.......HELLO AND GREETINGS FROM ORLANDO, FLORIDA!
FROM ME, JOANN!

AS MOST OF YOU KNOW, WE LIVE IN WISCONSIN NEAR MILWAUKEE, SO ***GREETINGS*** FROM HERE TOO! I FINALLY GOT FINISHED UPLOADING MOST OF THE PHOTOS FROM OUR MOST RECENT TRIP TO FLORIDA, IN NOVEMBER 2006 SO HERE THEY ARE! THEY APPEAR FIRST, BUT I ALSO UPLOADED SOME NEW ONES FROM OUR FLORIDA 2005 TRIP TOO AT THE END OF THIS "BLOG". A FEW FRIENDS HAVE ASKED ME ABOUT THE REPLICA CITY OF PORTOFINO BUILT IN ORLANDO, SO I UPLOADED A BUNCH OF PHOTOS OF THAT TOO! I'VE ALSO INCLUDED SOME PHOTOS OF THE PERSIAN KITTENS I RAISE FOR ALL YOU CAT LOVERS.

LAST YEAR WE VISITED "FESTA ITALIANA" IN JULY 2006, (A HUGE 4 DAY FESTIVAL AT MILWAUKEE'S LAKEFRONT, ) SO OF COURSE THERE ARE PICS OF THE TENORS WE MET IN CONCERT, ESPECIALLY FRANK TENAGLIA & AARON CARUSO. .. I WROTE A LOT OF COMMENTARY HERE ABOUT THEIR CONCERTS & CDs, IF ANYONE IS INTERESTED. WE WILL BE ATTENDING FESTA THIS SUMMER AGAIN IN JULY, AND THIS TIME WILL HAVE THE PLEASURE OF MEETING BOB DOLFI & MARLENE, WHO RUNS THE LANZA LEGEND WEBSITE, AND DAMON LANZA - MARIO LANZA'S ONLY SON STILL ALIVE, SO I KNOW I'LL WANT TO TAKE MORE PICS AGAIN, AND GET AN AUTOGRAPH!! I HAVE BEEN A BIG FAN OF MARIO LANZA'S SINGING MOST OF MY LIFE, SO THIS WILL BE A BIG HONOR FOR ME. THE LANZALEGEND PEOPLE WILL BE IN THE "OPERA TENT" AT FESTA ITALIANA, WHERE MUCH INFORMATION ABOUT THIS LEGENDARY TENOR WILL BE AVAILABLE, AS WELL AS CDs, DVDs OR TAPES, BOOKS, ETC. AND I THINK THEY WILL BE SHOWING SOME RARE ITEMS OF MEMORABILIA AND SOME OF HIS VARIOUS PERFORMANCES ON A SCREEN TOO. (MY APOLOGIES TO THOSE OF YOU WHO ARE SICK OF HEARING ABOUT TENORS, MUSIC AND MY OTHER HOBBIES!! BUT SERIOUSLY, IF YOU'RE IN THE MILWAUKEE AREA, TRY TO COME TO FESTA ITALIANA, ESPECIALLY IF YOU LIKE ITALIAN MUSIC AND FOOD, BECAUSE TRULY IT IS ONE OF THE BEST & LARGEST FESTAS OF ITS KIND IN THE WORLD! IT HAS ABOUT 10 STAGES OF MUSIC & FUN GOING ON SIMULTANEOUSLY ALL 4 DAYS! THIS YEAR THE DATES ARE JULY 19 - 22, 2007.

I HAD LOTS OF PROBLEMS GETTING USED TO BLOGSPOT'S NEW SYSTEM & GETTING THE BUGS WORKED OUT OF IT, BUT I FINALLY DID. ALSO, PAY NO ATTENTION TO THE DATES & TIMES, AS I HAD TO BACK-DATE A LOT OF POSTS SO THAT THEY WOULD APPEAR IN THE ORDER I WANTED. I ALSO JUST DECIDED NOW TO MAKE MY BLOG PUBLIC FOR EVERYONE TO SEE & COMMENT IF THEY WANT WITHOUT HAVING TO REGISTER OR BE A MEMBER. I LIKE TO SHARE MY LIFE, EXPERIENCES & FEELINGS WITH PEOPLE, HAVE ALWAYS BEEN THAT WAY, I GUESS. AND I LOVE WRITING TOO. I'M KNOWN FOR MY ENTHUSIASM AND PROLIFIC WRITING, SO PLEASE EXCUSE ME WHEN I GO OVERBOARD, & FOR ANY REPETITION HERE. I KNOW NOTHING ABOUT BLOGGING, I NEVER HAD A BLOG TIL I STARTED THIS ONE A YEAR AGO, AND I TEND TO TAKE AN ALL OR NOTHING APPROACH TO IT, GOING MONTHS WITHOUT ADDING ANYTHING. UNTIL A COUPLE WEEKS AGO, WE NEVER EVEN OWNED A SCANNER.

I RECOMMEND EVERYONE VISIT BEAUTIFUL FLORIDA SOME DAY - BUT NEVER IN THE SUMMER MONTHS - NOT EVER!! (SORRY IF I COMPLAIN A LOT ABOUT THE HEAT & HUMIDITY THERE, BUT TRULY IT WAS UNBEARABLE ON OUR 2005 TRIP, BUT NOT TOO BAD AT ALL THIS LAST YEAR IN NOVEMBER. THE HOT WEATHER IS THE ONLY THING STOPPING US FROM MOVING THERE TO BE CLOSER TO SONIA.

THIS PIC. WAS TAKEN JUST AFTER THIS REALLY COOL WHITE BIRD WITH THE L-O-N-G NECK FLEW OVER MY HEAD & LANDED BEHIND ME. WE WERE LUCKY TO GET THE SHOT OF IT BEFORE HE FLEW AWAY AGAIN. BEING A HUGE ANIMAL LOVER, I LOVE ALL THE NEW BIRDS, ANIMALS, UNIQUE SCENERY & OTHER ATTRACTIONS IN FLORIDA I DON'T GET TO SEE AT HOME. WE ALWAYS LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING SONIA & OUR SON-IN-LAW, & WE'RE LOOKING FORWARD TO MANY MORE TRIPS THERE. PLUS WE MIGHT TAKE ANOTHER TRIP TO ITALY & SPAIN WITHIN A COUPLE YEARS TOO. SONIA IS BEGGING US TO GO WITH THEM, BEFORE THEY START HAVING KIDS, BUT SINCE WE ONLY RECENTLY CONQUERED OUR FEAR OF FLYING 6 MONTHS AGO, (AFTER 20 YEARS OF GROUNDING OURSELVES) SHE MIGHT BE OVER-OPTIMISTIC. I HAD NO PROBLEM GETTING TO EUROPE BY AIR 6 TIMES IN THE 1970'S & 80'S , SO WE'LL SEE....
THANKS FOR VISITING OUR BLOG, AND BEST WISHES TO ALL OF YOU!!

.........BUT FIRST..... I would like to introduce all of you to Sonia and Claudio, in case you haven't seen/met them yet.. This was taken in Orlando, in front of the building where they make people American Citizens. Claudio, originally from Brazil, became an American citizen last year, after being here about 12 years, legally of course!! Sonia and Claudio were married about 5 years ago, which facilitated this process. You you can see how proud they both are that now he can call himself an "American" and enjoy all the benefits we all have in this great country of ours. Claudio has aspirations of becoming a Police Officer in Orlando. In 6 months he will be taking the exam which hopefully will qualify him for this training. Our daughter, Sonia is currently working for an Airlines Vacations Travel Company as a Business Development Associate Manager, the past 2 years in Orlando, (as she did also in Milwaukee before that) and she frequently travels around the country in the capacity of her job. She loves her job, and she loves traveling even more!!

.......And I also wanted to include 2 photos of "AMICO", Sonia and Claudio's beloved Bichon-Frise who just died unfortunately on February 6, 2007, this year, from an intestinal blockage within 24 hours after ingesting a "Greenie" dog treat she gave him. There have been many reports on the internet and elsewhere of dog deaths attributed to these particular "treats". Poor Amico had just turned 4 years old, just a few days before he died. We were all heartbroken about this, but when the time is right, we will get them another dog. Amico was a super-smart dog too, as he learned quickly about 25 tricks that Sonia had taught him.

.......... My husband, Settimio, (his nickname is "Mimmo") dutifully posing for me with the backdrop of a lovely English garden in the background. This is inside Disney's Gigantic EPCOT Theme Park in Orlando, where you find all that cool international stuff! Settimio and I have been married for 34 years, and enjoy traveling together, and have taken trips to Italy and around Italy (where I met him when I lived in Rome for 3 years in the early 1970's) as well as trips around the USA and to Canada. Also in the early 70's, on my own, I visited France and England, and would love to go back there (especially England!) again with him. But he has limited time for vacations, and will need to spend most of it with his family in Italy, the next time we return there. EPCOT is his favorite Disney Park, due to the huge part of it devoted to International culture AND food!! But Italian food is his favorite, he always says that the best food in the world is Italian, and that Italians make the best cooks and chefs!! Must be true, because Settimio is a very good cook, and enjoys cooking more than I do!