{Batik Gift from Foster Daughter Anita}

It is very special if a parcel from Indonesia arrives in the mail... from our sweet daughter Anita!
She wanted to surprise her Papa & Mama with some unique Indonesian Batik outfits...

And for Mama also a matching purse!
Thank you once again sweet daughter; you made Mama very happy.

It fits nicely with my Escada skirt!
Standing next to our new Rose Arbor with baby climbing roses...

Papa (Daddy) loves his Batik shirt as well!
He wears it here on his black jeans.
Together with the bracelet that he received from daughter Liz, while together on vacation in Curaçao.

Our Spicy-girl always nearby...

Thank you dear daughter! 
We LOVE you very much.

Related link:

{New Rose Arbor on High Heels} | previous post by me

google.com/+MariettesBacktoBasics

{New Rose Arbor on High Heels}

Sure, our entire property is on a slope so there hardly is an even spot. This resulted also in placing our New Rose Arbor on High Heels!

Eden Vienna 7.5-ft. Vinyl Arch Arbor

Quite expensive...

But we found ours for a lot less: Hayneedle Eden Vienna 7.5-ft. Vinyl Arch Arbor and even with free shipping.
Searching on line can often yield surprising bargains!

Our pond has an overflow into the creek and Pieter still had some of those 6" Pvc pipes so his idea was for filling them with concrete and letting the Rose Arbor's feet stand (with of course the vinly 2 x 4s inside the legs) partly in the concrete.

It was still during the very wet season. This was April 13, when I took these photos.

Bird & bat house visible to the left.

This little 4-wheel Utility Cart is handy for towing things around.

On May 19, our two new climbing roses got planted.

I'd seen on María Cecilia's blog post from Casa Dulce Hogar in Chile, her incredible pink Eden Rose: Pierre de Ronsard roses (and clouds) and wanted to know if there also was a white variety.

Yes, I did find them at Roses Unlimited in Laurens, South Carolina, where Pat Henry & Bill Patterson offer a very extensive collection of all sorts of roses.

We also bought other roses from them, Jardins de Bagatelle a very fragrant hybrid tea rose in a cream color.

Excellent plant material and perfectly boxed up with their pots secured in a genial way!

Very healthy roses! Far better than the usual bare root shipment.

Our happy Eden white or Pierre de Ronsard roses!

Now we just have to wait for the first roses to show up and grow along this beautiful Rose Arbor.

Here you also get to see a detail from the redone wood trail which got extended a little for this Arbor.

That's how it looks from the other side...

Again a bird house visible on that holly tree.

Spicy-girl is making sure that the new roses are protected!

Do you have a Rose Arbor?

Related link:

{Cashmere Words of Wisdom & Update} | previous post showing the wood trail being redone.

google.com/+MariettesBacktoBasics 

{Gratitude is the fairest blossom which springs from the soul. ~Henry Ward Beecher}

Also gratitude from birds, residing on our property...
Building their nests, raising their young ones and singing their happy songs!

Photo is from our wren bird house with the Carolina jasmine still blooming in April

 ~

Quote: Gratitude is the fairest blossom which springs from the soul. ~Henry Ward Beecher

Related link:
{Our Backyard Wildlife HABITAT Certificate from August 1997}  | previous post by me
{Our Wood Trail in 1994}  | previous post by me showing the very same wren house

google.com/+MariettesBacktoBasics

{Bird House from Wood Trail Scraps}

Husband Pieter did create a lovely Bird House, built from the Wood Trail Scraps.

Below this post you find a link with photos, where you can see him building the Wood Trail.

This is the result...

One more lovely home for our feathered friends!

Related link:
{Cashmere Words of Wisdom & Update} | previous post by me showing the actual Wood Trail from which these scraps came...

google.com/+MariettesBacktoBasics

{Cashmere Words of Wisdom & Update}

It is now over one month, since my Mom went to heaven and I want to THANK all of you for your sweet comments, emails and any support that we have received. It feels good for having such an extended network of friends that do care and are there for one another during times of trial.

YES, I am doing fine! Photo from February 8, when we went for a walk around the neighborhood.

Success - Realization - Compassion - Divine - Reality - Present - Courage - Awakened - Enlightened - Beauty - Love - Patience - Thrive - Temple - Vibrant - Spiritual -  Pure - Truth - Joy - Karma - Immortal - Dharma - Soul - Kindness - Meditate - Simplicity - Laughter - Discipline - Fortitude - Dream - Passion - Sacred - Faith - Calm - Serve - Trust - Create - Prayer - Peace - Grace - Liberated - Reborn - Focus 

When I did see this Cashmere knit top on sale at Last Call by Neiman Marcus, I had to have it...

Waiting long enough, it went down from $ 298.00 to $ 89.50!

Love its Words of Wisdom; like Life's Complete Poetry!

Aside from that, this very Cashmere top I will treasure forever, as I wore this during the last FaceTime call with Mom; 2-½ days before her death. 

Here I am wearing it on my black Escada jeans from the Last Call Neiman Marcus Outlet in Orlando, Florida and with my sleeveless black cashmere mock neck underneath for added warmth.

Suede boots are also from Last Call.

Yes, I have lost weight, all the way down to 50.9 kg (112 lbs) I went back up to 51.7 kg (113.7 lbs) on January 21 and now I'm around 52 kg (114.4 lbs) and feeling great; which is important!

Mainly I have been worrying about his guy... Husband Pieter had heart cramps or Angina Pectoris.

Guess it was from all the stress and emotions from the last couple of months.

On February 17, Pieter got all the results from his Cardiologist from the Electrocardiogram, Nuclear stress test and Echo and he does not need surgery. On March 10, he is seeing his Heart Surgeon. We were so happy! 

It is only 4-½ years ago since Pieter had his quadruple bypass and these heart cramps did scare us.

Ironically, his previous appointment with his Heart Surgeon on January 27, got cancelled... that was the day Mom went to heaven!

I want to keep this guy next to me for many more years; God willing!

On the day that my youngest brother did FaceTime, while he was visiting Mom in the hospital, I did walk outside with my iPad so husband Pieter too could see Mom and talk with her. 

It was when Pieter almost had finished the 57 m (187 ft) long Wood Trail from the greenhouse up near the house.

Huge tree roots had lifted it up, so Pieter did take it up entirely, put new wood beams underneath and took all rusted nails out and drilled in life-time warranty screws. 

He also put side boards alongside, for keeping the soil from getting washed by rain onto the trail. 

Pieter did treat it with a wood preservative.

Here I proudly stand on the finished Wood Trail on January 28, the day after Mom went to heaven, together with Spicy (a.k.a. Speckie-girl).

Just iPhone pictures but you get an idea...

'I wear the key of memory, and can open every door in the house of my life'. - Amelia E. Barr

Thanks again! ♥

Mariette on Google+

{Feeder turned into Bird House}

On May 25 I did show you the special Gift Bird Feeder that we received in The Netherlands. Two sweet little kids had hand painted it for us and Pieter hung it up against a tree. There was a jar inside with some kind of peanut-butter-like bird food. It got emptied but all of a sudden some critter had tossed the entire jar out of the feeder! That happened more than once, we knew that could not be done by a squirrel so maybe a raccoon or possom did it. Pieter decided to change it into a Bird House instead!

Here it is; converted into a Bird House!

That was quite a large and heavy jar with yummy food but it got pulled out of this Feeder several times...

This little girl with her brother had hand painted it...

Pieter, being color blind himself, tried to match the artwork of the little girl and her artist brother...

In the back you can see a hand made Squirrel Proof Bird House by Pieter, link you find below post.

This was a new addition and supposed to be squirrel proof. There is a spring that shuts off by weight but the squirrels hang upside down from the roof tip and easily manage to grab whatever they like.

It does not have enough height for keeping the squirrels from reaching far enough. Too bad!

A hummingbird feeder hangs to the right.

Related link:
{Gift Bird Feeder} | previous post by me
{DIY Squirrel Proof Bird Houses} | previous post by me
{HOME SWEET HOME} | previous post by me

Mariette on Google+

{DIY Squirrel Proof Bird Houses}

Having such a vast property with gardens and trees, results in having lots of birds. 

Since we received our Backyard Wildlife HABITAT Certificate, we always have provided shelter for our garden residents.

But HOW to make Squirrel Proof Bird Houses?

DIY Squirrel Proof Birdhouse built from Scraps.
Since squirrels love to gnaw at the in-flight opening and ruin it, this PVC pipe is the solution!
Front of Bird House is a Natural Red Oak Plank, left from our Office renovation last spring.
Sides, top, bottom as well as back is made from other scraps.
Perch makes it a luxurious New Home for our Feathered Residents!

Husband Pieter created this one, for some of those Birdies that preferred to Go GREEN...
You can see our Wood Trail to the right.

No House NUMBER...
Do you like them?

Related link:
{Our Backyard Wildlife HABITAT Certificate from August 1997} | previous post by me

Mariette on Google+

{HOME SWEET HOME}

Not only for both of us and our felines we got a roof above our head, but also for our many garden birds.

Have a look at this very cute HOME SWEET HOME Bird House that we received as a gift from our German 'Son' and his family. We hung it on our Holly tree so we can see it from the kitchen bay window and from the veranda. It has been a favorite with birds!

Indeed: HOME SWEET HOME

Here you see the gazebo in view, still with the old roof on...

Just to put it into perspective, here you can see the HOME SWEET HOME Bird House against the stem of the holly tree. Nice at eye level for us to watch the Carolina wrens fly in and out while we enjoy breakfast or have our tea in the veranda.

Also the hummingbird feeder (one of several) is next to the bay window and in view.

Do you have any bird houses within view at your home? Or hummingbird feeders?

Related link:

{New Power Wiring to Our Gazebo} | previous post by me showing the HOME SWEET HOME bird house
{Our Home with Aluminum Interlock Roofing and Benjamin Moore Golden Mist Exterior} | previous post by me

Mariette on Google+

{Our Wood Trail in 1994}

• While scanning old slides I came across this one from 1994, showing you Our Wood Trail. 
• Husband Pieter had dug the ditches and build this wooden walk way, all the way from the gazebo to the greenhouse. That was our first water control project to rid the property of some wet spots.

• From here you are looking at the gazebo and the back of the house, towards the road.
• We only could start with our gardening after we came home from our 3 years of working and living in Indonesia. 
• This was the beginning of our lush garden with cute wrens bird house on the tree.

Azalea Helen Curtis is blooming here

• Same Wood Trail, 17 years later... The wrens bird house still on the tree.
• This photo is taken in the opposite direction.
• The ditches have been filled up with the dirt that came out of the basement when Pieter dug it out for building the Rose Suite. 
• That were 60 tons of dirt and it ended up on the side and in the ditches and on the back of our property near the creek. You can't even tell it was that much.

Do any of you have a walk way into the garden?

Related links:

{205 Winfield Road Then and Now} | previous post by me

{Walk Our Wood Trail With Me + Helen Curtis Azalea} | previous post by me

Mariette on Google+

{Walk Our Wood Trail With Me + Helen Curtis Azalea}

You might wonder how our Garden Tours from Book an Event with us, are being done... Just follow me and you will see. It is a wooden trail that goes through our back garden, also across the creek and several wooden trail parts in the wood garden as well. Pieter put a lot of work in laying those. Each year they get treated with wood preservatives. Let's start from the gazebo to the left and we'll be back for coffee/tea + cake later...

• The trail weaves around trees. Notice the many bird houses we have throughout our property?

• There is the the Azalea Helen Curtis coming in sight...

• It is 17:00 o'clock and the sunlight is perfect for catching this beauty. Helen Curtis is a pure white Rhododendron (common name Azalea) with double flowers and a hint of chartreuse.

• Birdhouse for a wren... with Carolina jasmine vine.

• The greenhouse is in sight...

• Our compost bin for all vegetable and fruit peels...

• There is the pond...

• All pot plants have just come out of the greenhouse and need to get back on their spots. Pieter can no longer do that himself, since his open heart surgery so we wait for our Mexican helper. It is too much to get them up hill alone.

• We walked past the pond and use one of the three bridges across the creek, into the wood garden.

• The trail goes on and there are several wooden parts as well.
• Okay, back to the gazebo for coffee/tea + cake!

Hope you enjoyed it and got a better idea now...

Mariette on Google+