Wanders with Winkie #3: Italy

In Italy we felt warmth, comfort and welcome - in fact a complete contrast to France.  My sister and I wondered if this was because we were familiar with the culture and people of Italy (our grandparents were Italian immigrants) or if indeed there was a difference in the atmosphere in this country.  I have to believe that it was both.  We indeed were more familiar with the social norms but also, there was a much more relaxed, accepting, welcoming feel to the country.  We visited three ports:

Tuscany:  I fell in love with this part of the country.  We visited Pisa. this was built as an elaborate bell tower to attest to the affluence of the area.  We climbed to the top and "touched the bell" and took in an awesome view.

We also visited a small winery where we got to sample an assortment of wines.  I wish I had brought some home, but I was unfamiliar with the procedures both on board the ship and going through customs.  This place is on my list for a re-visit.  They have apartments to rent on the property.  I could SO stay here...maybe even live here.  As I said, I fell in love with the place.

Rome/Vatican City:  These cities were both way TOO crowded to enjoy.  Perhaps it was the day we chose to go, but both places were a total body crush of people.  We spent more time trying to "follow the paddle" of the tour guide to prevent getting lost than we did enjoying the place.  The best part of this day was the lunch we had between the two major stops.  We were taken to an Italian restaurant and served a great meal.  I also enjoyed St. Peter's Basilica.  Any return to either of these places would be under much different circumstances such as a less busy time of year!

Sorrento:  I also liked this city.  We drove along the Amalfi coast::

And then visited a farm where they grow olives and lemons and make cheese.  We had a cheese making demonstration:

We had samples of their cheeses, oils and lemon cello.  They sold a lemon flavored olive oil which I thought was fantastic.  Dipping it in bread was almost like having desert.  Apparently the Sorrento area is known for their lemon cello.  Many stores were offering samples of their version.  It is a sweet liquor that is served ice cold.  Some small bottles came home as souvenirs. 

After the farm we had time to spend in the town looking at the shops and finding lunch.  We opted for a pizza place.  My nephew and his wife ordered a seafood pizza which came with clams as the seafood.  Our surprise was that the seafood was still in the shell! 

Next we visited Pompeii.  This was fascinating.  It was hot and we were tired so again, we just hit the high spots.  You could spend an entire day or more walking through this restoration.  It is very well done and gives good insight into life during that era.  One of the most visited places is the brothel complete with explicit pictures of the services available and beds....stone beds....ouch.  This is a picture of a pizza oven!

So, that concludes Italy!  I hope to get back some day and maybe have the chance to visit the little town our grandparents came from.  After all, now I'm an experienced international traveler!



Wanders with Winkie #2: France

I feel a bit bad titling this with Winkie's name since he didn't accompany me on this trip.  His friend Smokey came instead.  Smokey is a much more compact pig and worked better for this trip.  If this pig talk is confusing, catch up with some past postings.

Smokey came with me on my Mediterranean cruise. We visited two towns in France and three in Italy.  France was beautiful, colorful and picturesque but the French people seemed a bit snobbish and judgemental to me.  I've been told that this is not an accurate - that although they give that impression, they are not truly like that.  To that I can only comment that often "perception is reality".  If you are portraying judgement, then in fact you are judgemental since the perception defines the characteristic.  On the positive side, our visit to several medieval towns finally helped me understand so many of the books and movies I've read and seen.

This made me laugh and made me wonder if the French were making a comment beyond what the sign says:

France was OK but I don't think I would purposely go back there.  I was glad to have seen it but just as glad to have left it.  Sorry, France.

Fabric Stores In and Near Columbus, Ohio

I spent this last weekend in Columbus, Ohio with my husband.  I love the shopping in Columbus.  They have about every store you can imagine and we visited many of them.  On the top of my shopping list was finding a fish print fabric for my next quilting project.  I wasn't just looking for any fish.  I was looking for game fish, preferably salt water.  I visited many fabric stores on this quest and while I bought some fabric and added yet another quilt to my list, I came up short on the fish fabric.  I've learned that when I have such a specific item that I'm looking for, it's best to look and buy online.  I finally found the perfect fabrics at Fabric.com.  But along the way I visited some great fabric stores and thought I would list them here:

Red Rooster Quilts:  This is actually in Dublin, Ohio which is northwest of Columbus.  But it is well worth the trip.  They have a great collection of quilting fabrics, a large clearance room and a lot of patterns and kits.  The staff is both friendly and knowledgeable.  I ended up buying a collection of Wizard of Oz prints since (as already established earlier) this is one of my all time favorite movies.

Sew to Speak:  This is a small store with a great blog.  Their fabrics were bright and cheerful.

Hobby Lobby:  This is a chain that I had not heard of before.  They don't have any stores around my home.  They are sort of a cross between Michael's and Jo Ann Fabric.  They had quite a bit of variety and would be certainly worth a visit.  Of course there is not the small store atmosphere of individually owned shops.

The Glass Thimble:  This store goes on and on and on.  It also has a great variety and a staff that knows their stock.  Best of all, they have a great "man couch" and a stock of magazines where my husband could wait for me to browse through the maze of rooms. I found the perfect fabric to bind my garden quilt here.

Quilt Beginnings:  This is another great quilt stores in Dublin.  I believe they have two stores, but the Dublin one was where I visited.  Another great assortment of fabric!  Every one of these stores could rate as better than my local options for variety.

Quilt Trends:  And yet again, great variety, great service, and very inspiring. This one tied with the Red Rooster as my favorite with the Glass Thimble right behind.

My husband often goes to Columbus for business and our son will be starting at Ohio State next month, so I expect to have reason to return to the area. I put my name on several lists to receive email and snail mail about what is going on at the stores.  While Columbus doesn't have much geographical attraction, it seems to be a very livable city.  The people are friendly, they are free of the religious self righteousness that is prevelant in my area and they have a dynamic infrastructure that provides many opportunities for activities and interests. 

On the last day of my visit we went to the Columbus Zoo.  It was one of the nicest zoos I have every visited.  It was well planned, clean, and resonably priced.  We planned on making a return visit there soon also.

The Lost Art of Letter Writing

Communication has changed so much over my lifetime.  When I was young, a long distance phone call was something reserved for special occasions or emergencies.  There was no email, no instant messaging, no cell phone texting.  When family members were apart we wrote to keep in touch.  And we ALL wrote in my family.  I have a cherished collection of letters from my father from my one summer at camp and from my first year in college.  They are so precious to me that I bought a fireproof box to store them in.  When I took mental inventory of what I would miss if all my belongings were lost in a fire, those letters were at the top of the list - hence the box. We don't write letters anymore.  Emails are written with less thought and then get deleted.  We often have no written record of our relationships to return to.  We are missing so much.

This week I very unexpectedly had another box of letters returned to me.  Most of these were written by my mother during my late college and early (first) married years.  Reading them again after so long is somewhat bittersweet.  Being older now allows me to see her through different, more adult, more compassionate eyes.  During this period she was a recent widow.  Until my father died she had never lived alone.  She grew up as the oldest in a large family and lived with her birth family until marrying my father.  They then lived just a few blocks from her family for about ten years before moving away.  As I read through the letters I could see that my mother secretly hoped that I would return to her home after I graduated and again provide some company for her.  Once I married and it became clear that my own plans did not include such a move, that hope died for her and she was faced with yet another change to adapt to.

My own path never took me back to the area where I grew up and never allowed me to have a relationship with my mother that was not complicated by the many miles between us.  When I was younger I didn't appreciate my family relationships enough.  Now I am close to my mother's age at the time of these letters and I see history repeating itself in my relationship with my children.  We are not separated by miles as my mother and I were, but neither are we close.  My son who recently married lives not five miles from me and yet I have not heard (even a phone call) from him since his wedding a month ago. I see a connection here.  My mother and I both emphasised independence, educational success, adventure, and maturing even in the face of personal challenges. (In one letter she commented that certain situations that required independence were difficult for "insecure people like us".  Interesting. I never considered her insecure.)  But when you push them out of the nest, you can't make them come back.  You just have to wish that they want to.  And I think that happens.  It just takes a long time to cycle around again to an appreciation of your childhood and a desire to return again to that place.

So, How About that Diet?

Well, I actually started this blog to keep track of my diet progress and to provide a certain amount of accountability in my weight loss endeavor.  Of course my lack of an audience sort of negates the accountability, but it is still nice to be able to keep track of my progress and to be able to set and reach goals along the way.  My initial goal was to lose 20 pounds during 2011 by lifestyle changes.  At the end of June, I had accomplished just over 1/2 of the goal with a 12 pound weight loss.  I was concerned about a cruise I took with my sister last month since I have heard that cruises are just one constant buffet.  Although it IS true that you can pretty much eat what you want whenever you want, I was able to keep that under control.  The daily excursions also helped with exercise and calories used each day.  Sightseeing can be pretty energy intensive!  The tower of Pisa has 294 stairs and the coliseum has just under 200.  And the bus never parked anywhere close to where we were going so there was often a significant walk to the sites.

I didn't do as well though in maintaining my dietary changes.  I did try to eat my 2 servings/day of fruits and 2 servings of vegetables but some days that didn't happen.  The fruit on the cruise was especially good, though and it helps that it was cut up and just waiting for me to put on my plate and eat.  Once I got home it was harder to return a good diet.  I was out of practice for preparing my own meals and lets face it, fruits and especially vegetables require more preparation than grabbing a granola bar.

But, all things considered, I'm happy to have accomplished my 1/2 year goal.  I think the next ten pounds may be even harder, but I'm going to forge ahead.  I like fitting into my clothes better (and even having some be too big).  I feel better overall even though I'm still a ways from the suggested weight for my height.  If only I could grow a few inches taller all would be fine!

My Passport is No Longer Empty!!

I'm back from my cruise with my sister.  This was my first time out of this country (except for several trips to Canada over the years).  I managed the international travel, immigration and custom checks as well as airport transfers and different currency.  I'll soon post some pictures, but in overview:  I liked Italy much better than France and Tuscany best of all.  The crowds in Rome and Vatican City were overwhelming and made those visits difficulty.  The cruise itself was very nice in most every way.  We kept busy so there wasn't much time for real relaxation.  But we saw alot and for me everything was a new experience.  I missed home and talks with my husband, though and was very glad to get back after the week was over.  Stay tuned for pictures.

How Do People See Me?

So often we portray a different image to others than we think we do.  I would have described my high school self as quiet and reserved, somewhat out of the main social stream, but social enough in small groups.  Years later I had contact with a man who had been in several classes with me and lived across the street from me for a short time with his girlfriends family.  He felt that I had a rather sharp tongue that sort of kept people away.  In my defense, I think this was a sort of coping mechanism for times when I felt inadequate to the situation, but apparently it had, at least to him, a negative effect. 

In later years I've often used sarcasm as a substitute for direct confrontation feeling that the indirect approach was a bit easier.  And for some reason when I've stated my feelings straight up they havn't been heard.  Am I not direct enough?  Sincere enough?  Convincing enough?  Sadly, my fall back position has always been to say nothing and just keep it all to myself.  Of course, this doesn't work either, just leading to a lot of internal stress, dissatisfaction, and sadness.  In the end I often sacrifice what I would like for what causes the least confrontation I spend a lot of time trying to make everyone happy.

I'm feeling this more this week since we are coming up on the wedding of son #2.  Everyone seems to have an agenda: where to be, what to eat, when to meet, what's to happen at a given portion of the event.  He is my first child to marry and I've truly had little time to reflect on the event itself.  But, we will pass seamlessly into a new chapter of life and readjust accordingly.  He called last night to ask me what song I wanted to dance to with him at the reception.  I choose Bob Dylan, Forever Young. I know, not the easiest to dance to, but it says what I wish I had the chance to say to him.

"Forever Young"

May God bless and keep you always
May your wishes all come true
May you always do for others
And let others do for you
May you build a ladder to the stars
And climb on every rung
May you stay forever young
Forever young, forever young
May you stay forever young.

May you grow up to be righteous
May you grow up to be true
May you always know the truth
And see the lights surrounding you
May you always be courageous
Stand upright and be strong
May you stay forever young
Forever young, forever young
May you stay forever young.

May your hands always be busy
May your feet always be swift
May you have a strong foundation
When the winds of changes shift
May your heart always be joyful
And may your song always be sung
May you stay forever young
Forever young, forever young
May you stay forever young.