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Here I would love to share with you our travels and adventures as international mushroom consultants. MEMOIRS about husband Pieter Vedder, who was a SCIENTIFIC PIONEER in Commercial Mushroom Cultivation Education. His practical handbook is in 9 languages and is called the MUSHROOM BIBLE: https://mariettesbacktobasics.blogspot.com/2020/08/modern-mushroom-growing-2020-harvesting.html

Tuesday, December 25, 2018

Our Historic Christmas in Italy - END of Romania's Communist Dictator

As most of you know, we lived and worked about one year in Italy.
That also included one Christmas...
Watching TV on Christmas day, in Italian and also in Romanian, which I understand for about 60% since it is one of the Roman languages.
 old Romanian: 'NIMIC FARA DUMNEDEU'
Meaning: 'NOTHING WITHOUT GOD'

On December 22, 1989 the Romanian Revolution had started.
On December 25, 1989 the communist dictator from Romania got executed together with his wife...
Execution of Romanian Dictator Ceausescu and his wife Elena on Christmas day 1989 click on link.
Quite shocking to see this unfold on TV on Christmas Day! 
Read more about Romania by clicking this link.
Still former Communists dominated the country till 1996...
The place where both got executed is now a national museum and you can see photos here.
We've never been to Romania yet...

We didn't study politics, but traveling and working almost all over the globe, we have seen too much of the negative impact on the population as a result of communism and socialism. 
Almost all over the globe and including our then neighboring countries close to Italy, like Slovenia where our First Lady Melania is born.
In my work in Italy, I've trained several women from Slovenia who fled before the breakup of the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. 
We both lived in the Province of Treviso, near Venice, Italy.
Our cars did arrive per container from the USA, in the harbor of Trieste, which is right on the border with Slovenia.
We had to go there, to pick them up and driving both cars home.
Our First Lady Melania Trump is born in Novo Mesto, not far from Trieste.
Melania did grow up in Sevnica, which is only 2 hours and 15 minutes away from Trieste!
San Lorenzo in Raka, Slovenia where First Lady Melania got baptized
Melania Trump was baptized Catholic, confirms Slovenian Cardinal Franc Rodé click on link.
In an interview by Larry King in 2005 Melania is saying that she left Slovenia 15 years ago, so that means she left in 1990. We left Italy in January of 1990,
Click here and go to minute 12:37 where she starts saying this.
Husband Pieter and I can only admire our First Lady Melania Trump, for having come from such a difficult, communist environment and yet, having made it to Milan, Italy and later to Paris, France before coming to New York, USA while being a super model.
Now she is our classy and elegant First Lady!

On Thursday, August 3 of 1995, we had a Slovenian and Romanian Wrestling Team practice in our town of Dublin, Georgia/USA for the Olympics that were held in Atlanta.
Our local Chamber of Commerce called me to ask if I knew Slovenian or Romanian. No I said but I sure can understand Romanian and if I speak slowly Italian, we can communicate. That's what we did over supper and those men had an entire wish list for their girlfriends that I could translate into English and also point them to the right store for obtaining... They were very happy and we felt good as well.

Both of us also have visited another communist country, Hungary and we have seen with our own eyes the impoverished people's suffering.

We only pray that more and more people in this world, still under communist rule, will get to experience their FREEDOM.
God forbid that our own USA is going the Socialist route...
We both have come a long way for escaping its vicinity and at times it looks like we're heading right into it!

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Sunday, December 23, 2018

LOVED singing in Händel's Messiah

MUSIC is FOOD for the SOUL
Even more so when it is being composed by Georg Friedrich Händel...
December is a busy month for ALL, but I did commit myself to sing in one more choir since it is our favorite: Händel's Messiah!
Second row from the top, 2nd from left behind lady in sleeveless dress, I'm singing my heart out as a soprano.
We sang 7 songs and in-between we had a tenor, bas, alto and soprano sing a solo.
The Orchestra played great and we only rehearsed together with the orchestra, the day before!
Twice we'd rehearsed + performed on the actual day though!
Our local TV35, did capture the entire performance: Handel Messiah at Theatre Dublin click this link.
In the above screenshot from full video, finally the drummer and trumpet players are being shown as well!
I'm just sitting down here...
Husband Pieter did enjoy both performances and felt very proud of me singing with the choir.
That was our Händel's Messiah, with Georgia Southern University Magnolia String Quartet
First United Methodist Church Chancel Choir and Orchestra

No doubt, it made my Mom smile down from heaven, hearing her 2nd daughter sing soprano, like she used to do in her choir...
My Paternal Grandmother also sang as soprano, together with her friend my Mother-in-law who was a 2nd soprano.
Of course, my Dad who still sings but no longer as a first tenor.
Just learned that Dad quit singing, due to his severe flu recently he has said his farewell to the choir...
Used this link of:  Händel's Messiah since it was spelled correctly in German!
Encyclopedia Brittannica shows it correct: Georg Friedrich Händel with the German Umlaut, which can also be replaced by 'ae' as: Haendel.
Both, Pieter and I did sing in a previous Händel's Messiah, in 1995...
With all our traveling as International Consultants it was not easy to keep up—but we committed ourselves.
A very small segment can be seen/heard here at my Parents' home on September 20, 1995
 ←click link for video
~
Only 3 days earlier, Pieter snapped this photo from part of our choir the Knight Owls, performing at the annual Christmas Revue. Me, 2nd row, 2nd from left...
Since my double, closed pelvic bone fracture, I no longer dare to stand on the top riser!
We do have lots of talent in this group and it feels warm and fuzzy to belong!
This is what I was wearing when performing with the Knight Owls at different events and since the Christmas Revue we also did perform at two local nursing homes.
My Escada Jacquard Knit Rose Sweater with a wide belt (from Indonesia) on Wolford leggings.
 Fake fur leg warmers from Walmart that I did fold over my boots from Italy and fake fur fingerless gloves from Walmart.

Husband Pieter and I are facing our 35th Christmas, without any family nearby.
To both of us, Christmas is the pure religious meaning.
Only in 2004, we did have our foster-daughter Anita staying with us.
Fond memories!
Still wear my hair calf boots and skirt from Escada with black sweater.
Cat boy Barty on the left is still with us but not Spooky on the right who died at age 3.5 because of heart worm...

 Wishing each of you a Merry Christmas! 

Wednesday, December 19, 2018

My 3rd trip to India - Consulting Together with Husband Pieter

On Saturday, February 15, 1992 we did start our 3rd trip together to India for consulting.
We did have an entire row of chairs in the plane, so we would be able to stretch out during the night flight. BUT it did not work...
 The plane was defect and we ended up up in the Sheraton hotel, after a couple of hours waiting...
On Sunday, we had the evening flight from Atlanta to Amsterdam, and we had an upgrade into business class.
On Monday we got dropped off at the Hilton hotel for the day and night...
On Tuesday February 18, we continued to Delhi and again an upgrade into business class in row 71, in the upper deck of a big Jumbo 747.
Wednesday we arrived in Delhi, and a person from Pond's India met us and brought us to the Taj Palace Hotel for a couple of hours as we both wanted to continue on to Madras with another flight with one stop in Hyderabad.
There again, we got met by people from Pond's India and they brought us to a hotel for a couple of hours till our final flight to Coimbatore with a stop in Bangalore...
We were greeted by familiar faces from the mushroom farm and after eating something at a restaurant we started our trip into the mountains and reached the hotel by 21:00, Southern Star (Quality Inn) in Ooty, Tamil Nadu State.
On Thursday, February 20, we finally arrive at the mushroom farm!
A beautiful view high in the Nilgiri Mountains!
View from above where you see the compost ricks to the left in front of the pasteurization rooms.
Sorry for the photo quality, but we had to have our photos and slides developed in Indonesia, where we lived and worked at that time...
Pieter did climb even higher for taking this one...
From above, compost ricks on the left and sheds to the right...
To the left, bottom, you can see the rail road track.
Climbing more down, a nice over view.
Yep, physical climbing we both have done a LOT while living and working in the mountains!
While Pieter descended, he could capture this nice view of all the excavation and reinforcement done at this site.
That's me, on my feet reaching the sheds for doing training.
The shoes I was wearing here, I left behind at the end of this work trip.
Pieter did the same with his shoes...
No need for cleaning them up in order to carry in the suitcase on the plane.
We saw so many people work bare footed!
BUT what we didn't know yet, was that our villa in Indonesia had been robbed and ALL my shoes were gone... I only had left what I had on my feet.
Everything else in the villa got robbed as well!
Walking and climbing...
Here Pieter gives a great view of the pre-wetting of the straw and the mixing in of more ingredients.
Women adding chicken litter to the straw... To the right you see one of the chutes.
Women with dry chicken litter...
Dry chicken litter, ready for mixing in.
Pre-wetting and mixing in ingredients...
Forming the ricks...
Then the process can start for making selective nutrients for growing mushrooms!
And this is the end result!
A very nice first break is growing here, ready for harvesting and then two more breaks will continue to grow before it is all being emptied out and started over...
Detail of the bamboo racks, their local product.

Hope you enjoyed seeing a bit more of the actual process for growing mushrooms.
Thanks for your visit and comment!

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