{Our Bonfire Prunus Persica - Patio Peach}

On March 15, our Bonfire Prunus Persica - Patio Peach, started budding. Husband Pieter did take it out of the greenhouse, where it till than remained sheltered from the weather. Below you see a photo from March 22...

Are these Bonfire Prunus Persica blossoms not lovely?

This is how those buds looked on March 15, just outside of the sheltered greenhouse.

Eager to fully open up!

On March 19, near the greenhouse which is to the left not visible and the pond to the right.

March 21, fully open and looking more white than pink... This is in front of our Magnolia tree, to give the blossoms some contrast.

Only one day later on March 22, showing already more pink.

On March 24 we did put this pot in the front porch for more shelter against the frost... Look how our tiles are covered with pollen, that is the season for now. 

Closeup and there still remain some white ones, those that opened up latest. They look so beautiful.

Those long stamens; like eyelashes!

Just a lovely beginning of spring! Do you have any booming peaches?

{Our Patio Tiles & Freeze Warning}

Spring was unfolding so nicely but there is again a freeze warning; unexpectedly as this was not in the weather forecast earlier. Pieter had started to bring all the tropical potting plants out of the greenhouse. Our new Patio along the bay window and the front of the house is being tiled by now. Still needs grouting but soon it is done. Water Control Project about to be finished!

Before we went to The Netherlands we already had all the tiles for the new Patio and here Pieter did set them ready for the men to use.

Glazed Ceramic Tile in the color SUNSET

They are made in USA

We bought them at Home Depot

We are having a nippy wind and a Freeze Warning...

Tonight 29°F with Real Feel 18° or -2°C with Real Feel -8°C...

Let's keep our fingers crossed for the tender plants!

By 18:27 it was already very nippy with the strong winds from the NW with 35 Km p/h.

Hope people in the north will stay warm and safe.

We have had quite a struggle this year with the harsh weather.

Related posts:

{Water Control Project Finished} | previous post showing you the tile sample on the concrete

{Humble Beginnings - Our 1987 PC}

For sure all of us are living with a personal PC, Laptop, Notebook, Tablet, Smartphone or whatever...

When did we all start using this? For us the very first PC we had in 1987 at our office in the previous home in Dublin, Georgia. Humble beginnings...

This was before Internet was even available!
Can we imagine life without?

What a difference from now...!

In our previous home there was carpet all over when it was newly build.
That we can do without, now we only have tiles and solid oak plank floors.

Under the crocheted doily with roses is my humble word processor...
What a change we all have lived through!

Loved those wicker baskets in which my imported papier mâché from Kashmir, India got shipped.
Very nice way of wrapping things for export!
Here the solid oak indoor shutters have not even been stained yet...
Now we got them all painted white in our present home.
Those filet lace embroidered window decorations are hand made by me.
Do you have some PC dinosaur photos as well?

Related link:

{Our Smaller Office} | previous post showing our present office.

{Can't get into ANY Blog nor Comment!}

Is there anyone else having the same problem with Blogger? I cannot see my own blog nor any other blog... NOT visit anybody NOR comment! Would like to get feedback from other bloggers on this. Funny enough, I can get into 'the back door' for editing but that's it! Uploading photos works only on Google Chrome. 

Today, Thursday the 20th I had again the very same problem. When I did unplug the power of my modem and restart, also rebooting my PC, it worked again! Make sure to keep the URL of your Blog's design page handy because at all times that did work. So you still can edit, post, upload photos or publish comments that is.

{Mom's Hand Knitted Bedspread as Window Display}

Before my Mom came to visit us for the very first time here in the USA, she had the honor of having her Hand Knitted Bedspread as Window Display at 't Schippertje. Of course this was the shop where she had bought all the knitting yarn. I've always loved that leaf pattern, as a matter of fact, I do have two favorite sweaters with leaves. See links below this post...

Here Mom stands proudly in front of the shop's window where her hand knitted bedspread is being displayed.

Funny to look at this photo as at present, I am the same age as Mom was here in mid April of 1987...
Only weeks before Mom with Dad would fly back with us to Georgia/USA.

Not that long ago, Mom decided to start using this bedspread again...

Here it is on their queen size bed and I made this photo on February 21, before going to see Mom again during her dialysis in The Netherlands.
Strange for being for a brief moment on the other side of the ocean... seeing the photos they keep from me in their bedroom (to the right hanging and small one standing below, next to the one from Mom).

Four days later, the big ocean would once more be in–between my Parents and me.

This is such a lovely design!
A better view of those knitted squares with leaf pattern in the center.

Don't you also love this leaf pattern with ajour edges?

Mom for sure is smiling down from heaven, with so many views of her fabulous knitting!

Views on my Pinterest page (just click it)
~

Click on photo to enlarge...
Here follows an English version:

Size: 130 X 240 CM.

MATERIAL needed: Synthetic wool 2700 gr of natural colour; 5 double-pointed knitting needles 3mm

SQUARE PATTERN: follow the chart

The work is done in rounds on 4 needles. We show you in the chart a quarter of a square; each pattern must therefore be repeated 4 times in each round.

Cast on 8 stitches, placing 2 stitches on each of the 4 needles.

Follow the chart for the odd numbered rounds.

Knit every even-numbered round, (2^nd, 4^th, 6^th etc.) working the 1^st stitch of each repeat in twisted knit stitch.

Work rounds 1-48, then purl 2 rounds. Cast off.

Knit 45 squares in total.

TRIANGLES: Cast on 7 stitches. Work back and forth across the rows. Work the odd-numbered rows from the chart, beginning each row with an edge stitch, then working the pattern 2 times and ending with a knit stitch and an edge stitch. Purl the even-numbered rows, working twisted purl stitch into the twisted knit stitches.

Knit 22 triangles in total.

EDGING: Cast on 9 stitches. Round 1: Knit 1, * increase 1, Knit 2 together in twisted knit stitch, repeat from * 3 times.

Round 2 and all even-numbered rounds: Knit 1, increase 1, knit to end.

Round 3: Knit 2, then repat from * as in round 1. Continue thus until there are 16 stitches.

Next even round: Work as for round 2.

Next odd round: Cast off 7 stitches, knit to end. Continue to repeat from round 1 until the work measures 7.5 m. Cast off.

FINISHING: Pin out the squares and triangles, cover with a damp cloth, press lightly and leave to dry.

Join together on wrong side with backstitch. Begin at lower edge by sewing 3 squares in-between 4 triangles, then add 4 and 3 squares alternately to end. Sew 4 triangles at the other end and 7 triangles along each side. When all squares and triangles have been joined together, sew on the border neatly.

Related link:
Italian Crochet Terms and U.S. Crochet Terms | translation for being able to understand the above pattern.
{ME, Turning 20 on December 3!} | previous post with my knitted leaf pattern sweater.

Mom is Being Posthumously Honored for her Knitting | later post 

Ancient Grey Stuart Tartan fabric from Chester UK | later post showing the hand knitted leaf pattern

{Mom's 6th Dialysis Anniversary}

March 18, was the 6th Anniversary of Mom's Kidney Dialysis! 

We are so grateful for still having her with us. This is a photo, taken on Friday, February 14, on Saint Valentine's Day when we were in The Netherlands and visiting Mom during her long hours of Dialysis. 

We did visit her 5 times, one afternoon we missed as I was visiting a cousin but that was when Dad was with her.

Mom has been a great role model all her life and I pray that I too will reach her blessed age of 90 and not get problems sooner with my own kidneys.

Let's try to keep my chronic kidney disease in stage II for a long time to come!

Well, in 2017 I moved from stage II to stage III...

As of August 2019, I moved into stage IV...

Related links:
{HAPPY Mom on her 90th Birthday - THANKS TO ALL OF YOU} | Mom on her B'day at Dialysis
{Mom's 5th Dialysis Anniversary} | previous post by me
{Mom's 4th Dialysis Anniversary} | previous post by me with childhood photos Mom & me...

{My 6 Min Presentation The Truth About Leprosy for GPDLI, AtAmerica U.S. EMBASSY JAKARTA}

In commemoration of World Leprosy Day I got invited by Mr. Nuah Tarigan Sahing from GPDLI (Disability Care Movement & Leprosy Indonesia) to be a speaker at the Talk Show from AtAmerica, U.S. EMBASSY JAKARTA. Of course I felt honored but it was impossible to be present for the actual presentation in Indonesia on Friday, February 28... 

~

We were coming home from The Netherlands to the U.S. on February 25. Knowing full well that it was the LAST time I would ever see my Mom — but I agreed for having a professional video made with the help of a dear friend and great donor for the Dublin, Georgia/U.S. Rotary Club's Leprosy project in Jakarta, Indonesia. Below this post you will find the two previous posts that I did write about our visits to the Leprosy hospital where also Princess Diana did visit.

Coming home by 22:15 on the 25th, I did dedicate the 26th for writing the transcript for my 6 minute video presentation. The video was made in friend Gil's studio Gillis Studio (click link) on the 27th. 

Not quite recovered from my jet-lag and seeing my Mom for the very last time, but it was not about me but about Ending the Stigma.

Real video is further below...

'Advocate for ending the STIGMA of Leprosy'
The above is just a screenshot; not the actual video for clicking on! That is further down...

The time of 2:00 - 4:00 PM or 14:00 - 16:00 would have been in the middle of the night for me in U.S. time. No way I could have done this in real time...

So uploading my 6 minute video onto YouTube made it possible for them to show it for the Presentation.
This you can click in the center for viewing!

If you like to watch this on YouTube you also find the link to my complete transcript as well as here below: The Truth About Leprosy - Experiences by a USA Citizen for GPDLI & US EMBASSY Indonesia.pdf Direct link to YouTube: The Truth About Leprosy - Experiences by a USA Citizen for GPDLI & US EMBASSY Indonesia

This is my contact person Nuah Tarigan Sahing, from the GPDLI, Jakarta, Indonesia. He is a warrior on behalf of those Leprosy victims and we need more people like him that are active on social media for raising awareness.

All participants in this Talk Show are seated and here the Host is introducing me as a friend of GPDLI... This is where the Live Stream (just click hyperlink) will be showing my YouTube uploaded video.

This is me in the Leprosy hospital in Jakarta, Indonesia. In 1989 this lady received a prosthesis from Princess Diana and then in 1997 from the Dublin, Georgia, USA Rotary Club.

Ending my 6 minute presentation with the words:

The Stigma of Leprosy has to STOP! We need to raise more awareness in the media and with journalists.

Pleased that this @america video Presentation The Truth About Leprosy yielded 4,798,000 viewer minutes so far. It has been taken off the air later...   LEPROSY IS A CURABLE DISEASE LEPROSY IS NOT A HEREDITARY DISEASE  LEPROSY IS LIKE ANY OTHER DISEASE IT CAN BE CURED

Related links:

{World Leprosy Day} | previous post by me

{Like Princess Diana, I also Tried to Tackle the Leprosy Stigma} | previous post by me
{My 8th Blog Award - Sunshine from Japan} | previous post by me mentioning our fight for the underdog
{We saw FOUR Armadillos at Lunch Time!} | Humans can acquire a leprosy infection from armadillos by handling them or consuming armadillo meat, and are a presumed vector and natural reservoir for the disease in Texas and Louisiana - previous post by me

{Mom & Dad's 65th Wedding Anniversary} | coming home from The Netherlands—seeing Mom for the LAST time...‏

{Fleur de Lys Cushions}

Via German blogger friend Claudia from Nu-Nu's Garn-und Stofflabor I did obtain these lovely cotton Fleur de Lys print covers for the cushions in our Veranda.
Matching the cotton/viscose upholstery and also the Fleur de Lys wall hanging with Angels...

When I did see this lovely Fleur de Lys fabric on Celia M. High Heeled Life & Resilientista's blog: Precious Blessings in Our Family, I started searching for it...

Dolcedreams did no longer have any of it in stock... so I went across the ocean for locating any of this 'Vive La France Fleur De Lis' in navy by Monaluna.

Sure enough Claudia from Nunu's Garn-und Stofflabor Die Fleur de Lis found some fabric in Europe and she created the pillows and a table runner as well. You just click on the link to her blog.

Thank you very much Claudia, you made it work!

She posted about it on November 25, but I got way behind with my surgery and all our water control projects and right after that, the trip to The Netherlands.

Never got to posting about it and when the days are so dark, photos are very hard to capture...

And YES, in yesterday's post you already did get to see a glimpse of them with those Bunnies posing for you.
Frankly, I call them always Fleur de Lys; guess I'm a Francophile that LOVES French Country Style!

Related links:

{Our Veranda} | previous post showing you the Fleur de Lys influence in our Veranda
{Fleur de Lys in our Veranda} | previous post showing our Fleur de Lys in detail
{March 2, 1809 and My French Connection} | previous post about my heritage



{Daffodils Bunnies & Hearts}

Spring is such a lovely season with flowers blooming.

Don't you love having such a vase indoors with fragrant daffodils?

From our German 'son and daughter-in-law' we did receive some lovely Easter bunnies and hearts...

Erika always is giving her heart to us in a most caring way.

We were lucky that both of them with their two children did visit us in our Vacation Home Vakantiewoning Pardoes, while we stayed in The Netherlands for Mom's 90th Birthday and Mom & Dad's 65th Wedding Anniversary.

 Yes, they drove up to us, all the way from the beautiful Eifel in Germany and gifted Mom & Dad with a beautiful handled willow basket, filled with edible goodies from their region.

Now I have turned a different fragrant white daffodil facing the camera...

Don't you like these double ones better than the single one in the first photo?

Those are the cutest little bunnies with the lace scarf buttoned around their neck.

Daffodils are inside a French Baccarat Crystal vase.

Very glossy Mr. & Mrs Bunny...

So glad they traveled well inside our suitcases.

Don't you love them too?