Amalfi Me...oh.........

Well I certainly would not recommend a daily commute along the Amalfi Coast......but for a one-day adventure it was grand! The winding road goes right along the coast, turning and switching back and forth in a « tension producing » parade. What you think could only be a narrow one way road is most certainly two-way and everyone is driving faster than the capable pilot of your vehichle. Cars honk and zip by....even on sharp curves. Motorcycles roar past and cut right back in at your front bumper. When you hear a honk at a sharp curve it mean a full-sized bus is coming right at you. And your GPS looks like this.....

The experience is, quite literally, hair-raising! And beautiful....and fun. From Ravello to Pasitano it was one beautiful view after another. Pastel houses climbing up the hillsides, the Mediterranean quietly nursing the beaches. 

And the day included another wonderful Italian meal....good grief, I will have to walk 20,000 steps per day after this trip!

Ohhhh.....you can Amalfi Coast me any day.......

Unsaid....

Travel gives me more time to read. It’s not that I don’t read when we are home....but on the road means my sewing machine is back in Port Washington.....so my free time is free of quilting and I read. I just finished a really good book....Unsaid by Neil Abramson. It’s a beautiful novel that explores the close relationship between people and animals. And it made me weep.

Maybe that’s because three special dogs have been a part of my life and meant so very much to me. My boxer, Buff, while I was in school, our boxer Daisy who shared our home and hearts when our kids grew up.....and now our special Fenway. Our little Boston Terrier means more to me than I can ever express...and at nine years old we hope our « frosty Bostie » has many more years to share. I honestly do not know what we will do when he is no longer a part of our family.

We love you Fenway Underfoot Woodard.

Relaxation.....

We are happily enjoying yet another travel adventure. A few days ago we flew off to Italy to travel with friends for a week or so. Janie and Phil live in Alaska and invited us to come join them as they looked for sunshine....and we decided to do just that.

And have we ever found sunshine.....perfect temperatures, historic little villages and blue skies. We’ve enjoyed a relaxing few days....and look forward to a few more days filled with new places and new experiences. This afternoon I was sitting on our little patio, soaking in the sunshine and I realized that one of the reasons I felt more at ease was the fact that I wasn’t aware of any more of 45´s tweets! I have no idea what fast/nonsensical/misspelled/frustratingly offensive comments are spilling from his fat fingertips. I don’t see them because all of my regular news sources are now written in Italian and I can’t read them....so I waste no time on him.

Ahhhhhh......Italy......what a welcome vacation....

Scratching My Head.....Again....

Every day there is something on the news that just makes me mad....or feel stressed or upset. This past week it was the news that many people of means apparently helped their children get into colleges with less than ethical choices. Way less.....and it made me mad. I couldn't help but reflect back on our own two kids....and their school years, and how hard they worked to get into the colleges of their choice on their own merits. Of course we supported them, and tried to provide the resources they needed at the time.....but never considered, looked for or even knew of any kinds of "short cuts" to the admission process.

So I do scratch my head when I see reports about the well-known and wealthy parents who did decide to short cut the system....and they and their kids are paying a price. And I find it especially disgusting that one specific actress, who has spoken about her strong Christian faith and the principals that guide her choices shows up in the middle of this mess. Some of her statements on camera for an interview back in 2014 are now biting her in the you-know-what.

It was for a television show called The 700 Club where she talked about balancing family, faith and career....and the importance of her faith and prayer as she made choices about which roles to accept. Just a few quotes I find to be extremely ironic at this point.

She chose one TV series " because the morals are right, there’s a message to – in every episode, you know, how to be a good person, how to be a better person, right from wrong. It’s a good message." 

She went on to say : "And then when I had children … I always thought, I don’t want to do anything that one day might rear its ugly head and my children have to pay the price for that."

Well guess what.....she did something and it did raise an ugly head and she, as well as her children are paying for it.

Road to Recovery.......

Our recent RV trip to Florida took us south to Alabama, then east along Florida's panhandle. We fled winter and enjoyed a few weeks of much warmer temperatures. We were, once again, fortuate to be able to take the time away.

The route took us through Mexico Beach....the small community hit by the hurricane in October. We were driving along the road and suddenly we were in another world. A world peopled by loss, devastation and ruin. A world populated by homeowners without homes, workers with out jobs.....a world just gone. I've never seen anything like it.

Mile after mile of left-over homes surrounded by the foundations of homes now gone. Trash everywhere.....mattresses, fences, furniture flung into the trees on the north side of the road. Thousands of trees just snapped off.

Mile after mile a demonstration of the power of wind and water......that this community will ever recover is doubtful to me. And sad......and then it happened again with dozens of tornadoes in Alabama the day after we got home.  And Puerto Rico is still in recovery mode....and Flint still doesn't have clean drinking water.

Oh America......ruins among our riches......

Once Again......With Feeling.....

And then you get some crappy health news from a friend....again. And you have a family member going through a bit of a challenge. And you're wondering about another friend you haven't heard from in awhile who is also showing great courage in the face of horrible odds. And you just got an email from a casual friend who is facing surgery.

And you wonder....what can I do? What can I do when I can't "fix" it? What do I do when I wake at night and think of all of them....and worry. What do I do when there is no easy "answer" or all of the "answers" are not what you want to hear. What do I do when it's out of my control....as if I ever really had any control. What do I do when I don't believe in the power of prayer.....but do want to somehow send some positive energy flowing through the universe? What do I do when I feel like screaming every curse word I know.....but that would scare our dog.

Make some more soup and deliver it? The distances are too great. Send a thinking of you card in the real mail? I will do that but it seems insignificant. Remind myself, once again, that my aches and pains are below zero on a scale of one-to-ten....I try to do that every day!

Once again......some friends I care about, some people I love.....once again.

One Book......

Our RV excursions have taken us all around the Country.....and we tell each other over and over just how fortunate we are to be able to travel like this. Every trip sort of develops a theme of some kind...we’ve counted road kill, names of small roadside cemeteries, town slogans, colors of semi-truck cabs. It’s kind of fun and helps pass the time. (When the kids were little it was always the alphabet game or listing state license plates.)

Driving southeast this winter we noticed, again, all of the churches. Some are very large traditional congregations....others are very small out-of-the-way buildings. It becomes more and more obvious that church life seems to be an important part of community life in this part of the USA. And I am intrigued by the names of the small churches we pass.....and wonder about some of them.

Bible Way Assembly, River of Life Church, Tabernacle of the Holy Apostolic Pentacostal Church, One Family Most Holy Church and Faith Family Mission. And then there was Philadelphia Church of the Nativity, Mt. Olive Primitive Baptist Church, Galactic Primative Mission Church and Full Power Holiness Church. That was just a sampling of the congregations we passed.

Of course we saw Catholic churches and large Baptist churches and I think a few Methodist congregations....I don’t remember seeing any Lutheran or Unitarian signage.

I remember, several years ago, visiting friends who moved from California to Tennessee. One of the first questions their new neighbors asked them had to do with their "faith family"....in other words, what church did they belong to?

I’m not sure I could ever fit into the South.....so many churches, so many names.....all based on one book. And they each interpret that book to fit their beliefs.....beliefs used to justify so many different behaviors and restrictions. So many requirements to meet before their members can enjoy the promised afterlife.

It was sort of an interesting theme for this excursion.