Road Trip Day 1

Driving through Atlanta is always interesting. Some times traffic is light and other times it is extremely heavy. On this day traffic flowed smoothly and we made good time. Next stop Chattanooga. Pardon me, but have you seen the choo choo?

Thinking of You

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Kenneth Earl Barth

February 8, 1937 - December 14, 2012

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Statue of Mary - Venizia Santa Lucia Station

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Statue of Mary, near the Santa Lucia train station in Venice, Italy.

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Crowded Streets and Canals

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This is the first alley we had to navigate on our way to our hotel. As you see, navigation is not only complicated by twists and turns and bridges and canals, you must add people to the mix. And there are plenty of people in Venice. We arrived early in the day on Wednesday and at each intersection we had to stop and orient ourselves to the map, find our exact location on the corner of a building, and proceed hoping that we were heading in the right direction. On Saturday and Sunday you can easily double the number of people on the streets. This was a Friday afternoon.

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Bridge of Sighs - Connects the Doges Palace to the Prison

One thing that I found endlessly fascinating was that no matter which direction you went, you miraculously ended back at your starting point. I cannot count the number of times in which I thought I had walked miles from the hotel to find that I had circled back and never saw that same shop or street twice. 

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Another interesting tidbit is that relatively few people live in Venice. As time passes, it is becoming a living history museum. Workers travel from the mainland to work because it is very expensive. I can certainly agree with that based on the amount of money we spent for our room and restaurants each day. 

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The Campanile, Venice, Italy

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Taken from the Grand Canal. 

To read more about the Campanile, check out the wiki link.

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Pollazo Ducale, (Doges Palace), Venice, Italy

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Taken from the vaporetti as we cruised the canal. Quite a beautiful building with the gondolas lined up out front. The Bridge of Sighs is on the right out of the frame and you can see the Dome of St. Marks in the background. I believe the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas mimics the front facade.

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Standing Room Only

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Looking for a quick trip across the Grand Canal? For about .50 euro cents you can hop on one of these 'commuter gondolas' called a traghetto. Not fancy or romantic, but it is quicker than the vaporetti.

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Canal Grande, Venice, Italy

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The Grand Canal from the Rialto Bridge during morning rush hour. The Rialto is one of four bridges that crosses the Grand Canal and separates the San Marco district from the San Polo district. This area has several large market areas for fresh produce and seafood. 

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As we were crossing the bridge, we came upon a group of police who were following a group of students protesting the international banking system. From what I could see, there were no confrontations between the two groups as they headed en mass to Campo San Polo. We were heading to the church of San Polo, so we just followed the crowd. Before we visited the church, we stopped at a local cafe for our first real cups of Italian espresso (for TOM) and a cappuccino for me. I could drink that coffee all day...and we almost did. It was that good. We sat for at least an hour at the cafe watching the colorful group of students as they left the campo and the protest ended for the day. 

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Piazza San Marco, Venice, Italy

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Piazza San Marco on our arrival day. It was a bit dreary, but  not raining. We dumped our bags in our room and hit the streets. Our hotel was only 5 minutes from the square so of course that was our first stop. The line to get into the church was quite long at this time of day so we strolled round the square, just taking it all in. The cafes with their string quartets, shops filled with colorful masks, and beautiful Murano glass. And let's not forget the gelateria...Magnifico!. 

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Upon completing the circle, we decided to stop at a panini shop, which would be off to the left in this shot, for something to eat. Did I mention, that there are not any public benches to sit on in the square and that all the tables are reserved for 'waiter service' which of course you pay a premium price. So we sat on the steps to eat our panini and salad and drink our sodas. Not until after we finished our first Venetian meal did I see this sign..

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It is against the city ordinance to sit on the steps and eat!!! Seriously! We were lucky we didn't get busted. No one to bail us out in Italy : )

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Locanda Silva, Venice, Italy

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Our hotel is on the right, the first sign near the greenery. It was a quiet location and during 'rush hour' the canal is full of gondolas. Occasionally, someone will pay the extra euro to have a gentleman sing 'Volare'. I remember one night, up in my room with the window open, I could hear the singing. I never got a good picture of the canal with all the gondola. And we never rode on one either...so cheesy. Anyway, quite a charming location. Good thing we had a good map or we never would have found the place. 

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Palazzo Labia, Venice, Italy

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Palazzo Labia

Click the link if you want to see what wikipedia has to say about this palazzo. This was taken with my iPhone on the vaporetti ride to the train station. Pretty good, eh?

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Rialto Bridge, Grand Canal, Venezia

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One of four bridges that cross the Grand Canal in Venice, Italy. Shops line both sides and through the middle.  Right around the 'corner' is the Rialto Market. On the day we visited this area it was raining and we didn't really get any good shots. This shot was taken as we rode the vaporetti to Santa Lucia train station on our departure day.

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Helping Me Pack

My Dad is a Whistler

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My Dad is a Whistler 

I was walking to the cafeteria today to get a vanilla latte and a light breakfast and I came upon a woman whistling in the long hallway to the cafeteria and it triggered a memory for me; that my dad was a whistler too. No, not the fine artist painting kind, but the air across the lips musical kind. I remember him whistling those easy listening tunes that were sung by the romantic crooners of the 50’s and 60’s; Perry Como and Andy Williams to name a few, and other popular songs of the day.   

But that is not the important part.  The important part is that he made music with nothing but air passing over his tongue and through his lips and he was very good at it. He was never given the opportunity to learn to play a musical instrument, so he made his own music; music that he could carry with him wherever he went.   

I don’t know if dad whistles much anymore. His lungs don’t work like they should and the simple act of breathing is often difficult for him. I hope he knows that I carry the sound of his tunes in my mind and in my heart.  

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Happy Birthday

Flowers for my hubby on his birthday.

Scimmia

Our traveling companion for our trip to Italy.

Media experimental

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In my journal. I used news print, paper towels, and acrylic paint. I also used a silver glaze that in the end I didn't really like and (good to know) it didn't adhere to the mod podge. 

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This Week in Journaling

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This week I working on left handed (non-dominant hand) drawing/painting. I love flowers and would love to be able to paint them, but they are hard...

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I wasn't really feeling the the magazine subscription prompt, but I certainly had a good time creating a page of my favorites foods. As you can see, I don't always eat food that is 'good' for me. 

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I have lived in many places over the years and really enjoyed the mapping prompt from week one so I completed another one. This particular location is my first married apartment. Very small, but we didn't need much.

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Another of our assignments was to work on our family tree. I even accessed ancestry.com for a free trial to gather some additional information. This was a lot of fun.

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I had a lot to put in my employment timeline. Let's just say that I have had a lot of 'character building' jobs.

So this was my week in journaling. If you are interested in getting started, check out the Lil Journal Project.

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For the Birds

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This is my contribution for this year's silent auction. This is the first time that I will put something I have painted out there for the public to see. I used several techniques; wet on wet, glazing, salt for texture, dry brushing. I plan to use a green mat that looks really nice with the colors in the fence. 

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Lil Journal Project, Week 3

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One of our 'assignments' this week was to gather interesting bits of paper and ephemera that we can use as inspiration and to add interest to our pages. This is my box of 'bits' from vacations. I seem to have saved a lot of paper, to include shopping lists, receipts, and even copies of dining checks.  

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I have really been enjoying the neighborhood mapping. I have lived in so many places and I want to tr and document them all. 

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Another trigger for this week was to document favorite reads from childhood. For this I printed my list and created a transfer using laminating paper. It actually turned out pretty well. 

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I started the family tree, but was not happy with it so I am starting over. We will see what tomorrow brings. 

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Sunflower #5

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Art Journal Project

I have wanted to start an art journal for a while, but was not sure how to get started. Along comes Ashley Hachshaw at Lil Blue Boo with a daily prompt to get us started. If you are interested in starting an art journal and need some help getting started, just follow the link to Lil Blue Boo. 

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We are two weeks into the project and I just wanted to share some of the items I have been working on. As a result of these first 10 days I have discovered that wax paper can be your best friend. I need to use spray adhesive (my sense of perfection can't stand pages wrinkled by glue ... but then maybe I just need to let it go). I added an envelope to the back cover to stash items and ideas for my journal. 

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Left-Handed Intro - The first page in my journal. The assignment was to use your non-dominant hand.

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Sketch out your childhood neighborhood. I have a lot of detail here, because my parents have been in this house since the early 70's. I don't remember the year. 

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Sketch or add photos of items that are precious to you.

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Photographs and Memories - Group photos - jot down as many memories as you have of the event. Contact people in the photo to get more details. I like how the markers bled thru the paper here to make an interesting frame for my photo. This is where the wax paper comes in handy, keeps the bleed-thru to one page.

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Jot down things that bring you joy and make your life meaningful.

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Get your color on. This page is all of the colors that I salvaged from my son's garbage can. A professional set of marker ... I can't believe he was going to throw them away!

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Sketch out the first classroom you remember. Let me tell you that first grade was a long time ago for me and I had more unpleasant memories from this particular year than good, but maybe this page will help me throw out the 'bad' stuff. Maybe some more good stuff will 'pop' thru the fog : -)

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My life in cars. I have not finished this one yet. I still have to add my '93 Z-28 Camaro. To this day, I still regret trading this car for my current ride, my 2003 Nissan Murano. I could have kept them both. Really. 

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Adding these photos is what brought me to the realization that I NEED spray adhesive. 

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Pink Tulips

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I found a pattern online for these tulips and pitcher. I am not completely happy with the 'table', but I added some salt to give some texture. I am happy with the tulips where I used masking to protect the white of the paper.

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Sunflowers # 3 and 4

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I have been working on my Sunflowers this week. I was hoping to give one to my boss as a going away present, but I don't like either one of them enough to share...in person. Anyway, these are my two attempts. I will just have to keep working in it. I am currently working on some tulips in a vase and am pretty happy with what's happening there. 

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Before and After

We were invited to Ft Benning last night for dinner with TOMs boss. We were early so we decided to take a drive thru the neighborhood where we used to live. Needless to say, enlisted soldiers are finally getting some new housing. 'Bout time.

Tree Study

I am really happy with the clouds and sky I also like the trees.

Boy by the Lake

From a photo taken in North Alabama near Huntsville.

I like the texture I got in the trees but it was a challenge creating the green of the lake.