Christmas night only to be confronted  with such a cruelty ⏤ evidence of the ravages of war and human conflict...
Living now at home in Dublin, Georgia/USA, far a way from Holland, Christmas for me is, of course, different. The religious meaning is the same, but I miss the closeness of my family at this special time of year. My biggest joy comes from sending and receiving all the Christmas cards. All hose relatives and freinds who think about you... write a personal note, wishing the best for the New Year. And it really is a moving experience when, for example, I hold Christmas cards received from behind the Iron Curtain or South Africa in my hands and realize that Christian feelings are alive all over the world, despite the many different philosophies.
We receive Christmas cards from friends in exotic countries where my husband and I have visited, such as Indonesia, Singapore, India, China and Japan. While the cards are different in design, the spirit in which they are sent is the same ⏤ that of love and peace.
Last year was a very special Christmas for Pieter and me. We celebrated it in Indonesia, on the islands of Java and Bali. On Christmas Eve we attended night mass in the city of Wonosobo, on the island of Java. The Church was decorated  in a most heavenly way, with amaryllis and orchids! It was like being in paradise what with all the exotic fragrances, beautiful people in their 'sarongs' (the traditional Javanese costume) and with that special gleam in their eyes radiating love faith and true Christianity.
Mass started with a ceremony performed by about a dozen beautiful young girls between the ages of eight and fourteen, lined up in two rows, wearing gorgeous sarongs and barefooted. One held a doll, depicting the new born baby, Jesus. The others strew flower petals while dancing slowly to the altar, bringing Jesus to his manger. They did have the universal nativity scene. Just the music, the choir and the formal dancing was so unusual to us westerners.
The entire service of two hours, including a sermon, was very dignified. Although we could not pray or sing with the natives, it was not boring.
When communion was given, the long line never ended; many stood outside and followed the mass through special loudspeakers. It was overwhelming to witness such attendance. After mass, out in the streets where traffic is prohibited during sermons to ensure quietness, the scene resembled a standing reception. We never shook so many hands in our lives! All the priests were outside, too. Everybody wishing one another a Merry Christmas. It was a deeply moving experience, the most impressive Christmas ever.
From Indonesia, we moved on to Singapore where we stayed for two days. It is a clean and modern state, still decorated for the Christmas season at the end of December. There were no Christmas trees but the naive tropical trees were decorated and lit up. Beautiful plain white lights spanned the main streets and shops carried out the spirit of Christmas.
From Singapore we traveled on to Holland, arriving on New Year's Eve. 

...Fond memories of less commercial Christmas

The Christmas tree at my parent's home was still set up, adding to an old fashioned 'long' holiday season that did not end abruptly on December 26 like here in the United States, but lasted until the Solemnity of Epiphany in early January.
The Christmas season should not die the moment one opens his presents; rather, we should live on in its spirit a bit longer.

Thought For Today: 'Peace is not a Christmas gift, but a task.' ~Unknown.

Monday, January 6, 2020

Monticello Gardens of President Thomas Jefferson and Mulberry Row

So here we are now in Virginia and after checking out the weather we made our plans.
There would be rain in the afternoon and next day a tornado...
So we left early, after breakfast for Monticello, home and plantation of the 3rd President of the United States; Thomas Jefferson.
The one that wrote the Declaration of Independence... with tremendous Dutch influence (see link at the bottom of post).
Around 10:00 we were at Monticello and went with their bus to the place where the garden tour would start.
Here husband Pieter is in front of the Littleleaf Linden.
As a little girl, I went with my Dad, seated at the front of his bike, to Ommel, The Netherlands, a pilgrimage site of Our Lady of Refuge for Comfort in every need. There was a statue under a huge Linden tree.
 Seated on Dad's bike, I managed to touch with my hands those mature fruits!
Childhood memories...
This is also the tree from which they make the Linden Flower Tea and Linden Honey as we tasted in Eastern Europe in May: Day 6, Panoramic Belgrade, Serbia where I had Linden Honey in my tea.
This was the house but we both did not tour the inside as we come from the Old World and have seen enough of that architecture over there.
Thomas Jefferson did bring those ideas from Europe.
From the deck of his house, overlooking a vast area since it is built on a little mountain.
Pieter standing next to a huge potplant that obviously was thriving well, being partly indoors.
Interesting windows that could be totally pushed upwards.
Behind Pieter you still see where the potplant was, just behind his right arm inside the open space.
That's me standing at the top of those stairs...
WILLOW OAK or Quercus phellos
It's diameter was impressive!
Still the same tree, trying to capture it completely.
Our Garden & Grounds Guide showed us this laminated copy of Thomas Jefferson's 1766 Garden Diary - nice handwriting!
Of course we were visiting rather late in season, so the garden sure was not at its peak!
Here you see a variety of Okra, a huge one.
You also see that the sky is highly pregnant with rain...
There was an entire arbor where the Purple Hyacinth Bean was climbing up on both sides and overhead. A favorite of Thomas Jefferson.
A vineyard...
What an over view from there!
Vegetable garden and to the right you see a one-room slave house along Mulberry Row...
Yes, Thomas Jefferson maintained his 5,000 acres or 2,023 hectare by keeping some 400 slaves...
They lived in the tiny, one-room houses!
We did tour the smokehouse... Interesting and even I as a young girl remember smoked meats.
This is exactly what we also saw at: Netherlands Open Air Museum with Mom & Dad and American Colleague's Wife as shown in pictures taken there.
Aerial View: The Monticello Mountaintop just click and click through again for seeing how VAST this really is.
Thomas Jefferson's Daily Ride short video showing the vast property on the little mountain, just click and click through again.
Also interesting to listen to this documentary about Jefferson's 'concubine', the half-sister of his deceased wife Martha. At that time the slave owner often used his female slaves as personal property. His wife Martha's father, had done so and there were several half-sisters/brothers from a mulatto slave woman... Jefferson fathered 6 children with Sally Hemings. We both have mixed feelings about his part in history... Only in 1998 it has been proven by DNA that Jefferson was the father and sadly he never acknowledged those six children!
Sally Hemings (Documentary) click
We enjoyed some coffee and cookies (Pieter) at the Gift Shop and found some chocolate too.
In all, a great place to visit.
There also is a restaurant that serves fresh produce from the garden!
With our ticket we could have started the tour of the Home by 12:00 PM, but we left with their shuttle to the parking and went for lunch.
It was only a 25 min. drive back and forth to the Hyatt Place Hotel for us.
At 14:00 it was 17 ºC or 62 ºF

We got back to our Hotel around 14:00 after going to Whole Foods Market where we ate some lunch and did bring some salad home for next day with yoghurt and fruits.
Due to a TORNADO WATCH we decided to stay in for that day on October 31 and catch up on our reading instead...
On October 31, it would be a very wet day and 19ºC or 66ºF
The weather would be a LOT cooler from 26ºC (78.8ºF) to only 15ºC (59ºF) for November 1.

Perfect for our plan... stay tuned! 

Wednesday, December 2, 2015

{There You Go Again... Update}

SORRY for having been missing in action but this is why:
On Thanksgiving Day, while we were having a lovely dinner at the home of our 'American Family' my Dad was having a heart attack and ended up in the hospital.
This is a photo, taken on Friday afternoon when my brother Piet (he took this photo) with brother Jan and sister Gerd went to visit Dad at the hospital.
Jan used his iPhone 6, for letting Dad do FaceTime with me.
Exactly the same way as he did with Mom during her final days...
This is what I had on my FB on Saturday, asking for prayers as we are waiting about the outcome for Dad's health.
It looks like he has CHF (Congestive Heart Failure) since he had a lot of fluids in his leg and difficulty breathing.
This morning, at Church, I snapped this shot from our Church bulletin where Dad's name is being listed among those needing a prayer.
Both of us do strongly believe in prayer and we are grateful for all that do pray for my dear Dad!
Mom & Dad have both knelt at this Christ Episcopal Church together with us and Dad sang at this Church...
So many memories and people in this town know my Parents.

Okay, now about the THERE YOU GO AGAIN...

Being over 8,000 km away from home it is NOT easy dealing with a parent that is in the hospital or on his/her death bed.

Dad holding me as baby...


Like in January of this year, when I lost my sweet Mom after guiding her 17 days during her hospital stay.
I owe a lot of gratitude to my sweet and very close brothers (2) and other brother and  sister.
But there are 2 more that are rather toxic!
The brother who thinks he is in charge has completely left me out of the family App so I will not receive any updates or know who is visiting Dad on any given day.
Yesterday, my toxic brother went to visit Dad in the afternoon - no update to anyone!
In the evening my toxic sister went to visit Dad in the evening - no update to anyone either!

Dad 7 days in hospital without phone connected ←click link for Pdf with 70 comments on FB and scroll down a little.

That is living through hell, plain torture for NOT knowing anything.
Neither have they provided Dad with a phone; so I cannot call him.
Only when my close siblings visit Dad, will I receive any update. 
A photo is so welcome; like the above first photo.
Today it made me very happy to hear again an update. 


Guess what the toxic brother who thinks he is in charge did to me in January?
He forced me to take down ALL photos from Mom.
{R.I.P. Dear Mom} with Mom's sweet photo... (you can click the hyperlink).

I had to take down all the photos that were made here in Georgia, while Mom was visiting us.
My toxic brother threatened me with being left out of my Parents' will if I did not take them down.
Although I never understood WHY, I have given in, hoping it would restore the peace in our family, after first making screen shots of each and every single comment of sweet people from around the world.
Like on my blog above, I had lots of comments on my FB posts.
It was what carried me through those tough times as we could not be at the funeral for two reasons: I was still having physical rehab and also because we were paying huge medical bills at the time.
click to enlarge...

All those comments meant the world to me; they did lift me up and also very much my dear husband Pieter, who suffered heart cramps from all the stress and hurt caused by those toxic siblings who did never consider my dear Pieter's age of 86! That's NOT how you treat the elderly...
At 7:00 PM the 'day' ends on Blogger and Pageviews get counted anew.
On the actual day of Mom's death, up till 7:00 PM, I did have 1,550 pageviews...
From 7:00-9:00 PM when this was taken, it were 102 pageviews.

No words can tell you HOW grateful I am to those that lifted us up.
From so many countries, from all religions and I respect them all.

On FB, I did get again numerous comments and visits on my post: R.I.P. Dear Mom ← just click it to see the Pdf with everything I'd saved before deleting.
Mom is in heaven  ← just click it to see the Pdf also.


 Sweet foster-daughter Anita from Indonesia, did video Skype me from their car, before I went to bed on Saturday evening.
She always has been very loving and supportive.

So, once again I did put Mom's photo back on my blog.

As the oldest daughter, I don't want to be a victim to this kind of useless bullying by those toxic siblings again.
Bitter siblings keep viewing that post very frequently; up from 630 views (see above) to 1763 now...

They have fed Dad with lies and made up stories, trying to cut me off.
That is so rude for manipulating a grieving Dad at his frail age of 94!
It proves of a sick and hateful mind.

Let us hope they will change and above all, letting Dad have a peaceful time till he will join Mom in heaven.

That is very much our prayer!

Copyright:

MARIETTE'S BACK TO BASICS © 2009. All rights reserved - Text and images may not be copied for distribution or sale.

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