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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 Family. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Family. Show all posts

Friday, December 31, 2021

WORST Ever USPS Experience

 What can you do if something you mailed out does not arrive?!
You cannot shoot them... or? 
Well, this resides at my Pinterest board; GIFTS of LOVE and it is titled 'Amazing Origami Using Only Dollar Bills'
Sure, mailing out a GIFT of LOVE to my youngest brother and using ONLY 16.25 Dollar Bills... Haha!
But what can we do?
USPS Tracking ←click link for viewing this INCREDIBLE journey, crossing trice the Atlantic Ocean and still not going anywhere...
You have to scroll down to the very bottom, to start out.
From Miami, Florida it departed on May 31, 2021.
BUT on June 23, 2021 it got processed through international mail facility in San Francisco, California!
July 16, 2021 it got processed in Amsterdam, The Netherlands... 😊
A MINUTE later it reads 'attempted delivery'!
My brother lives a good two hour drive away from Amsterdam, in the South and to the East 😳

It got processed again in Amsterdam, wonder what they did in those hours...?!
August 17, 2021 the 'row boat' must have made it back to San Francisco, California again.
Five days later it arrived in Macon, Georgia = one hour from us.
So we expected it to go: return sender!

Two days later it was again in Miami, Florida at International distribution center.
Three days later it came once more to Macon, Georgia...
And good six hours later it was at Seminola-Orlando, Florida distribution center.
Hours later it was back in Miami, Florida for the umpteenth time!
It went back to Atlanta, Georgia and from there to Macon, Georgia AGAIN!
Two days later on September 6, 2021 it arrived at the Boston, Massachusetts and it dissipated...
Isn't that all GREAT?!

Blogger friend Mary, already mentioned in November that parcel postage is a nightmare...
A busy week........and postage! ←click to go to her post.
When trying to mail something out to my nephew, via UPS, having driven 43 miles to hand them the parcel, I nearly fainted when they calculated the price. 'Just $ 121.00' and believe me it was NOT heavy.
So I gave up. They used to say, only the birds can fly cheaper but now it is almost cheaper for buying an airline ticket and to deliver it in person.

So much fun being an immigrant!

Wishing ALL of our readers a Happy New Year

Related link:

Thursday, August 12, 2021

Protecting Ducklings & Dinner for Uncle Bo Whaley

Having  your own property with Backyard Wildlife is at times complicated...
It is heartbreaking to see some 40 ducklings vanish within days, from a long row of 13 to 3 and then 0...
Kwekkie the Mama duck, never gave up and started all over.
We have raccoons, hawks, owls, snapping turtles, foxes...
We both speak Dutch in video, but you can use the YouTube version and find the clickable points written below, with English text. 
We always sent my Parents this kind of written letters home, so they could see and hear us.
Kwekkie happily on our pond with 7 of her ducklings... I've seen that the big Eastern River Cooter did pull down one of the tiny ducklings while they were eating cracked corn near the pond's edge.
Yes, they occasionally eat other things then just aquatic plants.
Sure, they ate all our water lilies and lotus flowers too.
The species P. concinna is highly omnivorous and will eat anything, plant or animal, dead or alive. Diet seems to be determined by available food items. While some writers feel that this species of turtle will not eat meat, predatory behavior has been observed.
Yep, I've seen it with my own eyes!
Let's forget the nasty killing... No fun to do and while patrolling early morning at 6:00 AM that was not a happy start of the day for me.
But in the evening I cooked us a good dinner and dessert I still had plenty left from our High Tea two days earlier.
Uncle Bo Whaley and Delores viewing some of our photos in the veranda, after dinner.
Fond memories!
Miss my Uncle Bo and he's already 15 years in heaven...
The Polka Dot cotton pique skirt pants I'm wearing is one of my own sewing creations.
This was an empty whole milk plain yogurt container with cream on top...
Pieter's brother Toon, the ex Marine, shot through and next his brother Pieter (my husband) an ex Military guy shot through the very same hole!!!
Vedders are sharp shooters and don't mess with their wife either... 😏
Several years later, Pieter shot a huge snapping turtle that constantly knocked down the rocks from the island, that Pieter had built for placing the fountain inside.
On the video from Middle Georgia Magazine you could see it in working.

Related links:
Our Garden at the Time we had Access to Spent Mushroom Compost | video showing fountain on rock island on our pond
{TURTLE} | Showing the big mama turtle
{Ducks in Our Pond} | previous post by me
{Our TURTLE KINDERGARTEN} | previous post by me
High Tea Prepared and Baked by Me | previous post by me and from which we had dessert left over...
Cleaning Our Pond and Fountain | previous post by me 

Wednesday, August 4, 2021

Non Glamorous Wheelbarrow Job for Filling and Raising Swampy Parts

On May 1 of 1992 we had come back home following our Exodus from Indonesia after being robbed and we thus quit instead of going back a few more times for 2 months. See links below post.
That meant that here on May 23 of 1992, we both started developing our Estate.
Me in my SWAMP UNIFORM... Haha!
Dumping load after load, that got dug up by husband Pieter. To fill in this really SWAMPY PART around the gazebo where you would sink into before.
There seem to be several underground springs that caused these excessive wet spots.
Also keep in mind that both of us were the very first human beings ever cultivating this lot. Nobody ever had lived there and we never found any native American artifacts either...
So we really did some land reclamation!!!
Pieter was digging up some dirt here, where the pipe from the pond overflow would end into the creek.
All I had to do is wheel the wheelbarrow uphill and dump it around the gazebo.
Lucky Pieter for being able to work in the shade but I got exposed to the sun and hence my SWAMP UNIFORM
Ready to go uphill again.
Wearing the hand knitted socks done by my Mother-in-law! 
Putting them to very good use.
Wearing my Campbell cap...
As you can see on the table in the gazebo, we did stop for a break in-between our hard labor!
On May 27, a pallet with square exposed aggregate concrete step stones lay already waiting to be worked in...
First on May 29, Pieter had to build a little patio at the end of the stairs from our veranda for starting the walk towards our gazebo...
Yes, he also was digging in all the piping for the lawn and garden for being able to use with hose and portable sprinklers. Since we live on a slope, fixed sprinklers would not work.
A short break after I did bring him some refreshments to enjoy...
Hard work and mostly back breaking!
Working in the square exposed aggregate concrete step stones...
Now on May 31, it was my turn for getting on my knees and washing them in with sand...
Step by step we accomplished all the heavy jobs!
July 17, 1992 Pieter started painting the ginger bread from Vintage Woodworks, high on a ladder on the driveway side...
Fighting the elements in a subtropical climate is not easy.
Here you see that our pond is too high, as the overflow into the creek is not working with the flooded creek, visible in the back.
Later, with the 60 tons of dirt dug up from under the house for creating the Rose Suite, we did fill in that low area behind the pond, for avoiding flooding.
😉Oh, those glamour jobs before you turn your land into an estate as shown on the video below in link...

Related links:
{Pieter’s Tanner Krolle Attaché - Royal Gift purchased at Harrods by English Friend} | previous post after we quit work in Indonesia because we got robbed three times...
Floriade 1992 on a Cold and Windy Day after Earthquake in Limburg | previous post about stop in The Netherlands after our Exodus from Indonesia, before flying back to Atlanta, GA on May 1st
Our Garden at the Time we had Access to Spent Mushroom Compost | previous post with video where we mention the Vedder Estate
The FIGHT of Growing Grass in Subtropical Georgia/USA | one year before; fighting to grow grass...

Saturday, July 31, 2021

I'll Be Darned - I DID IT AGAIN

 

After a long wait and search... I finally found embroidery floss in the matching color with my legwarmers.
I've hand knitted them from soft baby wool...
On the fold-over in the back, there was a hole...
My search ended at Herrschners, where I found the matching embroidery floss
Did use the full floss as that was about right for matching the baby wool.
ONLY $ 0.40 for one skein  Made from long staple 100% Egyptian cottton, which is recognized as the world's finest. This high-quality mercerized 6-strand divisible floss is dyed in rich colors with a luxurious sheen. A delight to stitch with and perfect for all your heirloom-quality projects. 
Yep, I'll Be Darned - I DID IT AGAIN
Out came the antique sock darner and I put it to work.
Using a thick needle for threading the full floss, all 6 strands!
Here is Speckie girl, the naughty feline that made the hole... 
Sorry for the poor selfie!
See that tongue...? She really is a naughty one! See post below about her...
But Speckie girl promised to NOT DO THAT AGAIN!
My Mom would have done a far neater job... but I'm glad I closed it up in a safe way.
Done and taken outside for the best color effect.
Happy that those damaged stitches no longer can run further!

Related link:
I'll Be Darned - I DID IT | previous post using my antique sock darner...
{Naughty Feline} | Speckie girl very active during the night unloading shelves with sweaters onto the ground...
{MY CLOSET LOOKS LIKE A NEAT STORE} | previous post by me and Speckie girl loved to rake things OUT onto the floor and work them!

Saturday, May 22, 2021

Our Route to Work in East Java, Indonesia

Every morning we had to drive the 40 km around the mountain to reach another mountain back where the mushroom farm was located at some 1200 m or 3937 feet. Not high enough for having the benefit of a cooler climate so they still needed some air conditioning.
East Java is a lot greener than Central Java, with lots of trees.
Hardwood trees such as mahogany and kapok trees or Ceiba Pentandra, which we also knew from México.
In August you can see the kapok hanging from the trees!
To the left in this photo, you see a Poinsettia, they grow into sturdy shrubs in the tropics.
However the landscape is paradise-like, we would arrive feeling rickety from the many bends passing through one after the other Dessa (village) for reaching our destination.
Remember, we are very close to the huge Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park and close to our hotel (see previous post below)
Seen above here is a photo that Pieter took from the road, as we stopped on our way back from work, very close to our hotel!
A waterfall is visible between two mountain ridges...
There are several waterfalls in the Bromo area!
Pieter and I are standing here near a ravine, where you can see the waterfall near the Sukapura Sub-District, called Umbulan Waterfall
The same waterfall and it is very hard to capture it from where we were standing.
No doubt you could hike near it, for a far better view!
Above photos are all taken on November 11, 1996.
We did take my youngest brother Jan and his wife Wilma there on Sunday, August 10, 1997 after lunch for a ride through the mahogany woods and for seeing this waterfall.
Next day I escorted them to Surabaya from where they flew on to Brunei and back to The Netherlands.
It makes all the difference if you work in a country and have contact with the locals for knowing special places!
Tourists often have no clue what they might be passing by...

Previous post:
Raya Bromo in East Java, Indonesia Now Whiz Capsule Hotel Grand Bromo | where my youngest brother with his wife stayed next to us

Saturday, May 8, 2021

Visiting Dr Tan Kok Kheng in Singapore

 On December 28 of 1986 we arrived from Jakarta, Indonesia in Singapore and took a taxi to our Century Park Sheraton Hotel.
On Monday, December 29, we got picked up by Dr. K.K. Tan to visit his Shiitake business.
Pieter knew him for many years as he had visited the Practical Mushroom Training College in Horst.
Actually he used to be an eye doctor and he noticed Pieter's eye problem and recommended he have surgery soon. At that time in 1981, there were only 3 eye doctors performing the lens implant surgery. 
One in Singapore, that was Dr. K.K. Tan and one in Rotterdam, The Netherlands and one in Los Angeles, USA. 
He wrote a letter of recommendation to his colleague in Rotterdam and Pieter had his surgery there.
Husband Pieter next to Dr Tan Kok Kheng, at his then Everbloom Fresh Mushrooms in Singapore
Dr Tan Kok Kheng in front of the row with sheds and me standing next to him...
Inside the shed, harvesting.
We had lunch together before we went on to go shopping.
Shopping at South Bridge Centre Jewellery Mart (Dr. Tan's tip!) where I got my string of pearls with bracelet. We never saw that many jewelry stores together!
We walked also through China Town where we purchased one kilogram of fresh mangosteen and then by taxi to Orchard Road Shopping Centre... prices were duty free!
Both of us fell in love with the beauty of Orchard Road... we enjoyed a cup of coffee and ate somewhere.
We also loved all the tiny white Christmas lights in the tropical trees; so beautiful and atmospheric.
This is from a card we sent to Mom, she collected them..
We were so lucky that our Century Park Sheraton Hotel, Nassim Road in Singapore was near Orchard Road!
December 30, we left our hotel by taxi to go to the airport and leave beautiful Singapore with its 2.5 million citizens on 617 km². A long wait as we could only check in at 19:00.
We found a nice 14k Venetian necklace with charm for my brother Harry's wife. 
By 21:30 takeoff for Kuwait and on to Amsterdam...
Brother Harry picked us up and that was our ONLY time that we were at Dad's Birthday!

Wednesday, March 31, 2021

My 3rd Trip to Switzerland and visiting Jakob Schlaepfer Couture Fabrics Designer in St. Gallen

Lucky me on May 3, 1985 after finishing my sewing creation of cut out cotton voile couture fabric that I got gifted by our Swiss friends, after visiting the famous Jakob Schlaepfer in St. Gallen.
On April 02, 1985 we had traveled from the USA to Amsterdam and next we flew from Düsseldorf/Germany to Zürich/Switzerland where we rented a small Mercedes 190 and drove to Herisau.
It was great for seeing Hans-Jörg and his sister Barbara with husband Max again!
We went on to Austria by car to visit the Sohm family, see previous post below.
Back to Waldstatt where we had supper at Max & Barbara's home and talked till 23:00, mainly about the mushroom business...
Next morning breakfast at 7:00 and Pieter went with Max to the mushroom farm and in the afternoon they both took us on a tour at Jakob Schlaepfer in St. Gallen.
BAMBOLA, the Boutique for Fashion-Enthusiasts
Jakob Schlaepfer & Co AG, Teufener Strasse 11, CH-9001 St. Gallen
The famous Jakob Schlaepfer company's own embroidery boutique. It exports St. Gallen embroidery worldwide and supplies Haute Couture fashion houses.
Having studied fashion design before ending up in the mushroom business, of course I was having a ball!
By the way, Jörg Kuhn, Barbara's Dad also had been in the textile industry before starting into mushroom growing, using the old textile building first.
Jakob Schlaepfer is listed 2nd from the top on the left, among the leading Couture fabrics.
Some other famous Couture fabric brands...
Since 1904,  the Swiss firm Jakob Schlaepfer has produced couture fabrics for Yves Saint Laurent, Christian Lacroix, Marc Jacobs, and Prada, among others. However, last year the company created a collection of couture-worthy textiles specifically for the home. For Jakob Schlaepfer's new Décor line, artistic director Michele Rondelli and his design team created 22 opulent patterns that offer all of the detail found in the company's regular fabrics but have been adapted for use in the home. Standouts in the collection include Evaliia, with embroidered metallic flowers on delicate tulle, each studded with a pearl or Swarovski crystal; Bojan, which is adorned with hand-embossed sequins densely overlapped like fish scales; and Amurpaille, a gold brocade woven with metallic thread, overprinted with a floral pattern, and covered in embossed clear sequins. The collection, available in the United States through Savel, is priced from $ 57 per yard for plain tulle to $ 690 per yard for the more intricate Bojan pattern.
This map also gives you an idea of where in Switzerland in the north east St. Gallen is located.
After first getting a guided tour where they explained the different weaving procedures, we ended up at this famous Bambola Boutique where I became the recipient of a fabulous piece of cotton voile with lace embroidery.
We thanked our friends again for such a regal gift and drove back to the airport for our flight back from Zürich/Switzerland to Düsseldorf/Germany and driving to The Netherlands where we arrived by 22:15.
Mauzie, my Dachshund girl, was as happy with the result as I was on May 3, exactly one month later.
It was quite a challenge for cutting out the embroidered edging. 
With a very sharp, small special scissor I got that done.
Did create a kind of a cummerbund, for wrapping around the waist with buttons and loops in the back.
On September 3, 2000 I'd altered the length in a more usable length.
Still have this Couture gem!
Even the Queen of England used Jakob Schlaepfer for her Golden Jubilee 2012...

From the link below, about Mushroom Friends in Austria on April 15, in 1987, husband Pieter had gotten up at 4:45 for fetching his American Campbell Soup colleagues and driving to the Düsseldorf/German airport for their 8:00 flight to Zürich/Switzerland.
By 9:30 my youngest brother Jan called and told me that his boss needed to drive there by car, in the afternoon, for delivering a new engine...
So I quickly called him and offered for being his chauffeur instead. He gladly accepted.

Jan Thielen picked me up by 11:45 and with his lunch, he took a beer, after asking if I would do the driving. 
So I drove in his BMW to the destination of Full in Switzerland where the Kuhn compost business is located and arrived there by 18:30. 
Hans Jörg and his Dad Jörg Kuhn were a little surprised, Pieter had told them that maybe I would come along as well. By 19:00 Pieter arrived with his colleagues and we had a good dinner at the Bahnhof hotel all together.
Happily snuggled up with Pieter under the down duvet...
Next morning breakfast together at 7:15 and Pieter went on to the Sohm/Austria company, as I went with Jan Thielen to the mushroom farm in Full, and via another stop at a customer in Herrenberg, below Stuttgart/Germany. 
Via lunch in a farmers town by 14:45 heading for Horst, The Netherlands.
Did drive that day a total of 600 km and at a speed of 170 km/hr or 105 mi/hr and reached home by 20:30 where Pieter just had arrived at 20:20...

Some fun trip and for me it was my 4th Swiss visit... Both of us drove once more in 1995 to Switzerland for a visit and on to Italy but no photos, only video...

Related post:
Mushroom Friends in Austria and their Mushroom God Statue | After arriving in Switzerland we drove to Austria 
Previous posts:

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