{Happy 89th Birthday Dear Mom}

Wishing my dear Mom a Happy 89th Birthday on February 12! She is quite a hero for still going strong after almost 5 years of kidney dialysis. You can read more in my previous posts about her, below... 

• Mom taught me how to love, love my human Parents and love my heavenly Parents. How sweet it always was when she came to my bedroom, to see if I got tucked in well, together with my sister Diny. She marked my forehead with a cross and said her sweet prayer: Danke Lieve Heerke, danke Lieve Vrouwke, danke engeltje zoet die ons Marietje bewaren moet. Thank you Dear Lord, thank you dear Lady Mary, thank you sweet Angel who must wake over our Marietje... With that prayer by Mom, I felt so loved and so fuzzy that in no time I was in dreamland! 
• Mom taught me how to care for others, how to cook, how to love flowers, how to do fine needlework.
• Mom taught me how to uphold myself and for wearing good, decent and supporting lingerie. She repeated what her Mom always taught her: Wie zijn eigen bewaart, die bewaart geen rotte appels. Those that keep their own do not keep bad apples. 
• Mom taught me how to keep the sun from damaging the face, she covered up with an all cotton headscarf, while working the fields. Smart woman as till today her face is soft and a lot younger looking than her actual age. So glad I too always covered up with a wash cloth when at the pool or wearing a hat at the beach. Thank you Mom!
• Mom taught me the love of ginger and I recall as a young teen, staying up late and baking her a surprise ginger cake on her birthday! Got reprimanded by Dad for not being in bed, I cried but it was worth it. Mom loved it!
• Mom also taught me to LOVE those diamond shaped nougat blocks with chocolate covered. I always would bring her one home when I was dating and going to a fair where they got sold.
• How Mom could put a spring in my step as I did smell her home cooked delicious tomato soup when we came walking home from school for lunch. No one could sautée onions better than Mom. She also used sautéed onions with her green beans and her ribs were so yummy with sautéed onions and tomatoes... Her apricot pie baking was something out of this world! 
• Mom kept an exemplary MORAL COMPASS—passed down by generations of strong women.
• With love I did bake and cook for you during your four stays with us here in the U.S.A. and also giving a High Tea in your honor for some ladies... Short video where at 1:23 you can see the tea/coffee table in her honor here in Georgia: Pieter J.C. Vedder squeezes lemon over Popovers for Mom & Dad & High Tea in Honor of Mom in Georgia ←click it.

Here in our living room we are together; framed forever in silver. Mom's is with roses...

I still can hear your voice when you exclaimed that those pictures were the most precious gift you ever received... 

We went together to the next city for this photo shoot, when you and Dad were staying with us in the USA.

That will forever remain a wonderful memory, as there are so many others!

Thanks Mom and Happy 89th Birthday from your American daughter.

Related links:
{The Little Black Dress & My MOM} | previous post by me
{Mom's 4th Dialysis Anniversary} | previous post by me
{Like to see my own Everlasting Silver ROSE?} | previous post by me
{MY VERY FIRST BLOG AWARD} | previous post by me, listing 10 points about me...

Mom got called MOVIE STAR for once she was the CENTER of ATTENTION! | later post with video

{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!

{Our Beech Trees with their Fortitude and Perseverance}

Yes, in our wood garden we do have several Beech Trees, Fagus grandiflora. I would love for you to meet them and see some of their symbolic meaning, like Fortitude and Perseverance. The beech is called the Queen of the forest; fine and graceful. The beech symbolizes female wisdom and attention, warmth and comfort, fortitude and vigilance. In the Celtic culture the beech was symbol for creativity and good taste. For the Germans the beech was dedicated to the goddess Freya, goddess of marriage and fertility. In German the name for beech is Buche and the name for book in German is Buch. Maybe because of the ancient carving names in the bark of beech trees?

The beech is symbol for:

Wisdom and attention

Warmth and comfort

Fortitude and vigilance

Creativity

Perseverance

The beech with its leathery leaves and bark signifies endurance. It is also connected with death because of its relationship with the Gods Hades and Cybele. The beech tree is the emblem for Denmark and symbolizes prosperity, divination and immortality. No wonder that in The Netherlands they often used beech hedges around the cemeteries. 

The beech tree surely symbolizes immortality or lasting life as they do hold on to their leaves through winter. They persist and turn into a nice tan color after their golden bronze fall color. From The Deep Rooted Symbolism of Trees: Beech tree symbolism - tolerance, past knowledge, softens over criticism.

During winter time it is quite a show to have all these beautiful leaves still on the Beech trees. Sad fact will be that both of us will not live to see them bear fruit as they only do that at the age of 50! A beech tree reaches easily 100 years of age and there are several beech trees from 300 years. As a child we often went to the woods with my Dad to search for beech nuts! Dad knew always a spot where there was a huge beech tree.

They only will drop their leaves when new ones come...

Like a symbol of lasting life!

This beech tree is growing closer towards the street side, you can see through about mid photo.

Another one in the center of our wood garden.
Photos are taken on January 21, 2013.

This one has a perfect shape and that is more to the left in our wood garden, viewed from the house.
I had to remove that big branch that was hanging in the beech tree. Storms do break off weak limbs from taller trees and we always need to collect fallen branches.
Do you have a beech tree, or a beech hedge?