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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

Sunday, September 20, 2020

Our First Christmas and DEEP Frost in Georgia

On December 24, 1983 Pieter just liked to hose down his car, after lunch.
He could NOT as the water was freezing below his hands... 
It went very suddenly to -3ºC and in rapid tempo to -18ºC or 26.6ºF to -0.4ºF.
At the construction site for the Campbell mushroom plant, a couple was living in the trailer.
They had no water, nothing, and they didn't bring warm winter clothes from Belgium... 
The pipes at the site got all frozen too, cutting them open proved too late already.
Disaster!
On 2nd Christmas day we invited the couple, including their cute doggy Monpetit, to our home.
After a warm meal, I insisted they soak in the bathtub to get their chilled bones nice and warm.
So they went to the guest bathroom and master bathroom and did just that.
I'd provided Addy with some nice warm sweaters to wear.
Also I ran their laundry and put it in the dryer, they had NO water.
With a lidded Tupperware bucket full of fresh water for coffee and such, they went happily home.
You can see the Christmas cards still hanging on the door...
That's me to the left, feeling happy for being able to feed them a warm meal and making them warm again.
We had our fire place burning and it felt cozy!
With a warm Toast Hawaii from the oven, they left for home...
We sure felt very privileged with a warm and comfy home and running water...
Mauzie girl too!

It NEVER has been that cold again here in Dublin, Georgia

We did visit Wil & Addy Buster in 1985 in Achel, Belgium but we lost since track... don't know where they are.
WISH somebody would find them!

18 comments:

  1. Hello Mariette, That was a typically nice thing for you and Pieter to do. It sounds like Georgia resembles Northern Taiwan. It usually gets cool in the winter, but not really freezing. Except one year when it did freeze; it even snowed a little. The problem was that some old people were not expecting the cold and did not have enough warm clothes and blankets, so several people died from the cold snap. In the last couple of winters, however, it has been warm enough that I never needed my space heaters or even my warm jacket.
    --Jim

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dearest Jim,
      Guess we always can expect such extreme exceptions once in a while. This is now 37 years ago this Christmas and who knows?
      Being cold must be very miserable and especially for the elderly.
      Hugs,
      Mariette

      Delete
  2. Dearest Mariette,
    oh, so lovley Memories! I keep my fingers crossed, that you could find this nice couple again!
    HAve a lovely new week,
    Love and hugs, Claudia xo

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dearest Claudia,
      That was not quite lovely for the couple and for us it also was quite an experience to go through such a drastic drop in temperature within hours!
      But that is history. Yes, would be great to find them somehow...
      Hugs,
      Mariette

      Delete
  3. What a nice and kind thing for you to do, Mariette. Very kind.

    God bless you always.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dearest Victor,
      We both were glad we could reach a helping hand to the unfortunate couple.
      Hugs,
      Mariette

      Delete
  4. It's very kind of you to help the couple when they had no water or warm clothing. I guess they didn't expect it would get so cold in Georgia. Their doggie Monpetit is adorable :-) I hope you will be able to connect with them again.

    Have a great week, Mariette! xo

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dearest Tamago,
      It was quite natural for helping them out and even a rewarding pleasure.
      Monpetit was a cute girlfriend of our Mauzie girl for the time being.
      Who knows we will find them one day...?
      Hugs,
      Mariette

      Delete
  5. That was so kind of you. Those poor people, freezing without proper clothing or water. Brrr. It would be neat if you could track them down via social media!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dearest Kim,
      It was so natural for doing so. There is nothing worse than not having the proper clothes and than also being without running water... No hot coffee or tea!
      We just wait and see if someone from Belgium will get a hint and connect the dots.
      Hugs,
      Mariette

      Delete
  6. Replies
    1. Dearest Anne,
      Thank you and now you know it can be very cold here as well; once in a while...
      Hugs,
      Mariette

      Delete
  7. Yo en ese caso lo hubiera pasado bastante mal. No estoy acostumbrada a temperaturas tan bajas. En invierno no me gusta viajar a lugares más fríos.

    Besos

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Querida Antónia,
      Oh, estoy totalmente contigo y prefiero estar en un ambiente tropical que en cualquier lugar frío. Vivimos subtropicales y este fue un evento extremo. Ambos trabajamos una vez por una semana en Dakota del Norte con -40°C pero no por un millón lo haría de nuevo...
      Abrazos,
      Mariette

      Delete
  8. That's bloody cold, I can't imagine a Christmas that cold since our Christmas is in the middle of Summer.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dearest Jo-Anne,
      Absolutely 'bloody' cold and we both later enjoyed much more our tropical Christmas periods, living in Indonesia!
      Hugs,
      Mariette

      Delete
  9. I can't even imagine that kind of cold Mariette 😱 I have never been in the situation of having frozen pipes. How wonderful that you were able to give them some respite from the cold.. and water! Just to let you know that I do drink lots of water each day, we are lucky that our tap water is very good 💜

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dearest Grace,
      This was tough indeed and as much as I hate cold, we lived through this very well. Also feeling good for having helped others that were in misery.
      You are lucky for having good tasing tap water indeed. Ours is not bad either, with the use of a water softener. But I drink it mainly when biking or when on the go, at least from a bottle. Also at night...
      Hugs,
      Mariette

      Delete

Thanks for your visit and comment.

Mariette...

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