{Vintage French Silver & Plexiglas Raphael Angel Pendant on Giovanni Raspini Cord}

This time I found for you a beautiful Vintage French Silver Metal & Plexiglas Raphael Angel Pendant on a black cord from Giovanni Raspini, Italy. The black cord closes with a 925 silver lobster claw and the pendant does not have a silver mark. On my Zen Cart powered on line boutique Mariette's Back to Basics.

The lobster clasp has the 925 and the ★132 AR, Raspini Arezzo silver marks.

 Lovely Raphael Angel...

Shown with its black cord...

We all need such a 'thinking' Angel near our heart!  

           Sorry Sold out...

{How Blogs Work}

How blogs work: Just had to share this with you as it is so TRUE!
It is hard for producing your own original content, your own photos and doing your own styling.
Yet there are so many out there that are showing off someone else's feathers. 
Plagiarism seems to become the norm. How do you feel about this? 

Do you share mostly original content on your blog or things created by others? 

Doghousediaries link to photo

{Look What is Blooming NOW in Our Garden}

• Besides our white and pink Camellias, we have also some yellow in our garden. Our Leatherleaf Mahonia Berberidaceae is blooming right now. 
• Look what a beauty in our garden, on the edge where the creek streams. 
• Also the Wintersweet - Chimonanthus praecox (Calycanthus p.) (C. fragrans) is blooming mid winter, see further below... 

• Blooms of the Leatherleaf Mahonia Berberidaceae (barberry Family)

• This shrub grows on the edge of our garden, alongside the creek where we also planted mondo grass to prevent it from erosion.

• You can see the water from the creek...

• The fragrant flowers of our Wintersweet - Chimonanthus praecox (Calycanthus p.) (C. fragrans)

• This shrub is planted next to our gazebo.

• Stepping a bit further back so you also can see our home...

• This is the view on the pond side...
• Do you have anything blooming right now?

Related link:
{Our Leatherleaf Mahonia Berberidaceae (barberry Family)} | previous post by me
{Our Wintersweet - Chimonanthus praecox} | previous post by me

{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