Fat Tuesday in Dunedin

There were tons and tons of people (haven't heard an estimate yet), lots of good food but not a lot of Cajun style, and a small parade with plenty of beads. The beer was cold and the crowds of people were friendly and fun.

I had taken a zip lock bag of beads of ours from other parades and had the best time handing these out one by one to people as we walked the streets. I looked for older people who were not smiling (and yes they did!), young kids who did not have any beads yet and husbands who looked like they had been unwilling dragged to this event. I must have had 50 or so strands of beads and am pretty sure I'll be doing this again next year as giving pleasure to others comes back in many ways I found.

We went down about 5:30pm., bought our mandatory teeshirts (17th. Annual Mardi Gras Celebration), roamed through the streets and had a bit to eat. We stood next to a very nice home care nurse who told us about a few other fun events in the area like a blues festival we had just missed and the Jazz Festival that was a must see!

Because E is so tall, he caught lots of beads for the gal next to us and me and even a couple for himself. We met up with Rob around 8ish and got to meet several of his friends. We were home by ten...no night owls here.

The masks I took pictures of were beautiful and I got the gal's card. The one of Venice (don't think I have posted a pic of it) was our favorite. These are the half masks and full masks of Carnival and so pretty! The artist was truly inspired.

Because I am cheap and will not pop for typepad, I can only load 5 pics at a time here...scroll down for another 5 of last night's festivities.

Enjoy today!

Marid Gras II

Theses are the second set of Mardi Gras pictures from last night. The first is one of the zydaco (spelling?) bands that played until the parade in the park. The food pictured is Jambalaya with shrimp andouille sausage. YUM! I've thrown in a few street scenes and a bit of the parade for good measure.

Happy Fat Tuesday!

Can't wait until this evening when we meet up with Rob in Dunedin for Mardi Gras. There is a parade and street vendors and lots of fun from what we have been told. We so miss Mardi Gras in St. Louis with our group of pals there. Every year, in the melee, we would lose our pal, Nick, and every year we would find him at the bar in Clementine's with the 'usual suspects' buying him beer! Too much fun.

Enjoy your Fat Tuesday however you may or may not celebrate it! And let the good times roll!

The Gate is up

It is not the Gateway Arch but it is ours and it is up! We knew we wanted something to separate the side yard from the lower back yard besides the piled up rocks that the previous owners had so, after much searching, we found an arbor, gate and fence combo that we love. It took E and one of our visiting guy pals to lug this thing into the garage and then down below when it was delivered via UPS.

Our side yard slopes both down and to one side so leveling was the next step...eeek. That took forever and still is not perfect. We are off today to find better, longer, stronger securing rods for gate combo and a plant for the one side where the arbor fence does not meet the white one. We think we'll remove the railroad ties from around the tree mid side yard and wind a path from the pool cage and the side gate to the side yard down to the arbor gate. I'll plant flowers behind the arbor fence and we'll take it from there...This is just one phase of our two year plan on the lower yard here which we hope to turn into a New Orleans type courtyard garden. Wish us luck.

I'll be putting up some layouts soon here hopefully this afternoon. I've been getting lots of scrapping done. Today I am working on directions for my Winter Retreat class and burning cds of pic. As Kip says, back up everything. Will know more on Minnie's prognosis later today I hope. Poor little laptop!

Foggy Day here in Paradise

This is the view out the back and either way up and down our street. I feel like I am in some kind of sci fi movie! I grabbed the paper and hurried inside before the Creature of the Mist grabbed me! lol

Well, Kip is right. I need to back up my pics for sure either with an external hard drive like Harry has or by burning cds. Minnie is doing very weird things and just keeps recycling from Windows to Toshiba start up to a long line of white print giving me tons of options for opening Windows none of which have worked so far. My private Geek Squad is coming to my (hopeful) rescue later today. Actually, they are coming for E's Super Bowl feast and some football but will give my computer a shot too.

I am fortunate though that I blog. I have almost all the events of the past two years up in some form or another either here on my blog, in photo bucket or in a picasa web album (now if I could just remember what I called the web albums.)so even if we can't get my desktop back on Minnie, it is not a total loss yet a lesson learned the hard way.

So, also thanks to Kip for getting me addicted to blogging.

I am working on a mini shadow box right now. I am painting it to look like weathered and silvered wood from a beach shack and then will arrange little beaching ephemera inside each of the 1 inch square boxes inside the ten x four shadow box. I would use the Distress Crackle Paints but I want some custom layers of peeling colors that I am not sure I can obtain. With the medium I am using I can better control the "peel" and the colors. Will post in my art blog when I am done...this is fun.

Don't forget to stop by Creative Scrap Shack later today for the DT Reveal of the 3 Bugs Sponsor kits and at 7 tonight EST, we will be chatting away at KnK in the Kaboodle Lounge...meanwhile, go create something.

This will have to hold me for a bit

This is the closest I've come to seeing my published article in Somerset Memories (Feb/March 08). I spent about an hour and a half cruising the book stores, Jo's and Mike's from here to south of Clearwater in search of a copy to no avail. My dear friend, Jill G., offered to next day mail me a copy from the Carolinas but I was sure I could find a copy and I did not want her to go to the unnecessary expense. Even Mystic Paper in Mesa AZ has seen it and the owners were so kind as to mention my article on their blog and leave me a sweet message on mine...
http://mysticpaper.blogspot.com/.

Oh well, I am sure one of the stores will get it in soon or Somerset will send me a copy with my check. Meanwhile, I am trying to get all my assignments finished before we head out to CHA and then on to Winter Retreat. Jill is flying in from the Carolinas and will meet G-a, Barb, Sonia and I at the Tampa airport when we return from CHA. We will all spend the night here and, after Kip arrives and we meet up with Kelly, we'll all head to Winter Retreat.

Off to play some more with my acrylic album. This is my first and I am finding that the PDQ double sided papers by Bisous.biz are perfect. There are so many elements on the papers that it makes layering a snap. Will post what I have done soonest.

Happy Weekend and if you all could keep Barb's mom in your thoughts and prayers and also our good friends Barb and G-a. Her mom has some serious medical issues right now that are compounded by her age, 98, so all good thoughts would be appreciated, I am sure.

Bad Jules...bad, bad!

I have missed a couple of days of blogging. That generally means one of two things: either I have had nothing worthwhile to blog about going on in my life or I've got too much going on. This time it is the latter of the two and I don't mind one iota.

I've had the second of two projects accepted for publication in the Premiere issue of the new e-zine, Scrapbook News and Review and have been filling out some necessary paper work on those.

My techniques column went up at KnKclub.com today on various mediums to use for coloring on the Prima Paintables and I have a challenge to put up at Creative Scrap Shack for today.

February ends my term as Dt at the Shack but I have been offered the position as Senior Staff DT as the card kit designer. This is a new venture for me and is very exciting! Wish me luck? The kits will premiere in April and I have tons of ideas!

I want to get my Reveal Projects for KnK done before we leave for CHA on Feb 9 and then for Winter Retreat on Feb 15th. where I will be teaching. I have to finish my directions and load kits but the class project is done.

and E is working on gathering all our stuff together for taxes which means I help in the hunt. This is always good for a laugh or two.

Well, my challenge layout is almost done so back to work.

Have a great day and go create something, k?

Ft. Desoto and John's Pass

We loved, absolutely loved Ft. Desoto. Bill is a big history buff and we all had fun exploring the battery of the fort and the surrounding areas. But the best was the beach. It was voted 'most beautiful beach' in the US in 2005 and should be voted that again every year...the sand is soft and a pretty white, the trees and palms are lovely and the sea oats sway oh so nice in the breezes off the Gulf and Tampa Bay. We took a nice long walk and had the best time. I got some great pics of the Light at Egmont Key where parts of Ft. Dade can still be viewed. I loved our trip to Egmont about 4 years ago and want to return now even more.

As we were close, we headed up to John's Pass and had lunch at one of E and my favorite waterside restaurants, Scully's. The food was good as always and we played tourist through the tiny shops up and down the side street and on the boardwalk. One of the fun things to do is to watch the drawbridge go up and down allowing access from the Gulf into John's Pass for large boats. The new bridge is making headway and I will be sorry to lose the little one that I so love.

We have another busy day here planned with our friends and, alas, our last one as they wing their way back to St. Louis on Thurs. They are coming over early afternoon for some exploring on the Sponge Docks and then staying for one of E's amazing suppers. Can't wait.

Have a great one...and yes, I have even gotten some creating done...I started my cigar purse (or whatever it will turn into) and did two layouts on Wed. when our friends just hung around their beach in Clearwater for the day.

Still Crazy after all these years...

What a great time we had. Jo and Bill had not seen the kids since Kristen's wedding four years ago June so everyone had fun talking about the good and the bad ol' days. E fixed too snack trays to hold us over until the bbq which we ended up eating inside as the chilly weather descended upon us once again.

Isn't my son so handsome without all his ZZ Topp facial hair? I'll have to work very hard to keep my vow to not say a word to him from now on even if he regrows that horror all the way to his knees!

Bill and Jo are off on a day trip to Sarasota today and E and I are taking care of somethings we have to do around here. When we get done with our dermatologist appointments tomorrow a.m., we'll head to Clearwater Beach, pick up Bill and Jo and head down to Ft. Dosoto for the day. Did you know that the beach at the fort was declared the best beach in the U.S. (I think I got that right!). We've never been and can't wait.

Enjoy your day and create something!

Update on who comes to visit

Please sign in and let me know who you are...only two brave souls so far have signed in and many thanks to the both of you!
And I keep getting the two same aol IPs...very odd because how can one person visit my blog 3 or 4 times a day and read for up to 5 min. at a visit. Guess I am more entertaining that I thought at least to these 2 certain visitors....lol.

I promise to resume my usual patter tomorrow. Kip's has a wonderful art blog she has set up and I have been drooling over all her eye candy there. I set up a separate blog for my paper art about a month and a half ago but it is not for general viewing. If you would really like to view that, please e mail me for the link at eeickmeier@hotmail.com. I feel that anyone who goes to the trouble to e-mail me, and reveal who they are is sincere in their interest. I will continue to post layouts here as I have always done but most of my art projects are elsewhere. I do share nicely, honest.

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United States Tarpon Springs, Florida
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United States
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United States Clermont, Florida
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United States Seattle, Washington
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United States Lake Zurich, Illinois
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United States Idaho Falls, Idaho
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United States Atlanta, Georgia
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United States Bothell, Washington
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United States
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United States Modesto, California
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United States Apex, North Carolina
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United States Benton, Kentucky
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United States Jacksonville, Florida
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United States Wenonah, New Jersey
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United States Bonita Springs, Florida
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New Zealand Hamilton
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United States Dayton, Ohio
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United States Bellingham, Washington
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United States Tampa, Florida
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United States Tampa, Florida
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United States Spring, Texas
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United States Pensacola, Florida
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United States Lakeland, Florida
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United States Fort Myers, Florida
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United States Whittier, Californ

Taking a leaf from my pal's blog (great thinking Kipper)!

Sign in please. I get hits on my blog from lots of fun places and I'd love to know who you are and how you found my blog...Kip had the best idea when she posted this on her blog. Hope you don't mind me giving it a shot too, Kip! I'll post again later with another list as this one is the partial list from today.

Location
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United States Tampa, Florida
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United States Dunedin, Florida
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United States Rochester, Michigan
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United States Lancaster, California
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United States Orlando, Florida
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United States Assonet, Massachusetts
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United States Simpsonville, South Carolina
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United States Bellevue, Nebraska
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United States
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United States Sussex, Wisconsin
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United States Hagerstown, Maryland
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United States Karlstad, Minnesota
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United States Saint Petersburg, Florida
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United States
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United States Dayton, Ohio
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United States Milan, Indiana
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United States Bradenton, Florida
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United States East Bank, West Virginia
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United States Wesley Chapel, Florida
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United States
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United States New Berlin, Wisconsin
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Spain Irn, Pais Vasco
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United States Fairbanks, Alaska
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United States
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United States Clearwater, Florida

To Good Friends and good times...

We spent another wonderful day with our St. Louis pals, Jo and Bill. We met them in Dunedin at Flannigan's Bar that we discovered with Steve and DeeDee (another set of our St. L pals who were here over New Year's Eve). This first pic is of my oldest friend, JoAnn...oldest in terms of endurance, not years as she is quick to remind any and all I am her older friend (by 39 days)! This is also the picture I told her I would not take! lol
We shopped our way around Dunedin with E and I picking up the info we needed for Feb 5th...Fat Tuesday. We were so relieved to find out that there was a Mardi Gras celebration somewhere around here. Ft. Myers had nada and we so missed the one in St. L.

We headed to Ozona, a small small town hidden away between the Gulf and Alt 19 but home to two of the best restaurants around: Molly Goodheads and The Ozona Pig...actually, everyone here just calls it The Pig. We had a great lunch at Molly's and then parted ways. E and I made a second visit to Molly's as I discovered I had left my camera with all these wonderful shots of Wood Storks on the roofs of small cottage shops in Dunedin sitting on the restaurant table. Our waitress had place the camera behind the bar for safe keeping until we could get back to pick it up.

The last picture is one of the tree chambered streets of Ozona! So lovely and there are such cute cottages here...a true taste of old Florida.

Tomorrow brings another adventure with a visit to the Oldsmar Flea Market followed by a bbq with all the kids.

I've been tagged by Chris

the rules.....
1. You have to post the rules before you give your answers.
2. You must list one fact about yourself beginning with each letter of your middle name. (If you don't have a middle name, use your maiden name).
3. After you are tagged, you need to update your blog with your middle name and your answers.
4. At the end of your blog post, you need to tag one person for each letter of your middle name. (Be sure to leave them a comment telling them they've been tagged and that they need to read your blog for details.)So - here are my answers:

My middle name is Kay

K-Krazy? Kan't spell? Kute? lol

A-absolutely addicted to paper crafts

y- young at heart

And I tag Kip, Anne and Yvonne (in keeping with the letters in my middle name but you don't have to!) I did it for fun!

Look Quick...my room is spanky clean....

I was down to less than a 2 sq ft. space in which to work...now I don't mind a little mess as I usually have two or three projects going on at the same time but this was downright crazy. So, for the last five hours, I have been purging, organizing and putting things where they belong. This will probably last until the day after our company goes home but, for right now, my room is so damn pretty, it almost hurts my eyes. Now, ask me where anything is ...go ahead! I double dog dare you. 'Cause I know where everything is! Hah!

Lovely papers

Now, you know I love my PDQ papers by Bisous.biz for fun but for a softer, dreamier paper, I love the College Press line. Carman has tons of these pretties in her store at www.creativescrapshack.com. And look what Gerri-anne (owner of knk) found for me that goes with the papers so well: Craft n Craftin's Chipboard Style flowers and swirls (www.bestcreations.com). (edited to give photo credit to the Kipster for the top pic of me! and to E for the pic of Goof and I a post below).

I am also in the market for some fun chipboard books and am itching to try Zsiage's Peek A Book chipboard book. If you remember, Kip did a marvelous Scrap O Dex by Zsiage and they had it on their web site for a good long time as it was so cool. They also make a variety of chipboard books like the Stadium book I am using for the Cruise class. And they have several fun paper lines out as well.

All this talk about wonderful products has made me want to dive into my stash and scrap...so bye for now!

I've hired an assistant

With my opportunities increasing in the biz, I thought it time to get some help. I have hired this gray haired assistant and, as you can see, he is very good at supervising. Now, if I could just get him to think outside of the box....or even get out of the box so I could put my things away...lol

I often roam in and find one or the other of the cats perched on either a layout on the worktable, curled next to the computer, or asleep on my favorite work chair. I am starting to wonder exactly whose room this really is.

It is pouring down rain here in Paradise. It is a good day to stay inside, have soup for lunch and scrap the day away. I have a fantastic kit from Knk to work on from March and my tech to finish for the Tech Reveal there on March 1st with the Feb kit.

BTW: the DT call for Creative Scrap Shack ends the 31st. of this month so don't delay. Come on over and see what this cyber paradise is all about. www.creativescrapshack.com.

Will post some layouts I did with the wonderful and delish Collage Press papers later today...these are so soft and dreamy. Just what tons of us have been wanting. And for edgier and fun fun fun papers, take a look at my all time fave, PDQ by Bisous.Biz

Sorry about the lack of posting here

It has been one of those weeks, where I hit the ground running! Had such fun with G-a, Barb, Sonia and Kip starting last Friday and ending Sunday that I my sides are just now starting to not hurt so much from all the laughing. You gals are something else!

I wanted to finish E's Valentine project and then got waylaid doing rub on transfers onto glass containers and using up some of my stash of PDQ papers from Bisous.Biz that I completely forgot to blog.

We have company coming to visit and I got a wee bit confused on the dates. Senior moments I guess. JoAnne and Bill arrive Thrus. not Wed. as I had thought and will come over to spend the day with us on Friday when we will give them our $1.50 tour of Tarpon Springs and play.

Jo and I have been friends since we were 15! It is amazing to me that we can go weeks and even months sometimes without talking and when we do, it seems not a day has passed. We have our ancient jokes (Let's be Frank and Ernest and neither one of us wanted to be Ernest so we'd fight over who got to be Frank)and our silly memories....like the time my mom went out of town and we told her I could stay at Jo's. We told Jo's mom she'd be spending the night with me. We bought a pack of cigarettes and stayed up all night! Silly us.

She is Rob's godmother and Kristen's by proxy so we will have everyone over for a bbq on Sunday. Rob has even agreed to trim his ZZ Topp beard for the occasion. (Memo to self: get lots of pics of Rob with his neat and tidy beard)!

Off to run some errands and I promise to do better with this blog! Love to all

Antique and Boutique finds with the Kipster

We had such fun yesterday. We explored all the antique shops on the main streets here in Tarpon Springs, had a great lunch that E fixed and then moved on to Dunedin where I had made a few fun finds a couple of weekends ago with my pal, DeeDee from St. Louis.

Kip and I found one store where we could pick through stacks and mounds of vintage costume jewelry for a quarter each and we each just had to have one of the darling silver filigree purse necklaces (a way bit over a quarter but well worth it)that actually open.

I had been wanting a vintage glass bottle to try out a technique I read about in Somerset Life but want to add my own twist...and voila! There it is.

And if you would like to know what I am going to do that that lovely tile upon which all the goodies are resting...well, watch this spot!

Off to Sarasota with the Kipster in a bit...waiting on her dog sitter. We'll meet up with G-a, our beloved Barb, and our new friend, Sonia plus all the wonderful other Hilltop Memories gals.

Later, gator!

TGIF everyone!

(a couple more pictures from Anna Maria Island)

I was in a mad scrapping frenzy yesterday. I did two layouts, two cards and altered something fun for the Reveal Feb 1 at the Creative Scrap Shack. I still have my sketch to do but that is all. When I picked up my altered item for the DT Reveal, I found a nice sized wooden tray that I am going to paint and gild and do something fun and Victorian with next week before our next round of company arrives. They will be staying down on Clearwater Beach and we'll travel back and forth to visit.

Today starts a whole lot of fun going on. Kip is coming over this morning and we are hitting the many antique stores here in Tarpon Springs. I am looking for vintage lace, ribbons, small books and illustrated song music sheets. She is looking for ephemera for future projects. E is cooking us muffalata sandwiches for lunch and Kip has promised to help me set up an Esty shop. Yeah!

Early early tomorrow morning, I pick up Kip and we head to Sarasota for a Hilltop Memories Day crop. It will good to see Stacey and all the gang and guess who is going to meet us there? Gerri-anne, Barb and our new friend, Sonia...yeah! We'll all spend the night at Kip's as G-a and the gang want to show Sonia Ruban Rouge on Sunday before they head back to Ft. Myers. Can't wait gals.

I'll post pics when I can! Until then, go forth and create!

A Day with Janet and Bob

We had the best of intentions and would have been on time today getting to Anna Maria Island for our visit with our pals, Janet and Bob, but the best laid plans of mice and mere mortals...alas, we were a trifle bit late in our scheduled launch. We headed over the Sunshine Skyway and saw the most glorious sight. The sun was trying so bravely to break through the dark and dismal clouds and it was so magestic.

E had never seen the house and new things had been added since our Gathering of the Goddesses weekend so we took the house tour after coffee on their logia (or whatever the Italians call a balcony over looking a vision)!

It was so good to see our friend Bob again and to see how good he looked. Bob has had one hell of a year with health problems but was his spunky self and the twinkle was in his eyes!

We have already made plans for them to visit us,and the boys to wear their matching Multo Mario aprons and cook yummmies for Janet and I while we sip foo foo drinks in the hot tub...or something like that. And Bob wants to get fishing poles so he and E can sit by the surf with a cooler and "fish"...uh huh! lol

I'll put some more yummy pics on the blog tomorrow am of our great day with great people!