This Image reminds us of The Bull (De Stier) by Paulus Potter 1647

 Whenever both of us are biking on Evergreen Road, in Dublin, Georgia we come upon a meadow with a bull and cows.

This certainly reminds us of The Bull (De Stier) by Dutch painter Paulus Potter 1647.

De Stier (1647) - Paulus Potter ←click link and it can be translated in English as well.

He is one of the most famous painters of The Netherlands.

Sadly, Paulus Potter only lived to be 28 years of age, he died in 1654 of tubercolosis.

Were you familiar with this great Dutch painter?

The Silver Bond Pin was awarded to Mrs. Vedder-Peer

Husband Pieter's Mom was the first secretary of the local association and she received a federal award.

This was on Thursday, November 20 in 1986.

Mr. Hermkens of the Federal Board, pinning on the federal silver award for Mrs. Vedder, the first secretary of the local association.

Mrs. Vedder's personal copy that she mailed to the USA...

April 1987... quite a while later!

Queen Juliana with Prince Bernhard on the cover of

LIFE'S

WINDOW

Department Horst 'Lambertus-Norbertus'

On Thursday November 20 of 1986, the 25th anniversary of this department got celebrated.

The festivity started with a eucharistic celebration, with the theme of supporting each other. 

During the party meeting, Mr. Hermkens did pin on the gold and silver awards.

On Saturday November 22, a reception took place that enjoyed a lot of interest from all groups and associations of the population of Horst. The mayor then opened the exhibition 'Elderly and their hobbies'.

Festive celebration of the 25th anniversary of the Catholic Association for the Elderly.

This was in the local newspaper and Pieter's Mom mailed it to us, inside her not yet dried up handwritten airmail letter... hence the ink marks.

Did you notice that my 91-year old Mother-in-law was wearing a hair net?

Popular at that time, especially during windy weather, instead of having to use hairspray.

Eco friendly but that is all gone now...

This was exactly three years + 1 day before her death on November 21, 1989 when we were living and working in Italy.

A timely honor...!

Saying our goodbye to Pieter's Mom...

Too bad, she closed her eyes and we had these developed back in the USA, no way of going back and doing it over!

Pieter having said farewell to his Mom on November 7, before departing back to Georgia/USA...

This was our 9th trip back to The Netherlands on KLM Royal Dutch Airlines.

We went to Regensburg before, for attending the German Mushroom Conference.

Me, after our goodbye. Standing in front of this newly built Elderly Home.

Wearing my favorite boots, also gifted one time by our Italian mushroom friends.

Pieter standing near the entrance/exit with a new gift, his 'The Bridge' fine Italian leather bag.

Our Italian mushroom friends gifted Pieter a nice blue Burberry shirt and this leather bag on November 3, for some advice during our barely three days being in Italy before flying back to Düsseldorf, Germany.

~

We had also driven in our Fiat Uno rental car, all the way to Regensburg in Germany for the German Mushroom Conference and from there by car to Bordeaux in France, see links below.

There was very little time for being with family but we tried our best.

21 September 2014 SLUITING BERKELE HEEM←click link

It is so sad that the entire building is GONE and new apartments have been built on this spot.

Government policies have changed and elderly have to stay at home, or being cared for by their children; called 'informal care'...

Unie Katholieke Bond van Ouderen - Catholic Union of the Elderly existed from 1958-2006

Sector: Charity and social work

Times have changed!

Related links:

Lecture by Pieter and Stay at UNESCO site Regensburg during German Mushroom Conference | previous post by me

From Regensburg, Germany to Bordeaux in France and Marl Cave Mushroom Growing | previous post by me

WORST Ever USPS Experience

 What can you do if something you mailed out does not arrive?!

You cannot shoot them... or? 

Well, this resides at my Pinterest board; GIFTS of LOVE and it is titled 'Amazing Origami Using Only Dollar Bills'

Sure, mailing out a GIFT of LOVE to my youngest brother and using ONLY 16.25 Dollar Bills... Haha!

But what can we do?

USPS Tracking ←click link for viewing this INCREDIBLE journey, crossing trice the Atlantic Ocean and still not going anywhere...

You have to scroll down to the very bottom, to start out.

From Miami, Florida it departed on May 31, 2021.

BUT on June 23, 2021 it got processed through international mail facility in San Francisco, California!

July 16, 2021 it got processed in Amsterdam, The Netherlands... 😊

A MINUTE later it reads 'attempted delivery'!

My brother lives a good two hour drive away from Amsterdam, in the South and to the East 😳

It got processed again in Amsterdam, wonder what they did in those hours...?!

August 17, 2021 the 'row boat' must have made it back to San Francisco, California again.

Five days later it arrived in Macon, Georgia = one hour from us.

So we expected it to go: return sender!

Two days later it was again in Miami, Florida at International distribution center.

Three days later it came once more to Macon, Georgia...

And good six hours later it was at Seminola-Orlando, Florida distribution center.

Hours later it was back in Miami, Florida for the umpteenth time!

It went back to Atlanta, Georgia and from there to Macon, Georgia AGAIN!

Two days later on September 6, 2021 it arrived at the Boston, Massachusetts and it dissipated...

Isn't that all GREAT?!

Blogger friend Mary, already mentioned in November that parcel postage is a nightmare...

A busy week........and postage! ←click to go to her post.

When trying to mail something out to my nephew, via UPS, having driven 43 miles to hand them the parcel, I nearly fainted when they calculated the price. 'Just $ 121.00' and believe me it was NOT heavy.

So I gave up. They used to say, only the birds can fly cheaper but now it is almost cheaper for buying an airline ticket and to deliver it in person.

So much fun being an immigrant!

Wishing ALL of our readers a Happy New Year

Related link:

Shipping HEAVY BREAKABLES in USPS Priority Mail Flat Rate Envelope Max weight 70 lbs | previous post by me

Hoisting of the Marshall Bell - Embassy of the Netherlands in the United States

 Both of us have been very proud of the fact that The Netherlands is one of the few countries that has repaid the Marshall Help, received after WWII

New Dutch Bells to Ring Over Washington

Today was a very special day...

Posted by Embassy of the Netherlands in the United States on Thursday, May 20, 2021

Related post:

{Bok Tower in Lake Wales, Florida} | Another Carillon in the USA. Writer and editor Edward Bok from The Netherlands who came as a young boy to the USA created a sanctuary and built this tower.

Pieter Picking up his Campbell Colleagues and showing them TULIPS in The Netherlands

 We had been in The Netherlands since April 21, 1984. After a business trip to Switzerland and also to Ireland, on May 6, Pieter drove back in our rental car to the Schiphol/Amsterdam airport.

Picking up his Campbell Soup colleagues and treating them on the way south to Limburg by stopping by some real tulip fields.

These tulips are NOT grown for their flowers but for the BULBS only!

got this info from 'bollenstreek.nl'

Quite a sight these rows of tulip by color!

Pieter's Campbell Soup colleagues were quite impressed and had to capture this sight...

Pieter in return captured them.

That was a perfect welcome to The Netherlands!

Amazing Tulip Fields short 3 min. YouTube video

{TBT My 1st Nephew & Hand Crocheted Bikini}

• THROW BACK THURSDAY...
• In early May, my eldest nephew Eddy was born, my younger sister Diny's child... Still remember so vividly when he was born and that first summer that I'd held him so often, like a prized possession. 
• Of course the first born of each new generation is very special and then we get used to it and kind of let go of the initial excitement.

•  Here I am, in August and just returned from vacation in Germany and glad to see my nephew back! 
• Under Dad's peach tree in The Netherlands...

• Little did I know then, that I would later come to live in the Peach-State of Georgia/USA...

Being 21 years young and wearing my hand crocheted bikini...

• Eddy is born in the little hamlet of America in The Netherlands. 
• Now, years later, my Mom jokes about the fact that she has two daughters that live in America; one in the big America and the other in little America. 

• August... just the beginning of a new life.
• This used to be my wooden chaise for decades, it even went with us to the USA!

• Almost one year old now in the above photo and ready to explore the big world.

• Eddy, at age two-and-a-half here, dancing with his Mom at his Grandparents' 25th wedding anniversary. 
• In the background it's me with very long hair and wearing of course mini at that time.
• Literally a LBD (Little Black Dress)...
• 

• Eddy at the age of three on July 14, 1974, at one of my annual dinners when we had the city's Fair, in Panningen, The Netherlands, where I've lived for five years. 
• By the way; several Dutch blog readers at present are from Panningen, so just want to send a warm greeting across the Atlantic Ocean and THANKS!
• Even when I was young, I loved to cook for a crowd of seventeen. Mainly because of being the eldest alive, of a family of seven children. Then moving out to live on your own after marriage; it gets awfully quiet! That was the hardest part to get used to. So once a year I got them all together and it made me feel like being home again with a big family.

• Probably for the very same reason, I did several times take a day off on Friday and Monday, then borrowed my sister Diny's two kids, giving her a break for four days to spend time alone with her husband. That served both of us well. 
• We were very close, till of course Pieter and I immigrated to the USA.

• Another coincidence is that Eddy, being active in the Royal Netherlands Navy (Lieutenant Commander) on a submarine got to go to St. Maarten in the Caribbean, where we were on vacation a couple of times but not at the same time... He even has come to Atlanta frequently, for certain purchases on behalf of the Royal Navy but never had a chance to visit us... 

Maybe, one day we meet on this side of the ocean...

Related links:

{Our Brown Jordan Chaise & Wolford Bathing Suit Score} | previous post by me
{What Type of Feet do YOU have?} | previous post by me
{My First Trip to the City of Romance | VENICE, ITALY} | previous post by me

{No fewer than 7 American Presidents are Direct Descendants of the Leiden, Netherlands PILGRIMS}

We are once again close to the U.S.A. Thanksgiving celebration, on the 4th Thursday of November. Since there is such a strong historical link between The Kingdom of The Netherlands and the U.S.A. I would like to dedicate this post to some History about the PILGRIMS. No fewer than 7 American Presidents are Direct Descendants of those Leiden PILGRIMS that sailed from The Dutch Republic to the New World. 

Brooklyn Museum - Embarkation of the Pilgrims - Robert Walter Weir

This is how those Pilgrims went on board for arriving in the New World after having stayed in Leiden for about 11 years.

For Life in Leiden you can click the hyperlink to read about some very interesting facts.

For a Leiden Pilgrim Tour you can click on the hyperlink to actually see a video of the university city of Leiden where they lived all those years. ErfgoedLeiden.nl removed that video...

Indeed, no fewer than 7 American Presidents are direct descendants of the Leiden Pilgrims.

The Pilgrim Archives tell the story of the Pilgrims themselves and the 17th century Leiden that was their home, the city where Rembrandt lived and worked.

ErfgoedLeiden.nl - link no longer shows the above info...

From Leiden Pilgrim to American president - link from where you can take a look at the familytrees of these presidents.
Presidents Bush Sr. and Jr. do share the same ancestor with Barack Hussein Obama: Thomas Blossom.
Have a look as it is quite interesting!
Wishing all U.S.A. citizens a very Happy Thanksgiving!
Too bad the above info has been taken down...

Related links:

{Happy Thanksgiving - From Pilgrim to President} | previous post by me

{Horst my Birth Place, Used to be an Old Linen Weavers Town}

• Most of you probably do know, how linen is produced; from Flax into Linen. 
• Flax is the world's oldest fiber plant with a lovely flower that varies from white to intense blue. Below this post you find several Flax and Linen informative links. Also you can find out more about the top linen fiber producing countries in the world today.
• Well, Horst in the province of Limburg, my Birth Place, was such an important Flax producing town and we used to have lots of home weavers and also several Flax Fens. One was only half a mile away from my Parents' home; called 't Rotven (Rotting Fen).

• On October 17, of 2005 we did make this photo of a work of art  called: ' Linen yarn drying '. The bronze work refers to the many home weaving mills that Horst once knew. The yarn was placed into water to get the tannins out. Then the yarn got dried on sticks. Hans Stoffels and Mia Daenen created this bronze piece of art work.

• With our friends Johnny and Hannah from Dublin, Georgia, we did travel in The Netherlands and we made this photo.
• Too bad that the art work has been moved away from this spot. No longer is there water around it... a pity as it did signify exactly what it was all about.
• In 1950, the last of the hundreds of home weavers quit his job. But in the 1700s it was a thriving home industry.

• Love for Linen
• Below this post you find a link that reads: Top Ten Wedding Gifts, where Quality Sheets ranks 3rd and Fine Table Linens ranks 6th. So there still is a LOVE FOR LINEN! 

This is from the Dutch magazine, NOUVEAU AUGUST 2010

• New developments and those trusted wrinkles make the age old linen the ultimate material for making it cool and elegant through summer.

• Soft, smooth, chic and flowing: linen is wonderful material that feels great on our skin...

Napkins for the King...

• Do you love linen as much as I do?
• Nowadays there is so much linen being used in interior design, such as linen jute or burlap as we know it. Even on my Zen Cart powered on line boutique Mariette's Back to Basics, I offer lots of French made jute linen gifts. 
• It makes me very happy to see a comeback of this noble fiber with the longest history on this earth of any fibers.

• Linen makes an impressive comeback. Isabella Rossellini was one of the first that discovered linen as a graceful taste maker in the 80s. 'Now you are an eco-fashionista when wearing it, but I simply found it comfortable' she said.
• What is damask? Linen is the material, damask is the pattern weave that is only visible when the light falls upon it.
• Smoothly starched or slubby? 
• Linen fiber is twelve times stronger than cotton and absorbs very strongly; It can soak up 20-25% of its own weight in moisture before feeling moist itself.
• Because it is a lose weave, the moisture dries up again fast, thus feeling cool to the touch in warm weather and warm when it gets cooler.
• Linen does not pill, has just like silk a natural shine and can be worn by almost anyone: pure linen does possess anti-allergic qualities. 
• For the cultivation of flax there is a significantly less need for pesticides and fertilizers than for other crops. The fibers can be recycled and are biodegradable in nature. (Making it Eco friendly!)
• Italian linen does have a more silky finish than for instance Irish linen, which is more 'slubby: that means that it is more irregular, with little imperfections that makes the fabric more alive. The most slubby linen currently comes from Poland and Russia.
• Nowadays linen often is being blended in with rayon or cotton: Armani and Calvin Klein love to use these blends, because they wrinkle less.

Royal table linen

One of the prettiest and most famous linen pieces is the wedding gift that Queen Wilhelmina from The Netherlands in 1947 gave to then princess Elizabeth of England. It was a complete table set of three linen damask tablecloths with 96 napkins, designed by referral of the Queen by Miss Kitty van der Mijl Dekker. The set is still being used.

In search of lovely linen... Sanny de Zoete is specialized in custom woven damask tablecloth of 100% linen after designs of Dutch artists. She does sell linens, gives mangle and laundry tips, does programs and wrote books. She has a FB Page: Sanny de Zoete Damast. World's Prettiest Antique and Designer Linen Damask.

Hoping you enjoyed reading about this favorite fiber!

Related link:
Top Ten Wedding Gifts | Quality Sheets ranks 3rd and Fine Table Linens ranks 6th
{Clothing around 1850 - Museum de Kantfabriek} | previous post by me
{Michelle Obama & Print Unlimited from Horst} | previous post by me
{Museum Lace Factory - Antique Lace Toer or Poffer} | previous post by me
HISTORY OF LINEN | also quite informative
Top Flax Growing Countries Of The World | Linen Fiber Production
Museum de Kantfabriek Horst aan de Maas | video on Youtube

{Little Me Grocery Shopping in the Frost & Candy of my Childhood}

On Tuesday, January 15 of 1957, I had to do my usual chore of Grocery Shopping, in the Frost. This was Little Me back than in Horst, The Netherlands, with typical low skies and kind of foggy weather. Standing next to the driveway fence, at the age of almost 6. My Mom was pregnant with child #6 and my brother Harry was born 3 weeks later. It always fell upon me, to do the shopping chores, on foot or on my kick-bike. I do remember getting frosty white fingers when toting the heavy shopping bag home with me for one kilometer or 0.6 mile one way over a cinder street on foot. That's what life was like, back than. A kick-bike is no good on icy cinder roads!

It was quite an adventure to go to our local Albert Heijn grocery store.

Do you remember that they had to weigh the beans, the flour, the sugar etc. and taking it out of those wooden bins into a paper bag?

This photo below, I just bought and down loaded, from Nationale Beeldbank in The Netherlands and it shows the very first Albert Heijn grocery store in The Netherlands. The one I walked to, looked very similar.

If you would like to have a better view, look at this video clip from the→(click) Beeldbank in The Netherlands with a good showing of the interior at such a local grocer kruidenier in the 50s. 

This was before Super Markets came along...

The actual Albert Heijn where I went, at Schoolstraat 5 in Horst.

That very store got opened in 1936...

Every time when I went shopping I did get a paper cone with candy. Most of the time it were cinnamon or peppermint cushions.

My younger siblings were eagerly waiting for my return as I did bring home this loot of candy.

At those days there were no sweets for us otherwise.

Toversleutel sells them still ←(click it)

These are the old fashioned cinnamon cushions or kaneelkussentjes in Dutch.

It is quite interesting to see the Old Dutch candy that got sold by the scoop.

 Eucalypta > Oud Hollands Snoepgoed > Schepgoed ←(click it)

Was the Dutch selection of candy in above link different from what you grew up with?

My French born American friend Véronique from the blog: French Girl in Seatle just did a great post: Les bonbons de mon enfance. Candy of my childhood.

Véronique inspired me to do this post...

Hope you enjoyed this sweet journey of nostalgia!

{Chocolate Letter LOVE}

In my previous post: {Since 1896 Dutch CHOCOLATE LETTERS - Have YOU Tried Them?}, I did mention towards the end that we gave two years ago a package with the word LOVE to a very special extended family member... It meant so much to him. And there was not much more we could give him, other than true LOVE and this symbol written out in CHOCOLATE...

Great idea for Santa Claus!

LOVE

Sweet Chocolate LOVE... to a dear extended family member.

The son of my dear friend Natacha, who is like a younger sister, and her sons are like our own.

Sadly they moved away and we managed to visit still; Miami is not the end of the world!

Below this post you find a story about: Our EVERGLADES ADVENTURE with friend NATACHA.

In that EVERGLADES ADVENTURE post you will see photos of their cute sons.

The sad  thing is that their eldest son lost the battle of brain cancer, just last month.

Young; just turned 30 and only married for a couple of years.

Such a tragedy and it did hit hard.

It was Natacha's son that received the word: LOVE in chocolate...

Because otherwise we both were at a loss for words. What to say? What to do?

He fought the battle for more than two years but he lost it.

Now he is in heaven, a new Angel that probably is even closer to all of us as before.

Christmas is a happy time of the year; sure.

But with the loss of several loved ones, it also is a melancholic time of the year...

Certainly there are others that feel like I do.

May we all find the strength to open our hearts again and to trust the Angels for guiding us on our earthly journey. 

For the same reason I do love those silver alphabet Angels from Giovanni Raspini, Italy | they can express so much sentiment.

Chocolate can be bittersweet and I even like it that way.

Life can be bittersweet but we never like that part.

Together  we can do it.

LOVE heals...

Related links:

{Our EVERGLADES ADVENTURE with friend NATACHA} a previous post by me

{Since 1896 Dutch CHOCOLATE LETTERS - Have YOU Tried Them?} a previous post by me

{Chocolate and Silver Alphabet Letters for Saint Nicholas} a previous post by me

Mariette's Back to Basics my Zen Cart powered on line boutique for Giovanni Raspini Angels in silver

{Since 1896 Dutch CHOCOLATE LETTERS - Have YOU Tried Them?}

Hah, today I managed to get my order for Dutch CHOCOLATE LETTERS placed on line with Vander Veen's, The Dutch Store in Michigan, USA. For decades we've been ordering them as a gift to our friends. Or bringing them home with us, in the suitcase at the time we were able to buy them in The Netherlands. In 2008 we did so when we were in The Netherlands with our foster daughter Anita from Indonesia. She got so excited, searching for each letter on my shopping list! Everybody loves them and they are SPECIAL! Look at the great design on the box they come in, that looks so different from any other chocolate. It is a fine Dutch lifestyle tradition since 1896 and fond childhood memories for me. For my Canadian readers, I too have an address for getting those CHOCOLATE LETTERS: at The Dutch Market Ltd. Sorry for all other countries, they might be able to obtain them from The Netherlands and there could be some Dutch import into Australia as well... You let me know.

Not only for the traditional Dutch St. Nicholas or SINTERKLAAS, on December 6, but they make fine gifts for the Christmas season or for Santa Claus. As a matter of fact I would enjoy them year round with a cup of coffee... How about you?

Sure, I do LOVE dark chocolate! It is said that: A Dark Chocolate a Day Keeps the Doctor Away!

Click on the link (all colored ones are links) to find out more... I surely live by it.

Those silver Giovanni Raspini Charms & Co alphabet angels from Italy are available on my Zen Cart powered boutique on line: Mariette's Back to Basics - worldwide shipping. 

Below post is a link where you find them.

If you want to order CHOCOLATE LETTERS for the USA or Canada, you better do so early, as later on maybe not all Letters will be available... First come; first serve!

Today I got all mine secured; all 41 that is. Yes, my orders have been growing steadily as they are so much LOVED. That brings JOY to the giver as well.

Only 3 out of 41 are dark chocolate letters; including mine. 

What is your preference? Milk or Dark...? 

You might have gotten an idea.

Oh, we gave two years ago a package with the word LOVE to a very special extended family member... It meant so much to him. And there was not much more we could give him, other than true LOVE and this symbol written out in CHOCOLATE...

Related link:

{Chocolate and Silver Alphabet Letters for Saint Nicholas} a previous post by me 

{Chocolate Letter LOVE} | post by me

{Elvira my 1st and only Goddaughter}

Okay, back to the subject Goddaughter... here is my 1st and only Goddaughter, Elvira, of whom I am very fond and proud! She is the daughter of my almost life-long friend Ellie. We did pass our Ruby friendship-anniversary a couple of years ago. That is loyalty at its very best; through thick and thin and without borders!

Above you see little Elvira, biding us farewell with her Mom Ellie, prior to our departure for Georgia/USA... at my Dad's garden in The Netherlands.
~~0~~

We did come to Elvira's First Communion on May 4th of 1989, all the way from Cornuda, province of Treviso in Italy. 
For one year we only lived 12 hours driving away... Instead of having to fly across the Atlantic Ocean.

I'd made her a beautiful handkerchief with crocheted lace edging in pink.
Will show you my hand crocheted items in a later post...

Elvira meanwhile has developed into a charming and energetic Maître d' who is welcoming you at the romantic restaurant of René Brienen, Brienen aan de Maas, on the river Meuse in Middle Limburg, The Netherlands. Indeed, the word charming in the text of this former ferrymen's café, converted into a delicious up-to-date restaurant with lovely neo-retro dining rooms and terrace facing the river, is referring to Elvira! She also successfully finished her study of vinology at the wine academy, so she can help you out as a sommelier, for making decisions at table!

We were lucky to have her as our personal guide, with our American friends touring Maastricht the old capital of my birth Province Limburg, in The Netherlands, and birthplace of the EURO. Elvira, lived and worked there, so she knew its gastronomical highlights thoroughly.

Here we are for a break at the Kruisherenhotel in Maastricht. From left: Pieter; friends Johnny and Hannah; Ellie (Elvira's Mom); Elvira; Mathieu (her Dad) and me...

We were very lucky for having the perfect weather on October 10 of 2005. This picture is taken at one of the Vrijthof square's terraces. In his younger days, Pieter used to conduct courses there at Restaurant Grandcafé Momus about Mushroom Growing. Our Georgia lawyer friend Johnny, and his wife Hannah, did enjoy this day in Maastricht but I must admit that it barely scratches all of the Burgundian culture...

In 2009, early March, we were able to visit Elvira and Bob in their lovely apartment. They do (did) live in the center of Venray, Limburg in The Netherlands. Plans are in the making for building or buying a home and having their wedding* subsequently. That of course would be another reason for us to cross the Atlantic Ocean!
♥♥
*Editor's note: that very wedding took place on September 2 and 3 of 2011...
♥♥
A baby is due in August of 2012...
♥♥
And they did move into their new home; lots of milestones reached.

These two lovebirds were ready to move into their new nest. They live near the romantic river Meuse, that offers tranquil scenic boat trips, near the Interstate and near the beautiful forests of the river Meuse valley. In the Burgundian province of Limburg, things sound more French then elsewhere!

Both of us have been looking forward to the day that these two love-birds would have their big day and we certainly were part of it on September 2 + 3, of 2011! Will show photos soon...

Wishing you lots of love and the best of luck for accomplishing all of your dreams!

♥

Your far away, but nearby Godmother.

PS: Talking about The Netherlands; Limburg is by far the best piece of the cake!