I'm Lovin' it ( I think)

For years I have seen similar chandeliers in my favorite magazines. Sometimes they were left unadorned and sometimes they had "stuff" in them, you know, like dried artichokes or faux fruit. Now they have this chandy available at Pottery Barn for a somewhat reasonable $299. and I am not sure if I like it anymore. Ever happen to you?? Guess we covet what we can't have or find and when it becomes available it has lost it's clout. I am sure there is a lesson here somewhere.

Later,
Janet

RANDOM LOVELINESS

Public garden in Valletta, Malta

Window at Park Guell Barcelona

Side Street in Rome...Gelateria, yummm

Later,
Janet

Petite Chaise

Navy blue velvet with needlepoint seat and back with petitpoint inserts of flowers (click to enlarge and see the detail). Excellent condition, very sturdy and it was a steal so I had to have it. It will be moved into a back corner where it fits better once the chair that used to be here gets recovered.

Later,
Janet

PLANTAIN BREAD????

Long story short. Bob has been away since Sunday and will be home late tonight tired, hungry and a bit grouchy I am sure. 'Thought I would make his favorite banana bread for a cheer- him- up- snack. After all, I never want to take him for granted, ya know.

They looked like bananas at the store... and they just said "reduced produce" , but when I opened the package no whiff of banana, and then it dawned on me ....whoops! I had one frozen banana ( which is how I usually store them for banana bread) so I guess it will be "Hint o' Banana Bread". Better than nothing I am thinking and after all it's the thought that counts, right?

Later,
Janet

POTTY HUMOR

Just trying to keep my sense of humor alive during The Summer That Never Was

Note the name of the company; it seems to be fitting

Later,
Janet

FRENCH DOORS

The doors and doorways of Villefranche were so lovely with their faded, peeling paint. Why is it that we paint our doors so often and insist that they be pristine?? Just a rhetorical question for you to ponder. These are the doors and doorways that we found so fascinating as well as a couple of just plain beautiful pictures. I just love the ochre and terra cotta colors of the stucco, don't you?

Perfect color combination, n'est-ce pas?

The quintessential Villefranche street scene.

Later,
Janet

FENETRES au VILLEFRANCHE

I realize that we don't have many windows from France. The streets were very narrow and it was hard to have enough room to step back and get a good picture. I expected to see "French Blue" shutters, but almost every window had green, in one shade or another on their shutters. Perhaps it is a Riviera thing??









Perhaps next time we will have a "door post". We seem to have a lot of doors from France, not to be confused with French Doors, lol.

Later mes amis,

Janet

VILLEFRANCHE ( a mostly silent post)

Some random shots of a most glorious place. No words are necessary.

The next post will feature windows or doors or both.

Au revoir,
Janet

PRETTY PISA PURCHASE

Look what I found for 5 Euro ( less than $6.50) from a street vendor in Pisa ( who looked pretty legit). Great on the table, and it will cover the mismatched leaves when they are in the table. The colors are perfect for my dining room and the paisley theme reinforces the curtain fabric. I am kicking myself for not buying several ( there were so many beautiful colors and designs) to hang on the back of comfy chairs, swag over a curtain rod or if I had the confidence to pull it off I could even buy one to wear! I just love it!

Later,
Janet

THE TOWER THAT TILTS

Not something you would see just anywhere...

The original plan was not to go to Florence, but to go to a small walled city named Lucca about half way to Florence. I had done some research and it seemed very doable in the amount of time that we had. Then Bob mentioned the Tower in Pisa, you know the one?? Since Pisa was on the way we decided we would take the train to Pisa ( from Livorno where we docked for Florence which is about 1 1/2 hours away by train), explore and then go on to Lucca if time permitted. I am sure I have told you multiple times that I spent a lot of time on the Cruise Critic boards and forums getting ideas. The word seemed to be "don't bother with Pisa, there is nothing there but the tower in a field". But once again we decided to judge for ourselves and found Pisa to be a delightful city with wonderful shops, a bakery ( yum) and great buildings. We wandered around and headed toward the tower. Obviously signs for the tower are pretty easy to understand and the walk was pleasant.

This is the day that was supposed to be 74 degrees and rainy. It actually sprinkled for about 5 minutes and that was it! Wonderful weather.

Approaching..it really does look more than a bit odd.

You can buy a ticket to climb the tower, but there was a wait of two or three hours. The tower is in a large park with several other buildings, lots of souvenir type stalls around the edge and many many people posing with the tower in the background.

We saw the sights, ate lunch around the corner with a view of the tower. Pizza again!

No time for Lucca, but we had a really fun time just wandering about Pisa and taking the train and bus back to the ship.

Next time I will tell you about Villefranche, France and then sadly, our trip will be over.

Later,
Janet

COMING SOON...PISA

I have been getting ready for my visit with Mary and have been dealing with way too much rain. But the sun is out, my house is relatively clean and our visit with Mary, Bob and Jasmin was delightful. What positively lovely people they are. Perhaps now I can get back to my final episodes of our travelogue. Have a wonderful Fourth of July everyone.

Later,
Janet

IN OR OUT??

I am busy getting ready for my visit from Mary from Across the Pond. She and her husband Bob and granddaughter Jasmin are stopping by on Friday morning for coffee and whatever I bake up. They are coming from Raleigh (NC) to New England for a week of holiday fun, which if you know Mary means antiquing, as well as showing Jasmin the sights of New England.

I am thrilled to meet a fellow blogger and flattered that they would want to spend some of their precious vacation time with me, but here is the dilemma. The weather in June has been brutal and it doesn't look like July is going to be an improvement. Yesterday ( when the sun actually shone all day) I thought there was a chance for a nice Friday morning and coffee on the deck, so I started working on getting the deck in better shape, planting some of my plants, installing a windowbox under one of my kitchen windows, etc and then this morning ( as it started to rain) I heard it would still be rainy on Friday AM, so I started trying to get the Dining Room decent. I realized that we have fallen into the trap of just using the DR for holidays and when you actually stop and look, instead of just walking through, the room it is filthy. So, I washed the three windows, cleaned the woodwork etc and now it may be nice Friday after all. So the deck is three quarters done and the DR is half done; guess I will revert to my usual MO. Cook and bake and make the house smell nice and hope that no one notices all the things that aren't done. Oh why do I hate to clean, but love to cook? Just a rhetorical question and I know Mary is not here to do the white glove test, but a girl always wants to make a good impression.

Oh and the picture reminds me I should polish the copper, but really I think it looks more "authentic" if some of it is dull, don't you agree??

Later,
Janet