MARIETTE'S BACK TO BASICS

Friday, March 14, 2014

{Daffodils Bunnies & Hearts}

Spring is such a lovely season with flowers blooming.

Don't you love having such a vase indoors with fragrant daffodils?

From our German 'son and daughter-in-law' we did receive some lovely Easter bunnies and hearts...

Erika always is giving her heart to us in a most caring way.

We were lucky that both of them with their two children did visit us in our Vacation Home Vakantiewoning Pardoes, while we stayed in The Netherlands for Mom's 90th Birthday and Mom & Dad's 65th Wedding Anniversary.

Yes, they drove up to us, all the way from the beautiful Eifel in Germany and gifted Mom & Dad with a beautiful handled willow basket, filled with edible goodies from their region.

Now I have turned a different fragrant white daffodil facing the camera...

Don't you like these double ones better than the single one in the first photo?

Those are the cutest little bunnies with the lace scarf buttoned around their neck.

Daffodils are inside a French Baccarat Crystal vase.

Very glossy Mr. & Mrs Bunny...

So glad they traveled well inside our suitcases.

Don't you love them too?

Wednesday, March 12, 2014

{We saw Our Lovely 2014 Magnolias for 1 Day...}

Each year our magnolias, Magnolia x soulangeana bloom around my Mom's Birthday of February 12...

Gorgeous blooms we got to see on February 26, in the morning as we had come home by 22:15 the day before.

Our cat-sitter did send us the above photo, while we were still in The Netherlands.

So lovely, we had been waiting now for several years as we all lost them to frost the previous years.

Next to the new retainer wall for blocking the rain water.

Even on a dreary, rainy day they look gorgeous!

What a sight after all those years!

With our new roof and the exterior painted it looks very nice.

The tiles need still to be put onto the concrete around the house.

BUT... the next night it turned into 23°F RealFeel by 6:44 AM!

So dreary the next day after FROST!

All brown again...

Blue sky but all those buds are brown...

Maybe spring 2015 will finally yield us fully opened, gorgeous Japanese magnolias...?

Related link:
{Only 4 Magnolia Blossoms for 2013} | previous post by me with more links to our magnolia blossoms

Monday, March 10, 2014

{February 21, 2014 Tornado in our Subdivision}

While we were still in The Netherlands on Friday morning, February 21, there was quite a strong tornado in our subdivision.

We were having dinner with our Goddaughter as I got a message on my iPhone from our cat-sitter, back home in Georgia.

I called her right away and learned about her ordeal that morning as she could not even enter the subdivision... The police had blocked off all entrance roads!

But they graciously let her pass via a different route so our kitties could get fed!!!

This is what we still found 5 days later, after having returned from The Netherlands from Mom & Dad's 65th Wedding Anniversary...
We did drive around our neighborhood for taking some photos...
Of course, most of the chaos had been cleaned up and hauled off already.