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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

Saturday, June 30, 2018

Mom & Dad Often Talked About Siegerland in Germany so we Went Back!

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.
Only in the summer of 1971 and in 1979, I did go with my late first husband to Germany and the South of France...
ALL other vacations, we helped Mom and Dad for several weeks managing their peak season.
By picking the gherkins 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 Biggesee (lake) in Germany.
Smoking a sigar on his special day off, together with Mom.
They always worked so hard!
Mom is here picking gherkins inside the greenhouse.
We always did start very early, at 5:00 AM because around noon it would get very hot, around 120ºF or 49ºC and that was no FUN! 
Even when Dad placed a big running fan in the isle...
Here you see Mom picking gherkins. 
Two wooden boxes on the special built cart by my Dad, on wheels for easy pushing it forward. 
Each box would contain 25 kg (55 lb) of gherkins.
We had to dump those boxes later on inside one giant wooden box for bulk delivery to the auction.
Yes, I could lift such a full box and lift it over the edge of said giant box to dump its contents.
From a distance, two rows under each pointed section of the greenhouse.
The leaves of the gherkins were very prickly!
I used to wear one of Dad's old long sleeve shirts to protect me from it.
Okay but now back to the subject!
Mom & Dad had been to Siegen/Weidenau in Germany by bus, with Dad's choir, to perform in the Bismarckhalle, also called Siegerlandhalle.
Here in October of 1965, Mom admiring the hills around Hilchenbach, Germany of beautiful Siegerland.
Mom standing in front of Hotel Deutscher Hof in Hilchenbach, Germany.
A beautiful centuries old building it was in traditional German Fachwerk.
Yes, it literally was as it burned down in December of 2016...
Photo quality is poor, this is what I received as scanned material from my youngest sister...
As for myself, I love to scan in higher DPI - takes longer but with far better results.
Nevertheless, they are very meaningful to me!
Here it was, photo from Tripmondo, as it did burn down in December of 2016...
Mom standing in front of the sign 'Zum Süssen Konrad' pointing to a German Konditorei, Bakery!
They always talked about how beautiful that region was and thus, my late husband and I said, let's take them back one more time!
So we went to pick Mom & Dad up in Horst aan de Maas, we lived in Panningen, a municipality of Helden, in the Province of Limburg/The Netherlands.
At that time we still had to cross the border of Germany, now it is open within the European Union.
To the right you see Hilchenbach, where Mom's photos got taken.
We passed through Helden in Germany - from Helden to Helden but not close to home!
You also see Biggesee.
The photo at the very top got taken there!
A big lake with beautiful surroundings, belonging to Attendorn.
My late first husband standing here at the Biggesee, Attendorn with the bridge behind him.
We also did visit Burg Schnellenberg in Attendorn, a 13th-century castle that now has become a hotel, just click link as it is in English.
Thursday July 14, 1977 was a rather cloudy day!
Taking a break on this medieval stone bench...
Yes, that was a lot of driving in one day; some 9 hours and we'd risen at 4:00 AM and will have to do the very same for next day, picking gherkins again...
Here Dad, Frans with dachshund Mauzie on the leash standing in front of Mom's feet...
So happy to know now that this 13th-century castle has been converted into a hotel!
All of us enjoyed Siegerland and Mom & Dad especially for being able to go back one day in their own footsteps...
Dad always loved singing in the choir and such trips were so special.
Now the journey home and early rising next morning!
We had an Opel Kadett Special at the time...

Hope you enjoyed this little journey back in time with me.
Meaningful to me, fond memories of Mom's happy days!
Thanks for your visit and comment.

Related posts:
Burg Schnellenberg in Attendorn/Luftbilder Videos/Drohne/4K | short Youtube video from the Castle
My Sewing Creation - My Bridal Gown with Damsel Sleeves | previous post by me + late husband
{Fond Memories of Mom with us in the Eifel, Germany} | previous post by me
{Mom Did Wear Many Hats} | previous post by me
{Papa is 90 today!} | previous post by me



Tuesday, June 26, 2018

Our Weekend at the Grand Hyatt Melbourne Regency Club

Traveling for work is NOT fun and it means you make long trips and live out of the suitcase a lot.
BUT, it also can have some great rewards!
One such super reward was our FREE weekend at the Grand Hyatt in Melbourne!
Yes, for points earned over the years...
123 Collins Street, Melbourne, 3000 Victoria, Australia
Grand Hyatt Melbourne 
Where the grace of another era lives in harmony with the modern age.
Cousin Liz had picked us up at the Melbourne airport on Friday, September 3, 1993 and she dropped us off here at the Grand Hyatt.
The sun was so strong that it was nearly impossible to make any good pictures.
Pieter wearing his black leather jacket from Pond's India's Leather Garments Factory.
Yet we were happy with such a bright day!
When we arrived in Sydney a week earlier we had rain...
Still wearing my favorite leather jacket bought in the U.S.A.
We arrived the same day at the Grand Hyatt Melbourne, as did the President of the Federal Republic of Germany, His Excellency Mr. Richard von Weizsäcker with his wife Marianne.
Lots of security...
Also Linda Evangelista and Claudia Schiffer were there at the same time.
How lucky we were for having secured our FREE room!
But it worked out well; with only ONE Presidential Suite at $ 2500 at that time...
We did secure our FREE Regency Club room with special elevator key that goes up to the Regency Club level and lounge where you had access to continental breakfast in the morning, tea/coffee service, evening service bar and hors d'oeuvres.
At present it is changed into Grand Club...
Our room 3014...
View of the Yarra River from our room... Again lots of glare, just like in Hong Kong!
 More to the right, again view from the Yarra River.
Melbourne skyline view from the Lounge.
Melbourne skyline with me...
Nearly impossible with so much glare for capturing anything reasonable!
It is on our retina and it makes for fond memories!
Husband Pieter here captured from the lounge as well.
Both of us felt grateful!
Melbourne is a city of memorable buildings.
Left to right St. Paul's Anglican Cathedral rises in
Gothic splendor, the dramatic spire of the 
Victorian Arts-Centre, Flinders Street Station
is a much-loved landmark
On Sunday morning we went to the 11:00 Mass at the cathedral church of Saint Paul, Melbourne.
As I wrote, so much to be grateful for and that brings one close to our Creator!
On Saturday afternoon, cousin Liz came to pick us up for a stroll through Melbourne's Botanical Garden.
Such bad luck with good photos... too harsh light!
Princes Lawn...
One final photo of Liz with me with a lot of glare in the lens...
Liz took us also to her shop and that yielded this signature wooden EASEL!
Her Dad, uncle Louis made them and she gilded them, also adding those ornamental touches.
Ours is used for this pin tray on my antique oak tea cart with English Rose by Royal Doulton china.
We did have some tea/coffee with Liz in the Grand Hyatt's Regency Club lounge and than we had to say our goodbye... Short meeting but intensive!
On Sunday afternoon we got picked up by someone from the Campbell Soup mushroom farm and dropped off at the Eltham Gateway Hotel in a luxury family suite...
We went to work for the mushroom farm on Monday and on Thursday morning they moved us to a regular room at 7:00 before we went to work.
On Friday morning we could sleep in till 8:30 and brace ourselves for the very LONG journey home!
We did have one final meeting with the staff at 11:30 and we had supper at Andy Gulliver's home before he dropped us off at the airport by 20:30 and said his goodbye as he was planning to leave the company...
In 8 hours we flew from Melbourne to Bangkok, Thailand and hung around some at 6:15 in the morning before we did the next stretch of 12 hours to Amsterdam.
With only 1 hour in-between for a quick phone call with Mom, Dad was not inside, we continued the almost 9 hours to Atlanta.

We intended to sleep in but both woke up very early on Sunday morning at 5:30 and got up.
We went to Mass at 11:00 and went outside into the garden....

Thanks for traveling with us to 'Down Under' one final time!

Related links:
Trips to Australia | previous post by me
{My Own Design of Brass Mushrooms} | previous post by me

Saturday, June 23, 2018

From Hong Kong to Sydney, Australia

On August 27 of 1993, we left Hong Kong at 21:00 on Qantas Airlines and in 8 hours and 15 minutes we arrived in Sydney with a time difference of 2 hours.
We landed at 8:30 and went by shuttle to the Hilton Sydney on 488 George Street. 
We walked to the beautiful Queen Victoria Building on 455 George Street and explored some of its 200 shops.
That yielded a cute WOMBAT and a koala...
Yes, Womby still lives with us!
QVB as the Queen Victoria Building in Sydney is called. Just click the link to learn more about this gem!
Refreshing to walk from the Hilton Sydney to the QVB, it was raining but it was not too cold.
This cute Australian Koala resides on the window ledge in our guest bedroom.
The night flight on Qantas for those 7,300 km went well.
Dinner - Sleeping - Breakfast was the sequence here...
Already in April, husband Pieter got listed as a speaker for the AMGA/ISMS
On Sunday, August 29, the lectures started in the Sydney Convention Centre - Darling Harbour
Sadly I learned that this building has been demolished after 25 years and is no longer...
Click: Darling Harbour Live Temporary SMB 
AMGA AUSTRALIAN MUSHROOM GROWERS' ASSOCIATION
Compost Workshop and Seminar - Sydney
We traveled by MONORAIL
Well, from blogger friend Sami, from the blog: COLOURFULWORLD in a reply comment to me, I learned that the MONORAIL is no more.
So it got taken out on June 30, 2013...
We rode it again on Monday August 30 as the lectures started at 8:30 and Pieter's turn was at 9:00.
By 17:00 we walked back to the hotel and had dinner at 19:15 with Chris and Bob Dumbreck, Marion Lawson and John Rodwell from California at the Royal Automobile Club of Australia.
Elegant dining and very British!
After dinner, we all did walk up to the Opera House for a fantastic view.
On Tuesday, August 31, we went by bus at 6:00 already to the markets; FLOWERS & VEGGIES with plenty of fresh MUSHROOMS as well.
After breakfast, coming back by bus to the Hilton hotel, we were crossing the Sydney Harbour Bridge. 
In front of us a German couple had fallen asleep... suddenly she woke up, nudging her husband and scolding him for NOT video taping the spectacular view! Priceless.

In the evening we had a standing reception at 20:00 in the Convention Centre.
On Wednesday September 1, we started again at 8:00 and Pieter did a summary of this workshop and seminar and that went very well; great applaus from the audience.
On Thursday September 2, we had one last day of lectures. 
Rounded off with a formal Banquet at the Convention Center.
Pieter got to wear his Burberry tuxedo for the 2nd time within ONE week!

We had a relaxed morning and flew from Sydney to Melbourne where cousin Liz picked us up at the airport by 14:55... stay tuned!

Thanks for your visit and comment.
Related links:
Trips to Australia | previous post by me
{My Own Design of Brass Mushrooms} | previous post by me

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

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