{Giovanni Raspini 925 Silver Pencil Cap Angels}

For a few more lucky buyers I do have these adorable Giovanni Raspini Desk Items in 925 silver. Here are two different Silver Pencil Cap Angels that would look so adorable on any desk. 

Straight from the heart of Tuscany, Italy...
We do ship worldwide!

For Office use or for your Desk at home...

Shown with my leather Guest Book

Two hugging and kissing 925 Giovanni Raspini silver angels

Only a few left at my Zen Cart powered on line Boutique: Mariette's Back to Basics ←just click it.
Sorry, all sold out...

The Giovanni Raspini 925 Silver Pencil Cap to the right has one thinking angel...

This thinking angel is sitting rather comfortably on top of this cap; just thinking of YOU!

Turning around to see the Giovanni Raspini 925 silver mark.

And YES, angels also do have 5 toes on each foot!

Are those not cute?

Leave it to the Italians for such great silver work!

Related links:
{Giovanni Raspini 925/000 Silver Pencil Cap with 2 Angels from Italy}| previous post by me
{Giovanni Raspini 925/000 Silver Pencil Cap with Angel from Italy} | previous post by me

{SAINT NICHOLAS - SINTERKLAAS 2013}

Does any of you celebrate Saint Nicholas's Birthday on December 6th? Or SINTERKLAAS, in Dutch...? Certainly my Dutch readers, family and friends will! They put their wooden shoes or other shoes out in front of the fireplace, with a carrot and some hay for Saint Nicholas' horse. Often they will find some sweets in return the next morning. All that takes place during the weeks of November; in anticipation of THE BIG DAY for the larger gift(s) if you are fortunate.

The little wooden shoe to the right is actually MINE; worn when I was 3 years old!

The leather straps were worn out but the shoe itself is in perfect condition.

Mom & Dad saved those wooden shoes for me and my younger sister Diny to hand them to us as we were grown up.

My Dad's brother and painter, Jan, did paint mine and I still keep them in front of our fireplace!

These are actually photos taken for my earlier publication of a column for the local newspaper.

You can read more about that in the link below this post, as well as about the origin of Santa Claus.

Typical Dutch scene of Saint Nicholas arriving from Spain...

Soon he will return to Spain till next year; 2014.

Related links:
The Origin of Santa Claus Video about history, listen till the end to hear how Sinterklaas morphed into Santa Claus...

{Saint Nicholas | Sinterklaas} | previous post by me about my newspaper publication

{Humble Gifts of the 1950s} | previous post by me about my early childhood treats for December

{Chocolate & Silver Alphabet Letters for Saint Nicholas} | previous post by me
Samichlaus and his helper Schmutzli | Swiss tradition from the 10th Century via Turkey
{Chocolate Letter LOVE} | previous post by me

{Chocolate and Silver Alphabet Letters for Saint Nicholas} | previous post by me
{Since 1896 Dutch CHOCOLATE LETTERS - Have YOU Tried Them?} | previous post by me

{ME, Turning 20 on December 3!}

Yes, I am turning 20 on December 3! As a United States Citizen, that is... 

After all, it is not bad to get a second chance in life for starting over and being young again!

It does perk you up.
On Friday, December 3, 1993 we got up at 4:15 AM for driving to Atlanta for the Naturalization Ceremony at the Richard B. Russell Federal Building. At 8:30 it started for 257 people from 60 nations and it lasted only till 9:55 AM.
So we raced back to Dublin; still in time for Rotary lunch. Husband Pieter proudly introduced me as his NEW American wife... 

Twenty (20) years old...

Haha my sweater is 25 years old; got it at the Christiana Mall in Newark, Delaware on Saturday, August 27 of 1988.

I fell in love with the leaf pattern and also because it is cropped.

Nah, that's NOT a new car... It's just an old LOVE!

We got this Infiniti FX35 in Brilliant Silver on August 12, 2005 for Mom & Dad's arrival.

Mom just got a knee replacement and we wanted her to get in and out of a car comfortably so we got this one.

But do you like my new boots? 

Dolce Vita Hayla Suede Ankle boots in black from Last Call by Neiman Marcus with 40% off. 

Black legwarmers are from our local TJ Maxx...

Pantyhose are French Dim that I purchased at Sogo, Japanese department store in Jakarta, Indonesia. 

Jeans skirt is from Escada.

Related link:
{Today I turned 17!} | previous post by me
{My Hat Attack NYC GAVROCHE} | previous post by me, wearing the same Escada skirt
{Dutch American Heritage Day 2005 with Mom & Dad} | previous post by me about Mom & Dad's final visit to the USA...

{First Advent Week}

Already Advent Season for 2013, and also the beginning of December... 

Can't believe it but it is TRUE. 

Wishing you all a Meaningful First Advent Week.

Just using a red Point A la Ligne candle from France with fresh Rosemary sprigs from the garden.

Rosemary emits such a lovely fragrance!

The beautiful pineapple doily was hand crocheted by my sister-in-law Elly VandenMunckhof, she is a loyal reader of this blog.

The red rose ribbon is French too.
And so is the Baccarat vase...

Related link:

{First Week of Advent 2012} | Last year's post by me

{Black Friday 2013 Shopping}

For those of you that are not yet worn out from the year's busiest shopping day, Black Friday,

feel free to visit my convenient on line Boutique:

Spectrenoir

ENJOY!

Those living in the area, welcome to my December 7, Open House as I am participating via our local Dublin Laurens County Chamber of Commerce on Big Sales & Events by Chamber Members - My unique Italian Giovanni Raspini Silver items are very competitive!
All my items have an Item # and you can check the Resale Price here: Giovanni Rapsini Charms & Co Pdf and it shows you the Item (Art) and pricing in Euros.

Welcome at Mariette's Back to Basics!

{Gratitude for Thanksgiving 2013 - Like the Mayflower Pilgrims in 1621}

Yes, we both being 1st generation immigrants, do have a lot of Gratitude for Thanksgiving 2013! 

Being alive and healthy and living in freedom with new found Friends that became Family is a Blessing. 

'Friends are family members without kinship'. -- Ronald Giphart Dutch writer

Like those 1621 Mayflower Pilgrims who celebrated Thanksgiving for God's goodness.

Thanksgiving By Jennie A. Brownscombe

What a fate for half of those passengers that survived the sea and the first harsh winter...

And what a FEAST after those Mayflower conditions:

Sleeping with 80 persons in a cabin made to hold 30 people...

Food - Ship's biscuits that were infested by roaches, weevils and maggots...

Warm meals were too risky because they would set the sails at fire due to winds blowing those flames...

For 66 - Sixty Six days living like that!

The Pilgrims Come to the New World - Mayflower Conditions

Indeed, after a Prosperous Growth during the Summer of 1621 they had a Thanksgiving Celebration for God's goodness... Only 50 pilgrims survived of the original 102

The Food - Wild turkey etc.

No wonder that this became a NATIONAL FEAST - Thanksgiving History (just scroll down)

as early as 1777 but without an official Proclamation. Franklin Delano Roosevelt did just that in 1941.
PILGRIMS, NOT PURITANS...

Often those early Mayflower PILGRIMS are being confused with the later PURITANS

Pilgrims, Not Puritans (link)

     The story behind the first U.S. Thanksgiving 

Wishing all American readers a very Happy Thanksgiving!

Related links:

List of Mayflower passengers | check those names of passengers that came from Leiden, South Holland in The Netherlands

Mayflower Compact | list of 41 male aboard and list of those that died at sea 

Mayflower passengers who died at sea November/December 1620

List of Mayflower passengers who died in the winter of 1620–1621

Thanksgiving Day: Pilgrims were a surprisingly worldly, tolerant lot | Great Information!
The Red Friends of the Pilgrims
{No fewer than 7 American Presidents are Direct Descendants of the Leiden, Netherlands PILGRIMS}| previous post by me
{Happy Thanksgiving - From Pilgrim to President} | previous post by me

{No fewer than 7 American Presidents are Direct Descendants of the Leiden, Netherlands PILGRIMS}

We are once again close to the U.S.A. Thanksgiving celebration, on the 4th Thursday of November. Since there is such a strong historical link between The Kingdom of The Netherlands and the U.S.A. I would like to dedicate this post to some History about the PILGRIMS. No fewer than 7 American Presidents are Direct Descendants of those Leiden PILGRIMS that sailed from The Dutch Republic to the New World. 

Brooklyn Museum - Embarkation of the Pilgrims - Robert Walter Weir

This is how those Pilgrims went on board for arriving in the New World after having stayed in Leiden for about 11 years.

For Life in Leiden you can click the hyperlink to read about some very interesting facts.

For a Leiden Pilgrim Tour you can click on the hyperlink to actually see a video of the university city of Leiden where they lived all those years. ErfgoedLeiden.nl removed that video...

Indeed, no fewer than 7 American Presidents are direct descendants of the Leiden Pilgrims.

The Pilgrim Archives tell the story of the Pilgrims themselves and the 17th century Leiden that was their home, the city where Rembrandt lived and worked.

ErfgoedLeiden.nl - link no longer shows the above info...

From Leiden Pilgrim to American president - link from where you can take a look at the familytrees of these presidents.
Presidents Bush Sr. and Jr. do share the same ancestor with Barack Hussein Obama: Thomas Blossom.
Have a look as it is quite interesting!
Wishing all U.S.A. citizens a very Happy Thanksgiving!
Too bad the above info has been taken down...

Related links:

{Happy Thanksgiving - From Pilgrim to President} | previous post by me

{My Brocade Skirt Suit Creation from 1950s Zelinka Matlick}

We often did check out the Lakewood Antiques Market in Atlanta, Georgia. A HUGE place with seven Spanish colonial livestock exhibition halls and over 15,000 antique dealers. My sister Diny went there with us as well. You really could shop until you drop! Below this post you find links about its history as it has moved in 2006 to a new location: Lakewood 400 Antiques Market

BUT there I found on April 10 of 1993
 a 1950s Zelinka Matlick dress with matching coat in a beautiful cotton/rayon brocade. I fell in love with the fabric and was running my mind of what I could do with it. It had beautiful buttons too and thus for the price of $ 20.00 I did adopt it!

With a seam ripper I took the entire dress and long coat apart and then the puzzle started.

The pattern works like wallpaper that you have to match...

Did complete it the first week of July in 1993 so I could wear it for my youngest brother's wedding in The Netherlands ons July 30.

Here we are again at the Hyatt House Miami Airport...

Wearing with my sewing creation: Wolford pantyhose

Escada evening bag that I got on sale at the boutique of Oahu, Hawaii in 1998

When looking at the price I could not afford it but the Japanese sales person send me an email when it came on sale. Great courtesy and I was happy! The Escada golden shoes I found in February 1998 at the Potomac Mills Outlet near Washington D.C. 

The 7 buttons from the coat were just enough for this design...

Majorica pearl earrings and bracelet.

The coat had a grease stain on one side and when I had taken all pieces apart, I took my chances and threw them all together in the washer. 

The stain came out completely and now I knew that I could launder this quality fabric myself!

Getting the pattern to match everywhere was quite a challenge but I got it done!

JUST enough fabric, even for some back pockets on the skirt!

I did darken this photo so you can see the cream and white brocade pattern better. 

From the heavy acetate lining that was in the top part of the coat, I made this blouse...

The jacket and skirt is not lined as this brocade really is sturdy enough on its own.

I did lots of top stitching on this skirt and jacket as well...

Wearing my Majolica pearl bracelet from Neiman Marcus.

Ring is a Princess ring in 18 kt gold with several precious stone insets; gift from my boss in Indonesia.

Of course I proudly did sew this Zelinka Matlick label back in.

Via a link from Vintage Fashion Guild Label Resource I could trace that this label is from the 1950s.

David Zelinka & Max Matlick were partners and makers of coats and women's suits.

Those buttons are a piece of jewelry!

Some had lost a white dot and husband Pieter managed to create a new one with a white enamel repair tube.

Here you also can see the intricate weave of brocade and its cotton and rayon threads in white and cream.

Topstitching is done with rayon thread in order to obtain the same luster.

Matching the fabric's pattern, including those pocket parts!

Neither the center back seam does interrupt the pattern.

Photo is taken with flash inside the Hyatt House Miami Airport on top of the down duvet on the bed.

Also the last photo below is taken with flash inside, making it more yellowish...

So what do you say? 

Tis brocade fabric is about as old as the person wearing it in its new creation...

Related links:
Lakewood Antiques Market - The Last Days: A Photo Diary | it closed in 2006 but moved
Lakewood 400 Antiques Market | new location and open every 3rd weekend
David Zelinka, 83, Ex-Maker of Coats And Women's Suits | New York Times Obituary of David Zelinka, partner with Max Matlick

{Praying Mantis}

Most of you might know the Praying Mantis already. Just caught one on camera the other day...

Long legged insect...

At the entrance door to our Rose Suite...

Not easy to make them pose for the camera!

Told him that a white back ground would make him look better...

See how he looks at the camera?

Related link:
Profumo di lavanda.... | Italian blogger friend Anna showing a Praying Mantis below...
True Facts About the Mantis | Youtube video showing their carnivore behavior...

{My Hand Knitted Silk Lace Shawl in Peacock Pattern}

It is about time that I show you my Hand Knitted Silk Lace Shawl in Peacock Pattern. Most bloggers know that it takes time for styling things and it's even harder for items you have to wear! The weather at home had been quite dark and dreary so we thought we take all those pieces with us in the car to Florida - to the SUNSHINE STATE.

Well yeah, SUNSHINE behind those gray clouds...

Here we are again on September 19, at the Hyatt House Miami Airport, our favorite home away from home.

Never mind, their botanical garden is still great for making photos!

So here is my hand knitted (yes, by ME!) shawl from Swiss Lang Yarns in a 100% taupe silk, which  I had obtained from New York by the box, wholesale. 

Closeup of the Peacock Pattern in Silk

As a matter of fact, I did three of these silk shawls. One was a gift for a dear friend in Australia and one I donated to "THREADS OF LIFE: INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S TEXTILE ART" from the Georgia State University. You can read more from my LinkedIn profile.

Knitted after this Anna Burda pattern.

The skirt is my own sewing creation in a matching tropical wool from Britex Fabrics, San Francisco with silk lining from Britex Notions.

Shoes are Charles Jourdan from the Outlet.

Pantyhose are Wolford from the Outlet

Bag is from Chanel, from I Magnin, San Francisco.

Cotton peplum shirt is by Escada from the Outlet.

Gold Cameo brooch is a gift from my Pieter, bought in Eindhoven, The Netherlands as an estate piece at a jewelry store.

Cane I used only because the model in the Anna Burda held one...

Watch is a Rado from Switzerland; tax free.

Pearl Majolica earrings are from Singapore airport; tax free.

Pearl bracelet by Majolica is from Neiman Marcus at Oahu in Hawaii.

When shopping frugally at Outlets and tax free, one can afford some little luxuries... 

Closing my eyes... dreaming of SUNSHINE.

That's a FULL size 4 or European 34

captured by photographer P.J.C. Vedder

Related links:
Rose lace pattern with rippled diamond edging | blog by Astrid from Sweden with lace knitting shawl
GEBREIDESJAALS | blog by Mieke who is a Dutch artist in fine lace shawl knitting
Faden Stille | blog by Anett who is German artist in lace knitting, living in France
Träumereien Angel Smile | blog by Brigitte from Germany who does also lace knitting
Bergzauber stricken | blog by Marlies from Switzerland showing a knitted silk lace shawl

Britex Fabrics

Britex Notions

{193 Countries Visited - Welcome Caribbean Netherlands}

Thank you so much for visiting my humble blog and for leaving comments! On October 19, Country # 193 visited; Welcome Caribbean Netherlands!
The Caribbean Netherlands refers to a group of three special municipalities of the Kingdom of The Netherlands that are located in the Caribbean Sea: the islands of Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba, which are also known as the BES islands.
We have only been to Curaçao, Aruba and St. Maarten...
Wish we could be back in the Caribbean! 

How many total Countries are there?

Related links:

{192 Countries Visited - Welcome Djibouti} | previous post by me

{189 Countries Visited - Welcome Saint Pierre and Miquelon}| previous post by me

{186 Countries Visited - Welcome Burkina Faso} | previous post by me

{# 148 and my blog is 1 year old today!} previous post where I explain WHY I changed to Mariette

{# 484 and my blog is 2 years old today!} previous post about post # 484

{Romancing the Home} my very 1st blog post... November 23, 2009