{Papa is 90 today!}

Today is a special day and a kind of tough one for me for being far away; as usual. Of the total 27+ years that we're immigrants, only one time I was on Papa's birthday; his 66th...

We made 62 trips home to The Netherlands in total but not always birthday trips!

A young Papa; good 30 years old with me on his bike.

 Papa showing me his chicken...
Both photos are taken by my late uncle Jan, Papa's younger brother.

 When I was 10 years old I did write poems for the regional Saturday newspaper.

This one hit home hard as I'd written it for my Dad's 40th birthday and the last two sentences say:

Even if you are getting old... I know for sure that you still love me. Well, that love got a little bit dented (his ego actually...) after this! He took revenge, when I had my 40th birthday, by citing the very poem to ME, over the phone.

 Here is Papa at one of his favorite nature spots: 'Het Schuitwater' a former river arm from the Meuse in The Netherlands. Photo is taken in the late 60s on a Sunday. Papa did instill in all of us an appreciation for nature. He did pass this passion down to most of his seven children!

This is in the early 70s with the yield of cauliflower heads that Mom & Dad had cut early morning. Dad used to be called the Cauliflower King in our region for having superior quality cauliflower heads!

He was a market gardener with greenhouses as well.

Summer months were always peak season. But during my vacation time, when I still lived in The Netherlands, I helped them always out, by picking gherkins in the greenhouse. By picking them a bit tighter we could skip a day and manage to make a one-day-trip to Germany with Mom &  Dad and my Dachshund Mauzie. This was on July 14, 1977 at the Biggetalsperre in Germany.

Smoking a sigar on his special day off, together with Mom. They always worked so hard!

On Tuesday July 19, 1977 we even made it to Paris in France in a day-trip. 

In the mid 80s visiting with Mauzie our dachshund, from the U.S. Dad created a kind of botanical garden with a pond, where often wedding pictures were taken. In the back is the greenhouse of a neighbor.

On Papa's 65th birthday we made a phone call to The Netherlands, as usual. It is for now almost unbelievable to see that we paid for 10 minutes $ 11.73 at 6:21 AM. We called them on New Year's Eve as well and also Liz Vedder, Pieter's adopted daughter who has her birthday on the 31st. At that time phone calls were reserved for special days like Christmas, New Year and birthdays. The rest went via snail mail... What a different world we live in now. Now we manage for only $ 0.02 per minute instead of $ 1.17, back than in 1986!

Papa 65 years old, in the summer of 1986 with his beloved Bruno, a Dachshund.
Photo taken by my brother Martin.

Pieter took this photo of me on Dad's 66th birthday when we had a stop-over of a couple of days in The Netherlands, coming back from Indonesia. That is the ONLY time I was there on Papa's birthday...

Meanwhile Mom & Dad did come several times to the US. First time in April of 1987. Dad also joined us in November of 1990 to lend us a hand moving into the new build home when we had our one-month off period from work in Indonesia. Dad also came in March of 1993 by himself and he got from me a ticket to fly with me to San Francisco. I had to do consulting for two days at the Pescadero plant for Campbell's Soup for which they also did take us a day sight seeing to Monterey etc. I took Dad to Santa Cruz and to San Francisco and to the Redwoods as well. Pieter was doing a seminar for Campbell's in Chicago at that time.

On the image you can see where I've outlined in red where Mom & Dad's home, wood garden and across the street, their greenhouses were. One of the greenhouses is already taken down here. The stretch of soil to the right across the street, outlined within the red, that was a greenhouse too. The neighbor had huge greenhouses for plant propagation for selling to market gardeners. 

Dad got honored on 19 November of 1988 for being 50 years active in the choir. Papa sang often solos as a first tenor.
He always dreamed of being a professional singer but no time for doing so!

April of 1992 when we got back from Indonesia, with a stop for a couple of days in The Netherlands for a visit. Dad is going to sing with the choir. Tulips are blooming.

Mom always so happy when she saw us!
Mom & Dad also had several brown dachshunds.

My youngest brother Jan Van den Munckhof, made this 'frosty' winter photo on 16 January, 2005 from Mom & Dad's home.

 That was the same year that Mom & Dad last came to Dublin in the U.S. with us in October.

View from a hot air balloon taken on 6 September 2007 from the home where I was born.

Summer 2007, Dad between different hibiscus that all came from our Dublin property. They did far better in Horst, The Netherlands than in Dublin, Georgia!
Photo taken by brother Martin Van den Munckhof.

The area across the street where the greenhouses used to be. Now it is a meadow that Dad rents out to someone with ponies. Just a couple of weeks ago they have started to cut down the tall trees as the land in the back has been sold to a real estate developer. 

This was three years ago from an interview after Dad got honored for his 60th anniversary as a singer. He still does, but not as intensive as before. The title in the newspaper reads that Dad caused many women to break out in tears when he sang e.g. as a first tenor his solo Avé Maria at weddings and such.

On Saturday the entire family will gather for a dinner to celebrate Papa's 90th birthday in a festive way. 

We'll toast one from Dublin, Georgia on his good health and make a call during the day today...
Because of husband Pieter's rehab, after his quadruple bypass, we were not able to travel to The Netherlands!