Franco....Farewell my Friend

Last yr. during my trip to Italy, one of the places I visited was Vicopisano, a small village outside of Pisa and Lucca.  It was such a charming town and I was lucky enough to rent an apt. from Marie and Lorenzo that turned into a fairy land dream.  It was perfecto!  Marie and I became good friends very quickly and she introduced me to Franco, who owned "Rent a Tuscan Friend".  This was a service where he drove me around and took me to different towns in the surrounding area, introduced us to many foods during cooking classes that he taught - even taking us to his parents house to pick fresh herbs for our dishes, tried to teach me some Italian......just a great guy who made my 5 days there so much easier without the hassle of getting lost or driving.  Such a jolly man.
I got word this morning from Marie that he passed away.  So sad.  He was only 57 and was a large Italian man that obviously loved his pasta.  Even told us that he wanted to have gastric by-pass so he could get healthy and grow his business.  Well, he did get that done and had lost quite a bit of weight, was feeling really good and his business was growing by leaps and bounds.  I even got an email from him just last week asking me to refer him on his linkedin site.  And then, out of the blue, he has a heart attack and dies.  I'm heartbroken for his lovely family and his wide circle of friends.
I was asked to send any pictures I took of him with a few words to be used at his funeral.  I am honored.

~~I took off to Italy on a wild whim.  For 6 weeks.  To learn about myself, to soul search, to fall in love with the Italian culture and its people.  I had no idea just how many people I would meet and become instant friends with. Thankfully, I ended up in Vicopisano staying at Marie and Lorenzo's lovely apt. and had the pleasure of "Renting a Tuscan Friend".  Franco!  He was so kind, so educated about his land, so patient with  an American who could barely speak any of the language. He drove us around, taught us to cook a few dishes and how to shop for foods at a local market.  He taught us the glory of the best Italian meal I had during my whole stay there. And laughed and laughed with us during the whole adventure.  He took me to my next destination, which was on top of a mountain in Monsummano, that even was new to him.....I even learned a few "choice words" in Italian on that ride as we got lost many times!

~~Such a fine man.  An honest man. A smart man. A wonderful friend.  I was very lucky to have been able to meet him and have him enrich my life in my short time there. I say goodbye to you now....but know, one day when we all meet again above, that we will laugh some more and eat more and drink more.  But I won't have to Rent a Tuscan Friend again.....I already have you as my friend!! 

  

She Makes Me Happy!

"The great pleasure of a dog is that you make a fool of yourself with him and not only will he not scold you, he will make a fool of himself too".
                                                                ~Samuel Butler~

SophieJane will find the smallest slice of sunshine to lie in.  This was the only sun shining on the deck the other morning....her whole body wouldn't fit in it....only half of her!!!  hahahahaha

She hates when  the grandbabies come to play....Big Time!  So, I had to chuckle when I found her lying on one of the babydolls left out last time they were here!  Just wonder if she thought it was real???!!

“Dogs are our link to paradise. They don't know evil or jealousy or discontent. To sit with a dog on a hillside on a glorious afternoon is to be back in Eden, where doing nothing was not boring--it was peace.” 

                                                                                   ― Milan Kundera

Soothing, Sunny, Silly Summer Days....

Our middle boy and his family came to spend Saturday with us at the lake.  My sons are counting down to opening weekend of dove season.....which turns into teal season, bow season, deer season and duck season....next weekend,  so quality time with their families right now is kinda on top of the agendas!! It was a beautiful, hot summer day and oh, so relaxing!

wha???? is this?  Two lil feets on a babygirl who spent an hour just chillin' in her float!

Kinda just like her daddy!

and her mama!!

while this crazy girl NEVER stopped!!

the many faces of ms. swimming Lilli!

all the girls!

After cap'n made us a few banana daiquires.....she and her dad were off to fish!

she could not WAIT to get those lil fingers into that worm box!

the worms crawl in, the worms crawl out........YaYa had to teach her that lil song, dontcha know??!

Cutest kid ever!!  (both of them!)

The story behind the Perfect Soft Boiled Egg!

There are times when I miss my daddy so much. The simplest thing will make me think of him and smile....Big Time!  He ate a soft boiled egg every single morning of his life. A piece of toast and a soft boiled egg. It was our morning routine. My mom griping about making him that dang egg and him just waiting patiently for his egg at our breakfast table. And the jelly. He always had either fresh mayhaw jelly, that he and my mom made, or marmalade. It was like clockwork and you could bet money on it every dingle dangle morning of his life.  And mine.

So, this morning as I was looking thru some fave blogs online, I came across this post from Wives with Knives...(love her title!!)

http://www.wiveswithknives.net/2013/08/10/the-perfect-soft-boiled-egg/    and decided to try her technique and have breakfast with my daddy and his memory!!

It worked perfectly and being the egg lover that I am....it was delicious!!  And I know my daddy is smilin'!!!

Summer Fun at the Lake!!

Ms. Lilli came to stay with me last week and we had a big ol' time!  Nothing special planned....just doing what we wanted to do!  You know how those Lazy Crazy Hazy Days of Summer are!!!
Of course, there was LOTS of swimming!

and collecting some "critters" for the critter box that she brought with her, complete with a big lizard!...thanks matt!  We added a dragonfly and a millipede, which we looked up on computer and studied all about!

After reading many books and taking a lil snooze and some more swimming.....it was time to put this girl to work!

Taught her how to clean fresh corn!

 

On to biscuit making!  She couldn't grasp the full sized biscuit cutter so YaYa had to improvise. And what better substitution than a SHOT GLASS!!  A Fat Virgin shot glass from Virgin Gorda in BVI's!

Heheheh....who knew you could bring caribbean culture into biscuit making??!!!

My sons ate more raw biscuit dough when they were growing up than the actual biscuits and it looks like the tradition carries on...

the finished cut- out un-cooked biscuits that were just the right size for ms. lilli's hands!! (didn't get a pic of the final product....they went bye bye really quickly

And yes, these seem to be the days that most parents with grown up children hope for.....spending lazy days with their babies.  Spoiling them just a lil bit with lots of hugs and kisses....and maybe even a lil ice cream, in bed, before night night time!!!

Grandchildren are so much Fun!!

A Weekend with My Grandson!!

When my son called and asked me if I wanted to come spend the weekend with them.....guess how long it took for me to hightail it over to Dallas??  Heheh.  So. Much. Fun.  To see my lil grandson smile when he saw me and take my hand to pull me all over his house?? Melted me into a puddle, I tell ya.  We had no plans....just "Austin time"!!

First stop?  Gloria's.  A mexican restaurant that is oh so yummy!  This boy loves him some bean dip and chips!!

Next?  There just so happens to be a water park outside the restaurant so here we go....

Hmmmm....he, of course, examines everything!

and then!!!!

sheer happiness, I tell ya!!

Sunday brunch at The Egg and I...

and then off to the park!

Love this pic since I'm hardly ever in them!

but REALLY loved this one......my boy and his boy!!

I know, now that baby austin is a big boy, that we aren't supposed to say he's "pretty".....but I gotta say just one thing.  HE IS GORGEOUS!!!

Map Wall!!

The Back Story:  Our lake house pretty much tells stories. Stories, you say?  How could that be?  Do the walls talk?  Are there ghosts or spirits that live in the ceilings?  Hmmmmm...not that we know of.
But the "things" in our house do tell a story.  Stories of our adventures. I can sit on my couch and look around at the shelves,  full of treasures,  or on the walls and remember every trip or sail we've taken!  The only "things" in this house are remnants or reminders of places we've been.
Now....when we recently had the interior of house painted, I chose white. All white, except turquoise, the color of water, for the ceiling and for a divider wall. Colors used throughout the house are blue and greens as accent colors.  The front of the divider wall has a beautiful photograph of the coastline in Camogli, Italy, taken by my boyfriend when we were there in 05. And some shells that blogging friends have made and sent me!

(the large painting on back wall came from a beach "art sale" at Puerto Escondido, Dominican Republic!)

But the back of the wall looked like this....

It separated the bedrooms and bathroom from the rest of the house.

After seeing the idea of a map wall on a blog that I just happened upon, I decided this would be the perfect place for one of my own!  So I hit Etsy, looking for vintage maps of places that are special to us and that have been part of the adventures.  Several of the maps have come from U.K. and Australia.  I found cheapo frames from Michaels or wherever they were on sale and painted them many different colors, with turquoise and orange and red being the base.

texas, where our lakehouse is, with a tiny orange heart depicting this lil east tx town. 

Louisiana, cuz well.....we kinda grew up there and lived there our whole lives.

Italy, of course, because we've both been there and loved it.

ceramic anchovies that I got in Monterosso, Italy last yr as a reminder of what I ate every single day, fresh from the sea.  It's their specialty.

Puerto Rico....we sailed all the way around it and then rented a car to drive thru most of the country to see it by land. Fajardo was a really nice marina that we stopped at for a night.

Spokane, WA where my best peep lives and I've visited many times. Even the boyfriend has been there with me!

Abacos Islands, which was a destination of our very first sailing trip aboard Blew Bayou.

Playa del Carmen, Mexico.  One of fave places to vacation and our middle son married his sweet wife here.

Central America. Cap'n has spent alot of time at Rio Dulce in Guatamala. Oldest son and his wife spent many weeks aboard with him in Guatamala.

Very old vintage map that depicts cultural living from Florida, Cuba, Bahamas, Virgin Islands and down the chain of caribbean islands.

So....once I'd received all the maps and found frames and painted them, it was time for layout.

and then time to hang!

the wooden bird at top was given to me by another best peep that she found in Florida. Seemed appropriate for the map wall since we seem to always be "flying or sailing away to a new destination"!!

And there is much more room on this wall for even more maps.......ahem......and you know what that means!!