It has been about three months since you got my last newsletter about the launch of my father's book, “ANGEL OF DEATH” by Dr. Mick de Vries. Since then, we have been quite occupied with the Bed and Breakfast and have had some interesting guests from all over the world in our Happy House.
Then we produced a one-woman show by Charla Hatheway called “NAKED AT MY AGE” in the Orange Church. The show was, alas, not a great success, but luckily, our American friend, the crooner with a Sinatra-like voice, SHAI SHAHAR, introduced her with a couple of sexy songs.
After that, Philip went for a two-week, well-deserved vacation to the Spanish Basque Country and Rioja.
PHILIP: “I started in Bilbao, where I visited the famous Guggenheim museum, then I drove through a beautiful countryside among the coast and in the mountains, the picturesque fishing villages, ancient towns with fascinating architecture, and some rich churches. Great museums, like the San Telmo museum in San Sebastian, where they had a very interesting temporary exhibition about Indians in the Amazon Forest and how this beautiful nature and the Indians are maltreated. In Logroño, the capital of the Rioja region, I visited the interesting Rioja museum. I slept in some gorgeous hotels, like an old converted castle, where they gave me the posh Napoleon suite. Since I booked last minute and the hotel clerks appreciated that I approached them in Spanish, they always upgraded me, since it was the low season anyway. What surprised me was that the country roads I took in Spain were well-maintained, and as soon as I crossed the border into France, the roads were bumpy and full of holes. I had left Xaviera in very good care with our two assistants of the bed and breakfast, and all my prepared healthy meals were being served to her morning, noon, and night. Xaviera did not get bored; she arranged some meetings with old friends.”
XAVIERA: Some sad news happened, while Philip was gone… our good friend, PETER VAN ZONNEVELD, died after suffering from cancer for a couple of weeks in a hospice. We met Peter for the first time in Bronbeek, where he, as a professor in the Dutch language who specialized in Indonesian history, managed a meeting with war survivors, where Xaviera, a war victim herself, was invited for an interview by him. We attended the funeral one day after Philip had returned from Spain. The love of Peter's life for the last 20 years, MARIANNE TERMORSHUIZEN – ARTS, shared the same work and is the one who painted this lovely portrait of him for his death announcement. She, Philip, and I will no doubt stay in regular touch with her.
XAVIERA: While cleaning up my cupboards full of my books, I happened to come across an incredibly interesting and haunting book called “XAVIERA’S MAGIC MUSHROOMS.” That book was published in 1980 and turned out to be a fascinating story. About my research to find the house where I was born in Surabaya. It’s a mixture of very sexy stories, but also extremely emotional ones, about true love, frivolous sex, and flashbacks of my trips to the Far East, and even finding the house where I was born in Surabaya on June 15, 1943.
During my travels to some of these fascinating locations, I met a lot of mostly interesting men and horny women and had sex with dozens of them. I did, however, during my trip to Australia, have to be most careful not to get sexually involved with any Australians during my book promotion; however, I had meanwhile been introduced to a super fabulous world-famous American actor in the same hotel, where I was staying. He is known for his wild sex life, and he kept me very busy, without anyone outside the hotel having a clue what happened between him and me.
This reminds me of the day that my first book, The Happy Hooker, came out at a big press party at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in Manhattan, where my publisher had booked me a gorgeous room.
OUR SWEET DOGGY LUNA
Here is the story I will never forget of that afternoon, while I stood in the lift with a dozen other visitors. All of a sudden, the elevator door opened, and who showed up right in front of me? HARRY BELAFONTE, whose song MY ISLAND IN THE SUN HAD TURNED ME on QUITE SOME TIMES I HEARD IT ON TV. He greeted me and introduced himself, putting his warm hand on my naked shoulder. “Do you mind selling me your book, please?” he asked me, “and can you please sign it for me?” I quivered with excitement and grabbed one of my books, took a pen from my handbag, and signed “THE BIGGER, THE BLACKER, THE BETTER?” To which he wrote "FOR ME TO KNOW, FOR YOU TO FIND OUT!!! SEE ME IN ROOM 222."
My dream came true shortly afterwards, and now, so many years later, my dear husband has found me one of his elpees , which he placed on our big table… and guess what? Quite recently, I saw on TV that my darling black lover had just died. I burst into tears and kissed his gorgeous face, and then placed the record in my record cabinet. That night I decided, when I went to bed, to make a pass at myself by using my lovely clitorector vibrator and thinking of the great orgasms that man had given me so many years ago!!
Philip and our sweet doggy Luna enjoy walking each day for at least an hour in the beautiful Beatrix Park, where Luna plays with other dogs; her favorite is her namesake, a sweet Maltese. They jump on top of each other and run to get rid of their energy. Sometimes, even scaring the swans with their extensive little families, when one of the dogs accidentally falls into the water.
MARIANNE STRACK VAN SCHENDEL—one of my most cheerful, generous, busy, and sometimes a bit noisy girlfriends, who lives in the next city to Amsterdam: AMSTELVEEN. She must be in her early seventies. We share some American girlfriends from the past. Her mother is the main person in her life. Marianne still looks after her almost daily, though she lives in a gated community, full of other old people, who are what we call PENSIONADOS. Ah, well, back to TODAY WINTER OF 2025. The old lady is not quite gaga, but still alive and mad about jewellery, and especially colorful earrings.
So what I decided to do last week was to invite Marianne over to our house and donate her an entire lovely, colorful handbag full of multicolored earrings and necklaces. Apparently the management of the old age home where her mother has been living for the last 7 years, have opened a shop right outside the door to the house, where people can grab any of the toys or tools or jewelry friends leave behind .and put some money in a little box, so the management can take the old pensionados on a weekend out, say to the royal palace, or a ride with a magnificent boat full of music and food and drinks. Ah, well. This Marianne will be here to spend one of the Christmas afternoons with Philip, me, and some other friends.
Yesterday, a dear friend of ours, whom I have known for the last 40 years, ROLF BUITER, THE ARTIST, dropped by. He is an excellent painter, but his work is rarely exposed at art galleries. Presently, he is working as a postman and has to climb many staircases in
Amsterdam to deliver his mail and packages. He is 61. Philip and I treated him to a healthy luncheon. And as we had not heard from him for a while, we noticed that he, too, much like me, has started to get frequent pains in his legs from all these steep Dutch staircases he has to walk each day to deliver the mail. He is the ultimate bachelor and a really good artist, but somehow does not manage to live well off his artwork. He prefers to make music with some friends, but he is not a boozer. Apart from painting my house, he also created dozens of interesting and funny little and bigger coat hangers in wood, and in the shape of a penis. I use quite a few of these cute things to drape my colorful scarves around, in our hallway, on my way to the first floor, where our bedroom is. He is the eternal bachelor, has a lot of troubles with his older brothers, who will charge him quite a lot of money when he has convinced them to help him take his paintings by car to some well-known galleries. Also, he seldom has a lover, but he seems content with all his other activities. And life in general.
KEES VAN WANROOIJ
I have been telling quite a few listeners the story of a person, who knows how to build bridges, the man/woman who asks people to give him/her a few days in order to create a story about the bridge builder. In the same way you two do with your charming get togethers of friends for x mas, new year, birthdays or any other interesting happenings like a book launching of your fathers own book.
When i meet someone in your house who i never saw before it is often in a few moments time the beginning of yet another new friendship that takes place not only the food you share with us is lovely and tasty, but also the conversations between the new people i meet can be quite exciting.
Xaviera and philip you both are true connectors. I love the way you invite me and make sure i feel at home in a jiffy even people i have never met before in my life will start an interesting chat with me and soon it sometimes feels like we have known each other for years each time i meet someone i had never seen before.
SHARENE AND HER HUSBAND HARRISON, two lovely Americans who came to live in Amsterdam a few years ago after working in real estate in Hawaii, are among our best, most loyal expat friends in the Netherlands. They often have many friends and acquaintances from abroad visiting or meet these friends in their homes, anywhere in the world. Sharene is an excellent and generous cook who never goes anywhere empty-handed. They also regularly give house concerts, and Philip and I see each other or at our place for our garden parties, which mainly take place in the summer. The word “polyamorous” came up around the time they came into our lives. However, it didn't get that far between us, because apparently I was still a bit too jealous!
