Our Variegated Blue Flax Lily + Video from Flaxseed to Linen from Horst my Birthplace

 Rather late I discovered that our Variegated Blue Flax Lily was blooming again.

We have this since 2014. 

On September 8, I captured these...

Such tiny lovely flowers!

That's the entire Variegated Blue Flax Lily on our patio, as a pot plant.

On September 19, they were still there... now they're gone.

You see the blue sky we have!

Having hailed from Horst, a region in the Province of Limburg, in the South of The Netherlands, there is quite a history about Flax and the Linen weavers.Want to share this very interesting video with you.From flaxseed to linen (Museum de Kantfabriek Horst) — the old Lace factory!Translations:from flaxseed to linenHorst (my birth place) around 1920First, the land is made suitable for the cultivation of flax.Sowing takes place at the beginning of April.After a few days, the first flax seeds germinate.The weeds are removed.At the beginning of June, the flax is in bloom.Harvesting can begin in mid-August.With the rekel, the flax bulbs are removed.The flax is placed underwater to let the soft parts rot away; called retting.Dad used to have a piece of land at the Rotven. One of those former fens...The flax bulbs are threshed from which linseed oil is extracted.Part of the seed is used again for the next harvest.After drying, the stems are roasted to remove the hard inner core.By breaking, the hard inner core is broken; scutching.After the harvest it's time for a party.With the crank, the remaining wood residues are removed; hackling.By hackling, only the best fibers remain.In winter, the fibres are spun into flax yarn.Finally, the yarns are washed to remove the lye.After rinsing, the yarns are ready to weave into linen cloth.By bleaching the linen in the sun, it gets a bright white color.The linen is now ready for use.In the meantime, it's spring again. High time to make the land suitable for a new harvest.This program is composed on the basis of a film (1976) that was commissioned by the Antiquity–Room Horst
Nowadays linen is from Belgium, Ireland, Italy, Poland and of course in China...
But seeing how labor intensive it is—you might appreciate more your linen pieces!At fashion school we learned how this was being created but the above video is far better for understanding...
Did any of you know this process?
Related link:{Variegated Blue Flax Lily} | previous post by me with good closeup photo of flower{Horst my Birth Place, Used to be an Old Linen Weavers Town} | previous post by me

Spring Started at the End of February

 Yes, Spring did ARRIVE...

On February 20 I made my rounds to capture the Spring Beauty around our Home.

Pieter had planted these lovely snapdragon plants.

Some of them ended up residing on the steps to our front door...

Some Japanese Magnolia blooms were fully open before we left on our 10-day trip to Florida.

Despite the cold–spell with some frost, they continued to bloom.

Only a few brown ones from frost damage, seen bottom left...

We love our patio with pot plants!

They are quite a show, every spring!

Golden Pansies have been planted by Pieter, inside our Fiberglass Window Boxes.

This shows the bay window area of our kitchen, where we enjoyed breakfast in the sun just before I captured these photos.

Closeup of the golden pansies in the Fiberglass Window Box on our bay window with the gazebo visible in the back.

Our Camellia Sinensis or Tea Plant

We can just see those from our bay window.

With 'half' of the other Japanese Magnolia tree above...

Once a big tree fell into it and ripped off the other half.

Now with more light, big oak tree limbs that hung overhead being cut off, it might recover even more.

View back towards the house

Forgot to capture this planter with violets, residing on the huge oak tree stump.

Have you planted some spring plants already?

Related links:

{Our Camellia Sinensis | Tea Plant} | previous post

{MORE BLOSSOMS IN OUR BOTANICAL GARDEN} | previous post

Kitties that ADOPTED US

 In our previous home we had nice neighbors but suddenly they were moving away...

That happens in life!

BUT, their two kitties, brother and sister, stayed behind and came to us for food and shelter...

Pieter in our kitchen, holding up Saartje (left) and her brother Spooky...

Here I'm holding both, Spooky the boy to the left and Saartje his sister to the right.

Yes, Saartje is a Dutch kitty name!

We never knew their real names... or IF they had any.

Photos are from February 22, 1986...

Saartje was SO in love with her new Mommy!

Me too...

March 9, they both came to Pieter as he was working in the yard and followed him like they were doggies!

On May 9, 1986 husband Pieter dropped me off at the airport as I was flying to Amsterdam for a surprise Mother's Day visit and also for the First Communion of our best friends' son, on the 11th of May.

Pieter was working in the yard on May 15, and Saartje put a newborn kitten in front of him...

Where have you hidden them? 

Pieter asked her, and she led him to the peat-moss bale under the open, but roofed garden shed. 

On May 19, Pieter flew to Ohio, for Campbell Soup and on May 23 he flew back to Atlanta and, continued to Amsterdam, for joining me in Europe.

Both of us arrived back home on June 15, and a skinny Saartje greeted us. She and her 4 skinny kittens had lived on our patio and actually fed on bugs that got attracted by the light.

Poor critters, all left on their own - remember they were NOT ours but from the neighbors.

We started feeding them and soon they perked back up.

A week later, Kitty Mom Saartje with three of her babies on the patio, looking again healthy.

Happy tummies... Gave them brushies as well.

Feasting with Kitty Mom. 

Nicki is looking towards the camera, with his 'M' on the forehead.

This is where they slept on our patio... Our veranda to the left and the kitchen bay window to the right.

Pieter with Panther, Devil, Stripe and Nicki...

Pieter with an armload of kitties...

So much cuteness!

All on Sunday, June 22, 1986

August 23, in 5 days Nicki will go to his adoptive human parents...

August 28, my final cuddle time day with Nicki, after tennis lessons...

Next day I did bring him to his new Mom and it was exactly one year since Mauzie girl, our Dachshund went over the rainbow. 

Now again without a pet...

~

The neighbors did come back obviously to retrieve the two adult cats; we never saw Saartje and Spooky again

Husband Pieter Doing it ALL

Yes, over the years that we built our nests, husband Pieter had done the lion share himself.

We planned on adding a patio for privacy and for having lunch, coffee/tea outside.

So, on Tuesday, May 14 of 1985, Pieter started his VACATION...

Tiles had been shipped over from The Netherlands.

Pieter had taken the day off on May 6, for bringing the Dutch tiles from Nedimex, Venray home. With the help of the fork lift, at the Campbell mushroom farm, using the Toyota truck from AEM.

Both of us have unloaded the 1,600 pounds with our bare hands...

In Europe we are using a lot more tile floors, here it is finally getting more popular the last decennia.

Pieter started with our new patio...

Just for seeing him in action... 27 seconds on silent movie

Dutch: Tegelzetter Pieter maakt terras

English: Tiler Pieter makes terrace

All hand work

Cutting the tiles by hand; using a chisel...

Making progress!

Yep, that is my Red Ford Escort with the Rebel Tag in the front...

Guess I've been a Rebel With a Cause.

Pieter's boss, the Campbell Soup CEO shook his head when Pieter picked him up one day, when he'd landed at our local airport. 'No Pieter, you cannot do that', he said.

But it was MY car, the Buick was at the garage for a tune up...

Not having it done for $ 1.00 per tile; but for sweat!

Sunday lunch on our new patio, with guests/mushroom friends from Switzerland...

Kuhn mushrooms' manager Enzler and Hans Jörg Kuhn with Pieter.

Mauzie our Dachshund is seen bottom right.

On May 27, beginning with the wall...

Yep, Pieter became a carpenter and now working on the roof.

On May 30, with the roof on, it starts looking good! Now the painting...

Voilà, our new patio with privacy and a nice place for lunch, coffee/tea.

On the wall is the antique brass and copper ship's pump, mounted on an oak plank.

Stepping a bit more back, so you can see the Zinnias blooming on the side of the patio.

It sure was a great extension to our previous home.

Do you see that duct in the center of the roof?

One evening, while Pieter was traveling for Campbell Soup to one of their mushroom plants, we had quite a storm.

Turned out that the duct was flapping and making an awful noise.

So I got on a ladder and went up the roof and stamped it shut.

Pieter later on fastened it more secure so it won't flap ever again.

Treasures from archiving our photo albums...

Patio Azalea Blooming in December

What a joy to view from our bay window area at breakfast time a pot plant on our patio with  blooming azaleas!

So Pieter clipped off some branches to bring inside and I put it in a tiny vase on a silver platter.

For better light on December 3, I had to get outside on the tiled patio behind our Rose Suite.

As soon as I placed it on the table there, our Spooky boy jumped on the table too.

You see his front legs to the left... photo bombing my azaleas!

Here the azaleas are without Spooky behind them...

A view over the lawn with these lovely pink azaleas up close.

Pot plant with remainder of azaleas on patio next to bay window area.

Oh, we have tons of leaves on the lawn and everywhere, the wind is shaking them all off.

 But still this photo is from December 7, and that is not bad for having blooms!

Thanks for your visit and comment and do you have something blooming? That is, if you also live in the Northern Hemisphere...

One More Patio Added

In the spring of 2014, I've written the post: Our Patio Tiles Are DONE! (see link below post...) and that was it we thought. All part of our Water Control program. We did leave out ONE corner without tiles because we still had our healthy Hibiscus syriacus Jeanne D'Arc living there. See a post from a healthy shrub in 2011. 

BUT... our Hibiscus started looking bad and husband Pieter took starters last year, in order to rescue at least some 'Offspring'...

Meanwhile, with the photos of the tile boxes and all info, in front of me from the post about: Our Patio Tiles & Freeze Warning, I found them on the Internet! Home Depot had long discontinued them...

Yep, at a STOVER'S LIQUIDATION warehouse in Knoxville, Tennessee at some 7 hours driving distance from our home. They even were open on Sunday! So I drove there on June 11 of 2017, to pick up our order of 10 boxes with the Marazzi Orizzonti Sunset 12" x 12" tiles. 

We'd spent a night at a Hyatt hotel in Atlanta and from the warehouse I did drive straight home.

Photo is from April 26 after our pot plants had been moved back from the greenhouse and after all patios had been scrubbed clean to match this NEW one!

This is on March 10, a day that it was not 'wet'... We have had our share of rain this spring! 

Materials are inside front porch for protection.

Concrete is being poured by hand...

Our workers did a neat job!

See how green the wood work in our front porch was from all the rain and pollen...

That has been scrubbed clean too.

The old wheelbarrow functioned for mixing the concrete.

April 26 from the bay window area to the front with all our pot plants already out.

There are dwarf Mondo grasses growing along the edging.

New Patio Corner where the Hibiscus syriacus Jeanne D'Arc once stood...

Left and right are now both tiled and looking a lot better!

May 20 and you can see that husband Pieter took this photo in-between showers.

We have had such enormous rain for weeks on end and more to come!

Our Quercus Virginiana Grand View Gold is therefore not looking its GOLDEN BEST...

Sunshine makes all the difference!

We also missed good photo options for the blooming Yucca lilies... They're all gone due to so much rain.

Hope you enjoyed this update!

Will visit you within a couple of days, have been rather sick but am on the mend.

Thanks for your visit and comment.

{Our Patio Tiles Are DONE!} | previous post by me
{Our Patio Tiles & Freeze Warning} | previous post by me where you see the tile boxes and name info
{Our Hibiscus syriacus Jeanne D'Arc & Our Life in Italy} | previous post by me