Buzzing in with some mid-August finishes

Another month half over... Can you believe it? It's been so, so dry here that our grass is burning out and our plants are withering on the vine. We got a teeny-tiny bit of rain Wednesday night--the first in over two weeks! But, certainly not enough to make a difference. We've noticed the hummingbirds staying longer at their feeder and even some non-hummingbirds stopping by that same feeder to take a sip of the nectar. I guess the poor things are just parched. I've never seen anything but hummingbirds drinking from those feeders before in my life!

August is normally my month to decorate with bees and sunflowers, but I've been feeling lazy about changing out my cross-stitch smalls so I didn't even bring out the whole collection this year. I did stitch two new bee-themed pieces, though, and created a small display using just them. 

My very small bee-themed display for August

The larger framed piece is by From the Heart NeedleArt and is called "Quaker Bees." I used the suggested overdyed threads on 40 ct. flax Newcastle and am so pleased with the final piece. It fit perfectly in this black 5X7" frame that I purchased from Marshall's--love it when that happens! I wish more designers would chart their designs to fit in standard size frames, don't you? It sure would save us a lot on framing (and leave us more money for purchasing charts, fabric, and threads!). 

"Quaker Bees" finish (with some tiny yellow flowers from our garden)

My second bee-themed finish is part of Jeannette Douglas's charming "chubby series"--may I introduce "Chubby Bee." So far she's designed Chubby Fox, Chubby Bunny, Chubby Ewe, Chubby Bird, Chubby Bee, and Chubby Squirrel. Have you stitched any of them? I have the Chubby Squirrel chart which I hope to stitch this fall. "Chubby Bee" is stitched on 40 ct. vintage country mocha Newcastle using a combination of the suggested colors and some substitutions (the greens and the purples) that simply worked better with my chosen fabric. The year was supposed to be stitched in the middle bottom, but I don't like dates my finishes (unless they are samplers), so I simply substituted a few more flowers and vines to round out the final look.  I also added pale yellow Smyrna stitches to the flower centers.

"Chubby Bee" with a few added vines and flowers

To finish it, I created a flat round ornament and then glued it to a larger round form covered with black and beige checked gingham fabric. Then I added gold cording (just glued it on with a teeny bit of Aleene's Tacky Glue on the end of a toothpick) and topped it with a jute bow.The back is covered with a round piece of black felt. This is a very simple finish and if you're interested in trying the round shapes yourself, I highly recommend this tutorial from Pinwheel Ponders. Give it a try--it honestly isn't difficult. At my age, I don't do difficult (if I can help it, anyway :). 

I just love this little chubby guy!

Finally, I stitched yet another "Remy Rabbit" by Brooke's Books ornament for a new baby. This was the fourth time I've stitched this one! I first stitched it back in 2021 and have used the same fabric (40 ct. water green Newcastle which, sadly, is no longer available) for all four. I left off the charted border and added a variety of snowflakes to make it into an oval. Such a sweet ornament for a new baby girl. 

My fourth finish of "Remy Rabbit" for a new baby girl (I've blurred the name out for privacy)

So, what's next? I'm working on my Christmas ornament for August and another Prairie Schooler which is taking more time than I anticipated! Then, I think I'll start something for fall... How about all of you? Have you begun fall stitching yet? Any recommendations? 

More summer fun... In my last post, I shared the birthday celebrations that we held at Deep Creek Lake in Maryland in July. Today, I'll share a few photos of our week-long visit. It was so peaceful there and easily ten degrees cooler as it's in the mountains. We all enjoyed our visit so much! Here are some of the highlights...

The view from the balcony outside our bedroom.

  

This part of the lake was very quiet--perfect for kayaking and paddleboarding. That tiny figure in the front of the kayak is Mister B! He is becoming much more comfortable with the water and really enjoyed his time by the lake.

We all loved this firepit set-up under the tall shady oak trees. It was a perfect place to read, snooze, watch the water fun, or hold Baby N (definitely my favorite activity!).

When we wanted a break from the water activities, we ventured over to  Swallow Falls State Park which stretches over 250 acres. Of course, we just hiked a tiny bit of it since we had two-month old Baby N in tow. We'll just have to go back again to explore more when he is older! It was quite crowded that day, but I'm sure it must be a beautiful park in all seasons. 

Hiking along the creek

  

One of the pretty waterfalls we spotted along our path

Mister B and nature--two of my favorite things!

 

On our drive back to the AirBnb, I spotted these cute musicians made entirely of old farm machinery parts  displayed in a farmer's field. Aren't they clever? 

Back at the rental home, we all kept busy with puzzles, and Legos, and games. Mister B sure loved having all of his uncles and aunts there to play with. I had brought a giant bin of Legos (saved for decades from when my sons were small) and all the guys had a great time creating space bases  with them and having pretend battles. It really warmed my heart to watch them having so much fun together.  

Mister B playing chess with his uncle, adding to his Lego space base, fishing (no luck), and watching the ducks walk up the dock to say hello. When it came time to leave on Friday, he cried and asked his daddy if we couldn't just buy the house and all live there forever. I'm so happy we can create these wonderful memories for him each summer! 

We got very lucky with the weather and it only rained all day the final day we were there! Hope we can return again next year. If you haven't visited the Deep Creek Lake area in Maryland, I highly recommend it!

Such a happy week with family!

Our garden has struggled this year, but we still managed to grow a few pretty flowers and some juicy tomatoes. 

Such royal colors from our glads this year!

 

The sunflowers in our garden always make me smile with their bright yellow and brown heads. The goldfinches love to visit and eat their seeds, too.

Oh, how I love the salmon color of this geranium. I'm thinking of trying to propagate it and overwinter the cuttings--any advice?

My husband is loving this time of year with all the fresh tomatoes. I don't eat them, but he is in heaven!

And that brings me to the end of yet another post. Oh, wait! I forgot to announce the winner of the "Christmas Sampler" chart that I offered in my previous post... The winner of this sweet design is...

Isabel (from Alromasar blog) 

 

Isabel (from Alromasar blog) you are the winner of this chart! Please let me know your mailing address and I'll get this out to you soon!

We are having a sweet little visitor for the next four days! Can you guess who? Yes, Mister B finally got up his nerve to come visit Nonna and Pampa all by himself. Today, we are meeting our son and daughter-in-law half-way to pick him up and then he'll be staying with us until Tuesday. I love seeing his excitement over coming all on his own (each time we chat on FaceTime). We've been working on this for almost two years now, hoping he would become brave enough to make a solo visit. I think he's very excited to be doing something that his baby brother can't! We have lots of fun plans in the works to keep him busy and, hopefully, to keep any homesickness at bay. We'll certainly be tired, but a good kind of tired at the end of each day.

Thank you to all who take the time to comment and say hello after each post--I truly look forward to hearing from you! I know blogging isn't really "in style" these days, so I'm glad that there are a few of you who still pop in for a vis each month. Hope the rest of August is good to you--stay cool! Bye for now... 

Christmas in July

How's everyone doing? Staying cool, I hope? Whew--this heatwave is beyond anything I can remember in all of my 70 years and I'm so very thankful to have air conditioning... Just last evening, my husband said, "I can't imagine this summer without AC." I know it's not common in some parts of the U.S. and many countries internationally. Do you have it in your home? When I was growing up in upstate New York (south of Buffalo), we did not have whole house air conditioning. We had wall units in the kitchen and in my parents' bedroom, but that was it. I remember a few nights each summer just lying in bed unable to sleep due to the heat and humidity. But, that was only three or four nights each year... With today's summer heat, those long sleepless nights would be more like half the summer, I fear.

But, the good thing about the heat? It forces me to sit inside and stitch! Lucky, aren't we, to have this hobby of ours during seemingly endless hot summer days? I got a bit behind on my monthly ornament stitching due to all the time I've been spending with my grandsons this summer, but am finally caught up with my June and July ornaments. I think you'll recognize both of them as Prairie Schooler designs--always my favorite! My ornament for June comes from an old PS free chart which is unnamed so I'll just call it "Santa Paddling His Canoe." It is stitched on 40 ct. R&R Salt Marsh linen (which has a pale sage green hue) using the suggested DMC threads (except I Smyrna-stitched his eye using 3031). 

My ornament for June--an old freebie from Prairie Schooler.

I felt like this piece deserved a rustic finish, so it was back to my camp counselor days (yes, I was a counselor at a Camp Fire Girl day camp the summer I was 19)--time to create another twig frame. I've made this type of frame with two other PS pieces and am so pleased with how this one turned out. I simply went outside to our brush pile and found a relatively straight branch from a birch tree, cut it into pieces, and glued them on to the sticky-board mounted piece to form a rectangle. At the top, I glued on a branch of artificial evergreens, some dried berries, and a corded hanger. The back is covered with a piece of felt. Love how it turned out!

Love the way the greenish spots on the birch twigs pick up the color of the fabric.

Here are the three PS twig-framed Santas... My favorite is at the top, stitched "over one" on 28 ct. black Monaco, that I created way back in 2011. I just love this green-robed Santa with his bundle of tiny logs. You can read about the Santa on black in this post. And the one driving the truck full of Christmas trees can be viewed in this post. 

A trio of twig framed Prairie Schooler Santas--do you have a favorite?

For my July ornament, I chose to stitch the annual Prairie Schooler annual Santa from way back in 1998. He is stitched "over one" on 25 ct. mushroom Lugana using the suggested DMC threads. The only change I made was to omit the giraffe that was hanging from the ark--it looked (to me, anyway!), like he had a broken neck! What do you think--you can see the original chart here. 

Stitched "over one"--so tiny and cute!

I finished this as a simple pillow using green cording and a green and cream gingham bow. Nothing fancy--I like to let the stitching shine when it comes to these handsome PS annual Santas.

The 1998 Prairie Schooler annual Santa is my ornament for July

 

June and July 2025 ornaments

 

As I mentioned in my last post, my entire family met up for a week of celebrations at a rental house right on beautiful Deep Creek Lake in Maryland earlier this month. I don't think I've ever eaten so much cake in my life! My oldest grandson, Mister B, celebrated five years, my youngest son celebrated 37 years, and my husband had the biggest celebration of all as he turned the big 7-0! Yes, he's caught up with me--the older woman! I have him beat by six whole months. 

Mister B originally wanted a Batman themed party, but at the last minute he changed his mind and decided he wanted a Snoopy party. Quite the change for sure! So my oldest son scrambled and ordered some Snoopy/Peanuts gang decorations to decorate the rental house. 

Aww... can you believe Mister B is five years old already? He loved his Snoopy themed party and his excited smile says it all!

Upon hearing about the change to a Snoopy theme, I found a quick-to-stitch design of everyone's favorite cartoon pup online. I think it took me all of two days to stitch and finish it--probably my fastest fully finished item ever! Isn't it cute? I stitched it on 28 ct. dove gray Monaco with three DMC colors: black, white, and 498 for the red. On the back of the frame, I wrote that it was lovingly stitched by Nonna for his 5th birthday and that whenever he looked at it, I hoped he'd remember how much I love him... 

The sweet Snoopy finish that I gifted my grandson on his 5th birthday.

My youngest son didn't mind sharing the Snoopy decorations with Mister B and together they blew out their candles on some tasty cupcakes and a Boston Cream Pie (which is my youngest son's favorite dessert). 

My youngest son and oldest grandson celebrate their birthdays which are just one day apart. I wonder what they wished for?

Two days later, my husband turned 70. Unlike me, when I turned 70 in January, he was very excited and appreciative just to still be here on earth. I need to think more like him :)  I would have loved to bake him a cake, but being away and in a rental house, I decided to just order one from a local bakery. I wanted it to be biking and beer themed--two of his favorite hobbies. I sent the baker a photo of an inspiration cake and, although it wasn't exactly what I wanted, it tasted wonderful and that's what counts, right? It was a carrot cake with vanilla buttercream icing and I think we ate it for the next four nights. A little slice went a long way! 

I asked the baker to design a biking/beer themed carrot cake using various signs that I found online and emailed to her. She forgot to add the spokes on the wheels, but that was still one tasty cake! 

Before we left for our lake vacation, I secretly designed some candy wrappers for my husband's big day using baby photos of him and various birthday greetings. I printed them out using our home printer and then wrapped them around Hershey's Miniature candy bars. For his party, I scattered them around the table--they were a big hit!

The little Hershey Miniature candy bars all wrapped up for the party. Wasn't he a cute little baby?

And here we are--the two 70-year-olds, still smiling after all these years. I've known him for over 50 years now as we met when we were just 19. In fact we celebrated our 48th wedding anniversary just last week--getting very close to the big one! We both feel very blessed to have shared so many milestone moments together...

Celebrating my husband's 70th!

Since this post is already running long,  I'll share more on our family's lake vacation next time. Hope you'll pop in to visit again...

Giveaway time... In the meantime--since this is a "Christmas in July" post--how about a little Christmas-themed giveaway? I actually stitched this pretty sampler years ago (way before I began blogging and back when I was still stitching on Aida). I love it, although I've never framed it for some reason. I'm not crazy about the color of fabric I used, but it is still frame-worthy. I'll have to go down to my bins of thrifted frames in the basement and see if there isn't one that would work. 

My finish of "Christmas Sampler"--stitched nearly 20 years ago!

Anyway, I know I'll never stitch this one again, so who would like to win the chart? It's called "Christmas Sampler" and is from a 1994 edition of "Cross-Stitch Christmas" magazine. If you'd like to be entered in the drawing: 1)Please say so in your comment below, 2) Make sure you leave me your email address (if I don't already have it), and 3) Tell me the name of your favorite Christmas Carol and why you like it so much. Mine is "O Holy Night" which takes me right back to Christmas Eve services in my childhood church each and every time I hear it. Just love it! I'll announce the winner of the chart in my next post--good luck to all! (Please note, I will be folding this chart in thirds to fit in a legal-sized envelope in an effort to save on postage).  

I'm having a giveaway for this "Christmas Sampler" chart. Just follow the guidelines above if you'd like to be entered into the drawing. 

So, here we are--the end of July already. I want to thank all of you for your kind comments on my newest grandson's birth sampler in my last post and for weighing in on what I should do about joining the train cars or leaving them as they are. I'm still very undecided! Perhaps I should just flip a coin :) I truly appreciate your input and all of your sweet comments and emails. Hope August brings each of you lots of stitching and relaxing time. Stay cool out there! Bye for now...

Stitching the summer away

Hello all! How is your July going so far? Ten days in and it's been a hot month here so far... But, I'm not complaining--after the horrible flooding rains in Texas, New Mexico, and North Carolina and the wildfires burning up parts of California,  I feel very lucky to live in a part of the country that rarely has to deal with natural disasters. It's been heartbreaking reading about the girls' camp and loss of so many lives in Texas hill country, hasn't it? Almost beyond belief that this could happen in the age of modern communications, cell phones, and such. That river rose so very fast (26 feet in 45 minutes), that many stood no chance at all. 

I turn to thoughts of my sweet grandsons to bring me peace during these sad, sad times. Mister B just celebrated his fifth birthday this week and Baby N, now two months old, is growing by leaps and bounds. I so look forward to the daily photos and videos that my son and daughter-in-law send--I'm just itching to see those darling boys again. And it won't be long! We'll soon be gathering for our annual triple birthday celebration for my husband, my youngest son, and my oldest grandson--we all look forward to it every year!

I've been busy finishing up Baby N's birth sampler. My plan was to finish it by Christmas, but I should have it framed and gifted by the end of August. I'm actually ahead of schedule for a change! My daughter-in-law chose this vintage-looking sampler pattern for her youngest son, and although that checkerboard border tried my patience, I really loved stitching the little trucks and train. May I present "Fire Engine" by Historical Sampler Company in England. Luckily, I was able to purchase and download the chart from The Fat Quarter Shop which made it quick and easy to obtain. There was a cross stitch alphabet included for personalization, but Baby N's name is too long to fit, so I chose to do a simpler straight stitched and back-stitched alphabet which is one of my favorites. I did make a couple of minor changes, but if you like the look of this font, you can find it right here. 

Baby N's birth sampler: "Fire Engine" by Historical Sampler Company

It is stitched on 40 ct. soft ivory Newcastle with all of the suggested colors. Here is a close-up of the border and two of the trucks. I'm thinking about getting a dark blue frame for this one. What do you think?

Such cute little motifs--I hope Baby N likes cars and trucks as much as his big brother does!

I do have a question for you, though... Look at the train--each car is sitting separately. Should I join them with straight stitches or leave as is? As my husband pointed out, there are two engines going in two different directions so which one is pulling it? I keep going back and forth as to what to do! I'd love to know your thoughts! 

I'm planning on framing this in a simple dark blue frame.

I also stitched a couple of cute designs and made them into birthday cards. The one on the left, "Hello Spring," (by Cherry Hill Stitchery) can be found in the Spring 2023 issue of Punch Needle and Primitive Stitcher magazine. I used 40 ct. soft ivory Newcastle with my choice of threads. For interest, I added little gold beads to the centers of some of the flowers. And the blue bird on the right is from a JBW Designs kit called "Sweet Springtime Songbird. I used most of the suggested colors for this one and stitched it on 40 ct. soft ivory Newcastle (I seem to be using that fabric a lot lately!). Adding some simple bows and pink gingham ribbon to the card fronts helps make them a bit more special, don't you think?

A couple of sweet stitched birthday cards

And! I have another framed finish to share with you today. I had stitched "Fourth of July Picnic" back in 2023, and, for me, a two year wait is not bad at all. I think this is one of my all-time favorite pieces--it's just so charming with that sweet girl, the little brown pup, and the button flowers. If you'd like to read about my finish from two years ago, you can find it right here. 

My framed finish of "Fourth of July Picnic" by Samplers Not Forgotten

 

I ordered the ridged gray and white frame from one of my favorite online stores, Franken Frames, which I've linked to many times before. This isn't a huge piece so the framing was quite easy and I love how it turned out! I always use the framing tutorial that Brenda Gervais offered on her old blog which you can still find by clicking here. It's really not difficult at all--and what a huge money saver it is to frame things yourself! Give it a try! 

The newly framed piece fit in perfectly with one of my patriotic displays in my kitchen corner cupboard.

Due to our over-abundance of rain earlier in the summer and now our very hot temperatures, our garden is not looking all that great. Some of the plants and flowers that my husband planted didn't even come up  and he's had just one lone ripe tomato so far (with very few on the way). Oh, well, some years are like that... There are some pretty flowers blooming in the fenced in vegetable/flower garden, though, which have made for nice cutting flowers to brighten my kitchen. I'm so appreciative that my husband puts in all the effort for us when it comes to flowers. I am just not a gardener :) 

Some of the pretty daisies, hydrangeas, and bachelor's buttons that we cut and bring inside for our table.

We have milkweed growing in the garden in an attempt to lure  monarch butterflies. I was so excited to see one perched briefly on the milkweed (even if I was too slow to get a photo of it).

And, I'd like to introduce you to our two newest residents... 

We so enjoy seeing the spotted fawn twins romping around our yard. They have the best time leaping and prancing as they chase each other around the pond.

Hope you all have a relaxing weekend ahead and can stay cool inside and just s-t-i-t-c-h! Can't imagine my life without this wonderful hobby, can you? Thanks so much for dropping by and taking the time to say "hello!" And thank you for all of the kind comments on my Milan, Italy post last time. I owe several of you emails--hope to get to those soon! I'll be back at the end of the month with my Christmas ornaments for June and July--fingers crossed! Bye for now...

Another year almost half over!

Wow! June sure passed by quickly! In just four days, 2025 will be half over--can you believe it? And here I am again, with one lone blog post for an entire month. I'll blame it on my grandsons who came for a weeklong visit and nicely shared their colds with me right before they went back home. So, almost two weeks went by with no stitching, no finishing, and no desire to blog. But, that's okay... I so enjoyed every minute spent with them, especially holding my sweet new baby grandson. Wouldn't trade that time for anything, and yes, it was worth getting sick! I'm happy to report that Baby N is growing like a weed (oh, those sweet chubby thighs and arms!) and Mister B is proving to be one fabulous big brother. Thank you all for your words of congratulations and well wishes that you left on my last post!

I did manage one finish and that is this beautiful summer design by The Scarlett House called "Hannah's Brownstone." Not a huge piece--in fact, on the 40 ct. burch Newcastle linen it ended up being just over 6 inches by 5 1/2 inches. But, I'll tell you--building that stone house sure took a while! I used the suggested overdyed threads along with DMC 935, but did change the blue in the flag to GAST Freedom. Unfortunately, the burch Newcastle seems to no longer be available here in the U.S. Why is it that all the fabrics that I love keep disappearing? So frustrating!

"Hannah's Brownstone" waits to be framed

I love the slate blue in the door, don't you? Such a pretty house with a very historic look to it. I like to think that it holds many memories of happy family times. I plan on framing this piece--hopefully, sooner rather than later. 

Lots of stone and mortar went into building this pretty home.

Speaking of framing, I do have a newly framed piece to share today. I ordered this pretty rustic blue/gray frame from Franken Frames online and was so pleased to see how well it picked up the colors in "Prairie House Sampler" by With Thy Needle and Thread. I finished stitching this sweet design back in 2022--and for me, three years between finishing and framing a piece is actually pretty good :) If you'd like to read about my finish, just click here. It was a bit fiddly to frame and while I got the top and bottom lines reasonably straight, it wasn't until I had it all done that I realized the lines under the alphabet are a wee bit wavy. Oh well--better to have it out and on display rather than hiding away in a drawer, right? 

My newly framed "Prairie House Sampler"

I'm nearly done stitching my baby grandson's birth sampler... I ran out of one of the main DMC colors in the border, though, so I have to make a special trip to Hobby Lobby to pick up a new skein. And I'm almost done with my ornaments for June and July which I'll share with you next month. What are you working on? Summer/patriotic things, Christmas in July pieces, samplers? Or have you moved on to fall stitching in hopes of bringing on cooler temperatures. The 90-95° days that we've had this whole week have been tiring, but I can't imagine how awful it must be for the folks who endure this kind of heat and don't have air conditioning.  I just stay inside and I'm fine, but I know some people don't have that luxury. Hope you're all staying cool!

My European adventure concludes... So, here I am--nine months later--finally concluding my posts on our Rhine River/Switzerland/Italy trip that we took last September. Honestly, I'm so glad to be writing this last one--these travel posts take a lot of time to gather up the information and select and edit the photos.  But, I hope you'll sit back and relax and enjoy my final stop in the city of... 

 Milan, Italy

All I can say is that I'm so thankful that we traveled with my youngest sister and her husband who are very seasoned travelers. They helped us take the train from Como to Milan and without them, we probably would have ended up in Siberia! I have absolutely no sense of direction and my husband isn't a confident traveler either. But, we made it, and although, Milan wasn't my favorite stop on our itinerary, I'm still glad we visited.

 

The heart of the city is the Duomo di Milano (Milan Cathedral), one of the largest and most visited cathedrals in the world. It's construction took thousands and thousands of workers over six centuries to complete and it can hold up to 40,000 people.

 

Just a few of the over 3400 statues showcased adorning the cathedral. 

The front central door of the cathedral is the largest and features scenes from Mary's life.

My husband and me with my sister and brother-in-law outside the Duomo di Milan

The Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II is actually Italy's oldest shopping arcade and was built in the 1860s. It houses many of Milan's upscale fashion and jewelry stores. And no--we didn't purchase anything :) 

The stunning ceiling at the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II. Although damaged during WWII bombings, it has been refurbished and was absolutely breathtaking.

More scenes from the shopping arcade. Notice the lovely tile mosaic floor in the lower right. 

Castello Sforzesco (Sforza Castle) was built in the 1400s as a medieval fortification. It now houses art collections and several museums. 

The days when we visited Milan happened to fall during Milan Fashion Week 2024 so, of course, we fit right in. NOT!! We are not fashion plates in our family, preferring to dress nicely, but casually--no high heels or designer clothes for us!  The Pinacoteca di Brera (above) was a venue for one of the fashion shows. Do you see all that white stuff that looks like snow? It's simply soft, white floor covering that had been rolled out for the event. Even the benches were covered! They had just started to remove it, as you can see by the darker slate floors in the right corner. Unfortunately, we were unable to see the paintings that are normally displayed there due to the fashion show.

A glimpse into one of the many charming courtyards in Milan.

My sister found this wonderful hotel for us, Hotel Gran Duca di York. The location and rooms were just perfect for easy walking to the main sights of Milan.

The view in the pretty hotel breakfast room. I kept thinking of my mom (who adored wallpaper) each time I sat down to eat one of the scrumptious breakfasts.

The Vertical Forest buildings were fascinating. Each unit has two trees, eight shrubs, and forty plants, which help with shade thus lowering air conditioning costs. If you'd like to read more about this creation of Stefano Baeri, you can do so right here. 

As you can see from the architecture above, Milan is not all about its history. This very futuristic looking building, The Unipol Tower, was just completed two years ago. 

And yes... Milan has canals, too!

For lunch that day, this amazing charcuterie board was a treat to both our eyes and our stomachs.

Of course, we still "forced ourselves" to partake in some of these yummy pastries. And let's not forget the gelatto--Italy had the best I've ever tasted!

  

After dinner, as we strolled around the city, we happened upon the ancient Columns of San Lorenzo. It's speculated that these were moved to this location sometime in the 4th century and are Roman ruins dating back to the 2nd or 3rd century.

 

The Biblioteca Ambrosiana (Ambrosian Library) is one of the oldest libraries in Europe. Begun in 1609, it is open to the public five hours a day. It contains a 12-volume collection of Leonardo da Vinci's writings and drawings in addition to many other rare and historic documents.  

It was the final night in Europe for me and my husband... Our journey had come to its end. In the morning we would fly home and I couldn't wait! Although I loved our travels and the many countries we'd visited and sights we had seen over the previous 2 1/2 weeks, there really is no place like home for me. My sister and her husband were traveling on to Sicily for another week, but for us, it was time to leave. While I was packing up for our flight home, my sister took one last walk around Milan and captured this lovely photo of the Duomo at night.

The stunning Duomo di Milan at night (photographed by my sister)

 

And there you have it--the final post of our Rhine River/Switzerland/Italy adventure from last fall. Did you have a favorite from the destinations that I wrote about? I can't say that I had a favorite place, but rather favorite moments... 

*The feeling of being within miles of the tiny village in Holland from where one of my father's ancestors came to America way back in the 17th century.

*The wonder of climbing the stairs at Anne Frank's hiding spot in Amsterdam--the very same stairs that she and her family descended one final time as they were rounded up by the Gestapo in 1944. 

*I'll never forget the stinging ice pellets of that epic hailstorm we experienced in Strasbourg.

*The awe of exploring one of the underground fortresses along the Maginot Line imagining what life must have been like for those French soldiers in WWII. 

*Memories of our frigid, snowy visit to the top of Mt. Pilatus in Switzerland and the sweet tinkling of the sheep bells as we rode the gondola back down the mountain will always make me smile. 

*I'll remember the honesty of the young woman who returned my brother-in-law's lost cell phone in Lugano.

*And the taste of those sweet jelly-like candies that my sister and I kept helping ourselves to each time we passed the reception desk in our Milan hotel. 

*The realization that we are all just tiny specks in this universe filled with so many spots of beauty and wonder.  

The scenery, the history, the experiences were all so special as was the extended time I got to spend with my youngest sister--probably the most  since we were teenagers living in our childhood home.

If any of you have questions regarding the river cruise itself, I'd be happy to answer them for you. Just leave a comment and include your email address so I can get back to you! 

Hope you all enjoy these last few days of June! Thank you, as always, for taking the time to stop in and say "hi!" I always love to hear from you--your comments mean so much! Take care now and I do hope to return to my normal twice a month blogging schedule in July. Bye for now...