One of my favorite things

Is reading through the coffee table books I have made this year, from my digital scrapbooking pictures. Trixie and I are sitting in my little living room, next to the big one, which has been taken over by Alessandro's pool table. Trixie is looking at some of my little Italian things - Venetian glass, the gilded candlestick from San Gimignano...





This is me, showing what some of my Blurb coffee table books look like, that I have made.

PhotoHunt: Blue - Pyewacket

This is my Old Style Siamese - Pyewacket. She's got the bluest eyes! The old style is coming back into vogue and reflects the type of siamese that was around when I was a child and when my dad has his beauty, named Tex. You will see Tex in an upcoming post. Maybe on Sunday.

There is only one breeder in Australia selling this style of siamese - the Rosemarie Cattery in Victoria, way down south.

This is my latest PhotoHunt entry.

News Flash! Exciting yellow Fiat convertable seen in Modena!

This picture was taken to show Giancarlo, he of the glamorous yellow Fiat X1/9 convertible, that it isn't the only one in the world. Look! We found this cute little yellow Fiat in Modena last October.

PhotoHunt: Scary - Happy Hallowe'en

Pyewacket is named after the familiar in the movie Bell, Book and Candle.

Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn and cauldron bubble...
Adder’s fork, and blind-worm’s sting,
Lizard’s leg, and howlet’s wing,
For a charm of powerful trouble,
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.



This is my latest PhotoHunt entry.

Floriade in Canberra

The Great Pumpkin visits our house!

The Digital Scrapbook Place has made October fun for me this year. Designers have inspired us to enter fun competitions and have encouraged us to learn new techniques, such as the blending in all my backgrounds. I've really had a fun time this month!

PhotoHunt: Family - Strategic Air Command

My father, fourth from the left. (Back in the mists of time...)



Motto: Peace is our profession.

We lived on Beale Air Force Base, California, when I was a little girl. Then my father retired and we came to Australia, and he built a 41 foot trimaran. But that's another story.

This is my latest PhotoHunt entry.

Shh! I'm thinking about Torcello

And how quiet and peaceful it was.

I first went there in September '06 and it was just a passing through visit - a walk up a path to the old medieval buildings, with no one there but us. We looked at the old stone chair, the Church of Santa Fosca, and the mosaics of the Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta. The well was unusual, with interesting carvings of amphorae around it. There are supposed to be sixty people living there, but apart from the people who served me my coke at the bar, I didn't see, or notice anyone else actually.



It was a warm, still and serene afternoon. As we walked back along the canal to the ferry, there were wild flowers waist high in the grass along side the path. The only sounds I could hear were crickets and a few small birds.



Sipping my ice cold coke on a seat outside the bar, I thought about how important Torcello had been in the past, and how small and secluded it had now become. Do you know, I think that afternoon was actually one of the highlights of my trip. I am never bothered or concerned by large numbers of tourists, who are enjoying Italy just like me.



That's because I can always find somewhere just like Torcello, that's far from the madding crowd.

Palazzo Ducale in Venice

In the late afternoon, we went across to the Ducal Palace where we paid the 13 euros entry fee and had a wonderful time exploring all the artwork filled rooms, looking at the maps and oversized globes, the small suits of amour and then the piece de resistance – the Ponte Dei Sospiri. One of my favorite things is looking out from inside the Bridge of Sighs, at all the other tourists, looking in.



(Journaling: It’s always eerie standing inside the Bridge of Sighs.
I am looking out at all the tourists gathered on the little bridge outside.)

Then we went downstairs to the cafe. A very peaceful half hour was then spent sipping cappuccini in the Ducal Palace café, watching the gondole gliding rhythmically by. Alessandro had a sundae.



(Journaling: Alessandro and I had looked through the Ducal Palace and walked over the Bridge of Sighs.)

Later we walked over to Campo Manin and ate dinner there, our Campo San Provolo restaurant being closed on Thursdays.

PhotoHunt: Lazy day in San Gimignano

Another perfect day wandering the narrow laneways of San Gimignano.

This kit is by Lauren Bavin, Head Designer of The Digital Scrapbook Place, (where I hang out) and is appropriately called: Tuscan Meadows.

This is my latest PhotoHunt entry.

Good looking and Smart

The car! I'm talking about the car!

One of the best things about a trip to Italy is getting to see Smart cars every day - except when I'm in Venice of course. This one was in Modena.

Amalfi Coast

Those who tell you that it's perilous, death defying even - need to chill out. The Amalfi Coast road is one of the slowest we have driven along in Italy, it's quite wide, and the guard rails are quite decent.
There are places to pull over and take pictures every few minutes. And the views are... well, the views are...

PhotoHunt: Sad - Floriade, the bonsai trees

I'm sad that Floriade doesn't last all year in Canberra. It's only on for a month.
This year I particularly enjoyed seeing the bonsai trees.


This is my latest PhotoHunt entry.

It's my lucky day!

Oh my stars! It's me! I'm the featured blog on Where the blog are you?
Thank you Louisa, I'm thrilled! You made my day.

Homemade Raspberry Gelato

I made it myself!

Gelato versus ice cream - I've eaten a lot of gelato in Italy and my 4th batch of ice cream, in which I doubled the fruit mixture (using the new Krups from The Good Guys) is just like gelato. So far I have made peach, cherry, chocolate and now the raspberry.

I am blending recipes and my secret ingredient is a third of a cup of sour cream. The alternative to that is a cup of buttermilk, which Alessandro just got me from Coles, so my next batch (raspberry and blackberry) will use that. The secret with fruit ice creams is to make sure there is enough sugar in it. Think of the difference between the tastes of gelato and yoghurt. They are two different things.

Here is my favorite recipe site for old-fashioned homemade ice cream.

I am using one egg and beating it up then adding the cream and other ingredients and heating it for a minute while stirring. Then take it off the heat and refrigerate for a day. I'm preparing the fruit mixture (pureed with Giancarlo's bamix that I found under the kitchen sink) with the sugar and lemon juice and refrigerating that for a day too. The ice cream maker lives in the bottom of the freezer. It holds one litre of mixture and takes about 20 minutes to make.

I've bought new op shopped little dishes and I need to get an ice cream scooper - as all my spoons are getting bent!