It's SUMMER VACATION... FINALLY~ As of TODAY!!! It is finally here!! woo hooo...

To me, this is 'typical Italy' wonderful little cobblestone alleys... leading to courtyards and buildings,homes, and life that has been lived in these same walls for centuries..

Quiet and serene...some flowers... cobblestone street is even worn down in the middle with all the centuries of others walking the same path wearing away the stone.   This image to me indicates a 'slower paced' life.  Rest when needed, good fresh food cooked and shared amongst friends and family.   Usually the bikes seen are the old fashioned styles too.  That have had many coats of paint put on them through the years.  Here? You also see many elderly people riding their bikes too. 

It is common not to see the outside of the very old buildings painted on the outside.   They are likely to have marble floors, high ceilings, ornate carved thick wooden doors, wonderful tall windows letting in the sunlight with the old wooden shutters that can make the bright day 'night'...

I hope you all get to have some restful moments this summer... quiet solitude... just moments looking at nature... even in the middle of a city...   in the middle of company visiting all summer, children's sports games, shopping... just try to stop and watch a butterfly... some flowers... and think of these quiet little alleyways that are all over Italy... just off the main road.

Not only do I always look UP when I'm in Italy knowing that I am likely to find some amazing carved doorways, windows, or statues holding up window ledges... I also always look to the right and left... to the un-noticed little side alleys to the "REAL ITALY."

No matter where you live... or visit... there are going to be some of the same places that are the 'Real' areas ... where the everyday life is being lived.

The Italians have a saying for this...  La dolce vita    (The Sweet Life)


I have been so tired. (still am) I work late often at school- but, these past 3 weeks have especially busy... ending a school year always is this way.   The past 2 weeks, I've stayed at work 12-16 hour days almost every day.    Last night, I was so tired... too tired to even stop and pick up a pizza to go... too tired to cook anything at home... what did I finally eat?  Some frozen tater tots that I warmed up.   I also DID NOT set the alarm.  What time did I wake up?  6:30am!   Well, that is later than 5am, right?

This weekend's plans are... to do some heavy cleaning.  That has been left undone lately and I have a good friend flying in from England for a week before we both fly to the states.  We used to teach at the same US Military base in Seoul, South Korea.   So, we are going to see the sights, shop, eat out, and do some more knitting lessons.  

The only problem with that plan is... I haven't done much of anything since I moved here... too busy and not any 'extra' money after I paid all the rental deposits and everything else associated with a move.  (3 months of rent was my deposit)

However, I know where some things are... and a couple of good restaurants... (I'm for sure taking her to the little food place that I found during spring break with the GREAT FOOD and of course having lunch with 50-60 strangers ALL MEN wasn't bad at all either!) and I have directions for a couple of other places.  And, I'm good at exploring and finding places.  So, we'll have fun for sure.  

So, I will post photos of our adventures!   It will be fun to have someone to go out and do things with.  The night she arrives, (Monday) my little town is having a festival... so we are stopping there for sure for our dinner meal and to listen to the live music performance/s.

More views of the newly discovered yarn shop!!!!

The store that I found even had some baby bibs and things like that .. that had places that you could add 'cross-stitch' to them to personalize them or add cute designs.  Items shown to the right of this photo is where they were located. 

 The store was one of those 'stuff stuck here and there'... but, that was the fun part of it-- the search and discovery of new yarns.  It also reminded me of shopping in Korea.

The store also had some of the beautiful Italian kitchen linens... (at the bottom area of the photo) and I think that when I go back that I might buy some of them too.  They also had the painted canvases for needlepoint and some can be seen here and there. *The hanging canvases shown here are some.

My oh my... look at all that yarn-y goodness!  Sorry, it's a little out of focus...

This was a scarf knitted out of some of the ribbon yarn and of course 'that color' was no longer available.  That always seems to be the way-- any knitted item for display... that color gets sold out quickly!

This is the first section that my friend and I were looking at... this tiny 6 foot space?  (from the purple/white yarn in the front to the teal blue at the far end-- next to the grey tweed looking yarn)  It took us 45 minutes to go that far!   Needless to say, we looked a lot during our 2 hour visit... but there was no way that we managed to look at everything.   We kept getting distracted by new discoveries!

I did buy the yarn for this knitted up scarf sample.  In the same color too!  :D  I liked the little added crochet flowers right at the bottom of the scarf.

They also had regular solid colored wool yarns too.  

Lots of purse handles were available too.

It was so much fun to explore in this shop.  It's only about 20 minutes away from where I live.   One of my good friends (we used to teach at the same school in Korea) is flying over from England the first week that school is out for both of us... I taught her how to knit in Korea and every so often we meet at another location to play tourist, visit, and for my friend to also get some more 'knitting lessons!'   I did go to see her once in England and this will be her first visit to a place where I'm living.   I haven't been out and about too much since I arrived in Italy... (too busy with moving here almost 3 months AFTER school had already started) and of course 'due to the move' didn't have much money to spend for traveling about anyway...

I do know of a few good places to eat and Venice is only an hour away by train.   I know of 3 yarn stores (this is the biggest one),  a great gelato place (in my little town), and we'll go out exploring while she is here.

Two more weeks of school!!!  

Goodbye summer

We've just finished our first week of school for the new term. The little first graders were so cute this week.. telling me that they were 'not little kindergartners now- but, that they were big first graders!'

Here is a little straw fella that was posted at the city limits this summer. I never had my camera or either had a car right on my bumper so I wasn't able to take the photo for some time. I was sad to see one day that someone actually 'knocked him down'... but, he was finally righted and is still standing proudly welcoming all to Grafenwohr, Germany.
I do believe that the little sign at the straw fella's feet.. is a message in German to NOT KNOCK THE STRAW MAN DOWN or something to that effect?

The mornings have already started getting darker- just this week... oh no.. tell me we aren't entering the 'dark season of leaving the house in the dark and coming home in the dark' already! =:O