{Margraten - Netherlands American Cemetery and Memorial in my Province of Limburg}

For Memorial Day 2013, I like to show you some special photos, taken by my brother Martin Van den Munckhof at the Netherlands American Cemetery and Memorial in Margraten, Limburg; my Province of birth. My brother did search for a grave from a soldier that came from Georgia since we now are living in his state. It is ironical to view this... An American who liberated my country and is buried in Dutch soil, in the Province where I was born and now we live as American Citizens in HIS State of Georgia... 

Most graves have been adopted by Dutch Citizens.

CUTTER WILLIAM H JR - Second Lieutenant from Bibbs County, Georgia...

Found this information at the site of: National WWII Memorial and by typing his (or any) name in Search the Registry I found his info.

It is because of these brave men and women that we can live in PEACE!

For Memorial Day 1987 Pieter and I did write this for our local newspaper.

Excerpt: 'Under them we have seen the names of several Georgians, which moved us deeply, realizing that we are living now on the soil where they were born. Thanks for their tremendous deeds! Georgia can be proud of their sons. (Of course, that also includes all other States that served!).

'In our hearts we don't need Memorial Day — we will never forget!'

The American flag on Dutch soil...

At the time these soldiers got buried in the little town of Margraten, only about 1,200 people were living there. Hard to imagine that over 23,000 soldiers were buried there in the best soil of the village.

More than 11,000 soldiers were brought back to the United States and 8,300 stayed in Margraten.

You can read all info from the link at the top, just click on CEMETERY.

The mourning figure, representing the grieving Mother of her lost son, the doves, the new shoot from the war destroyed tree (seen to the left) make for a great grouping and speaks for itself.

Striking art work in bronze and the raw emotions are very well worked out by Joseph Kiselewski, of New York City and cast in Milan by the Battaglia foundries.

On Sunday May 8 of 2005, Queen Beatrix received President George W. Bush who did visit Margraten in memory of the 60th Liberation anniversary.

Covering 65.5 acres (or 26.5 hectares) with row after row of crosses and Jewish stars.

It makes one quiet; very quiet that is...

Like in husband Pieter's personal story: FREEDOM HAS ITS PRICE (link is below post), this becomes very obvious.

May we NEVER FORGET!

So glad I have scanned these old slides! Now they are digital; finally I could share them with you...

Thanks for visiting!

Related links:
{A Heart of Gold - Great Memorial Day Story} | previous post by me
{MEMORIAL DAY - FREEDOM HAS ITS PRICE} | previous post by me about husband Pieter's personal story
12½ jaar L1 - Amerikaanse president in Limburg | President George W. Bush visits Margraten on May, 8 in 2005. He did stay at the Château Hotel, St. Gerlach and was very complimentary towards the Staff. Proud of my Province of birth; Limburg!
President Honors and Commemorates Veterans in the Netherlands - Margraten, The Netherlands | From White House Archives May 8, 2005

{Our DEEPER Reach In Bedroom Closet}

As promised in my previous post: {Less Office Space in Return for Our DEEPER Reach In Closet...}, today I like to show you the finished DEEPER Reach In Bedroom Closet. Finally got the photos done with good enough light. 

That's our Reach In Closet as seen from the corner of this bedroom...

You can see from the wall depth that this one was not deep at all, the way it got initially build.

That's the reason we did open up the wall  and went inside the office, happily sacrificing 16" or 41 cm of office space.

The wood inlay horse is a gift from our Consulting period for Pond's India Ltd.

You can see the sun is shining, even in late afternoon...

Even with the indoor shutters partially closed, still some glare on those bi-fold closet doors.

The wool rug on the oak chest is also a gift from Pond's India Ltd. in appreciation of our Consulting work.

We treasure those things. Below this post you find a link to a previous post I did about it.

All done in wool embroidered chain stitch!

The white Teddy Bear has been hand stitched by Pieter's Mother when she was already in her early 90s. She made incredible handwork all her life. For many a trousseau she embroidered table cloths and napkins!

The tiny Teddy bear I found in the KLM Royal Dutch Airlines' business class after someone left it in a seat...

I was quick to pick it up to add it to this Mama bear; giving them the same matching pink ribbon bow and voilà!

The other side where you see two of my cross stitch embroidery works, done on velvet.

The light weight summer down duvets and duvet covers and pillow cases are from the Yves Delorme Outlet. If you sign in for newsletters you get notified when they have special sales like on the French Bastille Day in July.

View from behind the bed now and you see the twin silk chain stitch embroidered wall hangings that each of us got as a gift from Pond's India Ltd. for our Consulting work.

It was 16:38 o'clock when I took these photos...

I had to wait this long for not having the painters with their ladders in front of the window!

Womby the wombat from Australia is sitting on the oak chest. He came home with us after our Consulting work in Australia for Campbell's Soup.

By the way, the oak chest used to be a planter box but my brother Harry crafted a solid lid for it and brought it over on their flight to the USA in 1986. Talking about pre-9/11 times. Everything would fly back then! No problem, you just checked it in. Now you are so limited...

In the corner you see two oak Barrister book cases where I keep my stationery and books for classes etc.

Japan is represented here as well. A gift from some Japanese visitors as we had one as our house guest.

The paint color for walls and ceiling is Benjamin Moore Early Sunset.

We have that upstairs for our bedrooms and bathrooms.

What is that dangling down from the ceiling you ask...

That's one of our many Energy Star Ceiling Fans from WAYFAIR.

We always try for 'Going Green'!

You can find a link below my post...

The Madonna cross stitch embroidery is done by Pieter's Mother when she was in her early 90s!

On the children's stool is Boomer, a gift from a Dutch business man who was a good friend of us and my youngest brother Jan also used to work for him.

So many people have stayed in these beds as a guest over those 30 years...

I could write a book about it!

Voilà our DEEPER Reach In Bedroom Closet!

Husband Pieter did install me those white Shelf & Rod shelving.

We had them already since 1990 but of course now we changed height and certain lengths.

Our ceilings are high enough for having two layers PLUS a top shelf.

Home Depot has all you need; at least that's our source for the USA...

For reaching that top shelf, I use this little step.

You can see the additional (not quite matching) solid oak planks from Bruce.

To the side, extra long items can be hung now and to the back my belts are all hanging.

Since we have our Rose Suite now downstairs (added after living in this house for 14 years) guests seldom need to use this room, only if there are e.g. children with their Parents.

My purses are on the shelves in their dust bags. Room for everything.

Box with recipes to sort through one day...

Hats on the top shelf and extra peluw pillows or as they are called here: bolsters.

Scarves for winter...

Seasonal things like woolen stoles, capes, ear muffs etc. are all on top. Even Pieter's heart that he got when he had his open heart surgery in September of 2010.

Considering that, we both are blessed that he is able to do all this again!

Nice light from the ceiling and one more long light just above the bi-fold doors against the wall.

Stay tuned for our 'Office with Less Space,' which I will show soon...

So what you say?

Lots of people seem to be interested...

Related link:

{Silk and Wool Birds as Gift from Pond's India} | previous post by me about our consulting work
{Cuddle up to stay warm} | previous post by me about Yves Delorme Outlet
{521 ENERGY STAR CEILING FANS AT WAYFAIR + GIVEAWAY} | previous post by me
{Our Energy Star ceiling fans from Wayfair + Superior Customer Service} | previous post by me

{HEARTFELT THANK YOU to ALL OF MY 500 FOLLOWERS!}

Sorry but I have had no time to finish the follow up post about our DEEPER Reach In Closet in the Guest Bedroom. That will come next; promise!

BUT it is also VERY important for taking the time to say a HEARTFELT THANK YOU to all of my 500 FOLLOWERS!

THANK YOU ALL!

On February 20, my blog's TRUE Presence was 1840 in my post: {How is YOUR Blog's TRUE Presence on the WEB?} so that is a steady increase since than.

Stay tuned for several exciting updates!

At least you will get to know what we've been up to lately...

Wishing all US Citizens a meaningful Memorial Weekend!

Related links:

{HEARTFELT THANK YOU to ALL NEW FOLLOWERS!} | previous post from September, 2012