.....IRENE'S SUMMER HOUSE AT THE SEA, NEAR ANZIO - where she and her son spend the hot summers. It is beautiful inside, and HUGE - 2 stories, at least 4 bedrooms and several bathrooms. Not bad for a summer house, eh!!?? Unfortunately, they got robbed the past 15 years in a row, (YES, NO kidding!!) which is very common in Italy when houses are empty in the winter months. Most of their neighbors were robbed a lot too. So they soon learned to leave little there of value, but nevertheless, the robbers always found SOMETHING to steal!!

That's me you can barely see walking near the door, holding my head. I'd cracked it real hard on the bottom of the metal staircase on the second story balcony, during Irene's guided tour of the house. (That hurt a LOT and for over a week afterwards too! - Serves me right for not seeing it, I guess!)
I snapped the next photo quickly as an elderly woman walked with a big bundle on her head! Whatever works...I always say!
In downtown Anzio, we enjoyed a cool fountain, a rose garden and one of the pretty piazzas where people can eat outside "al fresco".

.........GOODBYE TO ITALY - THIS IS THE END OF MY BLOG ON ITALY, But I still have a few things to say about ANZIO, which played a big part in World War II. I wrote previously about the day we visited the American Cemetery near Anzio, in Nettuno, where no one can forget the brave American soldiers who fought in WWII, and died in Anzio & in Sicily. It broke my heart to see SO many thousands of sad little white crosses.

Here I am again with Settimio and Irene, and further down, with Maurizio again too. They were both so kind and gracious to us. We spent a lovely day in the sun seeing all the beautiful boats, after a great meal and walk around Anzio, and then they took us back to Nettuno, where in too few days we had to pack our suitcases and leave this beautiful country called ITALIA . We found the average person you'd meet on the street here to be as warm and friendly to us as I've always remembered. And as for our ITALIAN FAMILY, I can't say enough to describe how absolutely WONDERFUL they were to us!!! So, we're also saying goodbye to all the kind and loving people who hope it won't be another 23 years til we return again. We hope not too!! Until then, CIAO EVERYONE, CIAO ITALIA BELLA, ......ARRIVEDERCI ! ! !

Well, it sure was a LONG WAY DOWN from the top of my Blog, to get to this point, wasn't it??? If you've gotten all the way down here, though, YOU REALLY DESERVE A MEDAL FOR PATIENCE!! (AND you must really be an "avid reader" after all)!! So few people have that kind of patience nowadays, so I GIVE YOU A LOT OF CREDIT! And of course...I thank you!! (NOW go take those aspirins!) ---- Ooops! 4 more pictures to go!! Ha, ha!

-------- MANY THANKS TO JOHN D FOR SO KINDLY SENDING ME THESE NEWSPAPER CLIPPINGS AND PHOTOS OF THE HOUSE IN WILDWOOD, NEW JERSEY, WHERE MARIO LANZA SPENT HIS SUMMERS AS A BOY. I'm posting them here on my Blog, because it's the only public website where I have an account, and can share them with anyone interested. John had posted that he also spent time visiting Mario's grandparents in Wildwood, N.J.. This photo and article is dated July 5, 1951 and shows both Mario's parents and grandparents receiving a season pass for the Hunt's theaters. I would say they certainly deserved that too!! CLICKING ON THE PHOTO WILL ENLARGE IT AS WELL AS THE TEXT WHICH WILL THEN BE EASY TO READ. OF COURSE, PHOTOS WERE VERY "GRAINY" IN THOSE DAYS!

........The date above this photo is 9/13/51 and shows Mario's parents and their friends at a Wildwood, New Jersey gathering. The newspaper article pertaining to it is also included.

.......Here is the famous house of Mario Lanza's grandparents, and obviously the first black & white photo is of the house in Wildwood, New Jersey as it appeared in the 1950's. The address was and probably still is 141 W. Rio Grande Avenue. Somehow I had pictured it as being quite small, but in fact, it's very large and beautiful! The landscaping in those days seems to be very pretty too. (AGAIN, CLICKING ON THE PHOTOS WILL BLOW THEM UP & SHOW MUCH MORE DETAIL.)


........Same house, decades later, how it appears today. I wish the 1950's version was in color, like the current picture, but we can still see the changes that appear to have been made to the exterior.. As I posted on LL, we all know many houses through the years undergo a transformation and sometimes are barely recognizable decades later. Today the awnings above the windows are missing and looks like the upstairs balcony is gone too. I don't know why the new owners would take all that away, because I personally think Mario's grandparents house looked GREAT the way it was before! Here it looks more plain, but still nice, and at least it's still standing!! The new owners also added 8 little windows on the upper level too, in a pattern I've never seen done before on a house, especially if this is a bedroom, so I found that a bit curious. Perhaps someone can figure out approx. what year the last two photos were taken, by the car parked there.

........FROM STRANGE RELIGIOUS STATUES

TO BEAUTIFUL ITALIAN MUSIC & SINGERS.......

********** WELCOME TO **********

******** FESTA ITALIANA!!! *********


I look forward to this Italian Festival every year; it's become the highlight of our musical summer. There are 10 stages of music (and lots of other activities and displays too) all going on continuously through the day and evening, for 4 days. This year it was July 19 - 22. We attended both Saturday and Sunday, and first off, we saw GIADA VALENTI, a talented singer who sings in a similar voice and style of the late Edith Pilaf. Giada also sang a French song that was famous by that great singer, and the audience loved it! Our friends from New Jersey drove all the way (19 hours) to meet us here, and this was the first singer they wanted to see, as they had seen her concerts out East. They travel all over to see their favorite singers ( especially Michael Amante, whom they have seen in concert over 80 times!!) Lucky them! But I was still surprised they would drive this far to Milwaukee to see our Festa. They did so because they had heard how wonderful it was, and said they were not disappointed!
Anyway, Giada Valenti has a very warm and rich voice, with a marvelous vibrato, and is strictly a pop singer. I don't recall her singing any operatic arias.

We saw many singers, including about half of a concert by JULIUS LA ROSA (because my friend SAM had asked me to check him out!) and I was amazed at how good his voice was still after all these years! It was strong and clear (with no wobble at all) with a nice vibrato too. I'm glad we saw him, but I can't remember much of what he sang, since I'm writing this a month later. I do know that Settimio also agreed that he was a very good singer, especially impressive for his age. I'm often disappointed with singers when they get that far up in years, but no matter what, we always give them credit for having such a love and passion for singing and sharing it with their audience through so many years .

All the pictures we took are here. What I'm really sorry about is that we didn't take any photos of some other impressive things, (Just too much rushing around!) like the GORGEOUS STAINLESS STEEL STATUE OF THE MADONNA, STANDING 33 FEET HIGH!! Or the also tall Statue of David, who depending on which year you come, is sometimes naked and sometimes wearing shorts patterned after the American Flag. Festa Italiana also had a really cool Italian village set up some years (but not this year) which I could post if our scanner was working! I bought a new printer/scanner/copier in March to be able for the first time to upload old photos, but it got corrupted recently, and I haven't been able to even install the whole printer again! Anyway, I hope you all enjoy what photos there are, (CLICK ON THE PHOTOS IF YOU WANT TO SEE MORE DETAIL - MAKES EVERYTHING ALMOST LIFE-SIZE!) and try to make it to this great Festival some year soon yourselves!!
P.S. - I FORGOT TO PUT THE REST OF MY FESTA ITALIANA COMMENTS IN *BOLD* PRINT, WHICH WOULD HAVE MADE THEM EASIER TO READ, SO LATER ON, I'LL GO BACK AND DO THAT - (AS I HAVE ELSEWHERE ON THIS BLOG) - EVERY TIME I COME BACK TO IT, I ALWAYS SEE LOTS OF THINGS THAT NEED IMPROVEMENT, AND I'M STILL LEARNING!!

......... It was fun to meet all these great singers, like Giada Valenti, who again, is a particular favorite of my friend from New Jersey. She introduced me to Giada and also to another good singer, Christina Luna, at Festa, both of whom she really admires. They both met with my approval, because I love great voices, especially sweet ones, be they sopranos, baritones or tenors! Giada was really busy signing autographs on CDs and pictures, but she had time to pose with both of us below.

......This is how we found Damon, busily greeting Mario Lanza fans, and doing his best to answer all their eager questions. I bet everyone of them was wondering why it took so many years for Mario to be promoted at Festa Italiana, since he is THE tenor they remember most fondly, not only from all his recordings, but also his films. What a surprise his glorious voice must have been for them, coming from the Golden Age of Opera Tent! As you can see, the table is almost empty since they told me they had sold EVERYTHING! (and were taking orders for more). (There was also a table on the other side). Bob Dolfi also posted that since arriving back home, he is being flooded with good wishes and newspaper articles from people who remember when Mario sang in Milwaukee in 1947. I gave Bob one of those articles too. I'm sorry I didn't get any photos of the outside of the tent, but it was big and there were lots of other tents around it, all with different displays. They were also performances of operatic singers and choruses in this Opera Tent at various times throughout the day, as well as a production of "Madama Butterfly."

......The big meeting with DAMON LANZA, son of Mario Lanza, and what a pleasure it was to finally meet him! We didn't get to spend much time with him as he was very busy, (you can imagine!!) being the only surviving son of Mario there. So I will cherish these photos and glad also that my friend from New Jersey also got in the picture! She and her husband will definitely want a copy of this photo, as she is also a big Mario Lanza fan from way back, as well as a fan, like me, of a few of the current tenors. This was such an exciting 2 days for us! I'm happy that the Lanzalegend crew were invited back to the Opera Tent for any years they choose to come!!

.......We have finally met Bob who owns and runs the Lanzalegend Website. This was our first day (Saturday) at Festa Italiana and I tore him away from greeting Mario Lanza fans to take this picture and talk a bit, although we talked much longer on Sunday. I felt out of place without a Lanza T-shirt on, but I don't own one, or any kind of fan T-shirt. I'm sorry we got no photos of Marlene, who was so busy with the fans, answering questions and selling. It was fun to meet her too, though and say a few words.

..........Settimio took these two pictures of Frank Tenaglia and me near the stage area, but didn't get any of Frank on stage. (I thought he did, but Settimio, who is always in charge of the camera, I remember was having battery problems with the camera at the time. We did see all of Frank's concert on Saturday and part of it on Sunday, and had a nice chat with him afterwards. This time we purchased his original CD with something like 20 songs, which we are enjoying. I won't write a review here, but they are all great!!! So were the concerts, and believe it or not, he sang even better than last year. Settimio thought so too, and we told him so. Many of the songs were the same (not all) and some of his funny jokes we'd already heard last year, but we mostly came for his fantastic singing, and he didn't disappoint! There was even a young, slightly inebriated woman in the front row audience who kept yelling her approval to him on stage (and talking to us about him too). Ahhhh, FANS!! Some were quieter than others, but ALL gave him thunderous applause and a standing ovation! And best of all, Frank is a REALLY NICE GUY!

.......Here we have AARON CARUSO with CHRISTINA LUNA singing their duet from Phantom of the Opera. Aaron sports a white mask on his face. His show at the Miller Lite Oasis was very enjoyable and also varied from last year. (Last year Christina did not appear) and I think this is her first year at this Festa. She said she may be getting her OWN show soon! That's wonderful as she has a very pretty, sweet voice. I am writing these Blog posts almost a whole month after Festa Italiana ended, so I probably can't remember most of the songs Aaron sang this time. But I know he did a Tom Jones song, as well as something completely different - O' Sole Mio. And many other Italian songs too, as well as an original one that was written for his mother. It was very touching. Aaron's singing is getting better and better all the time, and even Frank Tenaglia told us that Aaron has really improved over even last year. Aaron sure knows how to please an audience, and his friendly and enthusiastic personality shines through. It was a pleasure to see and hear him again!!

.......Two photos of AARON CARUSO with his lovely duet partner, Christina, and me after the concert. We bought Aaron's CD after last year's concert, so all we needed to do was pose for pictures and congratulate him on another great concert. I asked him again about portraying Mario Lanza on Broadway, and he said he still has plans or dreams of doing that. I'm sure they will be asking him to come back to Festa Italiana now year after year, so he'd better make time for that. He and his people did say that it was the best and biggest Italian festival they had ever seen or participated in.

........THESE THREE TENORS, comments below....but the photo above them is of :

CORY PASATURO, a young musician and Accordion player, who also plays the clarinet and the Saxophone (you can see these instruments sitting on the stage near him). He is only about 20 years old, and incredibly talented! Our friends really liked him too, so we headed over to the U.S. Cellular Connection Stage to hear him play when we arrived on Sunday morning, July 22.


......Later in the evening, toward 9:00 PM, we saw THESE THREE TENORS perform at the Palermo's Pizza Stage, (in fact we saw them both nights) but didn't enjoy them as much as some of the other acts. They put on a good show, but a couple of their voices were a bit past their prime and wobbled at times. They all had very powerful voices and sang well, but the sound at least for us, wasn't a "pretty" one, and a bit harsh on the ears at times, especially when they all sang together. Also, the tenor on the left was really much more of a BASS (not even a baritone) than a tenor. We all compared their voices to our favorite tenors, and we all agreed that we MUCH prefer the graceful and lovely, smooth and fresher sound of "our" tenors! Here "These Three Tenors" are donning jackets and doing a Frank Sinatra bit. They also came out in masks doing Phantom of the Opera, but again even as solos, their voices just weren't right for this delicate, operetta music, in our humble opinions.. This Trio has been around for at least 10 years, but this is their first time performing at Milwaukee's Festa Italiana. We may still see them again next year, but for this year my curiosity about them was satisfied!

......THE PROCESSION PARADE in the morning of our second day here, after the Mass, which we didn't have time to attend. There were other sights I wanted photos of but this didn't impress Settimio at all, who had seen much bigger religious displays than this in Italy, so he declined to take more photos of the Procession. This was the first time we had seen this one though, since in the past we always arrived at the Festa only in the afternoon. It was a beautiful day again with not a hint of rain anywhere in sight!


.

......You can see on the left of this photo the little "cable cars" that take passengers from one end of Festa Italiana to the other end. I guess you can get a great view of it and Lake Michigan too from up there....but we've never taken the ride. The Miller Lite Oasis stage in the photo is where Aaron Caruso sang, and where Frank Tenaglia sang last year, but they moved Frank to the Carmax stage this year.

......I'm not Catholic, - Settimio here is - but I know these religious statues are telling history in their own way. This was a huge and beautiful tent very near the Opera Tent which was filled with ornate statues, and I wanted to take pictures of them all, but there were too many of them. We did spend about half an hour inside this tent, but had to skip seeing most of the vintage photographs on the some of the walls, but they sure looked interesting!

.......I like this gorgeous shrine the best..This is the only photo I have of all 4 of us together, which includes also the men, since they didn't seem to want to be in most of the photos. But this is the couple in the middle who drove all the way from New Jersey to Milwaukee (about 20 hours drive) to be at Festa Italiana with us. They are friends who may not want to be identified on a public Blog, so I won't use their names. They were taking lots of photos too, actually FAR MORE than we did, but I haven't seen any of them yet. That's OK, as the ones we took are enough for us, and a great way to remember our 2 days here with them.

......At the Shrine again, and this time I got reprimanded for resting my hand on the tablecloth! I completely had forgotten in that moment that most of these delicate and pretty lacy things were probably very old and needed to be protected. I was so embarrassed!

........This tent was full of beautiful religious statues displayed all around, but this is all the photos we had time for, before we rushed on to the next concert! A few of the statues were even odd, of lovely female figures holding the severed heads of men in their arms (I guess men incurred the wrath of women in those days too!) This lady in pink is holding only the skull, but it's hard to see unless you click on the photo to enlargen it.

......The Mario Lanza photos displayed on one wall of the Golden Age of Opera Tent throughout the Festival, though I think they added a few more for 2007. You'll notice that both Luciano Pavarotti and Andrea Bocelli share this same section of the wall, probably to indicate that they all were extremely popular tenors of their day.

.....CORY PESATURO and me, in the Opera Tent where we happened to run into Cory, the Accordion Player. We were so impressed with his playing, not only of the Accordion but also the Saxophone and Clarinet, that we wanted a photo to remember him. This young man has a long and bright career ahead of him!

......The guys on stage, from left to right, (??Don't know the first one), but second is a veteran of the Opera Tent named Dominic, then Damon Lanza, Bob Dolfi, and Aaron Caruso. Saturday was the only day we were able to watch the wonderful "Round-Table" discussion they gave, but I heard they presented it at least 3 of the 4 days. On Saturday they talked a bit about the video, "The American Caruso", "Victor Lanza" and their efforts to stop frauds and false information, and other Mario related facts. The audience also listened to about 6 arias and songs (one of the songs was "Santa Lucia"), where afterwards, Mario's singing was compared to Enrico Caruso's on the same arias. They concluded with "Nessun Dorma" sung by both Mario Lanza and Franco Corelli, and then compared their versions & voices, getting the audience reactions too.

At this point, my husband, Settimio, asked a question and was asked to come to the microphone near the stage to be better heard. He made a little speech about why he likes Mario Lanza's voice and singing more than either Caruso or Corelli, and also mentioned Giuseppe di Stefano as one of his favorites, along with Mario. He said that Lanza and Di Stefano have the wonderful ability to communicate to the listener, not only what the song is all about but also with great emotion. He also said, as I believe too, that Mario and Di Stefano have much warmer and richer voices than Caruso, and an OPEN sound, (not "closed" like Caruso) giving their voices a more natural sound, and at the same time powerful and warm. I myself would add that for this reason, as well as their beautiful mezza voci and splendid nuances, I think Mario Lanza and Di Stefano are also among the most VERSATILE singers in the world.

ON A HUMOROUS NOTE: During the presentation when Dominic kept referring to Settimio in the audience as "the man from Pisa", afterwards, we kept meeting people at other concert stages at Festa who asked him, "AREN'T YOU THAT MAN FROM PISA??!" It was funny so many of them remembered him, so we all laughed.

.........Here's Bob again with me, right after the presentation on stage, and around the time he met some friends of the singer, Victor, who claims to be the illegitimate son of Mario Lanza, which was also discussed on stage by Bob where he laid out facts to dispprove this. At this point we said goodbye to Bob, Marlene and Damon, as the guys were being asked to do an interview. Again, I'm very sorry I got no photo of Marlene, nor got to talk to her much, but she was constantly busy, busy, busy with all the great Lanza fans and all their questions!! I'm extremely happy for them that their Festa days and promotions of Mario Lanza were so successful!!

........I forgot to show you Lake Michigan - This is how it looks in this area of the Festa. This is the only photo we took of the lake, and unfortunately, it doesn't show the entire lake, just the "bay" part and the sand area where they shoot off the fireworks (which are FANTASTIC!) for the many festivals that take place here every year. But this lake is HUGE, it covers at least 3 states that I know of: part of Illinois (including Chicago), all of Wisconsin and parts of Michigan. The "seagulls" are a daily feature, always hanging around wherever there's water AND food. Sometimes they even fly and dive bomb around people who are just sitting or walking around, and try to get a bite of their food! I found out later that my face really got rather sunburned after 2 days here in the sun - I always burn in Florida too - must be my delicate Irish & German skin!

...........This is MORENO FRUZZETTI, who is a wonderful talent direct from Pisa, Italy and puts on a fun show with lots of "Oldie" Italian pop songs, and his voice is powerful and very pleasing too, even on the more "challenging" songs. He usually always performs solo and brings in huge crowds to see him at Festa, and invites them to sing along at times too. We are glad that we finally got to meet him this year after the show (See Below)....

.......This is Gianni and Livia, our good Italian friends of many years, together with me and Moreno Fruzzetti . (Some other friends are peeking in from behind.) We just happened to meet up with them by accident at his concert, since they like his music too. Moreno actually seemed thrilled to meet Settimio because they are from the SAME town (Pisa) and even the same area of Pisa! We all had a nice conversation with Moreno in Italian about old times in Italy, and old & new singers, and enjoyed meeting him very much. We had seen his show a few times before, but had never introduced ourselves before this day.

BELOW IS ANOTHER GOOD TENOR NAMED MATT MORGAN, WHOSE PBS CONCERT I SAW JUST A FEW DAYS PREVIOUSLY. He has a very good voice and style, and put on a great show. On the picture below he is performing with his wife, a soprano who sings with the N.Y. Metropolitan Opera, he said.

~~~~~~~So ends another year of FESTA ITALIANA! The highlight of this year was definitely meeting the Lanzalegend people along with Damon Lanza and our friends from New Jersey, with whom we spent most of the hours there. I wish I could list all the many acts of singers, comedians, impressionists, etc. (something like 60 of them!) who performed every day (not to mention the dancers, etc.) but you'll just have to come out yourselves to see what I mean! See you there! I would absolutely love to visit some of the Italian festivals around the country too, if we get the chance. We're going to Italy this Fall so more great Italian music can't be far away!!

.......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!