The 7-5 Celebration

It was exactly a week ago when I turned 75 and celebrated the milestone with 4 of our dearest friends outside of the senior community here where we live in the Netherlands.

It was a "surprise" celebration, which I put in quotes because Astrid needed to talk to me about some of it, saying she's "not good at planning such things."  I gladly helped her, assuring her that we could keep our own secret.  It also enabled me to cook up some of my own surprises, which I'll get to in a minute.

With social distancing in mind, and wanting to stay outside, rain or shine, we chose to have a BBQ at Harry and Liesbeth's (5 km from us) because they not only had the social-distancing space but an outdoor shelter in case of rain.  It was perfect.  Mutual friends, Femke and Jeannette, would also join us.

The party started at 2 p.m., in time for a Dutch koffie break...

and my birthday cake, which meant eating dessert first!

Hoera = Hurray!

Femke designed the marzipan "frosting" and the 3-layered cake, done by a nearby bakery.

And because I had the honor of cutting it, I chose my eyes for me, myself and I.

During that koffie-cake break, gifts were given to me to open...

 and then from me to them to open!

Because I knew ahead of time about the "surprise," I made sure I had my 4 pairs of socks for them

finished in time to give them a thank-you for their friendship over the years.

They all knew I was making socks for them...just not when.

From left to right:  Harry, Femke, Liesbeth and Jeannette.
They had all chosen their own yarn previously, with all their measurements.

You know what they say:  it's more blessed to give than to receive!
[All socks with yarn info are now added to my SOCKS post here.]

 From the koffie patio we segued to the covered BBQ area till we left at 8 p.m..

Harry was our Dutch BBQ grill master for the afternoon and evening.

But first, PROOST = CHEERS!

What makes a Dutch BBQ different from what I'm used to in America 

is the length of time it lasts while each meat is grilled, one at a time, until all courses are done:

in this case it was hamburgers, Irish and Dutch sausages, chicken and speklap = Dutch bacon. 

Don't forget the grilled corn-on-the-cob, of course, which was my true dessert!

Did I mention that Harry is Irish?  

So when Liesbeth offered us an Irish koffie (with Jameson whiskey), she didn't have to ask me twice.

How do you drink an Irish koffie on your 75th birthday?  Any way you want!  :)

Happy Birthday to moi!

And a big THANK YOU to the hosts-with-the-most, Harry and Liesbeth.

A final THANK YOU to Astrid, the love of my life, who helped make it all happen,

decorating up a storm and making me feel like the Queen for a Day.

The day happened this way because of the COVID-19 restrictions, but to be honest,

I couldn't have asked for a better birthday celebration. Seriously!

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

As if all of that were not enough, the very next day we visited with Jeroen and Eva, with granddaughter Hailey, at their house, our first time since March.  

Their gift to me was something I've wanted for a long time (thanks to Astrid's bug in their ear):

Obama:  an Intimate Portrait, by Pete Souza, White House photographer.

O M G

Enough said, other than this particular number, 75, has given me pause.

We all know we're mortal, of course, but now I feel it more than ever.

It's not negative, stressful, heavy or scary.  Maybe a bit...sobering?

But trust me, I'll do my best to wear it as a badge of honor.  

It's my gift to myself to do so.

Astrid's Quilt for Hailey

[Before I get started, and if you never saw THIS post from 2011, let me remind you that I really don't think there's anything she can't do.  The following is a case in point...her first and only quilt ever.]

Back in September last year we gave granddaughter Hailey an indoors tent for her first birthday, picked from a list of gifts Mama Eva had given us.  At that time, Astrid told Eva she would make a quilt and pillows for it to make it more cozy.

That project was started in January this year when Astrid first did a 7.5 x 10-inch mock-up of what she had in mind:

Finding the paper colors she wanted, she first cut out individual triangles to fit the pattern together.

I've discovered that this is almost always what she does before she starts a project!

She already had the silver, satiny fabric as the glue to hold everything together,

and then asked me to go with her to the fabric shop to pick out the hot pink and blackish fabrics,

having already calculated exactly how much she'd need of each.

Just like with her mock-up, she then cut out all the cloth triangles and placed them on the blanket

that had been Papa Jeroen's as a child (he's 31 now) and which would be the backing of her quilt.

Then she started stitching the triangles together, making squares...

...and then strips.

Of course, she was ironing everything as she went along...

until it was all stitched together and laid again on top of the blanket.

Yes, it fit exactly (of course)!

She then added a hot-pink border before attaching it to the blue border of the blanket,

and then top-stitched around every black piece to finish it off.

When you turn the quilt over, smack-dab in the center are these two tiny mice characters.

I made sure that Astrid used THIS blanket because of those mice.  How endearing, right?!

And because the blanket was thick enough, no quilt batting was necessary.

The crowning touch:  Oma Astrid 2020

As if all of that wasn't enough, the pillows!

Astrid made all of them with zippers so that Mama can wash them whenever.

Another crowning touch, with dear Hailey inside her tent in her play room upstairs.

THIS is what Astrid had pictured all along, finalized by the end of March.

Don't you just love it?!

[photos by Astrid; collages by moi]