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Here I would love to share with you our travels and adventures as international mushroom consultants. MEMOIRS about husband Pieter Vedder, who was a SCIENTIFIC PIONEER in Mushroom Cultivation Education. His practical handbook is in 9 languages and is called the MUSHROOM BIBLE: https://mariettesbacktobasics.blogspot.com/2020/08/modern-mushroom-growing-2020-harvesting.html

Monday, January 31, 2011

{Giovanni Raspini Alphabet Angel is on its way to the WINNER}


After getting word back from Irmi from: Dies & Das vom Neckerstrand the WINNER of my International Giveaway, about which Alphabet angel she'd like to receive -- this 925/000 silver letter 'I' went on its way today. A beautiful high end piece of jewelry from Giovanni Raspini Charms.
Can you imagine; this tiny angel came from Tuscany, Italy all the way to Georgia and is now crossing the Atlantic Ocean again and flies to Germany... But, as tiny as it is, this strong angel will manage the long, and probably cold, flight. Will wait anxiously to hear from Irmi when her little silver angel arrives safely at her home.


Tucked away in its signature blue gift box from Giovanni Raspini, with little brochure, it is traveling in luxury. Exactly as is shown in the video on my blog from January 6: {LUXURY LIFE - Argenterie Raspini & my Giveaway}
For all of you who did not WIN; there is still a 10% discount on my alphabet angels from Giovanni Raspini, till Valentine's Day! Just email me and we can arrange that.


Here I'm putting the little I(rmi) angel to bed in its luxury travel box. One last look at it...

Pouch folded over neatly and topped off with the little brochure...


Of course the angel got accompanied by a handwritten note on Crane & Company stationery, just as I use for my Classes on Learn from Mariette.
Have a smooth flight my little angel!

 


{VALENTINE'S DAY GIFTS}


Just a quick overview with some lovely Valentine's Day Gifts available at: Spectrenoir.
Come inside and have a look at many unique items.

French Country Style Totes; Lavender Sachets and Door Knob Pillow Sachets with Angels.

French Country Style Lavender Sachets with Angels in Heart form.

 Vintage French Limoges Lamps and Delft Velsen table lamp.

French Country Style Lavender Sachets.

 925/000 silver Giovanni Raspini Charms ←(click on hyperlink) from Italy
Angel earrings

 Romantic French Rose Boxes

 Raphael boxes; romantic rose items... 


Sunday, January 30, 2011

{Certificate for a BIG HEART ON THE MEND}


This week was rather special for Pieter, as he did kind of graduate from his Rehab for Life program. On my Christmas post: {MERRY CHRISTMAS 2010} I did show the special Rehab for Life, Christmas ball. On September 04, you could read about a {BIG HEART ON THE MEND}, one day after his open heart, bypass surgery. And on September 11, I wrote about {HOME SWEET HOME} already his 4th day home. Next month we will together join the Fitness center as he's been cleared for joining, his maximum stress test came out great. Truly looking forward to have a less stressful 2011 with lots of nice things ahead of us. We both are grateful for his full recovery! Valentine's Day has a different meaning... and that for 365 days a year.

♥♥

Saturday, January 29, 2011

{Amaretti Hearts & Rose - Love - Romance}


We had such a lovely and sunny day, that I could make photos on the balcony! Maybe it does cheer up all those that have miserable and cold weather. Just trying to send some nice things your way. These very unique and lovely square cups & saucers are available at my Zen Cart on line boutique Mariette's Back to Basics: Romantic Square Cup & Saucer with Roses


Last night I did bake a batch of 30 Amaretti hearts (my own version of the Amaretti di Saronno cookies from Italy) in my Demarle Flexipan small heart tray. My oven is but a small European size Miele of 24". To put the Flexipan tray into the oven you also need an aluminum perforated baking sheet. Both are available at Demarle at Home via their consultant locator or on line, just click the hyperlink. It is a very famous French brand and I love to work with it. Great idea for Valentine's Day and I did use the cookies to take to our friends' home tonight, where we got invited over for dinner. 


Today we had about the same temperature as for Saturday, tomorrow. That really makes one HAPPY to feel the sun!


Twenty four (24) hearts inside this personalized bag.


Cupid in action and roses all around... Heart plates are made in Italy.


The sun peeking through the cut-out tray...


Rose ...♥... Love...♥...Romance
Perfect ingredients for Valentine's Day and for many more sunny days!

Friday, January 28, 2011

{The WINNER of the Giovanni Raspini 925/000 Silver Alphabet Angel}


Due to some fever and not feeling well, I am a bit late with this announcement but here is the end result of the Worldwide Giveaway: Giovanny Raspini 925/000 Alphabet Angel.

This afternoon I did write down all the participants names, some with double and even triple entrances.
All 55 folded up paper squares, were put into my fluted Heartly Greens & Co. Leeds Pottery bowl, looked like this...


My husband Pieter agreed to toss the papers and draw the WINNER...


Who will be the lucky recipient of the high end Giovanni Raspini 925/000 silver alphabet angel from Italy? Giovanni Raspini Charms
At: →Spectrenoir all angels are visible, just select the one you want...scroll down on the page.


It happened to be Irmi from Dies und Das vom Neckarstrand in Germany.
Congratulations!
Sorry for all the other participants. I will give you a 10% off of these 925/000 silver Giovanni Raspini Alphabet Angels from Italy, till Valentine's Day. Look at: Spectrenoir and select the one(s) you would like.

THANKS ALL FOR BEING LOYAL FOLLOWERS!
♥♥


Wednesday, January 26, 2011

{1897 Cupid Awake and Cupid Asleep Sepia Photos in Oak Frame}


Cupid Cutie Josephine Anderson was four years old as she modeled for infamous photographer Morris Burke Parkinson, in 1897 for these darling Cupid Awake and Cupid Asleep prints.

Because of the glare, I have scanned this oak frame with the two individual sepia prints of Cupid Awake and Cupid Asleep. 
For the complete text above, click on hyperlink: Cupid's Magic
These very rare sepia prints were available at my Zen Cart powered on line boutique: Mariette's Back to Basics 
The outside frame dimensions are 8¼" by 6¼".
Print No. 2001  copyrighted
Cupid Awake
Published by Taber Prang Art Co.
Springfield, Massachussets
Print No. 2002 with the same information.
For an age old paper this held up very well!
The entire part shown here
Same for the other print
This is the true color as the antique printing has almost faded, I did darken the above photos to just show you the original printing text.
I've carefully removed the two cover pieces, only to prove that they are authentic 1897 prints. There is no photo from the frame with the antique covers in place...
This would make a great Valentine's Day gift!
Sold out...
♥♥



Monday, January 24, 2011

{LIMBURG is Getting a Large Piece of the Cake on Blogger}

This is a complete different subject as I did receive a 'Liebster Blog Award' recently from Nicole from Rêve en Blanc. Nicole is from the Dutch Province of Limburg, where I am born. And so are several of my Blogger friends. Nicole did pass the award on, to 4 more ladies from Limburg, including me. Look at this yummy cake picture, so you can see that we all are from the south of the Kingdom of The Netherlands.

This Blog Award I will not pass on but if there are more bloggers from the Province of Limburg; please make yourself known!
Now let me introduce those Limburgers to you, so you can pay them a visit:
Click on the RED as those are hyperlinks.

There is Chantal from Abacaxi & Hortelã (English) she lived in Brasil and now in France.

Lynda from Een klein stukje van mij (English + Dutch)

Nicole from Rêve en Blanc  (Dutch + German + Google Translate)

Patricia from All Seasons  (Dutch + Google Translate)

Sandy from Van zuid naar noord who lives in Norway (Dutch)

Saskia from Join my Joy (English)

Gustaviana from Gustaviaans-Gustaviana  (Dutch + Google Translate)

If you are visiting these different blogs, please do me a favor and also visit and join my friend Rose Marie from My Romantic Treasures (Spanish + English + Google Translate)
Rose Marie is very ill and often cannot even get to her PC because of her pain. She would really love to have more visitors and followers. Several of you did already so, after my request in an earlier blog: {Our Rose Suite with Angels + a REQUEST}. THANKS A MILLION for honoring that request. 

One more day for winning the high end 925/000 Silver Alphabet Angel from Giovanni Raspini Charms & Co from Italy.
To the right of my blog at the top you can click on the button and get straight to the blog for sign up.

 Click on the image to enlarge.
♥♥


Sunday, January 23, 2011

{3 Days left for winning 925/000 Silver Alphabet Angel from Giovanni Raspini, Italy}



Don't forget to place a comment on my blog from January 3rd: 

Worldwide Giveaway: Giovanni Raspini 925/000 Silver Alphabet Angel

From the Giovanni Raspini Charms collection





More of these High End Alphabet Angels from Italy are available; have a look at: Spectrenoir Just scroll down to where they are.

Click on the button to the right of this blog to go straight to the action!
Good luck!

Friday, January 21, 2011

{My Favorite Boots}


For a consulting job in California, we did receive a TIP of $ 950.00 so I was going to splurge on something, while shopping in San Francisco; my favorite city. Numerous times we went there for our work and so I loved to shop at Neiman Marcus in San Francisco and I. Magnin (was there also at the fare-well-sale on October 23, 1993. LOVED their catalog as well. One of my all time favorite stores and it was sad to see them going out of business. But back to Neiman Marcus. After visiting the Chanel boutique, where they didn't have my size boots, I got them at Neiman's and had them shipped via UPS to Georgia, to save on the sales tax. What a royal feeling to possess these special boots! We both celebrated this acquisition at our favorite little restaurant on the 3rd floor of 116 Maiden Lane; AKIMBO. We've been there many times, also for some coffee with dessert while shopping at Union Square. But that too is no longer there. Nostalgia...


Still love these oh so soft and comfy boots. Actually I wore them yesterday when we went shopping in Atlanta. 
The weather was sunny and my boxy Escada rose sweater was enough for going outside. These pictures were taken a couple of days ago in our garden.

This Escada rose sweater is jacquard knit.
On the steps of our gazebo so husband Pieter could zoom in on the buttons of my boots.


Someone once joked about making those buttons into currency... But I hope they will stay on my boots for many more years!


So this is still a great memory of California in many ways.

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

{BOOKS in Our Living Room}

Of course as a teacher and writer, husband Pieter did live with lots of books. The first book about Modern Mushroom Growing by Pieter J.C. Vedder got published in 1961, in the Dutch language. That yielded six editions, while Pieter was the Founder and Principal of the first and only Practical Training College for mushroom growing; the only one in the world. It eventually got officially translated into six other languages. Pieter even got hold of an unofficial Chinese version, while visiting China; you can read more in my blog post about: {Silk Embroidered Birds from China Trip}.
Both of us have, besides writing numerous articles for magazines, also been avid readers all our lives; that's the best education available. At least, it is something that is deeply embedded into our Lifestyle!
So now we're back to the shelf where we left yesterday:


Same shelf, but to the right, where Pieter is in the spotlight now. Maartje my niece is to the left. The frog is not related to us, he came home with us from South Africa! The two oval frames are 925/000 silver from Spain by Isabel Cabanilla. The others are eBay finds, to fit some old photos; both in Sterling.


This is a rosewood pocket watch stand, holding my antique gold lapel watch and an antique French needle case in gold.


Here you can see the engraved M on the lapel pin.


A second lapel pin and the needle case again.


In México City when we went with our boss out for dinner with his good friends, we first went to the friends' home. There we both saw the very first ROSE TREE in our lives! Sure enough, we had no camera to capture that rare beauty. So what you see here, is actually from such a huge rose, which has grown into a tree! Very beautiful grain.


Okay, let's step back and look at our books in this open section. The top part holds crystal ware and below is also storage. Pieter once did smoke a pipe and so did his Dad, thus we have quite a collection on a teak pipe rack.
Behind those frames and pipes are leather books.


To the right is an entire section for books; all the way to the top.


Stepping back to the left, you now can see that the center section is holding crystal, silver ware, Delft blue and the last two open sections again hold books.


Our solid French oak wall unit could not hold all books for the living room.
Here is an oak Barrister book case from Levenger for more books.
We have added a total of seven in our home!


On top of this Barrister book case you see our collection of antique inkwells and letter holder. Also a natural cherry pen case from Levenger. In it are our fountain pens and ballpoints, mostly Mont Blanc.


Of course, there are still those books you need to have right next to your reading chair...
We actually have books in all seven languages. Keeps the mind young!
Related link:

1978 - P.J.C. Vedder's Modern Mushroom Growing Book Published in English | Scroll down for seeing all of his published books

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MARIETTE'S BACK TO BASICS © 2009. All rights reserved - Text and images may not be copied for distribution or sale.

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