HAPPY in Georgia with Feline boy Bandido

Feeling really HAPPY in Georgia and I'm a SUMMER person too.

Guess with my training inside the summer greenhouse (hot-house!) of around 120ºF or 49ºC I got very well pre-conditioned for living in Georgia and for working in the tropics!

All our Felines LOVE to frolic outside in the summer.
Either on the driveway, inside our gazebo, some spot on the patio or on the lawn.
They all find a favorite spot.
Here I'm holding our very silky boy Bandido.
He has a white cross on his chest.
His parents were Mexican, we did bring his Mamita home with us on the plane and had NO CLUE she was pregnant with 5 kittens!
All born at our home and we kept them.
We have lost since Bandido's sister Sacha but he still has 2 sisters and 1 brother.

Wearing cotton feels great, like this Outlet score a cotton top from Escada and the pants are from Apriori7, a line from Escada as well.
My cotton Hat Attack NYC Gavroche is also a favorite. Shown here earlier: {My Hat Attack NYC GAVROCHE}.

Showing off my Beach Wave hair...

Natural curls, the older I get, the more it curls! Color is 100% natural too.

Our Rose Arbor is still one of my favorites, even though the 2 Eden white or, Pierre de Ronsard roses, are struggling... 

Still loving our Golden Mist paint color + my crocheted Fleur de Lys curtains in the veranda...

View of the garden side...

Our Wood Trail starts here and winds to the right and towards the back...

Bye for now!

Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment.

Related link:

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

Google.com/+MarietteVandenMunckhofVedder

{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 

{Our Azaleas Before the Rain}

We have had now several days with heavy rain and that is not so good for blooming azaleas and other blossoms... But here are some photos from our azaleas before the rain:

Are those flowers not a DREAM?

To the left you can see the newly raised, wood trail, as seen from the gazebo. Pond is to the right and center.
You can see those raised edges from the wood trail here:→ {Cashmere Words of Wisdom & Update} - just scroll down to the last 2 photos.

Very lush and healthy!

Greenhouse in the back...

Glad I captured these before they got heavily rained upon!

For more Azalea photos you can click here: google.com/+MariettesBacktoBasics

{Pussy Willow from Cuttings}

We did have a Weeping Pussy Willow three years ago but we lost it when our creek got flooded. But last year while shopping at +Whole Foods Market in Atlanta, we did buy a bouquet of Pussy Willows with the intent to grow them from these cuttings. Even though they're not the Weeping variety that we lost, but it worked and look:

Here it is, a young Pussy Willow Shrub from Cuttings!

Nicely close to the creek in its natural habitat where they thrive best.

Near our first bridge across the creek into our wood garden.

Mid March they did give us so much joy and they look beautiful!

No doubt these tiny shrubs will bigger over time and let me cut again a bouquet for in a vase.

There is even a spider living in the top part of this little shrub!

Spiders seem to prefer them as this one too shows some cob web threads.

Both of us grew up with plenty of Pussy Willows in the area where we grew up so we're quite pleased with these five new shrubs!

Do you have a Pussy Willow in your garden?

Related link:
{Salix Caprea Pendula - Weeping Pussy Willow} | previous post by me

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+

{Fall Colors & Clearing the Underbrush}

A pity that the spectacular golden color of our Sugar Maple tree Acer saccharum never lasted that long... This year the leaves went all down in one week time!

This is on November 12, and only one third of its golden leaves are on the tree, the rest is on the lawn...

Husband Pieter, the gardener, is seen on the other side of the creek, to the left...

This is a photo from November 5, and the color starts to become golden and the Red Maple Tree, or Acer rubrum is not quite red...

Back to November 12...

This photo is from November 5, after husband Pieter did clear the underbrush on this side.

You can see the clippings piled up alongside the creek.

First time in four years, since his quadruple bypass in September of 2010.

A chain saw of 16" (it got replaced recently as this one died...); hand saw with an extendable lopper for cutting thick and high branches.

The wood garden's floor in this section, is full of long pine needles...

The final wild corner to be tackled!

Hard work and a lot of muscle power is needed for doing so.

Pieter is blessed with a strong and 'again' healthy body.

Pieter holding the loppers, they were a steal of a deal at +Tuesday Morning 

Those heaps of cut off branches make for safe hiding places where chipmunks and other critters can hide.

Soon it will decompose and be added to the soil as humus.

The creek is always changing its shape.

Lovely when it is calm, but it can become a roaring river.

We both are pleased with the open view of our wood garden.

Lots of shrubs have been removed, for easier maintenance in the coming years.

Mariette on Google+