My Pieter Turned 93

 Yes, today is a very special day as my Pieter turned 93!

Thanks to a great Cardiologist and complete change of medications he lived beyond the grave message we received from our previous cardiologist; who actually neglected him.

Prayers also DO help!

Just to show you our ABUNDANCE of fresh flowers back then...

All varieties of Calla lilies and sweet smelling white Lathyrus.

I used all kind of Baccarat crystal vases for them, also Baccarat perfume bottles.

Below is a 1:33 minute short video from our vases with garden flowers on Pieter's 74th Birthday.

At 0:46 you see our white fragrant peonies.Immediately followed by pink roses in my Rose China with sprigs of Forget–Me–Not.A DREAM! We have no roses left, and if you see how many we had back then...Guess the competition of the now huge oak trees and others is way too fierce.And we miss the spent mushroom compost already for two decades!That was the very best from mushroom cultivation.

A Happy Pieter on his 81st Birthday on Dutch Queen's Day celebration in Atlanta.

This was good 4 months before his heart attack and open heart surgery on September 3. 2010.

Wearing my Escada suit that we saw while in Budapest but could not afford it then, at full boutique price.

Found it later on eBay.

Around Pieter's Birthday, our Quercus Virginiana Grand View Gold is at its BEST.

One of our Palm Trees is right in front of it in this photo.

Sadly today was the funeral of the late Georgia Congressman, the Honorable J. Roy Rowland who had a special U.S. flag flown over the U.S. Capitol for both of us on December 30, 1993...

April 23, was Pieter's 29th Birthday as a United States Citizen!

Post shared on FB Page

Shared also on my FB...Pieter had a very special and happy Birthday!

Related link:Our Garden at the Time we had Access to Spent Mushroom Compost | previous post by me with video from Middle Georgia Magazine{1993 Today, the American Flag was flown for both of us...} | previous post by me 

Pieter playing THEME 7th symphony 2nd movement by Ludwig van Beethoven

 Another of my fond memories of Pieter J.C. Vedder playing his organ... 

As an amateur, without a single lesson ever! 

Pieter was very happy on Thursday, July 25, 1999 and played the organ.Next day, we both drove to Atlanta airport, for picking up my youngest brother Jan Van den Munckhof and his wife Wilma...
Pieter started practicing on the organ again last year, after having had topical surgery on his right hand's ring finger at Ortho Georgia in Macon.

Day after surgery, looking bruised and blue... You can still see where they went inside for doing the topical surgery.

No anesthesia... just an injection and it did not prevent him from feeling the pain.

Yes, his ring has been cut... when he needed open heart surgery they tried to remove it and started cutting it! No success and now it is damaged but still cannot be taken off.

For several hours each day, Pieter had to wear this splint.

It worked out well and his finger moved again!

So... the organ downstairs got visited again.

Pieter had somehow lost the music of THEME 7th symphony 2nd movement by Ludwig van Beethoven but I found it  on line for him and he is happy again.

Our old, Dutch organ, is no longer in the home... it died after over 30 years of activity.

Pieter did once perform some brain surgery on it, by soldering tiny wires on its back board, with the actual builder on the phone. He lived in Florida at that time, during his retirement.

And it worked; Pieter always has been quite a handyman and tackled almost everything himself.

Our Amaryllis Bloomed Beautifully

 Amaryllis can be so REWARDING!

On April 3, I made this photo of our Amaryllis in the veranda.

It had three blooms on a rather thick stem!

You can see our Delftware houses on the ledge in the window.

A collection from KLM Royal Dutch Airlines over the years...

On April 16, this photo got taken.

 After we'd returned from Charleston, a second stem had come up with three more huge blooms!

Amaryllis are so rewarding and we got this already for years, see links below post.

Related links:

{Gift Amaryllis Fully Blooms on Mom's Birthday in Heaven} | previous post by me

{Amaryllis Stargazer Blooms in Our Wood Garden} | previous post by me

Arthur Ravenel Bridge and Angel Oak Tree

 When staying in a lovely hotel and enjoying day after day exciting trips, time is FLYING...

Our departure day did arrive...

Just had to capture this Arthur Ravenel Bridge.

 So I crossed the Cooper River by car onto Mount Pleasant and turned right for standing behind Embassy Suites by Hilton Charleston.

The height of the two pylons is 175 meters and the total length of the bridge is 4 kilometers. 

It is the 3rd longest such span for a cable–stayed bridge in the Western Hemisphere.

The design is done with the frequent natural disasters in mind; the bridge can withstand gusts of wind in excess of 480 km/h and earthquakes rated 7.4 on the Richter Scale.

Taken while driving over the actual bridge...

There are 8 lanes, four in each direction and also lanes for pedestrians and cyclists.

What a marvel; it got opened in 2005.

In about half an hour, we arrived at St. John's Island at the ANGEL OAK TREE

It is HUGE and you can read more about it here: Angel Oak® | Charleston, SC – Official Website ←click link.

Circumference is 25.5 feet or 7.77 meter. 

It is the largest Live Oak Tree east of the Mississippi estimated to be 300 to 400 years old.

It is named after the owners Justus Angel and his wife, Martha Waight Tucker Angel whose family owned the land in the 1800s and 1900s.

Charleston County purchased the land in 1991.

Houmas House the Sugar Palace in Darrow, Louisiana | ←click previous post by me with huge Quercus Virginiana or Live Oak Trees

Oak Alley Plantation in Vacherie, Louisiana | ←click previous post by me with huge Live Oak Trees

Same photo but now cropped...

Me in front of this giant wearing my Escada stretch pants and boots; seen here: →click {Happy with my Escada Stretch Pants}

It was quite dark from this giant!

Now Pieter stands in front of one of the branches that are laying down.

Do you see to the left those two wooden poles, to support these huge branches?

It is really hard to capture its enormous size...

Pieter wore his Zegna summer jeans.

There were lots of people when we were there.

Again, perfect blue sky.

Now the 3.5 hour drive home for picking up our tax papers at the CPA and for making it in time for early choir practice for Holy Thursday...

Below is the short Relive video from drive over bridge and to Angel Oak Tree; enjoy!

Got to cross the Cooper River and the Ansley River...

Forest Tent Caterpillar Tried to KISS me at Magnolia Plantation & Gardens

While at Magnolia Plantation & Gardens, we sat on a bench outside and enjoyed our slice of cranberry nut bread with butter on it.

It was a surprise to suddenly notice this critter walking 'UP' to me!

Put him/her back on my knee but the race up to my LIPS started anew...!

Up it came and FAST.

Did pick it up and placed it on the picnic table and we left.

Guess it CRIED

What would you have done?

Only later of course, I figured out that this was a Forest Tent Caterpillar or Malacosoma disstria

Forest Tent Caterpillar Moth

Malacosoma disstria Hübner, 1820 ←click link for more images.

Magnolia Plantation & Gardens also has a Zoo and Nature Center 

So after the Caterpillar tried to KISS me, that is where we went next...

What a beauty of a Peacock in Pieter's favorite color blue, as he can distinguish it well, being color blind...

The Indian Peafowl is one of the most colorful species of bird.

The males, called peacocks are well known for their courtship displays in which they fan their long colorful trains in order to impress females.

Well, this one did show quite a lot of its colorful train!

What a majestic bird!

A groundhog sitting up... had to zoom in through the wire.

Wire visible later with Bobcat photos.

Elegant deer, and there even was one roaming freely around. At one time it was nudging my hand, where I held the iPhone, while I read some information... 

This turtle was HUGE, an African Spurred Tortoise...

A barn owl...

And a Bobcat and here I could not walk up to the wire for capturing it through there... out of protection there was another wooden fence I guess.

When I used my usual kitty call, it turned its head and we could admire its majestic 'grand' kitty face!

They live in Georgia as well.

Magnolia Plantation & Gardens has a lot to be seen and is educative for children as well!

Hope you enjoyed your virtual visit without getting 'KISSED'...

Related link:

Magnolia Plantation & Gardens with Nature Train Tour | previous post by me

Magnolia Plantation & Gardens with Nature Train Tour

 Our second day's trip and this time I was the designated driver...

After driving about half an hour, we arrived at Magnolia Plantation around 11:30 o'clock.

America's Oldest Romantic Garden

Ancestral Home of the Drayton Family

Established 1676

In its original day it was about 2,000 acres or 809 hectares, mainly with wet rice fields.

Today it is approximately 500 acres or 202 hectares as a lot of its lands had to be sold off.

More info here→ History of Magnolia Plantation & Gardens, Charleston SC, USA | Tour Guide Interview for a short 3:35 video.

Pieter's older brother Toon invented that for a formal photo shoot in the Nation's Oldest City, we were the owners of the Magnolia Plantation: {Do YOU all know Our Nations Oldest City - St. Augustine, Florida?} ←click link.

So finally we got to SEE IT...

We stood in line for purchasing our entrance tickets.

Guess due to the Tornado warning the week before and prior to that another cold spell, people postponed their visit–just as we did!

The guided 45 minute garden tour was NOT available, so we went on our own.

Might have been better for being able to do it on Pieter's pace.

In the back you see the Long White Bridge and we stand there admiring the many swamp cypress trees.

Magnolia Plantation & Gardens is right along the Ashley River

Me next to the sign pointing to the Long White Bridge and we now follow the Native Azalea Garden...

Pieter near the abundantly blooming Chinese Snowball Viburnum which we have in our wood garden.

click link→{Our Viburnum Tinus & Viburnum Macrocephalum - Chinese Snowball Viburnum}

Well, not all azaleas were past their blooming period!

Live Oak trees with their Spanish moss hanging down.

Everyone not from the South might have never seen that...

Dad loved it very much: click→Bye-bye Spanish Moss and dear Friends...

Here Pieter is standing under several Chinese Parasol Trees, 

Another tree that we have in our garden: click→ {Our Firmiana simplex, Sterculia platanifolia, Chinese Parasol Tree}

This is the spot where those Chinese Parasol Trees grow...

Do you see all those knees from the Swamp Cypress?

They grow up from the roots of the trees.

We also have a few in our wood garden, they do grow in swamps and lowlands.

I'd walked a little ahead for capturing this huge water bird.

Don't know what it is, looks like a stork but guess its bill is too long for it...

Maybe one of my readers knows?

Here you can see its long bill clearly.

Yay, found some picture perfect Azaleas and they match Pieter's t–shirt.

A left over from the many t–shirts we had made in Indonesia, in different colors, for Dublin, Georgia's St. Patrick's Festival...

Here we stand actually in the back yard of Magnolia Plantation and it is being worked on...

The front is facing Ashley River and from the video link that I showed in the beginning you get a better understanding.

Shown here is the entire walk we did... 2.87 km in total.

By 13:30 o'clock we'd gotten onto the Nature Train Tour, with driver/guide Sharon.

Just had to capture these tulips and Azaleas near the parking area.

Yes, that is an ALLIGATOR swimming in the marshes...

Those trees were full with Great Blue Herons and Egrets, nesting!

Slave houses, which were used mainly for sleeping, as their cooking was done outside.

An Egret on the wooden board.

To the left another alligator...

Sharon was very knowledgeable about all things nature!

Below is a short Relive video from me driving to Magnolia Plantation & Gardens, crossing the Ashley River and also from our Nature Train Tour; ENJOY!