HAPPY in Georgia with Feline boy Bandido

Feeling really HAPPY in Georgia and I'm a SUMMER person too.

Guess with my training inside the summer greenhouse (hot-house!) of around 120ºF or 49ºC I got very well pre-conditioned for living in Georgia and for working in the tropics!

All our Felines LOVE to frolic outside in the summer.
Either on the driveway, inside our gazebo, some spot on the patio or on the lawn.
They all find a favorite spot.
Here I'm holding our very silky boy Bandido.
He has a white cross on his chest.
His parents were Mexican, we did bring his Mamita home with us on the plane and had NO CLUE she was pregnant with 5 kittens!
All born at our home and we kept them.
We have lost since Bandido's sister Sacha but he still has 2 sisters and 1 brother.

Wearing cotton feels great, like this Outlet score a cotton top from Escada and the pants are from Apriori7, a line from Escada as well.
My cotton Hat Attack NYC Gavroche is also a favorite. Shown here earlier: {My Hat Attack NYC GAVROCHE}.

Showing off my Beach Wave hair...

Natural curls, the older I get, the more it curls! Color is 100% natural too.

Our Rose Arbor is still one of my favorites, even though the 2 Eden white or, Pierre de Ronsard roses, are struggling... 

Still loving our Golden Mist paint color + my crocheted Fleur de Lys curtains in the veranda...

View of the garden side...

Our Wood Trail starts here and winds to the right and towards the back...

Bye for now!

Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment.

Related link:

{New Rose Arbor on High Heels} | previous post by me

Google.com/+MarietteVandenMunckhofVedder

{Happy 4th of July 2016}

Wishing all my United States readers a Happy 4th of July, 2016!

Our nation's 240th Birthday...

Wearing my patriotic Escada top with Escada jeans and belt.

Another of my hats...

Earrings are a sweet Tiffany and Co gift from a friend.

Holding my tiny Tiggy-Tiger girl...

Enjoy this special time of the year and thanks for your visit!

google.com/+MariettesBacktoBasics

{Feeling Pampered with Silk/Wool Cap from Blogger Friend}

Oh my, on Christmas Eve, I was for the last time out of the house and than a very bad flu floored me literally.

Did not even notice that 2015 ended... it went past me.

Only on my Dad's 95th Birthday I managed to be up in the late morning and call him in The Netherlands.

From than on I improved, but did not want to be out in the nippy, windy weather as the warm temperatures from Christmas had suddenly dropped, even getting some night frost.

What a surprise when on Thursday, January 7, the mail delivered a parcel from France.

A sweet hand knitted gift from Anett from the blog: Faden Stille whom I follow since 2010. We have become virtual friends!

Friday, January 8, I did join Pieter for Rotary lunch and afterwards I did wear my silk/wool cap for taking a walk. Wearing of course my coat as well!

Spunky girl looks fluffy during the cold weather.
Me, showing off my crows feet from a great smile...!

Driveway is still damp and the weather dreary looking...

But our Verbena continues blooming inside the fiber glass window boxes from Flower Framers of Cincinnati!

Enjoying my Chanel boots; bought from tip money for consulting work in California!

You can read more about that here: {My Favorite Boots}

My silk/cashmere Jodphurs from Bergdorf Goodman 1994 still fit me perfectly and I love wearing them in winter time.

Matching cables in my Escada silk/cashmere sweater from December 26, 1993 - actually my very first Outlet score bought at Potomac Mills in Prince William, VA. We were traveling by car to the funeral of our Jewish friend in Delaware when we stopped at this Mall for lunch.

Thanks a lot Anett for so much WARMTH!

It warms the heart and the ears on a nippy winter's day...

google.com/+MarietteVandenMunckhofVedder

{My Hat Attack NYC GAVROCHE}

Do you love hats as much as I do? One of my favorites is this white cotton Hat Attack NYC Gavroche. A bit boyish but that's what I like!

Hat Attack NYC with Escada top and kilt.

Related links:
{My Jessica McClintock Hat Again} | previous post by me
{Hats & Me} | previous post by me
{My Jessica McClintock Hat & Christian Dior Suit} | previous post by me
Life is better with a hat | previous post by blogger friend Bea from Modern Country Lady
My Life in Hats | previous post by blogger friend Marie-Thérèse from The French Touch
{Do YOU all know Our Nations Oldest City - St. Augustine, Florida?} | previous post by me wearing a hat
Mad Women and Their Hats | previous post by blogger friend Marie-Thérèse from the French Touch

Mariette on Google+

{My Jessica McClintock Hat Again}

On Pentecost Sunday, May 19, I did wear some red and with that came my Jessica McClintock Hat Again. You can find a link to the first post with my Jessica McClintock Hat below.

Jessica McClintock hat with rose too and also black roses on my silk blouse from Escada. Knitted cotton/wool skirt from Escada and purse and shoes; all from the outlet. Wolford pantyhose; also from the +Wolford outlet.

•  There also is a Wolford Outlet at Orlando Premium Outlets at Vineland Ave. 
• Also at Sawgrass Mills Outlets - 1700 Sawgrass Mills Circle -  33323 Sunrise, FL 

Husband Pieter in his charcoal gray Zegna suit from the Ermenegildo Zegna Outlet Store in Orlando, Florida and Zegna shirt.

Silk tie is from Last Call by Neiman Marcus.

Last Call by Neiman Marcus is for SUPER deals. Check the above mentioned hyperlink!

Watch for their July 4th specials.

Next to my hand you see the clips where the outdoor shutters normally are fastened.

They're off here before the painting. 

Have a lovely summer week; or winter week for the southern hemisphere.

Related links:
{Hats & Me} | previous post by me
{My Jessica McClintock Hat & Christian Dior Suit} | previous post by me
Life is better with a hat | previous post by blogger friend Bea from Modern Country Lady
My Life in Hats | previous post by blogger friend Marie-Thérèse from The French Touch
{Do YOU all know Our Nations Oldest City - St. Augustine, Florida?} | previous post by me wearing a hat
Mad Women and Their Hats | previous post by blogger friend Marie-Thérèse from the French Touch

Mariette on Google+

{Hats & Me}

• As a young girl I always had to stand on my toes, nose against the window, when walking past the Millinery Shop 'Bonneterie Van de Beuken in the Steenstraat of Horst my birth place. 
• My favorite Great Aunt Nelly or 'Oud Tante Nelly', the wife of my Paternal Great-Uncle Handrie, brother of my Grandmother and her sister Mia, did make such lovely hats. 
• I always have admired the special bows, roses, pearls and ribbons they used as embellishment for those elegant hats. Mom used to buy her hats at their shop!
• The very same Great Aunt Nelly, has instilled in me, my love for fine china and silver ware. 
• Whenever I did sew for her a dress or suit, I did visit with her after High Mass on Sunday for fitting. 
• She always did serve me coffee with pastry in her fine china. 
• One never knows how such early encounters at a young and tender age do impact our lifestyle... For sure, Tante Nelly will be smiling down from heaven...

• On August 25, 1984 I had found this matching hat, with veil... to go with my Royal Stuart Scottish Tartan plaid. 
• Husband Pieter went to England for the British Mushroom Days, by himself and he found at the Scotch House in London a wool shawl, matching gloves and this fabric in a Scottish Royal Stuart Tartan plaid. 
• So I did sew this pencil skirt out of the fabric. Later I have hemmed up the skirt and I still have it.

The shoes and skirt I still have...

Too bad that the Scotch House has been shut up by the end of 2001.

Just read: The Telegraph - Scotch House to shut up shop.

Pieter used to buy several things there; already for his little daughter Lizzy a Scottish Tartan skirt when she was a toddler.

Are you covering your head with a hat? 

If only for the sun in summer; that still counts!

Related link:
{My Jessica McClintock Hat & Christian Dior Suit} | previous post by me
Life is better with a hat | previous post by blogger friend Bea from Modern Country Lady
My Life in Hats | previous post by blogger friend Marie-Thérèse from The French Touch
{Do YOU all know Our Nations Oldest City - St. Augustine, Florida?} | previous post by me
Mad Women and Their Hats | previous post by blogger friend Marie-Thérèse from The French Touch

Mariette on Google+

{My Jessica McClintock Hat & Christian Dior Suit}

On Easter Sunday it was such lovely weather when we went to Church, so naturally I wore my new Jessica McClintock hat that I found for a steal at Tuesday Morning in Atlanta. Whenever we make our 3-weekly rounds to Atlanta for stocking up on health food, we always check out Tuesday Morning! With this new hat I did wear my old Christian Dior Suit that I received on my 34th Birthday, while being in San Francisco together. I had found it in the Cosmopolitan magazine and fell in love with it. Having studied fashion, I always have been drawn to the great French designers. At the time Christian passed away, I was only six-and-a-half years old.

 Perfect weather and no wind... otherwise you will have to run after your hat. My Mom always wore a hat to Church when I was a little girl; that was so elegant... Fond memories. Our Church ladies asked me just recently WHY I did not wear hats. I smiled and didn't tell them that I had this new one for Easter.

This is the page from the Cosmopolitan magazine that I fell in love with... I was over the moon for finding it at Macy's Union Square in San Francisco. Together with the money that we'd received from sweet Sister-in-law Dora, we went ahead and got it. I was thrilled too that it came in a size 4 or European 34. My size never has been a problem in the USA because of the many Asian women, so there is a market. In The Netherlands I never could find anything...

The only thing I did to this suit, is hemming up the skirt... Please let me know what you think!
This is in our previous home in Dublin, in the veranda. Before we moved to Pennsylvania, Italy, Indonesia and back to Dublin, Georgia again...

• That's me, 26 years ago... My eyes are not as big anymore!

Don't you think the skirt was too long here? I always LOVED those heavy duty trucks! Would you believe that Pieter came home from a trip with a POSTER of such monster, as a gift for me?!

This Jessica McClintock hat is called: A Rose Is A Rose... And you all know how I LOVE roses!

It is an all natural 100% straw hat... As dear friend Bea from Modern Country Lady wrote in her post: Life is better with a hat. See link below post.

What do you say about the length of my skirt here? I've altered it. The suit is 100% natural rayon and is also lined in 100% rayon which gives a great feel. The wide patent leather belt came with it. My shoes are Escada from the outlet. Scarf is a Christian Dior silk neckerchief that we found in Singapore in the tax free shops at the airport. That is the bonus of a traveling consultant! Guess I never will change in size so I can keep things for eternity, with some alterations and new accessories.

Yes I know that I ought to wear the hat more in my face... but these pictures are taken in a hurry before we drove to Church, using my iPhone... Pieter did wear his matching silk houndstooth tie but you have to be awfully fast for taking pictures of him. He gets out of his clothes for a change, in a blink!

Both in a large houndstooth pattern; the Christian Dior Suit and the silk neckerchief.

Here you see the rose on my straw hat as Pieter did not take the photos from that side...

Made in the U.S.A. and Size 4

Jessica McClintock - 100% Natural Straw

A steal of a deal and that's how we do stretch our dollar...
Do you wear hats and/or suits?
Are natural fibers important to you?

Related link:
Life is better with a hat | previous post by blogger friend Bea from Modern Country Lady
My Life in Hats | previous post by blogger friend Marie-Thérèse from The French Touch
{Do YOU all know Our Nations Oldest City - St. Augustine, Florida?} | previous post by me

Mariette on Google+

{Summer Fade-Out & Fall Fade-In + Update}

Just got home today from a fairy tale wedding in Toronto, Canada. Quite a trip for getting home, the day after the wedding, but we made it to Atlanta by coach, plane and car. Now catching up at home and first having a good night sleep! As soon as I do have some official wedding photos I might post some, but in general we do respect other people's privacy and for that reason we ourselves did not make any. Leave it to the different professional photographers and it's up to the bride and groom for granting permission to publish any. Hope this does answer some blogger friend's request for posting wedding photos...

What do YOU think about this?

As I'm worn out, I will post just some Summer Fade-Out and Fall Fade-In photos from us in our garden.

Dear husband Pieter on August 16, near our Windmill Palm (Trachycarpus fortunei) and our feline girl, Tiggy-Tiger, to the left.

Only a small section of the Variegated Ground Ivy Glechoma hederacea 'Variegata' is alive, due to the scorching heat.

Did you lose some of your ground covers or perennials this summer?

Tiggy-Tiger our feline girl is next to the palm tree...

Our soft leave Agave Attenuata or Fox Tail Agave is drought tolerant! This photo is from November 6 and it did very well as you can see.

Do you have any type of agave?

Of course, this pot has to go inside for the winter season!

Wearing my rib cord Newsboy cap, similar to a French beret.

One of my several Hats...

Woolen gray pants are from Escada as is the orange blouse.

On October 20, with gardener Pieter, next to our evergreen oak. To the right you can see the Agave!

Until next time and I would love to hear from you about those questions...

THANKS for taking the time to reply!

Mariette on Google+

{Do YOU all know Our Nations Oldest City - St. Augustine, Florida?}

Have you ever read about St. Augustine, Florida? 
That is our nation's oldest city!
On September 8, 1565 Menéndez set foot ashore of Florida...
Since then, Pieter and I have visited St. Augustine numerous times!
Just want to show you here some precious photos from Old Tyme Photo, taken in October a decade ago.
On the left: Toon (Anthony) Vedder, myself and Pieter Vedder my husband.  The photographer made us look the part and no glasses were allowed.

It was so hilarious the way they fit you into these costumes. The men were wearing their shorts and sandals but these pants had NO backs; they're just half pieces that are strapped around the waist. 
I laughed my head off, as it was no sight from behind!
The owner did not let me take this humor in with my video camera...
But it is forever etched onto my retina.
The hats were for real though.

My skirt was another genius garment. It was just a wide piece of never-ending cloth with a waistband at the top; no seems! 
It would fit from a size 4 (34) to size 24 (64) and close with some velcro.
Toon Vedder invented that we all were the wealthy owners of the Magnolia Plantation.
I can tell you that looks can be very deceiving...

These photos are treasures now, as Toon did go to heaven in September of 2006

Mariette on Google+