MARIETTE'S BACK TO BASICS

Friday, January 19, 2018

Part XVI - Zulu Beaded Knobkerrie and Other Gifts from S.A.

In Part XIII, I've mentioned that I went with Patricia shopping in Stellenbosch on Monday, November 25, 1985. That yielded a 3-cups French Melior cafetière; a Zulu knobkerrie and a tiny Zulu spoon; a wooden Dachshund for in my type tray; a leather P keyring for my Dad and that's it.

So here I want to show you those little treasures.

They are all lined up against the received book, a gift that I got earlier at the Congress.

Starting out with the little French Melior Cafetière, I will show them to you one by one.
This 3 cups Melior cafetière I purchased for South African Rand 43.40 or US $ 16.51
100 US $ were R 262.81 and the Rand was equal to the Dutch Guilder at the time.

Melior, Made in France

Made for 3 cups. Well, be aware that is the French demitasse size - not American coffee mug sizes!

We already had the larger 8 cups and this was perfect for making smaller portions of coffee and easy to handle inside our luggage!

Tried to clean this Rhodium plate Melior but it did not work... Pardon the look!

Melior instructions in French, English, German and Spanish.

This 3 cups cafetière I always grab for making the strong coffee that I use for making Tiramisu.

Always perfect coffee, never BITTER!

Okay, now we're awake so lets continue...

It was not yet 3 months ago that I'd lost my beloved miniature Dachshund Mauzie girl...

So home came this wooden Mauzie for in my type tray!

The tail is missing and over the years I have no idea how that happened.

It travelled home with us from Stellenbosch, South Africa, than moved to Pennsylvania and across the Ocean to Italy and back again across the Ocean to Georgia. Quite a journey for a lot of fragile objects!

The bottom of this wooden Mauzie is signed F.B.

The Zulu beaded spoon is behind it...

Here you see the small wooden Zulu spoon with beaded end and loop for hanging.

Behind it lays the Zulu Knobkerrie carved from wood and entirely beaded with a loop for hanging.

I only paid US $ 9.22 for these beaded wooden gifts.

Don't you love those bright colors of the meticulous beading?

This small spoon has a beaded loop for hanging.

One only has to admire this perfect Zulu beading work on the handle of the larger wooden Knobkerrie.

Showing the beading work more towards the end.

Such a Knobkerrie is a primitive weapon!

Such were our little gifts. Not much but considering our very limited budget, it meant a lot to us.

Don't have a picture of the leather Key Holder with letter P embossed that we got for my Dad.

Having been invited to the Congress and getting travel and hotels paid for was to us an enormous reward in itself for seeing this beautiful country!

Many thanks to our Mushroom Friends from South Africa - we forever keep these fond memories with us.

It was only on Friday, April 26 of 1985, that we got our mortgage for the house in Dublin, Georgia.

Quite a while after we arrived here on August 29, 1983...

Because husband Pieter's ex did NOT sign any papers, we could not get married right away.

That also delayed our Green Card application etc. etc.

Campbell Soup did buy the house and let us live there which was very generous!

For our marriage we had to fly back to The Netherlands 2.5 months later...

Slowly the entire process started and it took over one year before husband Pieter received his FIRST pay check!

Campbell's did not want to employ anyone without a green card...

We lived from the saving money we had; very, very frugal!

Pieter did leave his ex the entire house, including furniture + a new car.

He was just too happy for having found TRUE LOVE and the opportunity of starting all over again.

That's what we did, not easy but we proudly look back on our accomplishments.

Oh, the mortgage was at 12.5 % interest and set for 15 years, written at the bottom of my leather agenda in above photo, under April 26.

Pieter also very generously has paid his ex, alimony over 32 years of time and the study costs for his adopted daughter (she was the daughter of his ex's 1st cousin) for the Dutch Royal Academy.

Needless to say that we never could deduct a single penny for all those expenses as it was used for pay outside of the U.S.A.

Both of us had to live off less than half of his salary, minus payment for the mortgage and for my little Ford Escort...

BACK TO BASICS and living a content but simple life!

Thank you for your visits and comments on these series about South Africa.

Related links;
Part XV - Flora from South Africa | previous post by me

Monday, January 15, 2018

Part XV - Flora from South Africa

As much as we love the country we travel to, both husband Pieter and I do love nature!

So whenever we have a chance, we admire the flowers and things of natural beauty.

Beautiful Proteas in the garden... Africa's famous export flower!

En route to the mushroom farm in Tongaat KwaZulu-Natal the road was lined with Canna lilies and also you can see the blooming Flamboyant trees with their red blossoms.

Flamboyant tree loaded with blossoms.

Guess this one was near the mushroom farm...

Kaffirboom S. Africa Erythrina caffra Coral Tree

Aloe Candelabra S. Africa that we saw near Joburg where we also saw Baboons eat... near a huge dam.

Guess Pieter tried to capture the Weaver bird's nest but also a Bougainvillea is seen here.

Post card with flowering gums in the foreground

Bouquet of Proteas on a post card

Protea from a slide we bought, there are so many varieties

GIANT PROTEA S. Africa Protea Cynaroides specimen

CAPE ERICA S. Africa Ericaceae

ROYAL PAINTBRUSH S. Africa

Thank you for your visit to this South Africa Flora post.
Stay tuned for the next Part XVI where I show the special little gifts I brought back home...

Thursday, January 11, 2018

Part XIV - The Royal Hotel in Durban, South Africa

On Monday, November 25 of 1985, it was a rather short flight from Cape Town to Durban in less than 2 hours.

André Bouer did pick us up at the airport and dropped us off at The Royal Hotel in Durban.

We did walk for about an hour in the center of Durban and went to bed.

Picture taken from our room, overlooking the square.

And this is what we saw in the morning...

More to the side as seen from our room.

Google map where you see The Royal Hotel (center bottom) and the building to the right and in top photos is Durban Natural Science Museum, former City Hall and the other building with its steeple to the left, is the Post Office.

From this Google picture for Durban City Hall you can clearly see to the right The Royal Hotel where we stayed and with such perfect view.

We did check out on Tuesday, November 26, by 8:30 and left with André Bouer for visiting the 3 Tongaat farms.

It was a 37 km drive and we visited 2 farms and then went on to the main office for the mushrooms, which is in Tongaat, KwaZulu-Natal.

After lunch, Pieter did do an entire afternoon of teaching.

By 18:00 we rode with Jim Dicks to Durban and flew with him to Johannesburg in 1 hour = JNB

We had dinner at Jim Dicks' home, where his wife Pat had cooked a delicious meal.

The other couple that joined us for dinner, did drop us off at the Holiday Inn, Sandton and we went to bed.
We had come full circle, ending at the very hotel where we started...

Next day, November 27, we got up by 8:00 and packed up. Breakfast and one last garden walk while waiting for Chris Richardson who took us to Highveld mushrooms.

Pieter did a farm review. We did have lunch with Chris and Norgan, somewhere out in the country.

Big Aloe Candalabra, where also baboons were eating and we saw a big dam.

That would be the farewell for beautiful South Africa.

Colin Jacobson did drop us off at Jan Smuts airport in Joburg and we met again with Don Needham who will fly back with us to the USA.

Via Kinshasa to Brussels where we landed at 6:30 on November 28.

My brother Harry met us there and we drove with him to my Parents.

A very quick family visit, Pieter's Mom in the nursing home and my Parents.

On November 29, we departed from Brussels by 12:05 together with Donald Needham and via Boston to Atlanta in 11 hours!!

On December 1, Pieter left for his trip to the mushroom division from Campbell, in Reading, PA.

Barely ONE day at home because that same day we left by 10:00 for Atlanta with one of the staff members and their little child for a Dutch Sinterklaas celebration at the Marriott, Atlanta.

Such were the days when travel was the norm!

Thanks for your visit and stay tuned for Part XV about Flora from South Africa

MARIETTE'S BACK TO BASICS

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About Me

Friday, January 19, 2018

Part XVI - Zulu Beaded Knobkerrie and Other Gifts from S.A.

Monday, January 15, 2018

Part XV - Flora from South Africa

Thursday, January 11, 2018

Part XIV - The Royal Hotel in Durban, South Africa

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