Finally Friday - Where are They?

 Finally Friday and Ray and I are off on adventure. A little weekend jaunt within driving distance, but another state. Can anyone guess?

Travel, in the younger sort, is a part of education; in the elder, a part of experience - Francis Bacon

    Some travelers are drawn forward by a goal lying before them

    in the way iron is drawn to the magnet

    Others are drawn by a force lying behind them

    In such a way the bowstring makes the arrow fly

                    Isak Dinesen

Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us, or we find it not - 

    Ralph Waldo Emerson

I shall report back next week with some pictures and a review about getting back out in the world. 

Wish us luck, and enjoy your weekend  everybody. 

Travel Via Books

Here’s a virtual getaway with literary sleuths. You don’t have to stand in airport lines or lose luggage. Just lose your mind in these books and try to figure out whodunit. Suggestions are from Entertainment Weekly

Canadian Arctic -  White Heat by M.J.McGrath. Meet Kiglatuk, an Inuit hunter and guide and visit the ice between Greenland and the North Pole

Chile – The Neruda Case by Roberto Ampuero.  Drink wine and spout poetry while solving a mystery

Brazil – Blood of the Wicked by Leighton Gage.  Forget the Olympics. Check out the gritty affairs in the back alleys ( warning -graphic violence)

Iceland – Jar City by Erlendur Sveinsson.  Wander around Reykjavik

Spain – Death Rites by Alicia Gimenez Bartlett. Strong quirky cops in Barcelona. Run with the bulls or fight crime

Botswana – The No.1 Ladies Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith. Vivid sense of place and Precious Ramotswe leads the way

Sweden – The Ice Princess by Camilla Lackberg. Seaside town and murder afoot

United Kingdom – The Blackhouse by Peter May. There’s more to England than just Sherlock Holmes.  Follow Fin Macleod in the Outer Hebrides. Bodies swept up on the beach and more

Australia -  Bad Debts by Peter Temple. Trouble down under for Jack Irish.

Escape and enjoy

Oh Italy a Year Ago

It's been exactly a year since I went to Italy with Ann Summerville.  We had such an awesome time.
Beyond words.  Met such great folks on this Trafalger bus tour - The Aussie gals were fabulous - Chris, Di, Jacquie and Julie, plus Paul and Dianne. I never laughed so hard in my life.

Italy itself was amazing and the people were generous, full of life, and truly seemed happy.
The history, the scenery, the gelato............OMG

so, cheers to travel. Cheers to memories. Thanks for indulging me one more time on pictures
My happy face hovering above Florence sums it up,.

Bellisimo........

Thoughtful Thursday - Mount Rainier

 are you tired of my travels yet?   On our last two days, Ray and I enjoyed Mount Rainier National Park.  Our government does such a good job, I think, with the park systems. Just glorious scenery

It is a majestic 14,100 feet.  We were at 6400 feet at the Sunrise Visitor Center.

Ciao until October

Rome, Florence, Venice, Pisa, Verona, Lake Como
Pasta, gelato, Chianti

I am off to Italy with a writer friend.  Poor Ray shall hold down the fort, and hope for a t-shirt.
I shall bore you with pictures when I return and shake off the jet lag.  Stay well, my friends.

Ciao
Joanne

Mended

Ray is home from his Asia work trip. Quite an adventure and he's a bit loopy from jet lag. I asked if I could steal some photos, and he agreed.  My dear readers will be happy to know that he fixed the pool problem immediately. Now he does have a filter cleaning project ahead of him, but the general crisis is averted. Whew!   So, he enjoyed Taipei, Taiwan but really loved Hong Kong. Great harbor view.

 Along the harbor they were celebrating cinema, so Ray had his photo snapped. He's my star.

 Hong Kong harbor at night, just one angle. I'll be featuring more whenever I need to entertain with pics and not words.

 Bruce Lee, of course. Way too cool statue.

And finally  -  food presentation. I'll have more pics of this and Ray described some of his tastebud forays. He gave it a go, and is pretty much happy to be back with my crappy American (fattening) cooking. But you can't beat these folks with presentation. Look closely - a dragon in mayo.

Sorry hon - here's the Miracle Whip jar - just go for it. I'm happy Ray's back. Yes, I missed him. The week seemed long. The breakdown is mended.

Armchair Travel

Summertime - Been hanging poolside after work. Dip in and out, read, dip some more. I read a lot in the summer - hence more book reviews. I also peruse magazines and Travel & Leisure has been a new treat. Ray had some kind of points rewards program and told me to use points on a magazine. Okay. Let's travel.

The newly arrived issue (July 2013) of Travel and Leisure is a gem. I enjoyed this writer's style and laughed out loud.

p. 12  Devin Friedman   The biggest difference between Italian and American beach culture is that Italians really know how to do nothing. We Americans are not quite as good at it   (I can believe that, though I can ooze into sloth pretty quick)

p. 40 Vocabulary lesson : Vanity Flair  The creative display of toiletries - a mosaic of toothpaste, lotion, soaps on your hotel bathroom counter, artfully arranged by housekeeping while you were out
Darn creative wordplay.

p. 68 Devin Friedman  But anyone who knows anything about Italy knows they have figured out lifestyle.  Lunch. Naps. Working hours. 

National psychology - Hey guys, no one is ever going to get their act together on a societal level, so let's go small bore and construct our daily lives as perfectly as possible. Let's make sure we have good coffee, never eat a tasteless tomato and throw ourselves with extreme prejudicein the pursuit of vacation. Let's suck out all the marrow of life.

Anyone else packing bags for Italy?  Someday....someday.   
Until then - Ciao, baby.

July Fourth Week - Summer Break

 Summer break. Vacation. Hiatus. Laziness. Whatever you want to call it, I'm doing it. But I also wanted to celebrate July 4th week. So Happy Birthday America!

Fireworks, Picnics, Boating, Swimming, Dairy Queen, Croquet, Beach Volleyball, Driving,
Wimbledon (Thank you England), watermelon, s'mores, reading trash and blasting tunes. Ain't life grand?

Land of the Free and Home of the Brave.

God Bless America