WOW...it seems like an eternity since I've sat down and posted anything on my blog. I would attribute that to all the CHANGES that have happened in my life since my last post of April, 2010.
Within a few weeks after that post, we had Mother's Day, and my gift from my daughter Sarah, was to let me know that in a few short months, she would deliver my present to me, all wrapped up and swaddled in baby blue. :) On November 21, 2010 Leo Rinella came into this world and it's hard for me to believe that in a few short weeks from now, he will be celebrating his SECOND birthday!
Two months after Leo was born, I was blessed by my husband with a two week vacation to Lugo, Spain, where Leo, Sarah and Jon were living at the time. I cherish this picture! I could have spent my entire vakay just like this...
And here is my beautiful lil man, almost two years later - running full throttle. Those days of Grandma getting to hold him for long periods of time are LONG gone...lol Isn't he BEAUTIFUL?!
They continued to live in Lugo, Spain up until August of 2011, when they came home to the USA and settled in Atlanta, with Sarah landing a teaching position at Georgia Tech. I loved only being a few hours away from them, and got to visit Atlanta a few times.
Here is Leo at about 18 months old when I was visiting them, singing a Leo rendition of James Brown's, "Baby Baby Baby"...
I had a feeling deep down that they wouldn't be staying in the states for long....I would hear them talk about how much easier the pace of life in Europe was for them, so when I got the news that Sarah had once again been offered a position abroad, it came as no surprise that they would soon be moving back.
They now live in Portugal, only a few hours away from Lugo; a place that I could go about for hours on end. As soon as I got there, I could understand why they loved it so much. It was beautiful, and just the perfect size. If you love history, Google Lugo, Spain sometime.
Here are a couple of black and white photos I took, and since coming home, have enlarged and framed them so I can reminisce daily of my "European Vacation".
The entrance to the old part of Lugo, which was built by the Romans almost 2000 years ago! Inside the walls are restaurants, shops and OMG shoe stores everywhere! I was in Heaven.
I have this photo enlarged and framed. Where the little table is on the left, is the first pub they took me to, where I tried the local delicacy - octopus! The meat of it wasn't bad, but ewwwww the tentacles were rubbery and I just couldn't handle choking that part down.
This also hangs in my living room. I saw these old guys from across the park and luckily had my zoom lens with me. I love how you see the three old guys telling their stories, with the young kid whizzing by on his bike, and I didn't notice until I enlarged it, that there is a man sitting on the steps who looks to be in deep thought. If one is gifted with the ability to write stories, there could be a really good one written just by gazing into this photo.
This is the third one I have in my home. We took about a 3 mile walk out to a restaurant which sat on this river. Not only was the walk beautiful, but the restaurant looked like something out of a story book.
Thought I had a photo of it, but can't seem to locate it.
I failed to mention that Bill and I also ventured up to Nashville for a two year period. Five days after moving there, my husband up and had another heart attack and had to have emergency bypass surgery. We were surrounded by loved ones, who helped nurse him back to health.
It didn't take too long for us to both start getting real homesick for Florida, in spite of being around the kids and grandkids. They have their own lives, and we left ours back in Leesburg, Florida, so now we are at the end of October 2012, and have been home for about 4 months. We are hoping and praying to get back into the Rock House where we used to live, but for now, we are wayyyyyyy out in the sticks.
It's pretty out here in the country - I have neighbors who have all kinds of farm critters that are cute as can be, but the DIRT is about to drive this OCD girl over the edge!!! My poor lil car hasn't been clean in four months, so I'm counting the days until I can be a city girl once again.
I haven't sewn but a few things in the past few years, but am starting to get the itch again.
I have opened a new Etsy Shop under the name of "JanelleFrancine"....my given name.
I have four of my best selling patterns listed for now, but will add in some handmades, and also vintage treasures and collectibles that I find when I go out "thrifting and scavenging" with my sister LaLa each week. Seeing as how I don't just make dolls anymore, as I did under the name of Little Sister's Dolls, I just wanted something simple....I figured my name was just that......simple.....
Shalom....
Janelle
No comments:
Post a Comment