{Mom & Dad's 65th Wedding Anniversary}

As mentioned in my previous post, we did go for a very special reason to The Netherlands, this 64th trip for family and friends.

 It was my dear Parents' 65th  Wedding Anniversary!

My siblings had decorated the front door prior to an official visit by the Mayor.

Here Mom & Dad enjoy a serenade by the elderly choir 'Levensvreugd' or Life's Joy in English.

Mom has been singing with them for some 30 years and Dad joined at a much later time.

Mom filled the void of my Paternal Grandmother's soprano voice...

This photo I took on the day of celebration with the entire family of 51 present.

My husband Pieter is looking on, behind Mom & Dad.

Since this is such a rare occasion, my Parents did receive some Royal Mail...

From the King and Queen of The Netherlands...

Also from the King's Commissioner of the Province of Limburg...

Such an embossed seal is quite impressive!

We all together celebrated this remarkable and very rare milestone of a 65th Wedding Anniversary.

A Blissful Relationship with its usual ups and downs.

Even the day after the celebration with dinner in the restaurant, Mom & Dad had a special Mass at Church to say thanks for God's Blessings for such a long Marriage together.

Heeroom, my Great-Uncle Priest, did bless my Parents' marriage, when he was on leave from his mission in Indonesia.

This photo above and below is taken right after Mass with Mom & Dad.

Funny that Mother and Daughter did wear the same colors...

This would be the VERY LAST TIME with Mom together (alive)!

Both in Royal Blue!

St. Lambertus Church in Horst

Our German Son and family did pay Mom & Dad a visit with a large basket of regional foods from the Eifel area.

Below I show you some Dutch Government statistics about the approx. 7% of marriages that will last 60 years or more, as of 2001.



 Almost 14,000 of the entire population of some 16.7 million reached 60 or more years of marriage.

Over 200 couples reached 70 years or more... so there is still hope from Mom & Dad!

Below you see that it did drop for 2010 to only 6,000 couples that reached 60 or more...
Image is from Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek
Image below is also from page 68 in Pdf from CBS

Very proud of both my Parents!

They do belong to a very rare group of couples that stayed married for 65 years together.

Quite some role models - through thick and thin...

The fruits of a simple lifestyle and hard work together!

Related link:

{March 14, Written Life Message for me by my Favorite Great-Uncle} | previous post by me

{HAPPY Mom on her 90th Birthday - THANKS TO ALL OF YOU}

As some of you already knew, I have been away for 15 days. Flying to The Netherlands once more, actually our 64th trip to see family and friends in those 30 years as immigrants. A long journey home and this time it was very much in honor of Mom, for her 90th Birthday!
In the morning we'd stopped by Mom & Dad's home to see her and later we visited her during her dialysis in her with garlands decorated room.

Pieter took this photo from my Mom in bed, during her dialysis while she is reading all your comments on my {Happy 90th Birthday Mom} post. 

Which indeed made her so happy and lifted up her spirits as you can clearly see from this photo! 

It was very touching for her to see that 863 people from around the world had viewed this post about her and several left a comment. As well as 264 viewers with several more that had left a comment on my FB Page. This was for my dear Mom quite a milestone; it meant as much to her, as to those winning the olympics at the same time...

We'd picked up Dad at their home and spend the time with Mom at the hospital. Dad treated the staff to yummy birthday cakes. Such a visit makes her boring dialysis session pass quickly.

Next time when we did visit her, without Dad, our daughter Anita made a video call from Indonesia with her Oma in The Netherlands. What a joy for both! 

Our daughter Anita did actually visit her Oma several times, with us together in 2008, when she went with us to The Netherlands. This trip we did visit Mom five times during her dialysis. 

Wish I could keep doing that as it makes the time go so pleasantly fast for her...

Everywhere they had Mom's photo with the magical number 90 hung on the walls, above the door etc.
For a 90 year old dialysis patient she still looks mighty good!

  Flowers everywhere as this is quite a Dutch custom to 'SAY IT WITH FLOWERS!'

This is on a table in the veranda... 

Table cloth is being embroidered by my dear Mother-in-law.

Yes, it was worth our 64th journey home to The Netherlands; sitting on our butt for 8,500 km or 5,281 mi one way...

We came this time for a very, very special reason (more to follow in my next post!) which made us very proud.

Fond memories in our hearts forever!

And once more; THANK you all so much for giving Mom such a special day!!!

Bloggers are the most caring and loving bunch.

{HAPPY Mom on her 90th Birthday - THANKS TO ALL OF YOU} | On FB this story has been

 viewed 528 times.

And 2325 times here...

{Peacock Candles}

Finding some nice gifts for special people at times is challenging. For our friends from India we found some appropriate gifts since the Peacock has a very special meaning in their culture. Not only being it the national bird but also a symbol of grace, beauty, joy and love. Look what I found...

Fragrant candles... This photo is from September 4, taken outside on our balcony.

Loved those Peacocks.

The candle to the right is real wax but flameless and works on batteries.

The one to the left is a real fragrant candle inside this painted glass holder.

Backside of the painted glass holder. This was a treasure find at Last Call by +Neiman Marcus.

QVC had these Peacock candles and I just loved them!

Do you also look for special gifts year round?

{Oversize Load Transport}

When we had just moved from The Netherlands to Georgia, USA we were amazed at what would at times pass us on the road. Like Oversize Load Transport with half a home or an entire home! Have you ever seen that in your country? Bet you would pop your eyes wide open too...

It was quite an experience for us to see this. Probably this was on our road to work where we took this photo. This was exceptionally WIDE!

Have you encountered any of those?

{1940s - 1950s Royal Albert Princess Anne Tennis Set for Coffee or Tea}

When I was doing consulting work with my husband and partner Pieter, we were in Calgary, Canada with one of the staff members shopping at an antique store. That's where I bought my very first 1940s - 1950s Royal Albert Princess Anne piece of china. It was a handled cake plate. Over time I kept adding and I especially loved these Tennis Sets for Coffee or Tea. Did you know about them? This is something from the UK, but I love their practical approach for being able to hold this with one hand in an informal setting.



On January 18, we had our white hyacinth blooming. Got it at Trader Joe's and wish they would last forever as I LOVE their fragrance.

So here is our Royal Albert Princess Anne teapot and one each of a Tennis Set for Coffee and one for Tea.
To me it does not look quite fair as the Tennis Set for Tea is far bigger...



Don't you agree that the Tennis Set for Coffee is smaller in size?

WHY would hat be...

To photograph these two sets together proved to be very hard!

Here it is out of perspective a bit because the Tennis Set for Tea is in the front and looking way bigger.

This is the best I could do for showing both of them at more or less eye level.

You notice that the tea cup is wider and more shallow and tapered down. The coffee cup is more narrow and mostly straight up.
To the right on the sidebar you see my most popular post is: {Difference Between Coffee & Tea Cups} just click the hyperlink for finding out.
But still those Tennis Set differences puzzle me...!

When I tried to find out more, I found this interesting site from Royal Albert Patterns.com with this lovely photo. Shown is a coffee cup and saucer to the right; teacup and saucer to the left; cream & sugar set - which I have several of, also differently sized. My handled cake plate that I found in Calgary, Canada is shown here and a coffee pot which I don't have one.
To the bottom are different teacups.
They mention only the Cup Shape being Countess (for Tea) or Avon (for Coffee).
You just scroll all the way down on this site, from above hyperlink, or if you search for any other pattern you might find it there as well.
There even is a Royal Albert Patterns FB Page, just click the hyperlink.

This is the regular Coffee Cup & Saucer with a regular Tea Cup & Saucer...

We Heart It did have my photo tagged by 46 people. That shows maybe that more people are searching to find out more about those differences.

Would you know an answer for those Tennis Set differences?

A very frequently visited post...

{Anna Burda Crocheted Table Topper}

From the Anna Burda's June 1988 magazine this hand crocheted table topper must have been made by my friend Marianne's  Mom, in Germany. Whatever its background, I received it as a gift and I'm very pleased with this linen and crocheted treasure. Have a look...

In our veranda on the oak coffee table with some blooming hyacinths on January 18...

No doubt that Marianne's Mom did crochet it after this Anna Burda pattern from June 1988!

Just lovely...

Pure linen is being crocheted around in a very perfect way with an impeccable steady hand it seems.

Guess Marianne's Mom will be smiling down from heaven when she sees it still is being loved!

{French Pewter Taste Vin}

Do you know a Taste Vin? Ancient Greeks used already its forerunner for wine tasting as a glazed clay krater or wine cup. In medieval times they got made of faience, ceramic and pewter. In Louisiana, USA they briefly served another function as taste-indigo for testing the crystallization of indigo dye.

Shown here is our French Pewter Taste Vin with a a Royal Selangor pewter vase.

Royal Selangor is established in 1885 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

 Our lovely daughter Anita inside metal frame...

This French Pewter Taste Vin from ETAINS DU MANOIR was a gift from our French colleagues.

Inside you read the French Wine Quote: Beuvez toujours ne mourrez jamais...

Beuvez toujours, vous ne mourrez jamais. Loosely: Drink always and never die. Also: Drink constantly; never die. Widely attributed to François Rabelais.

Meanwhile I am the lucky owner of the hardcover book: The Epicurean Collector: Exploring the World of Culinary Antiques by Patrick Dunne from Luculluss Antiques in New Orleans, who did write this book together with the Editors of Southern Accents. The photo below is on page 109. Available at Amazon.

Patrick Dunne does explain a lot better than I ever can but he is writing about some pure silver Taste Vins...

These are Patrick Dunne's silver Taste Vins...

There is one thing in common with our French Pewter Taste Vin however; the coiled serpent loop handle is similar to ours! You can read more about that in the last copy of Patrick Dunne's pages.

His book is a very valuable piece of information for serious collectors.

Sadly the beautiful magazine of Southern Accents is no more but this book is as close as you can come to that!

Above is the mention of the use for taste-indigo in Louisiana.

One of the enigmatic motifs that frequently appear on taste-vins is a loop handle formed by a coiled serpent...

Hope you enjoyed this Taste Vin post. Do you have one at your home?

{1999 with Brother Jan, I Saw The Best of Michael Flatley's Lord of the Dance in Orlando, Florida}

Who has ever seen a show of The Best of Michael Flatley's Lord of the Dance? Well, on August 5, 1999, I was fortunate for being at Epcot Center in Orlando, Florida where Michael Flatley did bring his high-energy step-dancing Troupe to perform for my youngest Brother Jan Van den Munckhof, my sister-in-law Wilma and me and of course a lot of other people! WOW; that was real high energy. Never seen a show like that one. Michael Flatley is my youngest brother's age but that's the only comparison...

 'Very excited' Michael Flatley to return to Lord Of The Dance for first time in 12 years

The above photo is from 2010 where Michael Flatley played himself at age 51.

In total his troupe has played for 60 million people in 60 countries!

So glad that I got to see them play too...

Lord of the Dance (musical) link for the above text - click on the above for easier reading...

Flatley signed a contract with Disney for Lord of the Dance to perform at Epcot in Walt Disney World in the summer of 1999 and Lord of the Dance was asked back the following summer in 2000. 

How lucky we were for JUST being there in 1999!

Lord of the Dance link for photo from FB Fan Page

Did you know that Lord of the Dance was written, devised, produced and choreographed by Michael Flatley within just 8 weeks of its inception?

By the end of the opening night, the show had received several standing ovations and such rave reviews that it was to become the most talked about, most written about, and the most critically acclaimed show in musical history.

Michael Flatley - Lord of the dance finale YouTube video at age 51 from the top picture

 The Best of Michael Flatley's Lord of the Dance | June 4, 1999 The Orlando Sentinel

Michael Flatley - Whispering Winds | where he is playing the flute and his Mom cried...

{Our Silver Muffineer Custom Made After Antique Model}

Being an International Consultant did Open Up the World to us. So no wonder that after finding in a favorite magazine a beautiful Antique Silver Muffineer, we actually could have ours Custom Made after that model!
WOW... Would you not take the opportunity?

This is IT! Don't you think it is lovely?

This was the page from the magazine with the Antique Muffineer...

Custom made for us in Kotagede, Indonesia!

Below this post you find a link about the making of silver in Kotagede.

Now, eat your heart out! Sprinkle some generous powdered sugar on your waffles, add some maple syrup and whipped cream from the tiny French ramekins.

All china is Pillivuyt France and all can be used in the oven as well!

Rose silverware is from Germany. Silber-und-Rosen-Shop might have some similar pieces...

Crystal wine glass is from Our Life in Italy. Don't know the pattern name... Wish I could find out!

Vintage linen tablecloth with roses...

Raspberries are so yummy and so are blueberries and strawberries...

A  better view of the silver muffineer and the crystal glass.

Don't know if it is from Italy but we bought it there when we were living and working in Italy.

To wet your appetite... Grade A Maple syrup to the left and whipped cream.

And YES, I do LOVE roses...!

So how did you like our Silver Muffineer and its use?

You like to have some waffles now; please have a seat in our gazebo at this table...

If only we could eat there again but WINTER is not YET OVER!

Thanks for visiting.

Related link:
{Antique French 19th Century 950/1000 Silver & Crystal Muffineer, Sugar Shaker, Caster Sifter} | previous post by me
{1862 Christofle Sugar Sifter Spoon 'Filet Violon'} | my 2nd Most Popular All Time Post
{Antique 19th Century Silver Toast Rack Replica, Made in Kotagede, Indonesia}| previous post by me
{Have YOU Ever Seen the Making of Silver in Kotagede, Indonesia?} | previous post by me

{Splendid book about Silver Rose Flatware} | previous blog post with mention of author Johanna Gehrlein
The tarnished future of Kotagede silver | The Jakarta Post, December 11, 2009
THE SILVER SOCIETY about the making of silver