little cayman

since moving back to america we have obviously slacked off on our photography. we have been busy working on our house and working. here is a shot from our vacation in little cayman last week. i promise to be more vigilant about posting photos, we really miss it... 

i guess we weren't very inspired on this vacation, not a lot to take photos of, in fact I think we only took about 20 total, most of which aren't worth saving. 

at long last

finally, I am getting around to posting photos on my husbands blog. I hope this starts a more regular posting schedule.

these are from our trip to Roatan with our dearest companions

concord, mass

these are pictures sheri took of our recent trip to concord. we went to visit friends of ours and managed to get trapped in this beautiful snowstorm. the town is so cute, the home of Thoreau, Emerson, and Alcott. as you can imagine sheri loved that.

williamsburg

a recent trip to williamsburg, va with a friend from italy. we moved back to the states a few months ago, we are now living in richmond, va. we love the area but must admit we really miss italy and europe.

gone again

jim is back in the states again. i am missing him so much this time, and thinking about him with our granddaughter, the love of our lives! i am so excited to see her in the fall. so i thought i would post some fun pictures of all of us together in italy. some of these photos are courtesy of amymattingly.blogspot.com.

sharm el sheikh, egypt

this shows a little of my life, or actually what i live for. the big doggy, wow!, he walked side by side with his master, strolling down the main street ( a mini vegas strip), showing everyone how cool he was. just like vegas, sharm el sheikh rises up from the middle of the desert, gathering all it's buildings side by side, and then dies away, leaving a landscape resembling the moon. my goal was to dive in the number one spot in the world, the red sea. it is to divers what mount everest is to climbers. after diving i see why. the fish were everywhere, masses of them, swimming fearlessly to our masks, nibbling on our ears and hanging out, knowing they were the stars of the show. while the diving is a bit more intense than what i had done previously it rewarded with incredible fish, and coral walls. of course, no one can take a trip to egypt without a camel ride, skip that when you visit believe me!!!! riding a camel is the equivalent of having two of your male friends carry two, two by fours, you sitting on them bare butt, and then violently, in a drunken stupor they try to carry you over rugged terrain. sounds like fun right?! we did get the photos of the three of us, (one of our friends from lucca went with us) and that is what we really wanted. the great news was that 2,500 miles from home and kfc was there (as was tgi fridays, hard rock cafe, starbucks, and pizza hut) the bad news was i think i know what camel taste like now....

architecture

heidelberg photos

recently we visited the city of heidleberg, germany. thankfully it was spared during world war 1 and 2. this was a delightful city, the architecture, the river and the beautiful homes lining the banks of the neckar river were almost unreal in their perfection. traveling with my wife and her sister, the two vegetarians, i finally got my revenge, since this is a town that serves platters of meat that could have easily fed the three of us. they did garnish it with two tomatoes and a piece of lettuce which i watched the vegetarians carefully turn this into a meal for them. the good news is the beer was cheap and since it is made from grains, they made up for the lack of solid food. it was also wonderful to watch them tour heidelberg in their yellow hefty bag rain ponchos. i think we all could have tolerated the rain but when the temps dropped into the 50's even i decided to join in and sacrifice my italian fashion for weather protection. we laughed, laughed some more, drank, drank some more, and continued drinking until one of us finally decided, we look good in yellow.

Carrara

one of my favorite day trips in italy so far has been a trip to the carrara mountains. the first time we drove to the mountains it was an amazing site; it appeared there was new snow on the mountain, but since it was august and close to 100° i wondered how the snow could be there and be so brilliantly white. as we drove further and began our approach up the mountain we began to see the spectacular white "snow" was really marble. the carrara mountains are famous for producing the highest grade of white marble which has been prized for centuries by artisans such as michaelangelo, and all of the architects and builders throughout italy. even during roman times they would go to carrara to extract the marble to use on the coleseum, the vatican, leaning tower of pisa, the duomo in florence as well as many buildings in venice. it is a wonderful daytrip: you can drive right up to the sites where they extract the marble. you are able to watch them remove pieces of marble from the mountain the size of small trucks! if you drive further to the town of colonatta(the lard capital of italy) you are able to see how they transport these huge marble blocks from the tops of the mountains.

flowers for a monday

lucca festivities

Lucca loves festivals and July is the month of festivals. The woman was in one of the medieval festivals last July. They parade through the city representing each reigning family in the history of Lucca. They wear period clothing, and play instruments of the time. They also carry crossbows, and have crossbow competitions, flag throwing competitions and others. They reinact historical moments and generally just take your breath away! If you can be in Lucca in July walk out at night around 9:00 and you are sure to be surprised by a beautiful ceremony celebrating this incredible city.

cinque terre, italy

lucca's botanical garden

italy's finest treasure

As promised from the last blog i will tell you about Carlo, the blacksmith, who we feel is truly a treasure in Italy. I have been very fortunate in my travels in Italy in that I have seen some of the greatest masterpieces ever produced. In Italy, four fifths of the worlds treasures reside, most people seek out the well known treasures, I have been lucky enough to actually meet a living artist, Carlo. This man has worked in this shop since he was a young boy. The photo you see with the small fire, is a fire his ancestors started 213 years ago. It has never gone out! Unfortunately, the fire will not burn much longer because Carlo's only son will not be able to continue in the family tradition due to medical reasons. Carlo, is not only an amazing blacksmith but a testament to self-sustained living. There are two mountains by his workshop which provide water to him through a waterfall and stream. Carlo uses this water to provide electricity and power for all of his machines. He also makes all of his tools from recycled iron and the handles from tree branches which have fallen in the surrounding woods. I am amazed when our guests go back to the states who have seen the wonders of Rome, Venice, and Florence: they always say their trip to see Carlo was the most memorable experience they had in Italy. I found a quote which I think appropriately describes Carlo's life and his works, "We exist temporarily through what we take but we live forever through what we give." If you are ever near Pescaglia, Italy please find your way to Carlo's workshop.