Monthly Archives: August 2016

Share Your World 2016 – Week 35

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…..thanks to Cee for hosting Share Your World

List 2 things you have to be happy about?

There are many things to be happy about, good health, being mortgage free, being married for 41 years, having a great job, etc. but two things do stand out for me. The first is that all my children are in happy, loving relationships and the second is the joy that our granddaughter brings us.

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If you could take a photograph, paint a picture or write a story of any place in the world, what and where would it be?

There are many places that I would love to paint, photograph and write about but the one place that I seem to blog about a lot is the cottage. Our little residence in paradise has brought us much pleasure and fond memories and I look forward to my stay there every summer.

Should children be seen and not heard?

Children should definitely be heard but there is a difference between being delightfully vocal and miserably disruptive. We were always very lucky with our own children. We could take them out to dinner and they knew how to behave in public. Too often parents ignore bad behaviour and often condone it and have no regard for the people around them who have come to a place to relax or enjoy a quiet meal.

List at least five of your favorite first names.

Girls names I like:

Winnie, Katherine (Kate, Katie), Abigail, Lydia, Willow, Josephine, Christina, Alessia

Boys names I like:

Michael, Brendan, Mark, Paul, Peter, William,  Jack, Christopher

Names that can be either male or female:

Gaelan, Andrea, Josie, Avery, Morgan

Bonus question: What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?

I’m grateful for a small but wonderful birthday party that my children and husband hosted for me. It was just the immediate family but the food was amazing and the gifts that they showered me with were very thoughtful and generous. More and more, time spent with family is becoming increasingly important to me as I get older.

I’m also grateful for four days spent with my daughter and daughter-in-law at the cottage.  We swam, sun bathed, read, played board games and cooked up some great meals. We also attended the Pow Wow and stopped at the Cookstown Antique Market on the way home.

This week I’m looking forward to getting my nails done with my good friend L and hopefully having my hair cut and coloured before I start back to school next week.

How to Stay Cool in Italy

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….when people tell you it’s hot in Italy in the summer….believe them

We knew going to Italy in July that it would be very warm. Everyone who had been there before us warned us over and over again. One thing that we made sure of was to book accommodations that had air conditioning. Here is my list of how to stay cool in Italy in July.

  1. Stay only in air-conditioned hotel rooms or homes with air-conditioning.IMG_9456
  2. Drink lots of water.
  3. Walk in shady areas and underneath porticos if you can find them. They were everywhere in Bologna.IMG_9291
  4. When eating outside make sure you’re under an umbrella and preferably next to water.IMG_8954
  5. Spend time in the mountains (the Dolomites) or high up in the hills of Assisi.

    6. Always wear a hat.IMG_91427. Cool off in the sink, shower or pool.

    8. Sit or stand by a fountain.

    9. Spend time in an air-conditioned museum or find an old dark cathedral to sit in.

    10. Enjoy a gelato.

    11. Cover yourself in yogurt.IMG_9487

    11. Find a shady park and sit or lie down for a spell.

    12. Enjoy an icy glass of  Aperol spritz or Prosecco. IMG_8945

    I hope these suggestions are helpful. Enjoy!

Thursday Doors – August 25, 2016

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….thanks to Norm 2.0 for hosting Thursday Doors

The first photo is the entrance to an ancient Roman bath in Fiesole, just outside the city of Florence, Italy. The second photo is the entrance to the museum in Fiesole and the third photo was taken in Assisi, by the basilica of Saint Francis.

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Late August – Wind, Waves and Rain

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….can always tell when August rolls in

The nights get cooler in late August but it tends to warm up during day. On this last trip to the cottage the winds picked up and we had huge waves. I’ve never known the waves to come up the beach as high as they did. On our little section of beach the waves came up over a wall of sand and created an new lake in the middle of the beach. When I took these pictures the wind and the waves had already died down somewhat but the little lake remained.

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Luckily we had gone swimming the day before and the water is still quite warm.

Hopefully when I go back tomorrow the winds will stay away for awhile. When the waves are too high the barge won’t run and that means we would be stranded on the island. Not a terrible thing but my daughter has already lost one day of work because we couldn’t get off the island.

Back Into My Painting Groove

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….seems like I need complete solitude to paint

I’ve found in the past that I get my best work done late at night when everyone is in bed. At the cottage it is more difficult to do because the light isn’t good after the sun goes down. Today I found myself all alone at the cottage. My neighbours had left for a few days and I didn’t have a lot of things to pack before I left for home.

I got out my paints and set up my brushes. I had a large canvas that already had the background done. In fact the background had been done for two years and I just wasn’t sure how to finish it. Then I remember hearing these wise words….” it’s only paint”. In other words don’t worry about messing it up, just go for it.

I knew that I wanted to paint pears and I had a vision in my head how I thought it might look. I lightly sketched two pears and then started adding colour. I like to work quickly and I use brushes, rags and my hands. Two hours later I finished my piece and am quite happy with it.

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