Sunday, October 26, 2008

Michi's First Two Beading Projects

I started a weekly Beading Class with my wonderful art teacher, Sylvia Valle, former instructional editor for Stampington for 11 years, who teaches at the local community center in Rancho Santa Margarita . . . some of her old (oops!!! FORMER students . . . FORMER students . . . not OLD students!!!! YIKES!!!! MY faux pas!!!!! LOL!!!!) students carpool all the way from Manhattan Beach in L.A. to take her classes . . . here are my first two projects . . . they are both bracelets using cube beads . . . but I decided to make the first one a watch . . .
The second bracelet was a lesson on increasing and decreasing rows . . . I have a feeling that this hobby could be ADDICTING!!!!! LOL!!!!!!


Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Ciao Y'all #9

Jeanne and Janice at St. Mark's Square . . .
St. Mark's Square . . . during high tide . . . sometimes it floods . . .
Our room at the Hotel Savoia and Jolanda right on the canal a short walk from St. Mark's Cathedral . . .

This was such an amazing vacation . . . it's a special one with all the sights, sounds, tastes, (oh, the food is divine!!!!! LOL!!!!) and experiences!!! I was so glad to experience it with my family . . .

Ciao Y'all #8

Time for a laugh stop . . . I thought we were the only countries with a 99 cent store . . . boy, was I surprised to see this . . . LOL!!!!
Here we are in a water taxi from the train station onward to our hotel in Venice . . . my sister, Janice . . . myself . . . my cousin, Jeanne . . . my sister, Norma . . . my brother-in-law, Bob . . .
Venice is a series of canals and islands build in a marshland . . . it is slowly sinking into the water and can actually have water in the sidewalks and plaza areas in high tide . . .

Lookie how close to the water this door is . . . it is totally amazing!!!!

Ciao Y'all #7

This was a tour to Chianti . . . this building is a former palazzo (palace) which is now a famous winery . . . it really looked like a palace . . .
What a magnificent view from the winery . . .
We were able to sit at tables in the winery to taste their wines . . .
This charming village is Greve in Chianti . . . instead of the town square being open for the public . . . this village has decided to make it a parking lot . . . land is so scarce here . . . the parking lot is very full . . .
This small church services Greve in Chianti . . .

Ciao Y'all #6

Our tour to Siena was fascinating . . . Siena was once a major center of money lending and trade . . . there are still many banking insitutions in Siena . . .
The duomo in Siena is majestic with beautiful gold leafing and sculptures . . .Inside the duomo . . . we were fortunate to have arrived in October when they uncover the protected art on the floors for us to view . . . it was simply fascinating . . .
Beautiful art is everywhere . . . the outside . . . the inside . . . the floors . . . the ceilings . . . the artifacts . . . they even have a space set aside for gifts from those who wish to leave an object of gratitude to the Virgin Mary for saving their lives . . . I even saw motorcycle helmets in that area . . .


Caio Y'all #5 !!!!

This is a photo of my cousin, Jeanne, and my sister, Janice on the long uphill path in the quaint village of San Gimignano . . .
This is my brother-in-law, Bob, and his wife (my sister) Norma . . .
I was totally surprised at my older sister walking straight up to the top of the hill . . . Jeanne and I pooped out and ate a Gelato (Italian Ice Cream) YUM!! YUM!!!

Caio Y'all #4 !!!!

Here's a photo of my sister, Janice, in our room at the Hotel Berchielli on the Arno River about one-half a block from Ponte Vecchio . . . it was very nice . . . one of the cultural differences we noticed was that their wash clothes were made of linen instead of terry cloth . . . something we would not have thought of . . .

We walked to the train station many times to catch our tour buses . . . this time we went to Pisa where we saw the Piazza dei Miracoli . . . construction which began in 1063 . . .

This is only a "fair" pic of me "holding up" the Leaning Tower of Pisa . . . my sister took a better one, but it's still in her camera . . . there were lots of us tourists taking pictures like this one!!! LOL!!!

Caio Y'all #3 !!!!!

The Palazzo Vecchio (Old Palace) is the town hall of Florence . . . what a magnificent building . . .
I apologize for the blurry pictures . . . this was at night and it was difficult to get a clear picture of the stores on Ponte Vecchio where lots of jewelry and leather could be found for sale . . .
This is a photo of Ponte Vecchio across the water from the neigboring bridge . . .
My two sisters, cousin, and brother-in-law had lunch in this quaint restaurant between buildings . . . the land is so valuable that so much is built up . . .
My brother-in-law just loves his new BlackBerry phone/text-messaging/internet access/email toy!!!

Caio Y'all #2 !!!!!!

Florence is a city of many narrow streets, churches, and vendors . . . it reminded me of the condominiums and shared wall residences we have here in the cities of the United States, but they thought of it first!!!! LOL!!! There is lots of walking . . . lots of Vespas (motorcycles) . . . and very small cars (Peugeot . . . Fiat . . . Honda Jazzy AKA Fit . . . Toyota Yaris . . . etc.).

The Duomo (cathedral) has a distinctive skyline . . . it was started in 1296 . . . it is fascinating to see the different styles change in parts of the cathedral as the centuries changed from Romanesque . . . to Gothic . . . to Baroque in some of the buildings . . . how totally fascinating!!!!




Caio Y'all !!!!!

October 11th through October 20th, 2008 . . . I was fortunate enough to visit parts of Italy with my two sisters, cousin, and brother-in-law . . . dh#2 stayed home to take care of my MIL . . .

We spent 6 days in Florence seeing the most incredible sights . . . Santa Croce was the first sight . . . this Franciscan church was begun in 1294 . . . the building itself . . . the paintings, scultures, tombs in the floor, were all incredibly beautiful . . . it is breathtaking to see it and imagine what it was like to have lived back then and all the artisans who created it and the patrons who financed it . . .