Gelato, Autostrada, Pasta, Michelangelo, Wine, Bruschetta. Where was I?

If you guessed Italy, you’re right!   We traveled there for two weeks and had a fabulous time.  We had beautiful weather in the 70s-80s F.  The only time it rained was on travel days!

“Traveling is the ruin of all happiness!  There’s no looking at a building after seeing Italy.”
~Fanny Burney

Our first stop was Florence, with a great hotel on the Arno River.  I spent a lot of time taking photos from the room’s window!  After four days in Florence our plan was to travel through Tuscany and finish in Rome.  Our stops included:  San Gimignano, Siena, Assisi and Rome.  San Gimignano was just a half-day trip on the way to Siena.  My husband offered to drive through Tuscany and drop the car at the Rome airport.   Our plan was to avoid driving in any major cities!  Barring a few wrong turns, we succeeded!

Since we got home very late Monday night…I’m just now starting to edit photos.
I’ll post as soon as I can, beginning with Florence!  Here’s one to start~

The photo was taken in front of our hotel, looking west down the Arno River.  You’ll see the Ponte Alle Grazie bridge.  This was the second bridge built over the Arno, the first being the famous Ponte Vecchio.  Ponte Alle Grazie bridge was first built in 1237 and over the years had a home for nuns; then shops and homes, as the Ponte Vecchio does now.  A fierce flood destroyed the bridge and it was rebuilt.  During WWll it was destroyed by bombs.  It was rebuilt in 1957 and remains unchanged.

Looking west along the Arno River. The Ponte Alle Grazie bridge can be seen in the photo.

 

Don’t change this channel!  Stay tuned for more updates from Italy!
Thanks for hanging in there while I was away….I appreciate my blogger friends!

Judy

COPYRIGHT

All text and images are copyright © 2002-2012 and are the exclusive property of Judy Johnson (unless otherwise indicated). All Rights Reserved. All Images are protected under United States and International copyright laws. None of the images on this site are in the Public Domain.

PLEASE DO NOT REBLOG or COPY. LINKS are fine. Thank you.

 

Advertisement

Gardening for the Soul

My daughter, Kara, has a lovely garden.  It’s just steps from her door, and it brings abundant color to her living room.  She’s a great gardener, tending her plants with the care of a “flower mother”!  Her garden is a riot of color: blue, red, yellow, purple, orange, white,
and pink.

Gardeners know how good it feels to dig in the dirt and watch their plants grow.
It surely feeds our inner being, our soul.  It’s a connection to the earth and life.

This year Kara’s garden is extraordinary because she dedicated it to the memory of our close friend, who passed away in May.  She told me she wanted to have a beautiful garden because our friend was such a beautiful person inside and out, and always doing things for others.  I think our friend, who was a fantastic gardener herself, is watching over Kara’s garden and smiling. 😉

“Plants give us oxygen for the lungs and for the soul.”  ~Linda Solegato

Kara’s Garden~

~Zinnias, Salvia, Petunias~

~Impatiens, Salvia~

~pretty orange flower~

~pink daisy-like flower~

“When weeding, the best way to make sure you are removing a weed and not a valuable plant is to pull on it.  If it comes out of the ground easily, it is a valuable plant.”
~Author Unknown

~daisy-like flower bud, unfolding~

~purple daisy opening~

~Kara’s Garden….a burst of color from containers!~

Kara’s Garden is not situated on a large piece of land.  She and her husband have a condo and the garden is on the deck!  The deck has benches, so flower boxes fill the benches, railings and the floor below the benches.  She even has a corner with an Herb Garden.  Two “upside down” bagged tomato plants hang from the upper deck, loaded with large green tomatoes!  Those tomato plants are about 6′ tall!
An entire garden in containers!

Do you like to garden?  Do you use containers?

Thanks for visiting.  Please excuse the construction on my new theme!  I’m still playing with the features! 😉

Judy

All text and images are copyright © 2002-2012 and are the exclusive property of Judy Johnson (unless otherwise indicated). All Rights Reserved. All Images are protected under United States and International copyright laws. None of the images on this site are in the Public Domain.

 

Weekly Image of Life: Adventure

“We should come home from adventures, and perils, and discoveries every day with new experience and character.”
~Henry David Thoreau

Life’s adventures are what keeps our heart pumping with excitement.  Adventure encourages our zest for new sights, and keeps our quest to seek the unknown sharp in our minds.

On an adventure:  Hiking the trail past beautiful St. Mary’s Lake in Glacier National Park, Montana, USA.

Some of the mountains surrounding St. Mary’s Lake are: Reynolds Mountain, Mt. Jackson, Gunsight Mountain and Mt. Logan.

Saint Mary Lake, Glacier N.P.

Adventures don’t have to take you far from home.  They should expand and enlighten your mind and give you an experience you’ll remember.  You can find adventures in your own town!  Go have an adventure!   (grocery shopping doesn’t count!)

If you would like to do the Weekly Image of Life, go to Island Traveler’s blog and join up! click here!

 Thanks for joining me today!

Judy

All text and images are copyright © 2002-2012 and are the exclusive property of Judy Johnson (unless otherwise indicated). All Rights Reserved. All Images are protected under United States and International copyright laws. None of the images on this site are in the Public Domain.

Daisies~ Forever Love

Daisy Time

by Marjorie Pickthall

See, the grass is full of stars,
Fallen in their brightness;
Hearts they have of shining gold,
Rays of shining whiteness.

Buttercups have honeyed hearts,
Bees they love the clover,
But I love the daisies’ dance
All the meadow over.

Blow, O blow, you happy winds,
Singing summer’s praises,
Up the field and down the field
A-dancing with the daisies.

Golden daisy.

Flowers don’t worry about how the’re going to bloom.  They just open up and turn toward the light and that makes them beautiful.  ~Jim Carrey

❤ I dedicate this post to my beautiful friend, who valiantly fought a horribly tough illness for months with an incredible upbeat attitude, but sadly passed away a week ago.   She was elegant and funny, giving and loving, talented and modest, and much more.  I miss her terribly.  My thoughts and prayers are with her family, whose ache is a million times my own.❤

Grace & Peace~

Judy

All text and images are copyright © 2002-2012 and are the exclusive property of Judy Johnson (unless otherwise indicated). All Rights Reserved. All Images are protected under United States and International copyright laws. None of the images on this site are in the Public Domain.

Sublime Sedona, Arizona

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Last year “the girls” took a trip to Sedona.  We had a blast in this beautiful part of the country. I have visited many different parts of our beautiful country and overseas too.  But I was surely taken by surprise when I set my eyes on Sedona for the first time. At first, I thought I was on another planet!  I had never seen such huge red monstrous rocks, and I was totally enchanted. My camera never left my side.  Every corner we turned had new vistas with cream, tan, gold, red, pink and orange layers in those surreal rocky monoliths.  I will always remember my very first sighting of those rocks and how I gasped!  The natural beauty of Sedona, will always be with me.

For more info on Sedona, click here.

Thanks for visiting.

• All text and images are copyright © 2002-2012 and are the exclusive property of Judy Johnson (unless otherwise indicated). All Rights Reserved. All Images are protected under United States and International copyright laws. None of the images on this site are in the Public Domain.

Les Belles Fleurs L’hiver (beautiful flowers in winter)

Hello great blog readers!
I’m ready for spring!  If we can’t have spring let’s have some nice, deep snow!  I haven’t had a chance to cross-country ski or snowshoe yet.  It has been a different kind of winter for our whole country!  The south is freezing and the northern ski slopes are struggling for lack of snow.

I’m controlling Mother Nature today and I declare it’s SPRING in my house!
I like to buy inexpensive bunches of tulips at the market in the winter.  It brings color into the house and it brightens a dreary day.
Plus….it gives me something else to on which to practice my indoor Macro shots.  I’ve taken photos of all the pens, boxes, plants, lamps, paperweights, coasters, floors, candle holders and plates in the house already, so this gives me some variety! 😉

The flowers of late winter and early spring occupy places in our hearts well out of proportion to their size.
–  Gertrude S. Wister

.......

*******

........

........

.................

..........

 ~And just a reminder from Mother Nature that winter isn’t over yet…..we got 2″ of snow overnight. 😉

..............

Have a colorful, happy day!
Judy

All text and images are copyright © 2002-2012 and are the exclusive property of Judy Johnson (unless otherwise indicated). All Rights Reserved. All Images are protected under United States and International copyright laws. None of the images on this site are in the Public Domain.

 

Getting cold? Let’s go to an island!

St. Simons Island, Georgia!

St. Simons Island is a beautiful barrier island off the coast of Georgia.  It is the largest of Georgia’s Golden Isles.  St. Simons Island has a total area of 16.6 square miles.  The nearest town is Brunswick, GA, across the causeway.  Savannah, GA is about 2 hours north.  Many historical places to see, great restaurants, beautiful beaches and an average November temperature of 70 degrees make it a great place to visit! 

A cleat for tying a boat to the pier

A view of the shore.

Live Oaks with spanish moss.Beautiful beach and ocean….
Below: the St. Simons Lighthouse and Museum.