{My First Trip to the City of Romance | VENICE, ITALY}

On my Venice, Italy blog header, I got several comments so let me show you my very First Trip to the City of Romance | VENICE, ITALY. Indeed, that was quite some years ago, as a matter of fact this was thirty years ago, early September. It also was my very first International Consulting trip. As usual, we always managed to combine business with pleasure while indulging in the fabulous Italian culture. 

This is what I used for my header at present, a little bit cropped but the very same photo.

Looking at Piazza San Marco in Venice.

Now, travel with me by car from The Netherlands, via Germany, Austria into Northern Italy...

Snacking on an apple at the Brenner Pass, the border between Austria and Italy with a tunnel through the Alps. 

The weather in the Alps is always quite different from the coastal area in Italy on the Adriatic...

Destination JESOLO & VENEZIA or VENICE in English...

Dreaming alongside the River Piave...

I had no idea  that I once would WORK & LIVE there!

Our VW Golf with the sticker HORST from my hometown in The Netherlands - NL

Here I am, standing in bikini, on the balcony of our apartment in Jesolo, a beach resort near Venice on the Adiatric Sea...

By boat we went from Jesolo to VENICE, the Queen of the Adiatric! 

The Gondolas from Venice...

Do you see our Moby Dick Venezia coming?

Wow, admiring all the architecture around Piazza San Marco...

Taking it all in... Proudly wearing my Italian PE® Florence purse that I got at a wholesale store in The Netherlands, Bohamij B.V., with my pass on Mom & Dad's Market Garden business. 

I still do have that quality purse!

Like the pigeons, I would love to get high... for a broader view!

Behind me you see Palazza Ducales.

Enjoying a small ice cream...

We ate HUGE coupes with ice cream in Jesolo, that was during my years of ice cream addiction!

A one day visit is by far not enough for Venice...

You can shop till you drop!

Standing on one of Venice's 400 foot bridges...

So that was my First Trip to the City of Romance | VENICE, ITALY

Birthplace of explorer Marco Polo and composer Antonio Vivaldi...

Have you been to Venice?

Many visitors here...

From Venice we went to Pederobba where I did some consulting work for Funghi del Montello.

We also visited Asolo and Montegrappa, with 1775 m the highest peak of the Veneto Prealp region between the rivers Brenta and Piave.

In Possagno we visited the Mausuleum, a neoclassic imitation of the Pantheon in Rome by and for Antonio Canova the famous sculptor who did e.g. The Three Graces. 

Possagno was also the birthplace of Antonio Canova and he's buried there in his own Mausuleum, Il Tempio.

For a fabulous 360° view of Antonio Canova's Temple in Possagno you can click on the previous hyperlink. All four pink ones  are hyperlinks, as usual in my posts.

Hope you enjoyed going to Venice and Il Veneto with me!

{Via col Vento | Italian Coffee and Wine Bar}

Wishing it would be SPRING... even though the weather is great at the moment. Than we can sit again on the terrace at our authentic Italian Coffee and Wine Bar: Via col Vento. This gem is located in the historic down town of Dublin, Georgia/USA. Via col Vento means: Gone with the Wind...

Via col Vento | Gone With The Wind

The entrance door to Via col Vento

The outside terrace for sunny days, which we have plenty of in Dublin, Georgia!

Lady Chef Maria Runggaldier setting up for a reception...

Seating area inside Via col Vento 

Wine and Tappas 

 

The interior is done in authentic Italian style

The Owner: Heinz Krassnig, to the right...

 

Quite a selection of delicious Italian foods... 

Check the link below post for their menu...

Great desserts...

All are made from scratch by Lady Chef Maria Runggaldier!

Looking behind the bar... 

Yes, this Italian Coffee and Wine Bar makes me feel like being back in Cornuda, TV - Italy

Our apartment was above Coffee Bar: Belvedere...

Pieter is happy with his generous Cappuccino and 'Nutcracker' dessert with hazelnuts.

Too bad I'm diabetes type II and cannot have the desserts...

Still, life is good! We got our authentic Italian Ristorante da Maria and Italian Coffee and Wine Bar: Via col Vento!

That cures any feeling of homesickness for Italy.

Wish you could come and sample Maria's delicious food; all made fresh from scratch, using high quality ingredients. 

Related links:

Dublin Farm Come Home to the Country | Heinz & Maria's B & B

Ristorante da  Maria | Lady Chef Maria's authentic Italian restaurant

{Dutch Summer Temperatures in Georgia for January}

Contrary to 2011, when we had SNOW, we do have a very mild week of January. That could be considered a Dutch summer with our temperatures at present! For seeing our home and garden in the snow, view my previous post; links are below.

This image showing 71.6ºF or 22ºC, I captured shortly before noon as you can see to the right...

Even at 6:03 PM or 18:03 it is still 22ºC...

Wow, today was even WARMER than predicted. We just got back from Atlanta and at 5:08 PM or 17:08 it is still 24ºC or 75.2ºF

High was 26ºC or 78.8ºF

Anyone wanting to swap places with us?

Related links:
{Our Garden White & Icy Today as Snowstorm Slams South} previous post by me from 2011
{Our Home in the SNOW -- January 2002} previous post by me

{My Angel Sister & Mariette's Back to Basics Explained}

January 11, marks the date that my Angel Sister Mariet was still born... She would have been my older sister and my entire life I've wondered how she would have been like. In an earlier post of November 23, 2010, I did write about her Birthday and I will repeat it here:

By the end of the year I was walking on crutches...

On January 9 of this year (2010) I was in the hospital being almost totally paralyzed with very high fever that they couldn't knock down at first. 

It was on January 11, that I cried in my hospital bed; on the birthday of my still born sister 'Mariet' who would have been almost 13 months older than I am. 

I told her that I was NOT yet ready to see her in heaven...

After four days in the hospital they put me on Prednisone and the pain went away.

Again I could MOVE! What a joy.
Being diagnosed with a very rare auto immune disease, I was now on the mend!
♥

For my sister Mariet, trying to live for her as well, I've added 'TE' behind my name.
♥♥

That's the story behind my Zen Cart powered on line boutique: Mariette's Back to Basics. 

Anyway, most people here in the US had difficulties pronouncing Mariet, so this works well.
They have chewed it out like Muwrit or Muwreet... A good example is: 1993 February 8 — Ma Hawkins Group in Dublin, Georgia ←click link for YouTube video

A name is very special and I'm proud for adding something for an Angel I Know By Name; MY SISTER

Related link:
{# 148 and my blog is 1 year old today!} | previous post about my sister

{Our Rose Suite Hallway}

On December 2, of 2012, I did show you the last of our Rose Suite series. Now Saint Nicholas, Christmas and New Year are past so let's round it up with Our Rose Suite Hallway. For any readers that are new to my blog, below this post you find related links to the other posts so you can follow the tremendous job that my husband Pieter has done here. He actually created an entire Rose Suite, as we call it, for our Guests to live in with complete privacy. 

This is a photo from the post: Welcome to Our Rose Suite - Entrance.

Let's start our here. The entrance door is to the left; out of sight...

Here we are looking from the Hallway into the Entrance.

To the right is a small walk-in-closet.

This photo is without flash light... 

To the left you just can see the door to the living room.

The other little doors are actually the solid oak indoor shutters from our bedroom window, before we added the balcony and the French doors. 

Behind those shutter doors are convenient storage closets that I will show below...

Photo with flash light. To the left you see the air-conditioning thermostat.

Each of those closets is build above the big foot of those concrete pillars, that support the house.

Here we turned around, to the right is now the door to the living room.

One last closet with shutter doors and in front you see the door to Pieter's workshop.

Stepping to the left we go down one step into the hallway that leads to our staircase area with our pantry to the left. 

Yes, there are many rooms in this Rose Suite!

Here also hangs my Dublin-Laurens County Chamber of Commerce business membership plaque for Mariette's Back to Basics.

From that final segment of the hallway, looking back now at the door of the living room...

In April of 2004 when Pieter's brother Toon stayed as first guest in this Rose Suite, he did help build this little closet for hanging some coats and such.

This is  the depth we got for it, just above the big chunk of concrete at the foot of each pillar.

It was Pieter's brilliant idea to convert them into closets.

Of course, with our size garden there is the need for many vases and I can store them all in here.

Another closet that holds my Weck canning jars and empty marmalade jars and bottles.

Each closet has several shelves.

Here you see the top part of it; all filled up.

The last one is holding some bed linens.

The little walk-in-closet for holding more bed linens and clothes.

This is the kind of shelving we have in our entire home. Convenient and easy to hang clothes.

So now you've seen the living quarters for our guests.

We were fortunate for having Mom & Dad live with us for six weeks from October 22 till December 3 of 2005. They did come back to the USA with us on the same flight and we dropped them off again here in Atlanta to go by themselves on the non-stop flight back to The Netherlands. Mom of course in a wheel chair, as she had that year her knee replacement.

Mom did visit us a total of 4 times and Dad a total of 6 times...

Sweet memories!

Related links:
{Welcome to Our Rose Suite - Entrance} previous post by me
{Our Rose Suite Kitchenette} previous post by me

{Our Rose Suite Living Room} previous post by me
{Our Rose Suite Bedroom} previous post by me
{The Construction of Our Rose Suite - Part II} previous post by me
{The Construction of Our Rose Suite - Part I} previous post by me
{Our Rose Suite with Angels + a REQUEST} previous post by me

{My Old Boots Rejuvenated & New Sweater}

On January 1st I did show you some photos that I want to explain a bit further here. My Old Boots are actually over 30 years old and I did rejuvenate them with some Tacco Deluxe Full-Length Orthotic Insoles from Germany. The New Sweater is from Saks Fifth Avenue where I got it for 60% off and Free Shipping; shown towards the end of post...

How did I rejuvenate those old suede boots with teddy lining?

The wear and tear was mostly inside and I found on line from Tacco some Deluxe Full-Length Orthotic LEATHER Insoles. Love to walk in these boots! You can see those soles below the first pictures.

The skirt I am wearing is a printed hair calf Escada from the Outlet.

Panty hose are French DIM Ventre Plat in the color: Emotion.

These boots are made for walking...

Same boots in my home in Horst, The Netherlands with Mauzie-girl my Dachshund

This is around 30 years ago...

Tacco real leather Footcare, made in Germany

Detail of leather insoles

This leather Tacco Black Deluxe Orthotic supports your medial arch and metatarsals.

That makes ALL the difference for walking.

Manhatten Wardrobe Supply - Tacco Deluxe Full-Length Orthotic Insole

Click on hyperlink above for info.

Saks Fifth Avenue Opening Ceremony Pom-Pom Wool Sweater

Love this cropped sweater and got mine in Small.

Now the price went up again and is only available in Medium and XSML

It pays off to receive emails from Saks Fifth Avenue for their special deals!

Are you shopping on line too?

Related link:
{Let It Be A Happy New Year} previous post by me with same sweater
Saks Fifth Avenue  on line for checking sales or fashion fix bargains