Category Archives: Travel

Postcard # 5 ~ La Scala

La Scala is a world renowned opera house in Milan. The theatre was inaugurated on August 3, 1778. We weren’t allowed to take photos inside the auditorium where all the cool box seats are located. We were able to take photos in this adjacent hall with these beautiful Murano glass chandeliers. I’m pretty sure the tour guide said these were Murano glass. She was speaking German and English and sometimes it was hard to follow.

It snowed on Monday morning in Milan. The snow stayed on the tops of the cars but quickly turned to rain. I’m staying in today and will venture out tomorrow in what should be better weather for our last bit of sight seeing. We leave Milan very early in the morning on Wednesday.

An Interlude…

…from my postcards. Because it snowed this morning in Milan and the weather is overall cold and wet I have some spare time on my hands today and decided I’d go back to sunny Southern California and continue on my posts from my niece Debbee’s shower. Later today a postcard will pop up from the opera house so I thought my interlude title for this post was appropriate.

The shower decor…

My niece Michelle hand made these cute little jar candles for each guest to take home.

Fresh flowers from the L.A. Flower market that my niece Melissa arranged in several different containers.

The gift table…

Niece Jessica made the shower cloud with rain drops…

Michelle or Melissa or both of them made this ribbon banner.

The main ideas for the shower were from Michelle and Melissa and they called on family and friends to gather up the items needed to pull it off. Many hands contributed to putting the ideas into the final result. Working together with my family is always a fun time. Thank you Michelle for opening your home to us for this special event.

2 more days in Milan and then we make the long trip home. Hope y’all are doing well…

San Siro Stadium ~ A.C. Milan

Postcard #4

I’m happy to say I made it to my first International soccer game in a country other than my own! I’ll have lots to share about this day later with more photos.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day everyone. I quite by mistake ordered this drink and when it came to the table in it’s green glory it reminded me what day it was. The Italians don’t give much thought to St. Patrick’s day.

Dear Lord,
Give me a few friends
who will love me for what I am,
and keep ever burning
before my vagrant steps
the kindly light of hope…
And though I come not within sight
of the castle of my dreams,
teach me to be thankful for life,
and for time’s olden memories
that are good and sweet.
And may the evening’s twilight
find me gentle still.

God bless you all my dear friends!

Duomo Di Milano ~ Postcard #3

Dear and I visited the Duomo after our trip to Lake Como. I have about 100 photos from this amazing cathedral. On Saturday I was able to see an original painting of the Last Supper…no photos allowed. Tomorrow the weather is turning. I’m hoping to get to the San Siro stadium for the A.C. Milan vs. Palermo soccer match.

Wish you were here my bloggy friends. We could really give the Italians a run for their money! Blessings…

Postcard from Varenna

Lake Como from Varenna…

More words later when I show you more from this little village on the Lake.

We had a full day of trains, wind, up and downhill walks, up and down stair walks. We are tired and tucking ourselves in. More touring tomorrow but this time on my own. Thank you for all your appreciated birthday greetings and comments in general. Ciao for now!

She Loved it…

My niece Debbee’s shower was so lovely. The embroidered pillow Katie and I traveled to Canada to purchase from Winks Home Garden & Gifts was a big hit.

We are still running down here in Southern California. I’ll share detailed shots from the trip and shower sometime soon. We fly home tonight. Hope all is well in your corner of the world!

Here, There and Everywhere…

I’m headed on a new adventure today with my girls. Here are some photos from the road this past week when we visited our son Dan and some other random shots from here, there, and everywhere!

The bridge over the Columbia on I-90 heading East at Vantage.

Friday turned out to be a glorious day in the Pacific Northwest.

The weather gave us lots of hope for future tulip days in April. But in March we always have daffodils popping up to make us smile.

Katie had 16 inches of her hair cut off to send to Locks of Love and she is now a vibrant red head! I’ll give you a sneak peek.

I’ll share the whole look later. As for me my hair is still the same with some grey covered up for now.

Hope you all have a great weekend. I’m not sure when I’ll be posting again because of our whirlwind trip to the Los Angeles area.

I’m Melting…

…or the time in between Winter and Spring in Chewelah. There was a lot more snow on the ground at our son’s place before we arrived. I was happy to visit after the fact. I shared Fall scenes from his property and here are some winter scenes.

This was our daughter Katie’s first visit to her brother’s home so we all trekked about the property for her to get a good picture of his property.

We ended our stay with breakfast at The Chalet Restaurant and Alpine Room in Chewelah, a great place to eat.

We had a wonderful time together at Dan’s place. After breakfast we said our goodbyes and reminded each other that we’ll all be together again in late April when we travel to our niece’s wedding in Southern California from 3 different airports. We’re at that stage in life when our kids are a bit scattered and enjoying life as they should apart from us. We always welcome the times we can come together and enjoy each other. Do your grown children live far or near?

To the Island!

We have several islands to enjoy in our area. One of our favorites is Whidbey Island. On Saturday we caught a ferry in Mukilteo that took us to Clinton at the south end of Whidbey Island. We drove up to the ferry line and were happy to make the ferry that was already loading. We were the last car on…

It was a blustery day. We braved the outdoor deck for long enough to take a photo. This is my cousin Jim, his wife Jeanie, and our daughter Katie.

Our first stop was up the island in Coupeville. Coupeville is located on Penn Cove. Penn Cove is known for mussels. This coming up weekend is Penn Cove Mussel Fest. Coupeville is the 2nd oldest town in the state of Washington. We ate at the Front St. Grill. They had a page full of mussel offerings to enjoy. We chose the Coconut Green Curry Mussels. Delicious!

We walked along the Front St. and enjoyed perusing the shops.

We hopped back in the car and returned to the southern end of the island to visit our favorite town of Langley. This is our traditional photo spot on 1st. St. in Langley. Saratoga Passage is behind us. We spotted a whale in this Passage last year. Saratoga Passage lies in Puget Sound between Whidbey Island and Camano Island.

After walking through our favorite shops we headed back to the ferry dock. When the ferry rolled in I saw these two seagulls perched on the lights above the pilot house. It made me chuckle that they chose the first class perches to roll into the dock.

We were quite pleased that the weather was nicer than what we expected for Jim and Jeanie’s visit and for our adventures. Last night we had a farewell meal together with our company plus my sister, her husband, our son Josh, our SIL Laura and Katie. Hope your week is going well…

Tour of Seattle…

…on a blustery day!

The wind and rain limited my camera from clicking much outdoors. We were again blessed with a parking spot right at the Market! Amazing! My cousin and his wife who happens to be my best friend from college are in Seattle and I tried to give them my hallmark tour but we just had to go with the flow. While at the Market we went down the steps to the famous “Gum Wall”.

It can be a little overwhelming for newcomers! Jim and Jeanie were good sports.

Jim wanted to enjoy the abundance of our seafood choices and ordered a crab cocktail to enjoy while we walked around the stalls in the Market.

When in Seattle it’s a good idea to enjoy our bounty!

Katie joined us on our tour, too. Our last stop downtown would be Boka for Happy Hour where we would meet Dear when he was done with work.

I’m grateful that Dear is willing to work hard while I gallivant about the town. We love to meet up after work for him to enjoy a good ending to the day.

Father and daughter time is always good along with some good food!

We have lots of good history with Jim and Jeanie. Jim, Jeanie and I all graduated together from Cal State Los Angeles in 1972. Jeanie and I both graduated with a Bachelors of Arts Degree in Home Economics. We both completed a 5th year to receive our Teaching Credential. Jim and Jeanie were married the same year Dear and I were married. We’ve had lots of celebrations together. We lived in Huntington Beach together as newlyweds and attended the same church. Their 3 kids were born in the same years our kids were born at different ends of the year.

Our Seattle tour was on Friday afternoon. I’ll be sharing our Saturday tour on Whidbey Island soon. Today we attended church together with a great celebration of Missions around the world and in our neighborhoods. Good times and good memories continue. A great afternoon of re-kindling our memories of fun playing Rook together so many years ago…

Hope you had a good weekend!