My Travels up North

For my first tid bit of info this is a picture of a Monkey Puzzle Tree. This tree is along the Seattle shoreline and many tourists were taking pictures of it as it's so peculiar looking. While staying at my son's place, in Seattle, Wa, I was able to convenience him to go next door (in the rain) and smack down a big brown seed pod off the tree. In doing so a small limb came off. Much to my surprise it looked like it was from the aloe family but was it hard and had sharp ends! The seed pods look like baby shark pods. I plan to plant these seeds in early spring. The tree is about 70 feet tall and more than 30 years old so the seed pods should be viable.





And the highlight of my trip is my grand daughter, Eva ! She is a sweetie...just my unbiased opinion.













The Seattle skyline just up the road from my son's place. There's a seal in the foreground.

Me and Eva. You can see the Space Needle to the left in the back ground. When all the buildings and Space Needle are lit with Christmas lights it is an amazing view. I usually find city views not my cup of tea.




This little humming bird in the tree was here all though out the day. He looked so lonely and was there even when it started to snow! In the back ground are the Cascade Mountains but only the first day of my visit did I actually see them, even in this picture they are hidden by clouds.

Snowy North Idaho

This is the barn across the road from our place in Idaho. It's much more scenic than this picture. I should have taken a picture yesterday when the sun was shining, oh well.

I've been here since Wednesday and today is the first real snow I've seen. I just hope it lets up tomorrow so I can fly to Seattle to see my grand daughter.

I'll take some more tomorrow and post them when I get chance.

Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and New Year!

McKay's Christmas Fashion Show

This is our Gordon Setter, McKay. Again, she tolerates me putting on Christmas head gear. At fourteen years old she's in great shape! She just came in from a morning walk in the snow. I think I'll be getting her snow booties....

Back to Blogging and Genealogy

Since I'm off this week I though I'd dig my heels in and work on my genealogy brick walls. That meant putting in another phone call to a distant cousin who has, of late, been my best source for family information. After getting the scoop on the Sicilian clans from back east we started in on the families that came over, on the boats, in the early 1900's to San Francisco. Perusing the ancestry.com files for eight hours I came up with six people who all went to my great grandmothers home address during that time. And what does that mean? Well, probably that I'm related to most of them, ah, you see back in the old days, mostly the 1800's, Sicilians married first cousins so....back three or four generations I have double cousins, aunts and uncles. I did have one set of cousins that married from San Francisco even though the families frowned upon it from what I was told.

The communes in Sicily were small and villagers, afraid of outsiders, inter married. No, no one so far has any dreaded deformities or diseases. In fact, most of my family live into their 90's. I have a great aunt who lived to 100. My family, on my Dads maternal side, have blue eyes and blond hair, guessing only from the influence of the Normans around 1061. Where as I have brown hair and brown eyes, like my dad, this may be from some Phoenician influence around 700 BC. These are all wild guesses as I still have to get my Dad to test his DNA, he's agreed but the cost is about 600.00 for testing the mitochondrial DNA and Y chromosome. It will just have to wait till after Christmas. From what I've read it seems most people in Sicily do not judge anyone for their dark curly hair or their blue eyes due to the diversity on the island, this stemming from the invasions of many societies.

Now I do realize that being half Portuguese and the fact that my Mother's family came from the Azores, they had the same influence of invasion in the islands history. She has green eyes and dark curly hair as does my sister. In fact, my sister has enough hair for three people. I have skinny hair, straight, thin and does not hold a curl unless I use hairspray with super extra hold, of course after ratting it all up and combing it over so I don't look like Amy Winehouse.

Getting off that subject, I just received a call from my oldest boy back east. That really made my day, you see I was able to talk to all my boys today and that is what makes me happy. The little things in life are the best!

Baptized Legal Bread and the Mafia?

Bakers in Napes, Italy are protesting paying "tribute" to the Camorra's (Mafia) by handing out free baptized bread... While I didn't realize any bread was baptized I guess it's the norm there? This same protest also happened in Sicily. I thought the Mafia was on its way out in Italy and Sicily. Just watching this video makes me wonder why the Vatican hasn't put the kabash on this atrocity, its BAPTIZED for Pete's sake, unless....ah! And yes, sometimes I'm too embarrassed to admit I was born and raised Catholic. Really, how much can a bread maker profit when paying taxes to the state and paying off the Mafia?

Flirting Siciliano and Italian Style

I was on my early morning perusal of the news online and came across this report from the UK, "An amorous offer you can't refuse". Of course, the words "can't refuse" got my attention. I found the video to go along with the article somewhat amusing and feeling a bit like the the British reporter lady when it comes to flirting. Since American's rarely flirt in this manner (maybe I'm just not in the right circles) I'd be quite stand offish and in another sense find it highly amusing. I do know that this guy does not float my boat in the looks department but I've long gotten over the "looks" being a priority when it comes to attraction. I know, I know, it sounds contradictory but it's my fickle side showing.

I can't wait to hear a response from blogger Welshcakes Limoncello at Sicily Scene as she lives in Ragusa, Sicily.

Smokin in Idaho

This is a pic at the top of our mountain looking down on
Cocolalla Lake. The smoke is from one of our burn piles.
















On my last trip up to Cocolalla we had to start some burn piles. What are burn piles? It's all the downed trees or left over timber that the loggers leave,about the only way to dispose of it is to burn it. We do cut some for fire wood but during the dry season you don't want a chain saw sparking a fire in the forest! We spent over two hours just gathering wood from a ten to twenty foot radius around the piles. If you think that doesn't sound like much just imagine 28 acres worth! Our logger, four years ago, left our place a mess. Of course after he was paid by the lumber company he found excuse after excuse not to come back and finish out his contract of cleaning up the mess. The contract says he's responsible for any fires that start on our property as a result of his "neglect", but it only covers 250K. That would barely cover the cost of my cabin let alone any neighbors homes or barns. So now we bear the task of clean up when ever the weather allows. Even though we have one year left on our contract we found early on "our" logger wouldn't even return our calls. We could always go to small claims court.....

Here is a pic of about 1/8th acre of timber down.
















And one small burn pile.

Happy Turkey Day....

well, maybe not for the turkey. I'm just off my work rotation of six nights, whew! I'm so tired when I am charge RN and have two patients. One on a ventilator and a new admit on a bipap machine. My only saving grace was that they weren't too needy and not on any drips. Tuesday night was my last night and that means I get off at 7:30 am Wednesday.

BUT ! Tuesday we ended up taking my Mom to the hospital ER. She wasn't feeling well and looked like crap, ah yes, "crap" a very professional technical term there. I made a MD appt for the next day but my gut feeling said to take her to the ER since she is a diabetic and sometimes have different symptoms for an MI than most...she had no chest pain for one. She had a CXR, EKG and all the other interventions they do to CYA. She ended up with a positive troponin (a cardiac marker)a small lung infiltrate (probably starting of infection or edema)and dehydration. They admitted her to med surg unit, not the ICU where I'm at-which surprised me since most people with pos. troponin are, at the least, observed there. I tend to think she had a non Q mi as nothing showed up on the EKG or she had it a few days earlier and because her troponin levels weren't that high and were already starting to drop. So on my breaks at work I would go over and check on her..(mostly snoring,lol). Today they are "supposed" to release her...any boy does she want to come home!

Guess who's cooking all day! Between me and my nephew, Paul, I think we can handle it. Paul's Mom, my sis, is off to Seattle to visit her daughter, Stephanie, who is house mates with my son.

Len says it should be a beautiful day in Cocolalla, Idaho. No snow for now which is so unlike last year and not good for the ski people up there. I heard Schweitzer Mtn. is making snow as they haven't reached the two foot mark in order to open. That's all for now, gotta get cookin!

North Idaho....burrrr

The cold winter is approaching but so far no snow. Today was dreary, windy and rainey. I wanted to go out and take a picture but it was too depressing so I just sat inside and looked for ancestors on ancestry.com and ellisisland.org. Man, I can spend hours on those sites. I did recently find my Dads aunt in Rochester, NY so that made it worthwhile. Well, that's all for now...

Knitting and Knots

Well, I finally finished my knitting project. I used to crochet and knit years ago but with kids and the follies of general life that went by the wayside. I think my last project was 25 years ago, crocheting my Dad a burnt orange afghan. My co workers have been on a knitting and crocheting frenzy this last year and it's rubbed off. While I prefer crocheting, because it's one less tool for my aging uncooperative fingers, I did manage to knit using these huge needles below.







Looking on is one of my three Eclectus parrots , Koki, I'm invading her space.
I chose that frizzy yarn because that's what everyone's been using and it's forgiving when you unknowingly add or lose a stitch. I used the most basic stitch.
I have to add that my son's girlfriend, Sonia, gave me one of these scarfs last Christmas which helped inspire me.

Mafia...another one bites the dirt....

Here's a link to todays news on the latest Mafia news. Normally, this wouldn't interest me but after reading the last few books on Sicily I've come to realize these gangsters helped ruin a beautiful island and the people who inhabited it. The Mafioso is like an artichoke, the "Pith" boss is surrounded by all his men (the leaves) and the choke becomes a strong hold for all the riches they have stolen from the poor farmers and God fearing citizens.

I have no idea if any of my ancestors were in the Mafia or needed their protection to stay alive but many of the families I have read about were so afraid. They would take your farm animals, poison your wells, burn your house if you didn't see thing their way. What a horrible existence. No wonder my ancestors left way back as early as 1880.

I never thought I'd be interested in this Mafia stuff because as a child my friends would ask if my Dad was in the Mafia and I just let them think so. Purely for self entertainment. NOW, my opinion has taken a 180 degree turn because, unfortunately ,one relative reminds me of the macho Mafia by extorting his own siblings and choking them out of their own family inheritance (family dirt) ...thankfully he's dead now but he ruined five families after my Grandparents died.

Well, maybe I'll write more on this later but for now I need to get ready for work.
Ciao

Cara Mia why, must I say goodbye...

Ok, so I'm eating marinated artichokes for breakfast and thought I'd try to figure out what they use to make them stay that light creamy tan color in the jar. As I'm reading my "Cara Mia" brand jar (California Style), which I've eaten for years and thought they were Italian, I was speechless. The are made in CHILI. What? Cara Mia means "beloved" in Italian!!! I've been duped, lied to, and now I'm just flabbergasted.

The citric acid must keep them light in color but, but..they aren't Italian! AND, they cost about $4.00 for a 418 grams! My new quest will be finding the perfect Italian marinated artichoke. Any suggestions?

Earthquake !!!

We had an earthquake at 8:05 PM tonight in California. It registered 5.6 on the Richter Scale. It was centered around the Alum Rock area in San Jose.

At first I thought it was my son running through the house. I then realized the lights were swaying casting shadows so I went into the hall to yell for my son who was standing in the doorway looking out over the balcony. He thought it was a 4 or 5 on the scale. I thought it was about a 6 or 7 and that's partly because our house is set on pillars :0 It lasted about 15 seconds with two distinct jolts. Thankfully nothing broke and so far no injuries are reported. Too bad the powers that be didn't plan it for tomorrows Halloween. Other than that it's been quite a boring day.

Barn Trippin

Just thought I'd post a picture of my boo boo from falling a few weeks back in the hay barn. The colorful bruising has gone, all that remains is a sore instep where all the fluids drain when standing on my 12 hour nursing shifts....wah. Between this and the stomach flu it was a pretty miserable week.

Rather Strange Weather We're Having

It's almost midnight here in California and as I look at my blog page the temperature meter in Idaho says 21 deg F. Wow, I don't think the hubby was expecting the temp to be that low up there. Hope he put the deicer in the horse trough. Last time I was there it was starting to hit the 40's at night, but yipes! I think it just might be that cold snowy winter I've heard a few locals talking about. How they know is a mystery.....When bought the ranch back in 2001 it was covered in over four feet of snow and I've never seen that much since.

The house has been tenderly called "The Love Shack" (from the old B52's record) and someday I will post pictures, before and after. Most people are amazed at the renovations we've made but I think anything would have been an improvement from what it was.

We're having a roofer come over to give us an estimate and a time frame tomorrow. I have a feeling we may be waiting till next spring. Oh well, we've waited this long.

La Cucina Italiana- my first !

I subscribed to La Cucina Italian magazine and today I received my first one! So far I'm enjoying it. There's an article on Ragusa, Sicily, along with five other cities in Italy. These cities are the "new" destinations "bursting with palazzi and culinary meccas to see and conquer". There is reference to the Donnafugata castle and scenes from "The Leopard" that was filmed there that starred Burt Lancaster and Claudia Cardinale. A picture of Alba Rugusa, the ancient town, dates back to the 14th century and what a lovely picture they presented. My friend from the Sicily Scene blog lives there, now I see why she loves it!

I like the list of gourmet stores listed in the back of the magazine. There's even two in Idaho,in Ketchum. There is a small store near Sandpoint,Idaho called Pend Oreille Pasta & Wine where I like to buy my port wines and cheese. Ok, back to recipe reading and making a shopping list!

The Sicilian Gentleman's Cookbook

I recently purchased this book for my son, Bobby. Bobby if you're reading this -STOP HERE !

You can scroll down in the link and read the reviews which were all good.

Last time I visited Bobby he made me some German Apple Pancakes- boy were they yummy. It was quite an involved recipe and me made me proud. So, with that in mind I thought he should venture over to his Sicilian side with a little help from Ma.

So, Bobby if you're still reading there's a naked women picture in the Antipasto section... just kiddin, well, there are some pictures on a plate....

The recipes look a bit on the simple side but it's a starter and stories along with some of he recipes are entertaining. I think I will bequeath all my cookbooks to Bobby someday...along with all my other treasures he so loves...HooHa (Mom, the collector of "stuff").

Ok, it's a nice day so outdoors to do some gardening I've neglected since I've been sick and bruised...I'm feeling almost human now!

Captain Budde

Well good news. My son "just" told me he made Captain a few months back and is currently working on his Flight Commander status. I misunderstood him and thought he needed his Flight Commander status before he became a Captain. I guess I'm getting old and discombobulated. This is not suppose to happen....and where's all the pomp and circumstance. Maybe I should ask for all future promotions in writing?

Lazy Blogger...again

No posts lately due to:
1. Nothing exiting to post about.
2. Banged up my leg and couldn't sit at the computer.
3. Forgot my camera cord in Idaho and I'm addicted to adding pictures.

I'll try again later this week.

Bears, Moose and more bears....

Here are some more picture from the game camera up at the top of our place in Cocolalla. Seems like there is quite a throughfare for animals up that mountain. I just hope some people (hunters) won't discover it as some have a blatant disreguard for private property.

Hot Peppers

As I was reading the Sicily Scene Blog today I realized I have this huge, maybe 30 acre, pepper field right next door. As I scooted over to take this picture I saw my neighbor. We keep commenting how we are going to make a midnight run for some pepper samples ....but that never seems to happen. Some were turning red but most were green. I think they are Jalapeños and probably wouldn't use but one of them in my Vietnamese hot and sour soup.

Off again to the Middle East

I just talked to my son, Bobby, he's told me he'll be flying into Afghanistan today out of McGuire AFB in New Jersey. This will be his 3rd trip to the Middle East. He did read my previous blog about not sending any recent pictures so...during this conversation I did ask...ah, hummm...beg for a picture from Afghanistan. So we shall see...
Love ya, Bobby!

Monterey Bay & Pacific Grove, CA

While my granddaughter is down from Seattle,Washington visiting we decided to take a late afternoon drive to Monterey,Ca on the coast. It's about an hours drive from Morgan Hill where I'm at this week. The day was absolutely gorgeous and my 16 mon. old granddaughter loved it.



























My son helping is daughter get a closer look.














The best way to end the day!

My Supa Fly Boy

My son , Bobby, is a pilot in the USAF and since he can' seem to get his Mom a decent picture this is the one I choose to post. Mind you, I have plenty of other pictures but none of him in the plane he actually flies, a KC-10. I believe this pic is in a trainer from way back. I hope he reads this post and sees how much his poor Mom needs some new pictures so she can continue her bragging rights.

Madeline McCann

Hearing today's news on Madeline was so disappointing. Most know that there is usually someone related or very close to the victim in these type of crimes with children. I guess we will have to wait for more evidence....

Morgan Hill is Burning!

After a week of searching for my USB cable to my camera, finding it, finding it's not working, locating my black wired spare in the bottom of my black bottom suitcase, after looking in there at least three times, I can now download some pictures! Whew!
I don't think that was all one sentence but it felt like one....my sister with her Masters in English Literature and Sonia (my son's girl friend) who is completing her Masters in Eng. Lit would have a time with me!!!


Any who....like in Sicily good ole California is having it's share of wild fires. The hills in Coe Park in Morgan Hill are burning and not contained at this point. There may well be 30 thousand acres burned by the time of containment.















The next picture was taken about three days later, this morning. The sky is made of grey smokey clouds and the Sun is an orange ball. Beautiful. I had to take a picture of the Sun behind the maple tree because I haven't quite conquered the functions on my camera to get the lighting correct.




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I've finally called the airlines for tickets to Sicily and I can use my air miles into Italy. Unfortunately, I only have enough miles for one ticket so I guess someone's staying home...just kiddin. The tickets can be bought 11 months in advance so that's a good thing because I won't be able to schedule my vacation until Jan 1st, 08. Now I have to decide on which city to fly into in Italy, Milan or Roma? Any suggestions?

Total Eclipse of the Moon

A good fried of mine in Spokane, Washington is an astronomy buff sent me this information about tonight's total eclipse of the Moon. I'm working so I will be able to go out on my break and take pictures.... hope I snap a few pictures worth posting about!

Here's a really bad picture of the beginning of the eclipse. I did take some video I will post later if it's any better..

Picture this....

Here are a few pictures I took this past week in Cocolalla and Sandpoint, Idaho.
The first picture of the rainbow was taken from our place in Cocolalla. The second is taken in Sandpoint at the City Beach and dock. Last picture is Cocolalla Lake just below our place but I had to borrow our neighbors view (another story). BTW-Cocolalla means cold water.

Here in Idaho....

It's raining...how rude is that. I do have to say it is much needed with all the forest fires here and in Montana blowing smoke up this way.

No pictures for this post as my Cannon software is not working. I did have some great pics of Sandpoint and the Cocolalla valley and lake from the top of our property, too. Dang. All I have is my wildlife camera and I think I've seen enough deer and bear pictures for a while. Maybe if a moose shows up I'll post that. Ok I'm gonna post one more picture of a deer and the turkeys together, that's a new one.


You know, sometimes I get creeped out walking around the ranch alone. Ah, yes...the imagination of running into a mother bear or crazy moose just frightens the pants off me. I'm always looking in the dirt for foot prints and listening for rumbling in the brush. I know the horses would start snorting and prancing around and dogs would be barking but I know that doesn't scare the moose...not sure about the bear though.

Sneakin a Peek

Ok, my husband and his brother along with a few other hunting buddies put a wildlife camera up at the top of our property in Idaho. Of course we entice them with corn and a salt lick year round. We downloaded the pictures and only one day picture came out half decent, the others were night pictures and if you look closely you'll see a set of eyes in the dark and towards the front a tail.

Gilroy Garlic Festival #2

Gilroy's Garlic Festival started back in 1979. I remember being in my 20's and going mainly for the atmosphere... I think I've been about three more times since. I haven't been recently as I'm not a "crowd" person, that combined with the heat of August puts the kabash on it for me.. I do love the recipies so I use them when they are online or in the Gilroy Dispatch newspaper.

Gilroy Garlic Festival

Look who visited and judged the Girloy Garlic Festival right down the road. None other than new food chef Guy Callie.More later must run off to work.

Balcony and a sea view.

That's all I need to complete my perfect morning to go with my biscotti and coffee. I finally learned to make some decent French press coffee and these mini biscotti are from Trader Joe's. Yummy! I guess I'll just day dream about the balcony and sea view until I get to Sicily.....

Life on the farm

Since I'm on a roll taking pictures and videos this week here are some shots of the ranch in Morgan Hill, CA.


Where's the fruit? This is a 100+ year old loquat (medlar) tree.


And yes, I brushed up against the cactus and had about 50 pickers in my pants leg...














I've lost my nuts?
A squirrel family snatched every last one of the almonds off two trees.


I missed the first crop of figs, dang birds didn't help either, so looks like I have a bit of a wait for the next batch.


One of my Dad's friendly garter snakes in back of the pond. It did stop me in my tracks until I realized there weren't' any rattlers.














On Golden Pond...more like sludge pond. It even has an island in the center and if your brave enough to cross the foot bridge you can get a good look at the five huge Koi. My Dad just put in $500 worth of snails to get rid of the yuck in the pond...

I'm missing EVERYTHING !!

So here I sit in California bored as a cork today and everyone and their brother is visiting up in Idaho. My schedule never coincides with anyones. I'm missing our neighbors who live in Iowa that came out for their vacation, my husbands daughter and her family's first visit and our other neighbors' wife who works like I do in California. Well, boo-hoo for me. Ok, I'm done whining.

Yesterday, I did happen to go to a huge birthday party for one of my Filipino co-workers, her daughter turned 18. Celebrating the 18th birthday is a big tradition for the Filipinos, like a quinceanera for the Spanish. They start with a prayer and good wishes, then a dance where the birthday girl is given a single rose by 18 males when it's their turn to dance with her and lastly 18 females light a candle and each give a short speech or wish for the birthday girl. There is food galore, pancet, a huge roasted whole pig, every kind of cooked rice, Filipino stews, fish, shrimp and cake...Yummy!

I took movie pictures at the party so now I just need to get it transfered to a CD, but I'm finding out that my computer does not have a fire wire port nor does my camera have an iLink cable. So I'm now going to pester everyone to find a computer with a firewire port and then I'll go buy the cable. I've just learned new questions to ask when purchasing a video cam...300 bucks later. OUCH!



Jewell Lake video

Oh, and almost forgot... we finally got a canoe up in Idaho!!! It looks just like the red one in my post "Can U Canoe". We paddled around Jewel Lake, it's so beautiful. I didn't catch one fish using a lure, I'm a bobber kind of fisher person but I did manage to hook myself. I had to use pliers to rip out the hook it was in so deep. God forbid I have to go to the hospital...I did a pretty good job of it but it hurt like hell about 20 minutes later!




Well, off to finally get dressed at 1pm.....hey, it's Sunday already.

What I have done this summer..

Helped the hubby install tile in the Idaho "Love Shack" kitchen. Just need the grout !

I actually drove down to Santa Barbara, a four hour drive, to see a distant cousin I found while working on my genealogy. (Me on left, cousin Lynn right) Our Grandmothers were sisters. My Jeep with 272K miles was a real champ, not a spit or sputter was heard.

Had party for my 90 year old Dad!

Canned some Pluots and Apricot jam..

My Second Life

Today I visited Second Life (SL), a virtual reality site. Like I need any more reality. I have been reading the "Sicily Scene" blog and the author was nominated for a BlogPower Award. Another blogger set up a room in SL to have the awards presentation. Once you register you can choose your wardrobe, among other things. So any-hoo, the first thing I do is change my clothes because, to me, I look like a slut. The choices I had weren't much better, but hey, it must have been good for someone as this guy walked up and asked if he could kiss me. I said , "NO", I must ask Uncle Guido first. He left on his way. What I did find out later on is that you can change your appearance to male or female but you are stuck with the same name. I was wondering why some participants had these nondescript names.....

So that is about all that's new here.

Back to Idaho

In anticipation of my next trip to Idaho I've decided to pack my suitcase today. Most times it's five minutes before I leave to the airport. I don't need much as I have a wardrobe up there , it's just a girls gotta have something new to wear right? Even if it's a bra, right? Ha, well besides a bra I bought a Silpada necklace. I'm not quite convinced this line of jewelry is for me. While I rarely wear costume jewelry I decided to splurge.

I was invited to a Silpada party. You know, the kind of party you almost feel obliged to purchase something? It was a tough decision as most of the jewelry is sterling silver but not the quality I usually buy. This stuff is stamped 925 but looks almost fake. With that in mind I bought a necklace that has pearls, most likely fake, and cut stones strung on sting. All for the price of $89.00 !! If I wear this thing once I'll be surprised...

Bored in California

I actually woke up this morning with out an allergy headache! Amazing-that's pretty rare for me. I'm happy as a clam. Today there's a breeze, it's also overcast and in two hours it will be too hot for me. That's California for you. I really can't stand the intense sun or heat here due to blood pressure pills making me photosensitive to the sunlight and I wilt in the heat.

So I was all happy and went out to water the lawn, something I've been neglecting for a bit. But, hey as long as the weeds are green and ya keep em mowed who's to know. I'm joking of course, I hate mowing. Gotcha. The sprinkler wouldn't sprinkle so I noticed the hose was kinked so I get that all straightened out. It's still not sprinkling and I see that the end of the hose attached to the sprinkler is crushed. Can I find a wrench, do I have the strength to unscrew it? Of course not. That's the end of that.

In the mean time my youngest son has left for Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. I'm all alone, hee hee ! I can read, make a cool drink and sit in the shade...well scratch that, too. The pharmacy calls to say my Moms meds are in, so off I go. And who is at the house when I get back? My ex. Now this is a really long story so I'm not gonna bore you with it. In a nutshell he wants to use my driveway to fix a car that belonged to my son who's in the USAF but doesn't want it now. Fine, whatever.

Then Mom and Dad call on the cell and say they need some groceries. So I get that done. When I get back I make them something to eat, I clean the kitchen, re dress my Mom's wound from falling two weeks ago, fill all her and Dads pill boxes and finally I'm back to my place next door. Guess who's still there.

The one good thing that happened, my ex fixed the screwed up hose and I can now water my lifeless lawn...

Can life get any better............

My Eva

Well, I just had to show off my Grandbaby, Eva, and her pink bow just barely hanging on by a hair or two. She's a sweetie if I do say so myself.

Italian Lesson #1

So I bought Rosetta Stone's Italian language CD set....and yes, still on lesson one-level one. I think at my age the learning takes a tad bit longer. Not to mention there's nary a soul to listen to me (but myself!). The CD's are pretty good as far as getting you to understand what they are talking about- reminds me of third grade, matching colors and pictures with words. The only bad thing is if I'm really lost I have to use bablefish.altavista.com.
Sometimes the interpretation in not quite right but you end up getting the jist of it all.

I'm still early in the planning process of my trip to Sicily. A few fellow Bloggers have offered to help, Thank You-very much! My husband, on the other hand, has decided to leave all up to me, yes-I know where this is going. If there's a screw up it's all on me. Hubby, Len, is 1/4 northern Italian and 1/4 Sicilian the other is Irish and Scottish (yikers). There is now a possibility we may stop in Lucca, Italy to see some of hubbies relatives. Len's Aunt Angela Beggigo (sp?) in northern California who speaks Italian and was opera singer, Pavarotti's voice coach here in the states, and would probably love to go. I need to check that out!

I'm patiently awaiting my Grandparents birth act (that's what it's called over there) documents from Italy, via Trabia, Sicily. My researcher has spent much time on my search as there were two sets of brothers with exact first and last names, nothing new in the Italian naming format. She had to get the priest at the local parish in Trabia to search, I sent a donation to the church, which is only fair for his efforts. But the Trabia Commons, the civil entity, screwed things up a bit and forgot to send some documents. But all is straightened out and with fingers crossed I should get my documents before next week!

Then... I ordered microfilm of Trabia from the Mormon Church of Latter Day Saints. Good grief, I sat for two hours and read, looking for familiar family names, because currently it's all Greek to me! Ha! I found one name....and I have many more pages to peruse.

Lazy Blogger

Since being on hiatus for quite a few weeks I've decided to rejoin the blog-o-rama. Most of my time has been spent researching genealogy and taking short jaunts to Idaho and Washington.

With planning a trip to Sicily next year I've been hot on the trail checking out hotels. Unfortunately, there is only one hotel in Trabia that is half decent. On the other hand, I really don't plan on spending much time in the hotel except to sleep and take care of hygiene. I am considering staying in Cefalu and Taromina a night or two and be a regular tourist, although I do prefer to go off the beaten path.

My Grand baby turned one on May 3rd, my oldest turned 30 on May 6th...what a reality check! I miss them both dearly. My Grand baby lives in Washington and my son is currently in the United Arab Emiratus, he will be over there for two months. My other two sons, lucky them, will have to endure my motherly affections for the time being.

Genealogy

Well, I finally have something to blog about instead of being a lurker. I got this urge to finally pick up on research for my Sicilian heritage the last few days. I must have gone to five sites and spent the last two days on them. I actually took the plunge, which is hard for me to admit, and ask for help. I went to ItalianGenealogy.com and blabbed about how I've hit a standstill in searching. I was helped by "vj" who had an answer for every question.

VJ gave me the name of an Uncle living in Fremont which is an hour away so I called him. He didn't really have much new to tell me except we have relatives in Canada! That was such a weird call as my Dads family was divided when the last parent died. A dead uncle supposedly, and I believe he did, made a fake will and gave himself all the family property! He used my Dad as his "slave boy" (that's what I call it) on the ranch so his kids could go to college...My aunt used to say that our Grandma loved my Dad so much, because he was born three mos after his father died, and she would never leave him out of a will... Ok, well that's the family dirt! But my Dad got outta that situation with my Mom's insistence!!! HooHa!

VJ searched the Census and Death Indexes and made since of what I'd seen before but couldn't make the pieces fit. Most of it is related to BAD SPELLING ! It was exciting to see previous family names mentioned come together.

"VJ" even found the name of my Grandmother as well as her birth date and Immigration status. Now I should be able to find her name on the ship manifest among the zillion of immigrants.

It's hard to imagine but the manifest shows my grandfather came here with only $90.00 in his pocket ! Him, his wife and a baby! Oh, I'd surely faint over that one in this day and age. I know the search isn't over yet so back to the manifests...

Idaho ! Watch Out !!!

OK- just added this tidbit from CNN news

Are you worried about the California invasion? Well, click here.
(I'm not one of those people...snicker)

I clicked on Sandpoint and a few others. Most posts seemed to want to know where in Idaho to retire.

I stumbled on that site/forum while searching about the town where I grew up.
When you get to the main page you can either go to "forum" or search for a town. There you will see search or towns listed you can pick from. I'm not sure but it sounded like there may have been a few real estate agents putting in their two cents.
I'm almost temped to post all the negative stuff about Sandpoint...hummm, what would that be?

• smoke from the field burning,
  
• the huge snow storms and power outages
  
• the gravel roads,
  
• the new Biway ;)
  
• lack of culture
  
• just plain nothing to do.
  

All but the first one was a lie, well, maybe part of the second one. I love snow storms but not the loss of power.

Geocaching !!

This time I'm gonna do it !! Geocaching that is. If you don't know what it is here's a link.

I have bought the GPS (had it for a year+ now), my cache box is ready to hide, tons of SWAG (stuff you trade) and that's just the tip of the iceberg. There are PDA's and other goodies to download the locations but heck I can't even figure out the GPS. I need to get geekafied. Anyone who knows the Garmin Rino can chime in anytime.

I did get in touch with Marianne Loves hubby, he's offered to help me when I get back up to Cocolalla. I hate waiting...I won't be up until Feb 1st, currently working in California.

I'm hoping I can find some caches while canoeing this summer, too. I haven't researched that far but I imagine there must be a few caches close to the waters edge. Can you tell I'm having delusions of grandeur? "Arrgh matey, anchor down and get the map and we'll have a look fer that there treasure".


PinkAcorn

Can U Canoe?

<---- Not us, hee hee, but close.



Our newest gig is a search for a new canoe. As teenagers hubby and I went canoeing together ....once. That was on a local dam where the water was like a mirror. After a high school breakup Len and I didn't meet until 30 years later at a class reunion.

A little in between history: Len was into racing canoes and kayaks down level 5 rivers like the American, Russian (before it was dammed) and Sacramento. As for me: About 10 years ago I was on the American River , level 2, and our raft did a pancake going around a huge boulder. I had two of my kids on board. Thankfully they made it to shore but not me. I was rescued by a lone rafter who pulled me out of the rapids and steered us to safety. I know if it weren't for her I'd be a dead duck. Since that day I stay as far away from moving water as possible and that includes choppy and white caps on the lake.

I think we've finally narrowed down our choices to three canoes. They are all made by Old Town Canoe. There is a local dealer in town which is convenient.But, it doesn't end there. There's a zillion choices for paddles, life vests, fishing gear and oh yes, hubby wants an electric motor. Not to mention we want to take McKay, our dog, so that means gear for her. Yikes! It only took me six months to decide on tile for a back splash so I guess if I start now I should have all our gear by June.....