Saturday, May 19, 2012
There's Probably An Interesting Story Here...
The spouse and I went to a funeral a few months ago in a small Oregon town outside of Portland. We saw this sign in the window of a store as we walked to the church located in the rear of a storefront on the main street of town. Don't you wish we knew the story behind the sign?
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Back to the Grind
Venice, like no place else in the world! |
I’ve taken a month off from the grueling work of
blogging. The trouble with not blogging
for a month is that it is so difficult to figure out where to start now that I’m
ready to write again. Perhaps it’s best
to just jump into the fray and see where I wind up…
Duomo in Milan |
In April I made my first trip to Italy. I met my daughter, who was working in Milan
for two weeks, and took advantage of her company-paid hotel room. I was surprised that I was nervous about the
trip. I’ve traveled quite a bit both
with the spouse and by myself. I think I
was uneasy about not speaking Italian. I
was quite pleased with myself when I arrived at the hotel after taking the bus and
then a short taxi ride from the airport (“The taxis are so expensive, take the
bus, Mom.”) After a quick change of
clothes we headed out to see the Duomo, and a pickpocket got my wallet with all
my credit cards and money…a lot of money.
Less than two hours in Italy and I was broke!
I spent a few hours angry and preoccupied, but then I forced
myself to recognize that I shouldn’t let one unfortunate experience ruin a
wonderful trip. I called the spouse and
had him cancel my credit cards. My
daughter loaned me money and a credit card, with only a few snide comments
about my fitness to travel alone.
It was a wonderful trip.
I stood alone in a dim museum with the sculpture that Michelangelo was
working on when he died, and viewed Leonardo DaVinci’s The Last Supper in the
former dining hall of an ancient monastery.
I marveled at Venice, which looks exactly like every picture you’ve ever
seen of it, but in person is hard to believe that it really exists. We cruised Lake Como, but never caught a
glimpse of George Clooney. Best of all I
spent two weeks with my daughter.
Venice |
Sarah at Murano Glass Factory |
While I was exploring
Italy spring arrived in
Hermiston. The tulips were still
blooming when I returned. Both the spouse and I have spent a lot of time
working in the yard. The spouse has
planted a big garden. I expected a
duplicate of last year’s a few tomatoes and peppers and a couple of cucumbers,
but we’ve got a small truck garden complete with drip irrigation and tomatoes
residing in rows of white tenting. We
harvested our first crop last week.
Every meal in our house now comes with radish garnish!
Radishes in my garden, that are now washed and trimmed in a tupperware container in my refrigerator. |
Well, that wasn’t so hard.
Now I just need to get back in the habit of writing. It’s good to be back. I’ll be dropping by your blogs to see what
you’ve all been up to.
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