Saturday, June 16, 2012

The Cinque Terre

I have pics from Orvieto and Assisi, but won't bore you with them.   I really enjoyed the scenery of the Cinque Terre.   We took a boat from La Specia up to the Cinque Terre and got off at Monterosso.  Monterosso and Vernazza suffered an incredible rainfall and flood in October 2011.  You can Google it and learn more.   Both towns went to work mucking out and cleaning up, and opened just in time for tourist season.  It is true testament to the industriousness of the Italians.  I was truly gobsmacked over how the land was terraced and farmed where possible.   I don't know how they manage on those slopes!   There is no way they can be using what we know as traditional farm machinery!
I also cannot imagine how they get rushed to hospital in an emergency, other than a helicopter.

Click on a photo to enlarge, then hit your "back" button to return to the page.








Friday, June 15, 2012

pics from Rome

There really are too many to choose from.   Here are a few; I hope they all will post.  If you click on a photo, it should open up much larger, in a separate "Tab" or Window, and you will be able to see the pics much better.

The Roman Coliseum was really awesome.    Here are two photos, each from the opposite end.  The partial wood floor is to illustrate how the Coliseum was remodeled at some point, with all the smaller rooms, hallways, etc. under the floor.


Our tour company did an excellent job arranging our Vatican Museum tour.   We were the first group in during evening hours, and had the place to ourselves.  Literally.   They kept us ahead of the throngs.    The Sistine Chapel is just that--- a chapel.    I thought it would be larger, silly me, but given the size of the other places we had seen (like St. Peter's Basilica),  I naively imagined it would be large, too.   Here are some pics.   I'll leave out the ceiling shots, as everyone has already seen them elsewhere.   Here is the Sistine Chapel


And some shots of the Vatican Museum (they're all interconnected as one large building)








Tuesday, June 12, 2012

More pics

Pompeii was the dark horse of our sightseeing, because it was so much bigger than we anticipated.
Mt. Vesuvius lurks in the back ground.  That is not smoke coming out of the top;  it is a cloud that happened to be there.   Trust me, I was keeping an eye on Mt. V  at all times.    ;-)



This field below is where soldiers and gladiators practiced.

This is a very large ampitheater



Another vacationer checking in...

We just returned from a trip as well.  We were in France for two weeks - Paris for several days on both ends of the trip and  a week in Provence in Southern France right in the middle of wine country.  I am going to try to attach some pictures  The "quilt" picture is actually the floor in one of the areas of the Louve...quilters see quilts everywhere.   The other pictures are from the market in Avignon where we took a cooking class.  A true feast for the eyes.



On a very sad note, my mom passed away while we were in France.  As I mentioned several times on the board, she was legally blind but still quilting.  In fact three days before she left us she said if someone would push her over to her machine she could get one more block done.    A very determined and amazing woman.  We have a real treasure tho.  While in the ursing home she was working on string-pieced blocks.  One top is almost finished and there are 40 some blocks left.  My quilting sister and I have some fun ideas of things we can make with them...Joleen in Minnesota

Monday, June 11, 2012

Fire near Ft. Collins, Colorado

There is a huge fire near Fort Collins, Colorado and it sounds like there have been some homes lost. I’ve decided to assemble some quilts to send to victims of the fire. I have a family member near Ft. Collins who will accept responsibility to get the quilts distributed.

 If anyone would like to send me some blocks this is what I’d like:


12 1/2 inches UNFINISHED size blocks, 12 inches finished

Colors – Blue, green and/or brown with natural muslin as the lighter tone. 
 
Please sign your block

Cut off date for getting blocks to me would be August 1, 2012. My personal target date to get the quilts to Colorado is mid September.

Please contact me via dolphinquilter at hotmail dot com for my address if you’d like to take part.


Thanks in advance,

Mary in Oregon

Another picture

This is on the island of Capri.   DH and I took a ferry over to Capri, then a city bus to Anacapri, and rode the chair lift up to Monte Solaro.   It was quite cloudy and cold up there, so no great photos taken.  But here is one DH shot of me, from behind,  as we descended in the chair lift.  The moving chairs weren't more than two stories above ground at all times, or I might have been a little bit nervous.  The bottom pic is a view from the top.

Monday evening checking in

Wow, snow in N.Z. and palm trees in Calif. and pictures of Italy all in one place.   I have been off of the board lately because I get tired of just giving bad news.  My brother in West Palm Beach VA hospital is worse, he will be transferred to a hospice wing tomorrow.  They are stopping the chemo, etc.  He has a fungus in his lungs, and fluid on his brain.  They have no further treatment available to him.  At age 66 he was only given a 30% change of recovery from this type of leukemia.   The task now is to find a way to take Mom down for a funeral when it happens.  The local hospice people are supposed to be working to find a place for Mom to stay for a few days when we travel down.  It might be 2 weeks away, or maybe 3 or 4.
We have been having rain almost every day for 2 weeks now.  Lots of flooding in the N. Fla. area, trees down, roads flooded, etc.  We just have to deal with long grass and standing water here.  The beach area is clear, but not much fun being at the beach in the rain.  The ocean is interesting during the stormy weather, but only a few foolish surfers go out.  Rip currents.
I'm taking out a UFO to work on for the next few weeks, going to do some simple projects to keep sane.
Our quilt guild is busy working on the Sept. quilt show.  It is a beach theme, so we are making beach theme quilts for displays, flip-flops, sand castles, etc.
Sara in Fla.

Wanted to try a post

Beautiful pictures Doris, looks like a lovely trip.
Lets see maybe I can find a color photo to post as well.
Is the Orange Blogger symbol Goggle? That's what mine has shown
for quite a long time, I think that is Goggle.
I don't remember any hoops when it switched over.
Beautiful cloudless Palm Springs California

Posting here has gotten to be a real challenge

I went to the usual "dashboard" place to post here,  and the screen tells me --
"Your browser is no longer supported by Blogger. Some parts of Blogger will not work and you may experience problems.
If you are having problems, try Google Chrome. | Dismiss"

 (???)  so I had to download and use Google Chrome.
Which is not user friendly for a tech-challenged person like me.

   IS EVERYONE ELSE HAVING TO DO THIS?  If I disappear from the face of the BB Chat,  this is why.   Technology can be a real pill.

We have had a few weeks of delightful weather and low humidity, but now the humidity has returned (71%).  It was bound to happen, sooner or later.   Our poor Sophie is itching and scratching to bits with her usual seasonal allergies.   I had her to the veterinarian this morning for a steroid shot, and we'll try a different antihistamine that is Rx.   I'm also going to try a home made flea repellent that uses lemons and rosemary.  The K9 Advantix II  kills the fleas after they bite her, as it is supposed to,  but the poor thing is allergic to the flea bites!   We go thru this every summer . . .

DH had Rome on his bucket list,  so we went on a package tour last month.    We both agreed that Florence is our favorite city.   Rome is too big and Venice is too crowded.   Here is a sunset view from our hotel  in Sorrento.

 Here is the view from our hotel room in Sorrento.







PLEASE.....

Pretty please..... another colourful photo, please.  The snow is still on the ground here and it is %$#^ cold.  I need some colour in my life !! (how do you Canadians cope with months of this sort of weather ?)  Took me awhile to find the this format this morning.  Another form came up wanting all sorts of information.  I clicked off it and tried again later !  I'm not in a form filling mood this morning...

Marion .