A taste of Italy...and other stuff

In April 2002, we did two B2B cruises in the Mediterranean. The first was a 10-day cruise on the Costa Allegra out of Genoa. Here is the town of Menaggio on Lake Como, where we stayed prior to the cruise......

Onboard the ship...after taking a ferry across Lake Como, and catching the train to Genoa...

We had to take another train from Genoa to Savona at the end of the cruise in order to get onboard the Costa Tropicale to begin the seven-day cruise...
The food, service and entertainment was superb on both ships, as were the many ports of call we visited. We love cruising!!!

And speaking of food and entertainment, today is birthday party time for Miss Ansley, with a gaggle of giggling gals, and even a guy or two in attendance. Shhhh...no one knows that Uncle Brian will be there. Hmmm, this will be Will's very first time to attend a birthday party. I'll bet he sleeps through most of it...and has to get cake second hand, poor thing! The wee guy has grown 2 1/2 inches in only two weeks, and is now 10 lbs! After the party, he is going on his first camping trip. We believe in bringing up the kids 'right!'

Ciao, y'all...happy Saturday!

Above the clouds...and a forest critter.........

Friends Bev and Steve enjoyed a 5.5 mile hike from Arkaquah Trail up to Brasstown Bald, the highest point in Georgia at just under 5,000'. This is a view looking DOWN on the clouds...
And another view looking down to the valley below when the clouds moved away...
But THIS picture is a very deadly critter...a rattlesnake! Yikes!!! You'd better watch out while hiking in these hills...........Bev, thanks for letting me 'steal' and share these interesting pictures!!!

You might be a Greek redneck...

Sarge had a picture this week of a guy sitting on a toilet outside his trailer, so I wanted to show off what some of the Greek rednecks do with their outside toilets...
Here is another 'normal' and pretty view of Santorini and some of the beautiful flowers there...
Today is just another day in Mayberry paradise.

I think you are the father...

A guy goes to the supermarket and notices an attractive woman waving at him. She says hello. He's rather taken a back because he can't place where he knows her from. So he says, 'Do you know me?'

To which she replies,'I think you're the father of one of my kids.' Now his mind travels back to the only time he has ever been unfaithful to his wife and says, 'are you the stripper from my bachelor partythat I made love to on the pool table with all my buddies watching while your partner whipped my butt with wet celery???"

She looks into his eyes and says calmly, 'No, I'm your son's teacher.'

Annuals, shimmy dampeners, wings & other stuff

Airplanes have to have an annual inspection every year, and yesterday was the day. Dick found a good mechanic at a fairly close-by airport who knows the type of airplane that we have, so this guy has been doing our annuals for around 20 years now and knows our plane very well. Dick assists him at each inspection (he is a good mechanic himself), so this saves us quite a few bucks and speeds the process along. Brian flew up to watch the inspection, since he wants to eventually get checked out in our plane...and that wound up being a plus. Here is our son with his flight instructor after his solo last December...another handsome family member.......

It seems our 'shimmy dampener' is damaged/worn out and needs replacing. That is a fancy name for a shock absorber that when given a fancy name, means someone can charge big bucks for it. Dick now has to search for one......and the plane is grounded, and not at our local airport... so Brian flew his father home! This was B's first time to land at the airport here in Mayberry, and Dick's first time to fly with the new pilot, our son. Dad reported that he did a fine job of it. I was disappointed that I didn't get to see Brian and get a little sugar, but he needed to get the rental plane back to Atlanta.......and called his dad to report that he and the rental were safely back on terra firma where they needed to be.

I know it is important to give your children both roots and wings...and with Dick and me both being pilots, I guess it was inevitable that at least one of our kids would literally develop wings and fly eventually, so Brian is the one who did. And yes, he also looks just like his father and grandfather, but I lay claim to the smile gene. Brian, you rock! I love you soooo much.

My very own Will!

Since today is Mo's Manic Monday and today's word is 'will,' Lois blogged that she immediately thought of MY Will, cuz she thinks he is such a cutie pie. She is entirely correct about that, as y'all can see right here with his sweet mommie. Will hits the two week mark tomorrow, and he is already covered in our wills, the paper variety. Got yours done yet?
Thanks for sharing our little guy, Lois. Hopefully your 'trella' will get pointed in our direction in the near future. We were talking about you at lunch...did your ears burn??? I met Bee and Charlie for lunch today!!! Joy, sorry you missed them...they got there late. And there was an added bonus of their dtr #1 and Lala! Wow, that was a nice surprise. We'll have to do that again soon. Duh...no one got a picture of that event, but we were too busy talking for heaven's sake! Go figure.

Roger and his Wii...

This handsome fella is Joy’s dad, Roger. Since I don’t have a dad, I claim just a bit of his heart. He was about 25ish when this picture was taken. Roger was a member of the Army Air Corps, and got his wings in ‘44; flew many missions in Europe, was enroute home from Italy in ‘45 coming through Gibraltar when VE Day was announced on the speaker on the ship Mariposa. Oh happy day! Roger went back to the U of NC, finished his undergrad degree and did graduate work in psychology. After his GI bill ran out, he worked in the aircraft industry until his retirement.
Now at the tender age of 87 and a widower living with his son and family, Roger spends many hours on his computer, and has fun 'bowling' often with his son/grandson on the family Wii. God bless this patriot on Father’s Day........and every day. Roger, you’re a sweetie!...
And Roger is also the grandfather of that new doctor, if y'all saw/remember my post about Doc Melissa. They've got mighty good genes in that family too!