And this is my favorite!
Friday, May 20, 2016
Tuesday, May 17, 2016
When it Rains it Pours!
So we'll get to the rain in a minute. So much has been going on this past week. I got home Monday night from Italy. I went straight to the doctor Tuesday morning about my cough. Even my sisters were nagging me about it. Anyway, just as I suspected---all is good. A chest x-ray showed clear lungs. I just have a nagging cough from the bronchitis that will linger at least another month. I know me! When I get a cough, it lasts forever.
Connie picked me up for our stitching class where Nancy meets us too. After lunch at Cinco de Mayo (Mexican food was really good after all that Italian!), I spent the rest of the day unpacking, going through the mail and taking care of business.
Wednesday, I was ready to get down to Mindy's and start the "big move!" At first we were a little distressed at the mess!! Mindy and Justin had started moving things down. They bought a larger condo in the same building downtown. They love that urban lifestyle!
Anyway, Mindy had put up post it notes next to each pile: "storage"---"Christmas decorations"---"things to get rid of"---"Justin's keepsakes!" Needless to say, most of what they moved wasn't going to be staying in the new place!! We were actually pretty overwhelmed. Finally, I said to myself, "Okay, Barb, just treat this like one of your jobs---except you are not getting paid!" Then I was able to just dig in and get started. We hauled off all the junk and boxed up the things that need to go to storage. We arranged for painting this week. By the next day, we really were ready to get started. I had warned Mindy not to move anything to the new place that wasn't staying in the new place. Why move things twice? Makes sense, right!!
I was thinking that we would have them totally moved by Friday. After all, when we moved Mindy from her apartment to her condo, it only took us two days! The difference this time is 4 years and an accumulation of more stuff, plus a new husband and ALL his stuff. In all fairness, Justin doesn't really have that much.
Of course, by Friday, we've barely put a dent in it! We had to hold off because the place needs painting, which is happening this week. Justin's parents were in town this weekend and were able to do a few things that require two men---like move the console stereo and wine refrigerator from storage.
They also went shopping so Laurie could plant Mindy a pot for her balcony.
Laurie planted mandevilla and supertunias---something new to me. Mindy loves it!
I left of the beach with my girlfriends on Saturday morning. It's a good thing we couldn't do much at the condo because if so, I would have rather stayed home. You know---work before play!
Once we got here, we had an issue right off with one of the rental cars. Luckily for me, it was the one Karolyn was driving---no air conditioning. After breakfast, she took it back to get another car. After some "fighting" with the attendant, she got another car, two days free and a tank of gas. Still that whole fiasco took about 4 hours out of her and Susan's vacation. The rest of us did the grocery shopping and then waited for them to arrive. We thought it would be adding insult to injury if they found us lounging at the pool with fruity drinks!
Later that evening, we found that we had a major leak in the pantry behind the hot water heater. Water was just pouring out from a pipe above that seemed to be the air conditioning unit. We were able to prop a medium size pot under it, but it filled up every 10 minutes. I called the repair company we use, but getting someone to answer at 9 p.m. on a Saturday night was impossible. It continued to pour water all night. We turned off the air since that seemed to be where it was coming from. On Sunday morning, Butch got involved. After several frantic phone calls to everyone he could think of, the maintenance men came and took care of it. Turns out, the drainage pipe to the outside was clogged. Condensation from ALL of the condos above us---4 floors worth---drain through this pipe. That's why so much water was coming out. I have no idea if there's been any damage---that will be for Butch to figure out. It's hard to see back there. The floors are stone tile, so hopefully the water just drained down to the crawl space and out!
By Sunday at 10 a.m., we were really ready to get our vacation started. The weather has been incredible up until today.
We counted 5 shades of turquoise in the water.
There are more people here than I expected at this time of year. We go to the beach in the morning for 2 or 3 hours. After lunch, we go to the pool.
The pool area is really nice. No, I don't know that woman in the hot tub. I pulled this picture from our condo website.
We've had 2 days of playing on the beach and in the water. Now it's going to rain for the rest of the week! We will not be deterred in our fun! We have a plan: a little shopping, a movie or two, games here plus I have a pretty good library of movies too! Wouldn't you know it---the one time I do not bring any stitching!
We have four more days---as they say, when it rains, it pours! We won't let it dampen our spirits!!
Connie picked me up for our stitching class where Nancy meets us too. After lunch at Cinco de Mayo (Mexican food was really good after all that Italian!), I spent the rest of the day unpacking, going through the mail and taking care of business.
Wednesday, I was ready to get down to Mindy's and start the "big move!" At first we were a little distressed at the mess!! Mindy and Justin had started moving things down. They bought a larger condo in the same building downtown. They love that urban lifestyle!
Anyway, Mindy had put up post it notes next to each pile: "storage"---"Christmas decorations"---"things to get rid of"---"Justin's keepsakes!" Needless to say, most of what they moved wasn't going to be staying in the new place!! We were actually pretty overwhelmed. Finally, I said to myself, "Okay, Barb, just treat this like one of your jobs---except you are not getting paid!" Then I was able to just dig in and get started. We hauled off all the junk and boxed up the things that need to go to storage. We arranged for painting this week. By the next day, we really were ready to get started. I had warned Mindy not to move anything to the new place that wasn't staying in the new place. Why move things twice? Makes sense, right!!
I was thinking that we would have them totally moved by Friday. After all, when we moved Mindy from her apartment to her condo, it only took us two days! The difference this time is 4 years and an accumulation of more stuff, plus a new husband and ALL his stuff. In all fairness, Justin doesn't really have that much.
Of course, by Friday, we've barely put a dent in it! We had to hold off because the place needs painting, which is happening this week. Justin's parents were in town this weekend and were able to do a few things that require two men---like move the console stereo and wine refrigerator from storage.
They also went shopping so Laurie could plant Mindy a pot for her balcony.
I left of the beach with my girlfriends on Saturday morning. It's a good thing we couldn't do much at the condo because if so, I would have rather stayed home. You know---work before play!
Once we got here, we had an issue right off with one of the rental cars. Luckily for me, it was the one Karolyn was driving---no air conditioning. After breakfast, she took it back to get another car. After some "fighting" with the attendant, she got another car, two days free and a tank of gas. Still that whole fiasco took about 4 hours out of her and Susan's vacation. The rest of us did the grocery shopping and then waited for them to arrive. We thought it would be adding insult to injury if they found us lounging at the pool with fruity drinks!
Later that evening, we found that we had a major leak in the pantry behind the hot water heater. Water was just pouring out from a pipe above that seemed to be the air conditioning unit. We were able to prop a medium size pot under it, but it filled up every 10 minutes. I called the repair company we use, but getting someone to answer at 9 p.m. on a Saturday night was impossible. It continued to pour water all night. We turned off the air since that seemed to be where it was coming from. On Sunday morning, Butch got involved. After several frantic phone calls to everyone he could think of, the maintenance men came and took care of it. Turns out, the drainage pipe to the outside was clogged. Condensation from ALL of the condos above us---4 floors worth---drain through this pipe. That's why so much water was coming out. I have no idea if there's been any damage---that will be for Butch to figure out. It's hard to see back there. The floors are stone tile, so hopefully the water just drained down to the crawl space and out!
By Sunday at 10 a.m., we were really ready to get our vacation started. The weather has been incredible up until today.
We've had 2 days of playing on the beach and in the water. Now it's going to rain for the rest of the week! We will not be deterred in our fun! We have a plan: a little shopping, a movie or two, games here plus I have a pretty good library of movies too! Wouldn't you know it---the one time I do not bring any stitching!
We have four more days---as they say, when it rains, it pours! We won't let it dampen our spirits!!
Tuesday, May 10, 2016
Sister's Trip in Pictures
As you might have figured out by now, I had no time to blog on our sister's trip to Italy. We hit it hard every day. I'm the early bird of the bunch while all the rest are night owls. We had a fabulous time. I'm going to let the pictures speak for themselves.
The Coliseum.
Piers suggested a really good restaurant near our hotel. We asked one of the clerks at the front desk for directions. We walked all around and couldn't find it. I went back to the hotel to ask again. The manager said follow me---so I did. The rest of the girls laughed when they saw me following him. He literally walked us to the restaurant which was only about 2 blocks away. Those Italians sure are nice---even to idiot Americans!
We took the train to Napoli where we met our driver and went to Pompeii. Afterwards, we went to Sorrento for the afternoon. It's a beautiful city set on the sea. We had the afternoon to browse around the shops. Of course we had to get gelato.
We missed our train from Rome to Florence. Our driver got us there in plenty of time, but we missed the announcement of a platform change. When am I going to learn---if there's no one else around, we must be in the wrong place! That put us late getting in to Florence so we had to adjust our schedule. We wanted some time at the leather market which really wasn't on the itinerary. That's the beauty of private drivers---they will do whatever you want and take you wherever you want to go.
We only had an hour at the market. Not nearly enough time when you consider we spent about a half hour standing in line to buy salami, cheese, olives and bread for our lunch in the car. Still, we managed to come away with some beautiful leather goods.
Our great-grandfather was a ship builder. La Spezia was a naval base, so it's very likely that he worked for the military. Our great-grandmother was a seamstress who made men's suits. We were told that rather than men's suits, she most likely made military uniforms as many young women did back then.
With our guide as interpreter, we learned that nothing remained of the homes of our former great-grandparents. Basically, they immigrated to the US around 1910. Just about the entire town was bombed during WWII. There is a well-known doctor in town whose last name is Foce. This man is going to try to find out if there is some relation there. He also has 7,000 photos. He's going to send some of those to Jeanne.
This is the beautiful altar of the new church---which is actually about 70 years old now.
In the afternoon, we had a picnic and poker game in the private garden. We played with Euros.
It was a fabulous trip with six amazing women. I'm so glad they are my sisters!
Thursday, May 5, 2016
I Don't Even Know What Day it Is!
I'd planned to blog today, but now I've overslept. I'm exhausted. We're leaving every day by 8:30 and not getting home until 10 or after. But, I don't want to miss anything!! We have one day of rest on Saturday. It might be then before I can blog. That's a shame because I'll have forgotten everything I wanted to remember about this trip!
In the meantime:
Well crap! I can't get the pictures to upload!
Later...
In the meantime:
Well crap! I can't get the pictures to upload!
Later...
Monday, May 2, 2016
Italy Part 1
So the flight for the girls wasn't all that good---uncomfortable. I expected that. It's a long way to go in the same position. I sent drinks back to help cheer them. The good news, the flight attendant didn't even charge me!!
We are having a great time. The afternoon of our arrival, we had our first tour of the city. It was basically an overview until we got to the Coliseum and Roman Forum. Our tour ended at the Pantheon but there was a service going on, so we couldn't go in. The Pantheon is right next to our hotel, so we can try again.
Day 2:
We met our tour guide and driver in the lobby. We went to the catacombs and Appian Way. That was really interesting to me since I had never done either. Our guide took us to lunch in the Jewish ghetto. I learned that "ghetto" is not a "bad"word after all. I've always equated that with "slums."
We just let our guide choose the food. We had fried artichokes, fried zucchini flowers (reminiscent of what our grandmother used to make) and a couple of different pastas. We really enjoyed that.
After lunch, our tour continued on foot. We went to the Trevi Fountain---which was disappointing to me. I had already been there, but this time, it was so crowded, you could barely move. Joyce and I opted not to fight the crowd to get down to the fountain. After a brief stop there, we got in line at the best gelato place. That was quite chaotic too. You pay first and then join the masses trying to get their cones. This is one place where you really have to be aggressive. I'd say at least 10 people shoved ahead of me. Our tour guide waved to the servers and said something in Italian an aggravated way. I sorta think that made the server madder as he continued to overlook me. But I finally got my cone---pistacio and black cherry with pane (cream). It was really good---and I'm not a huge fan of gelato. Next time I'm getting the amaretto. I had a taste of Jennifer's and it was the best.
We ended our walking tour at Piazza Navonne. As I recalled, it was one of my favorite places to have a drink and enjoy the local craftsmen. It was packed. We had our drinks, but I was very unhappy to find that my diet Coke cost the same as the local beer---5 Euros!!
Last night we went to dinner at a place that Jennifer's friend recommended. The food was delicious, but the man that served us was just plain rude. I don't think that's ever happened to me before in Italy. I usually always find people very nice and friendly. We had the feeling that they wanted us to eat and go so they could turn the table. Still, the food was worth it. We got a couple of salads to share and 3 different pastas to share. We had learned our lesson the day before as the portions were so huge. This time the servings were average. We contemplated ordering more food, but decided not to.
Here's what I've learned so far:
1. We need to designate one person to be the picture taker for the group. We're going to have 5000 photos. Plus, personally, I think it's rude to ask someone to take our picture and then hand them 4 cameras. The girls are telling me to "chill out" about that.
2. The twins---Janice and Jennifer---could never live together. The rest of us are getting along fine with our roommates. Jennifer has suggested we switch up already!! I said it might be fun to put all 7 names in a hat and see who you get. Janice said she's too used to living alone and didn't like water splashed on the vanity. Jennifer said she was the one who "did" it! Those twins. Somehow, they've intertwined their money too. They always did that as kids, but I have no idea how they are keeping it straight now. It's hilarious to watch them.
3. The money part is going well. I collected 200 Euros from each of the sisters to cover combined expenses---tips, some meals and cab rides.
4. I've learned that none of my sisters know what a pashmina is! My girls and I can't live without them! I tie one on to my purse when traveling and always have it if needed. I also learned that if you loan it to your sister in Italy, she's going to get spaghetti sauce on it. I already had to do laundry!
5. If you order a "big" beer, you get a "BIG" beer!
We are having a great time. The afternoon of our arrival, we had our first tour of the city. It was basically an overview until we got to the Coliseum and Roman Forum. Our tour ended at the Pantheon but there was a service going on, so we couldn't go in. The Pantheon is right next to our hotel, so we can try again.
Day 2:
We met our tour guide and driver in the lobby. We went to the catacombs and Appian Way. That was really interesting to me since I had never done either. Our guide took us to lunch in the Jewish ghetto. I learned that "ghetto" is not a "bad"word after all. I've always equated that with "slums."
We just let our guide choose the food. We had fried artichokes, fried zucchini flowers (reminiscent of what our grandmother used to make) and a couple of different pastas. We really enjoyed that.
After lunch, our tour continued on foot. We went to the Trevi Fountain---which was disappointing to me. I had already been there, but this time, it was so crowded, you could barely move. Joyce and I opted not to fight the crowd to get down to the fountain. After a brief stop there, we got in line at the best gelato place. That was quite chaotic too. You pay first and then join the masses trying to get their cones. This is one place where you really have to be aggressive. I'd say at least 10 people shoved ahead of me. Our tour guide waved to the servers and said something in Italian an aggravated way. I sorta think that made the server madder as he continued to overlook me. But I finally got my cone---pistacio and black cherry with pane (cream). It was really good---and I'm not a huge fan of gelato. Next time I'm getting the amaretto. I had a taste of Jennifer's and it was the best.
We ended our walking tour at Piazza Navonne. As I recalled, it was one of my favorite places to have a drink and enjoy the local craftsmen. It was packed. We had our drinks, but I was very unhappy to find that my diet Coke cost the same as the local beer---5 Euros!!
Last night we went to dinner at a place that Jennifer's friend recommended. The food was delicious, but the man that served us was just plain rude. I don't think that's ever happened to me before in Italy. I usually always find people very nice and friendly. We had the feeling that they wanted us to eat and go so they could turn the table. Still, the food was worth it. We got a couple of salads to share and 3 different pastas to share. We had learned our lesson the day before as the portions were so huge. This time the servings were average. We contemplated ordering more food, but decided not to.
Here's what I've learned so far:
1. We need to designate one person to be the picture taker for the group. We're going to have 5000 photos. Plus, personally, I think it's rude to ask someone to take our picture and then hand them 4 cameras. The girls are telling me to "chill out" about that.
2. The twins---Janice and Jennifer---could never live together. The rest of us are getting along fine with our roommates. Jennifer has suggested we switch up already!! I said it might be fun to put all 7 names in a hat and see who you get. Janice said she's too used to living alone and didn't like water splashed on the vanity. Jennifer said she was the one who "did" it! Those twins. Somehow, they've intertwined their money too. They always did that as kids, but I have no idea how they are keeping it straight now. It's hilarious to watch them.
3. The money part is going well. I collected 200 Euros from each of the sisters to cover combined expenses---tips, some meals and cab rides.
4. I've learned that none of my sisters know what a pashmina is! My girls and I can't live without them! I tie one on to my purse when traveling and always have it if needed. I also learned that if you loan it to your sister in Italy, she's going to get spaghetti sauce on it. I already had to do laundry!
5. If you order a "big" beer, you get a "BIG" beer!
Off to Pompei today!
Later...
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