R.I.P. Sweet Speckie Girl

 0n January 8 of 2010, my Pieter drove all the way from Atlanta where we stayed at the Hyatt Place, to Waynesville in North Carolina... It was icy when we arrived and with snow on the ground.

Had to be very careful on my crutches...

January 26 of 2010 our new tuxedo kitty girl Speckie

Yes, this was our mountain tuxie! 

She rode home inside a carton box, on my knees, while Pieter did all the driving as I was on crutches and in pain, without any muscle power...

It took us nearly 5 hours to reach home and we both were too tired for introducing Speckie to the rest of the kitties. 

So I stayed with her in the Rose Suite downstairs.

Next day, on January 9 of 2010, I ended up in the hospital due to being almost totally paralyzed.

{My Angel Sister & Mariette's Back to Basics Explained} ←click on link.

January 26  of 2010, showing her stunning whiskers and eyebrows...

Jan 26 of 2010, her white underbelly and booties while on her windowsill pillow in the kitchen.

June 28, 2010, Speckie outside after she got spayed...

She also wore short white gloves.

July 27 of 2010, Speckie and Dido on my lap at breakfast time... 

Both are Angels now!

Speckie dreaming on top of the retainer wall on June 26, 2012

Fall of 2012, our feisty Speckie girl found a bluish snake...

A cute bluish snake... Don't know what it is—any idea?

See more images here: {Our Speckie girl with Snake} ←click link

Speckie in her favorite spot, adjacent of our kitchen bay window on August 6, 2013

Speckie on the window sill in office being LAZY... on August 1, 2015

Mami why did you capture my MOUTH?

On August 4, 2017 Speckie confronted me in front of my iMac: Mami, you don't go away AGAIN?!

We just got back from our trip to Miami, visiting friends and our stay at the Hyatt House, Miami Airport.

A serious and hard working Speckie girl on April 8, 2020

Manuscript Writing and Our Office Manager ←click on link

Speckie inside basket pet carrier at vet Amanda's for her 3–annual Rabies shot on March 24, 2021

Speckie on June 27, 2021 in our fresh made bed.

Our kitties always help us with that!

Speckie talking to us on February 27, 2022

Talking Speckie Girl ←2 second video of our Tuxie girl...

Speckie is now again with her mentor Barty boy, who taught her everything when I was paralyzed and in the hospital. R.I.P. Sweet Barty Boy ←click link

Speckie died because of kidney problems... She rallied several times after getting some steroid shots to perk her up. Her breathing got worse and worse.

So today, after I went to Mass and picked up Pieter from Rotary lunch, we both went back with Speckie inside the basket pet carrier. 

We both agreed that she did not have to suffer more... she had not eaten for over a week.

Around 2:00 PM she became an Angel and I was petting her and talking to her and her Papi sat on a chair near her...

Never easy but this was the best after having had her for 14 years and some days.

We LOVED her and her siblings by adoption LOVED her, she was an easy kitty.

Speckie Forever | The Cat Blogosphere with beautiful memorial graphic made by Ann from Zoolatry

Speckie Girl OTRB | Blogville Power of the Paw

I'll Be Darned - I DID IT AGAIN | post from where Speckie's image for Speckie Forever came from

{Pipe under Brick Walkway & Trench for Water Control} | Speckie was such a hard worker too...

Another beautiful Speckie Memorial at Meezer's Mews & Terrieristical Woofs ←click link

Once more mentioned on The Cat Blogosphere ←click link

Speckie on Our Rainbow Friends ←click link

Speckie shown top left on The Cat Blogosphere's sideline ←click link

Speckie mentioned here on Our Rainbow Friends – January 2024 ←click link

{Contemplating Cutting my Hair...}

As mentioned in my previous post, this summer I have been Contemplating Cutting my Hair.

For several reasons, being 'UNE FEMME D'UN CERTAIN ÂGE' and considering also the fact that my hair suffered a great deal five years ago from all the Prednisone I took after bing paralyzed...
So, I'm telling you that I'm not as brave as blogger friend Deborah from The Beautiful Matters who showed us her very brave step: Another hair update after she already embraced her SILVER HAIR.

On August 23... Still rather happy with my longer length.
Being almost at retirement age (YEP), it makes one think.
Growing OLD gracefully is not always easy.
I've been blessed for having kept my figure since age 15.
Fitting in a size 4, sometimes a 6, or 34 and 36 European, makes for lots of bargains!
This is one of them, a lovely silk Escada skirt in 3 layers with an Escada Elements top.
Outlet bargains that I treasure.
Shoes are old pumps from the 80s from  Switzerland.

Had those heels cut down as I 'HATE' very high heels...
Here you can see my SILVER HAIR!

Contemplating; YES!
Never opted for dying my hair, due to my dear husband being two decades older.
That would look very odd!
Just trying to keep it healthy and for that purpose, at times a generous cut is very positive.

Have you stood before such a decision at times?

Related links:
{Did I loose my strength?... Like in Samson and Delilah?} | previous post by me showing very long hair and my stacked bob...
{Prednisone - My Hair Loss & Mason Pearson Brushes} | previous post by me showing my full hair before Prednisone...

{Prednisone - My Hair Loss & Mason Pearson Brushes}

• Thank you all so much for the lovely comments on my previous blog post about my Short Hair (see link below). 
• Just like to react to one particular comment; that of Bea from Modern Country Lady. 
• Also on my FB Fan Page, Bea did react. She would love to see me once again wearing the Stacked Bob Hairstyle as I have shown in a previous post. 
• For your memory I will use the photo here below:

• Bea even did remember my yellow sweater... This was in April of 1992.
• How I myself would LOVE to wear this Stacked Bob Hairstyle again.

The end of 1988... Thick hair!

Would love to still have full hair like that...

Very full hair...

• This was me while working and living in Indonesia in the 90s - healthy and happy hair!
• My natural curls are still there but my hair is no longer that thick and healthy because of the Prednisone that I have taken for almost two years.
• My favorite hair dresser, Peet Kleeven from Happy Hair in my hometown Horst, The Netherlands told me in September 2011 that the very brittle and dry condition + hair loss when shampooing my hair, or brushing it, was a side effect of Prednisone... SCARY!
• During winter time especially it gets so dry, that's also a reason that I had it cut off this week.
• But I did indulge in the world's best hair brush... purchased at Neiman Marcus, see link below post.

• In August of last year I did invest in these two Mason Pearson brushes; one for travel or in my purse and one for at home. 
• The cleaning brush (left) is included with the purchase of each brush, except for the pocket size that I got for traveling.

• HOW I also WISH to have bought them sooner... 
• Since I brush with those, my hair loss was and is a lot less! 
• Hope it will work as well for step-daughter Liz whom we gifted with exactly the same in the spring of 2014. It was very hard to obtain one as Neiman Marcus, neither Nordstrom had ANY. So I had to order mine from the UK and had it mailed to The Netherlands

Though Liz is always SLOW to react, here she shows that the brush is doing its work!

Now, 1-½ year later this same brush has gone up to $ 205.00...

• This might be a valuable tip for all those women that are going through medical treatment with Prednisone, or any other drug causing hair loss. See listing in link below.
• I can only highly recommend this to anyone; regardless the steep price you pay for them.
• But compared to my healthcare bills it is nothing!
• Also in England they do make similar Kent brushes, for men. See link below.
• Again, I hope this will help somebody else with the same condition!

If any of you has had a similar experience, I would love to hear from you.

No wonder that the Daily Mail UK deze Mason Pearson brush mentions in: 50 things to buy before you die.

They also mention that if cared for correctly, a Mason Pearson brush should last a lifetime!

Vermont Country Store sells them too and they mention them as Princess Diana's Favorite, For a Lifetime Of Beautiful Hair...

Related links:
{Our Irish Blarney Castle Sweaters + Short Hair} | previous post by me
{Did I loose my strength?... Like in Samson and Delilah?}| previous post by me with Stacked Bob Hairstyle
Mason Pearson Brushes: A Beauty Regimen That Has Stood the Test of Time  Gracious Style | Gracious Style blog
Choosing the right brush for your hair | Explaining about boar hair and nylon etc
A Brush for the King of the Castle | Yes, for men too! Blog post by Chris from Easy & Elegant Life
Mason Pearson Popular Mix  Brush (Elle Hall of Fame) | Neiman Marcus where I purchased mine
Drug-Induced Hair Loss | Steroids are mentioned here...

Mason Pearson London - England | link to Mason Pearson in London with history and more info

{My Angel Sister & Mariette's Back to Basics Explained}

January 11, marks the date that my Angel Sister Mariet was still born... She would have been my older sister and my entire life I've wondered how she would have been like. In an earlier post of November 23, 2010, I did write about her Birthday and I will repeat it here:

By the end of the year I was walking on crutches...

On January 9 of this year (2010) I was in the hospital being almost totally paralyzed with very high fever that they couldn't knock down at first. 

It was on January 11, that I cried in my hospital bed; on the birthday of my still born sister 'Mariet' who would have been almost 13 months older than I am. 

I told her that I was NOT yet ready to see her in heaven...

After four days in the hospital they put me on Prednisone and the pain went away.

Again I could MOVE! What a joy.
Being diagnosed with a very rare auto immune disease, I was now on the mend!
♥

For my sister Mariet, trying to live for her as well, I've added 'TE' behind my name.
♥♥

That's the story behind my Zen Cart powered on line boutique: Mariette's Back to Basics. 

Anyway, most people here in the US had difficulties pronouncing Mariet, so this works well.
They have chewed it out like Muwrit or Muwreet... A good example is: 1993 February 8 — Ma Hawkins Group in Dublin, Georgia ←click link for YouTube video

A name is very special and I'm proud for adding something for an Angel I Know By Name; MY SISTER

Related link:
{# 148 and my blog is 1 year old today!} | previous post about my sister

{FRIENDS are ANGELS of LOVE}

• FRIENDS are indeed ANGELS of LOVE! We both are blessed with having great friends who are at our side during happy and sad moments and vise versa. 
• Thanksgiving we had once again a very happy 'Family' time over delicious food. Nourishing our body and also healing my severe back pain. 
• Thanks to our friends I could stay rested and today I feel so much better. So glad that I don't need to start taking Prednisone again! 

• FRIENDS are ANGELS of LOVE!
• I did spell it out on a piece of silk ombré velvet with my 925  silver alphabet angels from Giovanni Raspini Charms & Co, Italy. Those and more are available at Spectrenoir.

So appropriate...

Don't forget my worldwide GIVEAWAY. See to the right at my blog; click it...

Related link:
{FRIENDSHIP by Elizabeth Barrett Browning} | earlier blogpost

{My Hand and Dupuytren's Contracture}

• While on vacation at the Hyatt Regency in Curaçao I did discover two lumps in my left palm... 
• Very strange and it did worry me of course. 
• After coming home I did check in with my internal medicine doctor and he put me on Mobic, against the inflammation as it felt hot too. But it didn't do anything. 
• Next was a visit to my specialist, the one who has been treating me since I got paralyzed ←(click it) almost completely from a rare auto immune disease, early January 2010. 
• They diagnosed me with Polymyalgia Rheumatica and treated it with Prednisone and I also have to take weekly the Atelvia for preventing bone loss (side affect from the Prednisone). 
• Got so happy for being completely off the Prednisone in November of last year. 
• But now I got a new dose of Steroids injected into one of the lumps. 
• It didn't go away though, it slightly hardened. My specialist suggested to monitor it as the x-rays didn't show him anything that would make him nervous. 
• But it started to bother me more and more and not knowing what it actually is, created a knot in my stomach. 
• So this Thursday I did go to see a hand surgeon at the Orthopedic Center in the next city. 
• Well, as it turned out there is NO cure for the condition that I have and it is called Dupuytren's Contracture. ←(click it) Named after French surgeon Guillaume Dupuytren (1777-1835) ←(click it) who discovered it.

• It seems to be rare for having those lumps in the palm of the hand, not directly under the little or ring finger. 
• Maybe I'm lucky?

• This is how it looks when those nodules are formed under the little and ring fingers.
• We do know one gentleman who has this problem in his right hand, exactly like on the photo to the left in this brochure that I received.
• Well, there is no cure and I don't need treatment as long as I can place my hand flat on a surface.
• Let's hope it will stay that way for a long time to come!

Former President Ronald Reagan is among 5 Famous People With Dupuytren's Contracture ←click it -
I also shared my Birthday with him!

• By checking the Internet on the Causes, ←(click it) I also learned that it may be associated with an autoimmune reaction, where a person's immune system attacks its own body tissues. 
• That happened in January 2010 when I ran a high fever and had a SED rate as high as it possibly could get, due to inflammation somewhere in my body. The Prednisone performed miracles for me.
• A body is a tricky machine!

• Risk factors... People from Northern European descent, they call it even the Viking Disease.
• Diabetes also seems to be a risk factor. I do did have Diabetes Mellitus, or Type 2 but keep it under control by diet. 

• Here they again list that it occurs more frequently in patients with diabetes mellitus←(click it).

• How it is diagnosed? ←(click it)
• Good to read that it may be painful in the beginning... so I might get rid of that after a while.
• I also have noticed that with rainy weather it will be felt more. 
• Not a real pain but some nagging feeling.
• Well, it is nothing to applaud about but I thought it might be helpful for sharing this with others.

As is evident, lots of people have read here...

♥♥

Let's enjoy the weekend as it will be my husband Pieter's Birthday on the 29th! 

Related link:

{Fighting the Water + Scanning Slides} | other post by me showing my hand

A quick fix for 'claw hand': New injection gives hope to millions of sufferers article in the Daily Mail.com

{My Hand with Dupuytren's Contracture - Update} | newer post by me

{Post # 484 and my blog is 2 years old today!}

Today marks a very special day as on November 23 of 2009 I did launch my first blog-post about {Romancing the Home}.

At that time I was very sick, in excruciating pain and could not even get to my PC... Only a second blog-post I launched on December 13, 2009 showing our blooming {Fragrant Paperwhite Narcissus flowers in early December}. Together with a reply to Johanna Gehrlein about her question.

By the end of the year I was walking on crutches...

On January 9 of 2010, I was in the hospital being almost totally paralyzed with very high fever that they couldn't knock down at first.

It was on January 11, that I cried in my hospital bed; on the birthday of my still born sister 'Mariet' who would have been almost 13 months older than I am.

I told her that I was NOT yet ready to see her in heaven...

After four days in the hospital they put me on Prednisone and the pain went away.

Again I could MOVE! What a joy.

Being diagnosed with a very rare auto immune disease, I was now on the mend!

♥

For my sister Mariet, trying to live for her as well, I've added 'TE' behind my name.

♥♥

That's the story behind my blog's name: Mariette's Back to Basics.

Anyway, most people here in the US had difficulties pronouncing Mariet, so this works well.

~~0~~

GREAT NEWS...

As of today, I no longer need to take Prednisone!

Had my check up yesterday and things just looked fine.

Now, let's have a look at last year and this year.

Post # 148 I wrote last year on November 23.

Post # 484 is today's...

6,544 Visits came from 74 countries/territories on November 23 last year.

40,701 visits came from 146 countries/territories since last year; almost double the countries and more than 6 x as many visits.

On July 10, 2011 I did put the Flag Counter on my blog and since than it shows 138 countries.

Thank YOU for all the visits from so many countries!

Thank YOU for all the comments!

Thank YOU all 281 followers!

Looking forward to the next Blog Anniversary...

 

Related links: 

{Post # 148 and my blog is 1 year old today!} | previous post by me
{THANKS to 166 Followers from 113 Countries!} | previous post by me

{My Atelvia with its side effects and the 9th Blog Award}

• This time I will not post much as it is my weekly 'Atelvia' day and the side effects take much away of my productivity. 
• Heart burn and a down feeling. Often even the day after... But there will be five good days left of each week! 
• I need to take this to prevent bone loss, as the Prednisone is causing that... 
• One way medication is great and the other way it causes side effects. 
• Does anyone out there have experience with Atelvia or with Actonel? (I took the Actonel once-a-month, prior to this).
• Just an update: after this post, I started taking it with a glass of milk. You have to take the Atelvia also AFTER breakfast; to me that is in itself a huge improvement instead of on an empty stomach with the Actonel. 
• Guess I have somehow adjusted to it better now, still look forward to the day I'm free of this medicine!

Don't want to complain but sorry if I did not visit your blog or left a comment.

So let's go on with the 9th Blog Award that I received from Rose Marie from El Arte de Rosiña. Even though I am not up to passing it on to someone, not feeling like it and there are so many things that need to be taken care of. So I leave this Pink Lady for anyone who wants to take her home...

• Thanks a lot Rose Marie!

Related links:

Actonel Side Effects
{My Angel Sister & Mariette's Back to Basics Explained} | previous post by me

{Post # 148 and my blog is 1 year old today!}

Today marks a very special day as on November 23 of last year I did launch my very first blog-post about Romancing the Home.

At that time I was very sick, in excruciating pain and could not even get to my PC... Only a second blog-post I launched on December 13, showing: {Fragrant Paperwhite Narcissus flowers in early December}. Together with a reply to Johanna Gehrlein  from Silber-und-Rosen-Shop about her question.

By the end of the year I was walking on crutches...

On January 9 of this year I was in the hospital being almost totally paralyzed with very high fever that they couldn't knock down at first. 

It was on January 11, that I cried in my hospital bed; on the birthday of my still born sister 'Mariet' who would have been almost 13 months older than I am. 

I told her that I was NOT yet ready to see her in heaven...

After four days in the hospital they put me on Prednisone and the pain went away.

Again I could MOVE! What a joy.
Being diagnosed with a very rare auto immune disease, I was now on the mend!
♥

For my sister Mariet, trying to live for her as well, I've added 'TE' behind my name.
♥♥

That's the story behind my Zen Cart powered on line boutique: Mariette's Back to Basics. 

Anyway, most people here in the US had difficulties pronouncing Mariet, so this works well.

So there came my next blog on March 21, about dear Friend Johanna Gehrlein's: {Splendid book about Silver Rose Flatware}. That is about my passion: Silver Rose Flatware.

Only since April 4, I know my statistics as I was way behind with everything and slowly did catch up on my daily life's routine.

Not bad for only seven-and-a-half month of data:
6,544 Visits
34,859 Pageviews

6,544 Visits came from 74 countries/territories

It just so happened that recently, country # 73 is Georgia! Living in Georgia/USA this is special.
The First Lady of Georgia is Dutch born Sandra Roelofs.
So this is a double-Dutch connection...

Related links:

{My Angel Sister & Mariette's Back to Basics Explained} | previous post by me