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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 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
Showing posts with label South Africa. Show all posts
Showing posts with label South Africa. Show all posts

Sunday, August 9, 2020

Pieter in Suspenders Then and Now


Whenever one travels, there is a chance you come upon unique finds.
Thus was the case on our trip to South Africa where husband Pieter lectured at a conference and where both of us traveled all around for visiting numerous mushroom farms. 
On Monday, November 18 of 1985, we found this couture shirt of Lanvin for only $ 32.00 due to the fluctuation of the South African Rand.
Here on June 22, 1986 husband Pieter is wearing it with his white cotton pique pants and leather suspenders.
Fast forward, 24 years later, same husband, same cotton pique pants and new leather suspenders.
Now paired with an Outlet find from Last Call by Neiman Marcus at the Colonnade Outlets at Sawgrass, FL.
This is a Brioni shirt, that we found for a steal!
Husband Pieter never gained any weight, just like me; same size all the time.
The Brioni shirt needs to be worn with cuff links but Pieter got several pair.
You can also see the detail of the pique pants where I stitched the crease, so it always stays in impeccable and thus avoiding a double crease.
See previous post below.

Do you like suspenders?


Related link:
Part II - Pretoria and Sandton City, South Africa | previous post by me, where we purchased Pieter's Lanvin shirt in Sandton, S.A.

Tuesday, January 23, 2018

South Africa's GENOCIDE Against the White People

In my previous XVI posts I did show you the beauty of South Africa, which we were fortunate to experience.

Just like my earlier post about Kashmir, where only husband Pieter did visit, {Shocking, Tragic and Horrible untold story of Kashmiri Hindus} it does affect us in a major way for knowing the untold story of South Africa's GENOCIDE against the white people.
Both of us actually WORKED and interacted with the people and that is quite different from being a TOURIST!
That gives you insight through the contact you have with the real people.
No cover up by the liberal Main Stream Media reporter...
A very sad fact is that over the October month in 2017, there were 18, mainly Dutch named farmers killed in South Africa.
This is from Thierry Baudet's Twitter account, a Dutch politician, writer and historicus and one of the FEW that speak out on behalf of those murdered!

Aantal moorden op blanke boeren stijgt: over het waarom is Zuid-Afrika verdeeld from a 2017 Dutch Volkskrant article.
Murder rate on white farmers rises: about why - South Africa is divided.
Screenshot above is translated segment of the above Dutch Volkskrant article, by Safari, into English.
Husband Pieter and I have lived and worked in Indonesia and there, I also followed the entire trial of Winnie Madikizela Mandela and that was most shocking!
Doubt if the liberal MSM did show all that to the western world as well.
This was in Bahasa Indonesia, not easy but I did manage. That's how you really LEARN!
How people have suffered and how things get covered up.
Both of the Mandelas have blood on their hands!
Early on Nelson Mandela was singing about killing whites click for video.
Jacob Zuma sings "Kill the Boer" at ANC Centenery Celebrations in Bloemfontein, South Africa click for video. Also here.
"Saint" Mandela? Not So Fast! click for story. Chilling video footage above, of Mandela singing the ANC/MK genocide song about killing whites is NOT a saint-like image...
Those Mandela/Zuma genocide endorsements have caused already thousands of deaths.
 South Africa: Where Corruption, Rape and Murder Are Normal... is what Mandela/Zuma and their ANC have yielded!
THE GRUESOME REALITY OF RACIST SOUTH AFRICA
KILL THE BOERE!!!
KILL THE FARMER
Leftist silence on the genocidal race hatred of the Marxist government they once supported.
The international community looked away, satisfied that justice had prevailed. They continue to look away, even as South Africa has degenerated into another racist pit, best described by an Afrikaner farm owner: "It's politically correct to kill whites these days."
While we lived and worked in Indonesia in the 1990s, we so many times have listened to the Dutch World Radio and the horror stories of those Dutch Farmers in South Africa, and some British too.
Helping each other out by using radio to signal that they need help when being attacked and often brutally murdered.
And the world remained SILENT and still!
Some brave people do blog about these barbaric atrocities, to let the world know.
NO MSM is ever covering this!!!
Yes, it breaks our hearts knowing how this once so beautiful country is going down after more than 350 years.
Click for: Graphic images of Farm Murders in South Africa
NOT FOR SENSITIVE VIEWERS.
The government claim these attacks are normal criminals
Criminals that want to steal from the farms
'Bury them alive!': White South Africans fear for their future as horrific farm attacks escalate click on link
Nearly every day, horrific acts of rape, torture and murder are carried out on a community under siege. WARNING: Graphic


SOUTH AFRICAN White Squatter Camps click for horrific video, showing you how the poor whites live because they are refused any support from the government...


On January 8: Tourist in Noordhook stabbed with sharp object from South Africa Today - even Cape Town is no longer human friendly!
70,000 Whites Murdered in 'Modern' South Africa; Obama's African Legacy just click on link to see the reality since power has changed to the ANC.
Just as recent as September, 2017 Massive blow to tourism as 36 Dutch tourists robbed at gunpoint by 'police'  - Within 49 hours of their arrival!

Young Canadian Lauren Southern is speaking out about South Africa - Why White People? and daring to say that it is not talked about in the international press... 
South Africa - Why White People? Published on Jan 20, 2018
Click on hyperlink to video.
The Reality of South African Farm Murders just published on Jan 24, 2018 by this brave Canadian journalist...


Thank you for your visit and please keep these White Farmers in South Africa in your prayers and may the word come out on behalf of those that no longer have a voice...

Related links:
Part XVI - Zulu Beaded Knobkerrie and Other Gifts from S.A. | previous post by me
Part XV - Flora from South Africa | previous post by me
Part XIV - The Royal Hotel in Durban, South Africa | previous post by me
Part XIII - Medallion Mushrooms, Stellenbsoch, South Africa | previous post by me
Part XII - Cape Malay Wedding in The Company's Garden, Cape Town, S.A. | previous post by me
Part XI - Rhodes  Memorial on Devil's Peak in Cape Town, S.A. | previous post by me
Part X - Cape Town, South Africa | previous post by me
Part IX - BLAAUWKLIPPEN Homestead in Sellenbosch, South Africa | previous post by me
Part VIII - Stellenbosch, S.A. with its Cape Dutch Architecture | previous post by me
Part VII -  Lanzerac Hotel in Stellenbosch, South Africa | previous post by me
Part VI - Interview at South African Broadcasting Corporation in Joburg | previous post by me
Part V - Tongaat Mushrooms in Bryanston, South Africa | previous post by me
Part IV - INDABA Hotel, Spa & Conference Centre in Bryanston, South Africa | previous post by me
Part III - Highveld Mushrooms in Bryanston, South Africa | previous post by me
Part II - Pretoria and Sandton City, South Africa | previous post by me
Part I - Johannesburg, South Africa | previous post by me
My South Africa Publication Around Husband Pieter's Lectures at Congress | previous post by me



Friday, January 19, 2018

Part XVI - Zulu Beaded Knobkerrie and Other Gifts from S.A.

In Part XIII, I've mentioned that I went with Patricia shopping in Stellenbosch on Monday, November 25, 1985. That yielded a 3-cups French Melior cafetière; a Zulu knobkerrie and a tiny Zulu spoon; a wooden Dachshund for in my type tray; a leather P keyring for my Dad and that's it. 
So here I want to show you those little treasures.
They are all lined up against the received book, a gift that I got earlier at the Congress.
Starting out with the little French Melior Cafetière, I will show them to you one by one.
This 3 cups Melior cafetière I purchased for South African Rand 43.40 or US $ 16.51
100 US $ were R 262.81 and the Rand was equal to the Dutch Guilder at the time.
Melior, Made in France
Made for 3 cups. Well, be aware that is the French demitasse size - not American coffee mug sizes!
We already had the larger 8 cups and this was perfect for making smaller portions of coffee and easy to handle inside our luggage!
Tried to clean this Rhodium plate Melior but it did not work... Pardon the look!
Melior instructions in French, English, German and Spanish.
This 3 cups cafetière I always grab for making the strong coffee that I use for making Tiramisu.
Always perfect coffee, never BITTER!
Okay, now we're awake so lets continue...
It was not yet 3 months ago that I'd lost my beloved miniature Dachshund Mauzie girl...
So home came this wooden Mauzie for in my type tray!
The tail is missing and over the years I have no idea how that happened.
It travelled home with us from Stellenbosch, South Africa, than moved to Pennsylvania and across the Ocean to Italy and back again across the Ocean to Georgia. Quite a journey for a lot of fragile objects!
The bottom of this wooden Mauzie is signed F.B. 
The Zulu beaded spoon is behind it...
Here you see the small wooden Zulu spoon with beaded end and loop for hanging.
Behind it lays the Zulu Knobkerrie carved from wood and entirely beaded with a loop for hanging. 
I only paid US $ 9.22 for these beaded wooden gifts.
Don't you love those bright colors of the meticulous beading?
This small spoon has a beaded loop for hanging.
One only has to admire this perfect Zulu beading work on the handle of the larger wooden Knobkerrie.
Showing the beading work more towards the end.
Such a Knobkerrie is a primitive weapon!
Such were our little gifts. Not much but considering our very limited budget, it meant a lot to us.
Don't have a picture of the leather Key Holder with letter P embossed that we got for my Dad.
~
Having been invited to the Congress and getting travel and hotels paid for was to us an enormous reward in itself for seeing this beautiful country!
Many thanks to our Mushroom Friends from South Africa - we forever keep these fond memories with us.
It was only on Friday, April 26 of 1985, that we got our mortgage for the house in Dublin, Georgia.
Quite a while after we arrived here on August 29, 1983...
Because husband Pieter's ex did NOT sign any papers, we could not get married right away.
That also delayed our Green Card application etc. etc.
Campbell Soup did buy the house and let us live there which was very generous!
For our marriage we had to fly back to The Netherlands 2.5 months later...
Slowly the entire process started and it took over one year before husband Pieter received his FIRST pay check! 
Campbell's did not want to employ anyone without a green card...
We lived from the saving money we had; very, very frugal!
Pieter did leave his ex the entire house, including furniture + a new car.
He was just too happy for having found TRUE LOVE and the opportunity of starting all over again.
That's what we did, not easy but we proudly look back on our accomplishments.
Oh, the mortgage was at 12.5 % interest and set for 15 years, written at the bottom of my leather agenda in above photo, under April 26.
Pieter also very generously has paid his ex, alimony over 32 years of time and the study costs for his adopted daughter (she was the daughter of his ex's 1st cousin) for the Dutch Royal Academy. 
Needless to say that we never could deduct a single penny for all those expenses as it was used for pay outside of the U.S.A.
Both of us had to live off less than half of his salary, minus payment for the mortgage and for my little Ford Escort...

BACK TO BASICS and living a content but simple life!

Thank you for your visits and comments on these series about South Africa.


Related links;
Part XV - Flora from South Africa | previous post by me
Part XIV - The Royal Hotel in Durban, South Africa | previous post by me
Part XIII - Medallion Mushrooms, Stellenbsoch, South Africa | previous post by me
Part XII - Cape Malay Wedding in The Company's Garden, Cape Town, S.A. | previous post by me
Part XI - Rhodes  Memorial on Devil's Peak in Cape Town, S.A. | previous post by me
Part X - Cape Town, South Africa | previous post by me
Part IX - BLAAUWKLIPPEN Homestead in Sellenbosch, South Africa | previous post by me
Part VIII - Stellenbosch, S.A. with its Cape Dutch Architecture | previous post by me
Part VII -  Lanzerac Hotel in Stellenbosch, South Africa | previous post by me
Part VI - Interview at South African Broadcasting Corporation in Joburg | previous post by me
Part V - Tongaat Mushrooms in Bryanston, South Africa | previous post by me
Part IV - INDABA Hotel, Spa & Conference Centre in Bryanston, South Africa | previous post by me
Part III - Highveld Mushrooms in Bryanston, South Africa | previous post by me
Part II - Pretoria and Sandton City, South Africa | previous post by me
Part I - Johannesburg, South Africa | previous post by me
My South Africa Publication Around Husband Pieter's Lectures at Congress | previous post by me



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Monday, January 15, 2018

Part XV - Flora from South Africa

As much as we love the country we travel to, both husband Pieter and I do love nature!
So whenever we have a chance, we admire the flowers and things of natural beauty.
Beautiful Proteas in the garden... Africa's famous export flower!
En route to the mushroom farm in Tongaat KwaZulu-Natal the road was lined with Canna lilies and also you can see the blooming Flamboyant trees with their red blossoms.
Flamboyant tree loaded with blossoms.
Guess this one was near the mushroom farm...
Kaffirboom S. Africa Erythrina caffra Coral Tree
Aloe Candelabra S. Africa that we saw near Joburg where we also saw Baboons eat... near a huge dam.
Guess Pieter tried to capture the Weaver bird's nest but also a Bougainvillea is seen here.
Post card with flowering gums in the foreground
Bouquet of Proteas on a post card
Protea from a slide we bought, there are so many varieties
GIANT PROTEA S. Africa Protea Cynaroides specimen
CAPE ERICA S. Africa Ericaceae
ROYAL PAINTBRUSH S. Africa

Thank you for your visit to this South Africa Flora post.
Stay tuned for the next Part XVI where I show the special little gifts I brought back home...


Related links:
Part XIV - The Royal Hotel in Durban, South Africa | previous post by me
Part XIII - Medallion Mushrooms, Stellenbosch, South Africa | previous post by me
Part XII - Cape Malay Wedding in The Company's Garden, Cape Town, S.A. | previous post by me
Part XI - Rhodes  Memorial on Devil's Peak in Cape Town, S.A. | previous post by me
Part X - Cape Town, South Africa | previous post by me
Part IX - BLAAUWKLIPPEN Homestead in Sellenbosch, South Africa | previous post by me
Part VIII - Stellenbosch, S.A. with its Cape Dutch Architecture | previous post by me
Part VII -  Lanzerac Hotel in Stellenbosch, South Africa | previous post by me
Part VI - Interview at South African Broadcasting Corporation in Joburg | previous post by me
Part V - Tongaat Mushrooms in Bryanston, South Africa | previous post by me
Part IV - INDABA Hotel, Spa & Conference Centre in Bryanston, South Africa | previous post by me
Part III - Highveld Mushrooms in Bryanston, South Africa | previous post by me
Part II - Pretoria and Sandton City, South Africa | previous post by me
Part I - Johannesburg, South Africa | previous post by me
My South Africa Publication Around Husband Pieter's Lectures at Congress | previous post by me



Thursday, January 11, 2018

Part XIV - The Royal Hotel in Durban, South Africa

On Monday, November 25 of 1985, it was a rather short flight from Cape Town to Durban in less than 2 hours.
André Bouer did pick us up at the airport and dropped us off at The Royal Hotel in Durban.
We did walk for about an hour in the center of Durban and went to bed.
Picture taken from our room, overlooking the square.
And this is what we saw in the morning...
More to the side as seen from our room.
Google map where you see The Royal Hotel (center bottom) and the building to the right and in top photos is Durban Natural Science Museum, former City Hall and the other building with its steeple to the left, is the Post Office.
From this Google picture for Durban City Hall you can clearly see to the right The Royal Hotel where we stayed and with such perfect view.
We did check out on Tuesday, November 26, by 8:30 and left with André Bouer for visiting the 3 Tongaat farms.
It was a 37 km drive and we visited 2 farms and then went on to the main office for the mushrooms, which is in Tongaat, KwaZulu-Natal. 
After lunch, Pieter did do an entire afternoon of teaching.
 By 18:00 we rode with Jim Dicks to Durban and flew with him to Johannesburg in 1 hour = JNB
We had dinner at Jim Dicks' home, where his wife Pat had cooked a delicious meal. 
The other couple that joined us for dinner, did drop us off at the Holiday Inn, Sandton and we went to bed.
We had come full circle, ending at the very hotel where we started...
Next day, November 27, we got up by 8:00 and packed up. Breakfast and one last garden walk while waiting for Chris Richardson who took us to Highveld mushrooms.
Pieter did a farm review. We did have lunch with Chris and Norgan, somewhere out in the country.
Big Aloe Candalabra, where also baboons were eating and we saw a big dam.
That would be the farewell for beautiful South Africa.
Colin Jacobson did drop us off at Jan Smuts airport in Joburg and we met again with Don Needham who will fly back with us to the USA.
Via Kinshasa to Brussels where we landed at 6:30 on November 28.
My brother Harry met us there and we drove with him to my Parents.
A very quick family visit, Pieter's Mom in the nursing home and my Parents.
On November 29, we departed from Brussels by 12:05 together with Donald Needham and via Boston to Atlanta in 11 hours!!
On December 1, Pieter left for his trip to the mushroom division from Campbell, in Reading, PA.
Barely ONE day at home because that same day we left by 10:00 for Atlanta with one of the staff members and their little child for a Dutch Sinterklaas celebration at the Marriott, Atlanta.
Such were the days when travel was the norm!

Thanks for your visit and stay tuned for Part XV about Flora from South Africa


Related links:
Part XIII - Medallion Mushrooms, Stellenbosch, South Africa | previous post by me
Part XII - Cape Malay Wedding in The Company's Garden, Cape Town, S.A. | previous post by me
Part XI - Rhodes  Memorial on Devil's Peak in Cape Town, S.A. | previous post by me
Part X - Cape Town, South Africa | previous post by me
Part IX - BLAAUWKLIPPEN Homestead in Sellenbosch, South Africa | previous post by me
Part VIII - Stellenbosch, S.A. with its Cape Dutch Architecture | previous post by me
Part VII -  Lanzerac Hotel in Stellenbosch, South Africa | previous post by me
Part VI - Interview at South African Broadcasting Corporation in Joburg | previous post by me
Part V - Tongaat Mushrooms in Bryanston, South Africa | previous post by me
Part IV - INDABA Hotel, Spa & Conference Centre in Bryanston, South Africa | previous post by me
Part III - Highveld Mushrooms in Bryanston, South Africa | previous post by me
Part II - Pretoria and Sandton City, South Africa | previous post by me
Part I - Johannesburg, South Africa | previous post by me
My South Africa Publication Around Husband Pieter's Lectures at Congress | previous post by me



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