Missing Our Trips Together

 I found this photo taken during our last trip out West in our Pleasureway Van in September 2013.

We spent several days at Yellowstone National Park.

We had no problem getting a campsite because of our small size.

Never thought my days of traveling with my sweetheart would be over.

Such fun times we had during our life together.  

It's a Beautiful Day

I love my mug rug here!

We're back after a week in Ohio visiting family.

I finally finished laundry.

 {again!} 

Part of my plans for today were put on a hold.  

I wanted to pressure wash the porch and deck but when Hubby went to the shed to get the pressure washer to set it up for me he discovered an important part was broken into pieces.  

I'm so tired of the cheap use of plastic in appliances on parts that need to hold up to wear and tear.  

This pressure washer only lasted a couple seasons and that is with only using it less than a dozen times.

  

Loved my time in Venice!

So Hubby went off to give our travel van a much needed drive because it's been sitting so long.  

He told me not to wash down the porch and deck with the regular hose..wait until we can buy a new pressure washer.  

Burano, Italy

Well, after he left I looked at the deck portion and it was so dirty with green mildew all over the rails.  

So I went and got a toothbrush and cleaner and scrubbed down all the rails on the deck and hosed it all down.  

Now, at least, that part is done. 

Deck rails all clean.

We don't want to put the deck chairs out until the porch is clean too.   

June's almost over and I haven't had a chance to sit out there yet!

Burano, Italy
Doesn't everyone have a pink house?

Hey!  

How do you like my coffee mug rug, "Gimme a Break," hanging in my kitchen coffee bar?  

It's too pretty to use. 

Someone has to hold up the Pisa Tower!

Thanks for visiting!

More photos of our trip to Italy coming.

Back from Italy...finally!

Venice, Italy - the island of Burano.

Did you miss me?

Whew...I've been busy!  

We just returned from our 26 day Grand Circle tour of northern Italy. 

All packed and ready to leave for Italy!

What a wonderful trip...a trip of a lifetime.

  

Flying Business Class to Italy is the way to go!

This is the longest I've gone without blogging.  

A whole month!  

Because I decided to take a break and not post while in Italy. 

Rome's Colosseum!

It's a good thing because we were kept busy touring northern Italy (to name a few cities we visited:  Rome, Florence, the Italian Rivera, Pisa, Bolzano, and Venice).  

WiFi was spotty at some of the hotels.

Although our hotel in Florence had internet as good as at home.

And one of our busses had internet on board too!  

Did I mention we loved gelato!  

Hubby loved his chocolate flavors and I had two favorite flavors....Stracciatella (vanilla with chocolate chips) and Amarena (vanilla with cherries).

There was a gelato store on almost every corner!

Luckily I didn't gain any weight on the trip even with eating what I wanted. 

All that walking helped. 

And the food was excellent!  

I could live in Italy just for the pasta and gelato.  

Our first hotel in Roma..the Ludovisi Palace.

I'll be posting more about our trip so stay tuned.

Since we added a few days at the beginning of our pre-tour, we had to make reservations on our own for those days.  

When Hubby called the hotel to book our room he was told he had to do it on-line.   

We were either coming or going at the Ludovisi Palace.

 Our first hotel room was comfortable and clean.  

Nice bathroom with a tub/shower but it was so narrow only one of us could be in there at one time.   

Hotel room at Ludovisi Palace in Roma.

Now to unpack, do laundry and pick up the mail.  

And finally time to catch up on all my TV programs.

There were only two channels in English - both news channels (BBC and CNN) in all the hotels. 

So no TV watching while we were in Italy. 

But I've already caught up on Game of Thrones and Mad Men since arriving home.  

We celebrated my Hubby's 65th birthday today.  

I baked him a yellow cake with chocolate frosting.   

It was delicious!

Ciao!

Disney & Sparkle

I finished several rounds of my hexagon lap throw, Sparkle, while at Disney and on the road.  

I'm on the last round in white.  

It takes 54 hexes.

Then I can crochet the edging.  

I'll probably go with a simple edge using the three colors.

I've decided to machine-embroider labels for all of my throws.

Now to fit that project in with everything else.

I hope to put the Christmas lights and outside decorations up before Thanksgiving.

We won't turn the lights on until after Thanksgiving.

And I hope to cross Christmas cards off my list too.

That will just leave gifts and indoor decorations after Thanksgiving.

I want to leave you with some more pictures of Ft. Wilderness and Walt Disney World.

We had a blast on this trip

A campsite at Ft. Wilderness.

Folks were getting in the mood to start decorating for Christmas at Ft. Wilderness Campground.

For the first time, in a long time, Cinderella's Castle was open to walk through.  

I loved the tile mosaics!

He's all mine!

I saw someone with one of these early on and just loved it.  

But I had no clue where they got it.

As we were walking out of the Magic Kingdom (last time this trip) I spied one.  

They were selling them as popcorn containers.  

We bought one.  

Mickey's hat tips up to get to the popcorn.  

And the popcorn was delicious.  

First time we tried Disney's popcorn.  

Mickey had a birthday in November too!

He looks pretty good for 85!  

If you look close you can see my new birthday gift, a Dooney & Bourke Disney shoulder bag.

I went all over the place trying to find the new Vera Bradley Disney bags.

There were two fabrics, one in pink and another in blue.

All I could find in the pink fabric was a large duffle bag which I didn't want.

I didn't care for the blue fabric or the selection of bags available.

Then we were at the Floridian and I found this adorable Disney bag. 

Gosh, it was expensive…$128 and it is only fabric vinyl.

But…it is so cute.  It has Minnie and Mickey on it.

Tink too and Cinderella's Castle.

I'll have to take a close up photo of it and post it later.

Our last day at Ft. Wilderness the Christmas trees, flowers and outside lights were up.

 When we went to Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party we loved the parade.

These marching men were so neat.

After the busy weekend Ft. Wilderness emptied out.  

Everything is packed away and we are ready to leave the next morning. 

Even the folks staying at the cabins at Ft. Wilderness get into the Christmas spirit.

See the serpent by Cinderella's Castle.

The Disney shops were filled with Disney related Christmas items.

Aren't these stockings cute!

Each one was around $90!!!

Too expensive for me but I would love to have them.

The final float in Mickey's Once Upon A Christmastime Parade!

The white specks are fake snow.

And I finish my Disney post with a photo of Hubby and I after the fantastic parade.  

Walt Disney World is truly a magical place.

What a great way to celebrate my 67th birthday!

Thanks!

To all who have served and are currently serving our great country!!

The Magic Begins

We have arrived!

Sunny Florida.

Ft. Wilderness Campground.  

Walt Disney World!

My favorite place to visit. 

Oh yes!

Fall Days

It is a beautiful sunny FALL Sunday here in southeastern Pennsylvania. 

Our trees are just starting to change. 

My flowers are still blooming.  

Although I heard we will have freezing temperatures here by next week. 

I've been in my sewing room adding strips of fabric trim to my Thanksgiving Turkey embroidery design.  

I like this combination of green trim, orange trim and a lovely fall leaves pattern trim.  

Monday we are taking our travel van to the RV dealership to have the refrigerator fixed.  

The refrigerator works off either electricity, gas (propane) or 12 volts (battery).  

The gas mode isn't working right.  

It's about a two hour drive north of us to the RV Dealership and we will have to leave the RV there.

  

The good news is we tried out our insect fabric screens that I made for two windows on our travel van while at the York Train Meet last week and they worked great.  

We had fun at the York Train Meet - we camped out over night right next to the main exhibit halls.

When we were tired from looking at the exhibits we took breaks in our travel van.  

Both my Hubby and my brothers had Lionel model "O" trains growing up. 

 In fact, my Hubby stills has his.  

We're in the process of finally putting together a sturdy, well built model train table in our unfinished area of our basement.  

Our make-shift wobbly ping pong table that Hubby used for many years is gone {{finally!}}.  

This train table is made from a kit.  

Hubby put up the painted background blue screen and more ceiling lights.  

The next step is buying the wood for the top. 

Someday we will have a lovely model train setup. 

Isn't this a cute miniature vintage Borden's milk truck we bought at the train meet.   

It brings back lots of childhood memories of home milk deliveries. 

We hope to have our van's refrigerator fixed before our trip to Walt Disney World this Fall. 

Have a lovely Sunday and thanks for visiting my little world!