Thursday Funny

Read this today ... thought it was pretty good ..

A man scolded his son for being so unruly and the child rebelled against his father. 

He got some of his clothes, his teddy bear and his piggy bank and proudly announced, "I'm running away from home!"
The father calmly decided to be logical. "What if you get hungry?" he asked.
"Then I'll come home and eat!," bravely declared the child.
"And what if you run out of money?"
"I will come home and get some!" readily replied the child.
The man then made a final attempt, "What if your clothes get dirty?"
"Then I'll come home and let mommy wash them," was the reply.
The man shook his head- "This kid is not running away from home; he's off to college."

Please share anything you have seen or heard lately that makes you laugh?  
Holly

Traveling and bag organizing tip

DH and I have been traveling for the last few weeks ....

and we are t.i.r.e.d ....

Frankfurt to Honolulu to San Diego and now Savannah ...

I'm having problems figuring out what day it is

(sad, isn't it?)

 

Spent a wonderful week with DS (dear son) at his home on Oahu ..

he ran us all around the island

 (DH hadn't been to Hawaii before, so we wanted him to see it ALL!)

 

Then off to San Diego for four days ...

 we are selling our home there and needed to deal with some items ..

saw some relatives and friends ...

but it was rush - rush - rush the entire time.

 

Now we are in Savannah

where DH is attending some work-related classes -

FINALLY!!  A chance to recover and catch-up!!

 

Will post photos of our last few weeks in a few --

 

Here is the travel tip I promised ...

 

Have easily identifiable bags for your electronics, cords and toiletries ~

 

I found these houndstooth bags on sale recently ~

 

easy to find in the clutter (not that we tote along a bunch) ~

 so handy to know if I am looking for a cable or Kindle or cell or ....

(amazing the array of electronics now in our life),

just look for easily identifiable bag.

 

The 3-1-1 bag goes neatly into the toiletry bag and can be pulled out

for airport security and tucked back away once through the line.

No more "where DID I put the ...."

 

I keep an index card in each bag listing off the things to go inside ~

most of the toiletry kit stays packed for easy grabbing -

just have to tuck aspirin, toothpaste and the like when it's time to go.

 

Hope you can use this idea in your life --

 

Would love to hear your travel tips to make things easier -

 

Holly

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Pi Day!

Today is Pi Day ~

 

PI= 3.14159265358979323846264338327950288419716939937510

 

March 14 is written (American style) as 3/14

 

On the news, it was brought out that today is also a once every century event ..

 

3.1415 (the first 5 characters of the Pi calculation).

 

Time to go eat some pie ...

How are you going to celebrate Pi Day?

 

 

 

Holly

 

 

Special delivery from Buckingham Palace !

 

I feel so special!

In the post was a letter from Buckingham Palace!!

 

I have long admired Queen Elizabeth II for her dignity and pose.

While I may not agree with all of her decisions ...

but in many ways, I believe she has been a great role model for the world.

 

I sent her a short note a few months ago - just to say I admired her.

not expecting any type of response ~ but ... one came !!

Granted it's a form letter and signed by a lady-in-waiting ...

that's okay.

 

 

Over the last few months, I have been sending quite a few letters out to all sorts of people (public and private) thanking them for sharing their talents with the world, or aspects and behaviors that I admire about them ... or just being part of my life.

This is the first response I have gotten back.  Cool Beans!!

 

What has totally made your day?

Has anyone told you that you made a difference?

Have YOU shared with someone else the positive effect THEY have had on you?

 

Holly

Tuesday Retrospect -- My Son at (3)

When my son was three, I was working in as a data entry clerk

(yes, this was a loooong time ago) ...

one of the benefits was discounted tickets to Disneyland.

We went several times that year ...

 this photo is from the first visit. 

 

He was a special boy then... and is a wonderful man now.

 

Do you have a treasured memory to share?

I would love to hear it.

Holly

 

European Snow Storm

https://rumble.com/v2zhbf-massive-snowflakes-captured-in-slow-motion-hd.htm

Really cool video of snowfall in Slovakia ... buildings in our village are generally stand-alone, but the peaceful feeling is the same.

Enjoy!
Holly

Boston Blizzard 2015

Comments from the Youtube.com posting:

Published on Jan 28, 2015

A time lapse of the 2015 Boston blizzard from 3 pm on January 26 to 8 am on January 28, 2015.

The video was created from 5,000 images, recorded at 30-second intervals on a GoPro.

The snowlapse was recorded on a roof in Back Bay Boston. For reference, the tall building on the far left is the Hancock Tower. The building in the distance in the middle is the Westin Copley Plaza and the illuminated "The" is from the roof of The Lenox Hotel.

Impressive to watch the snow level rise as time goes by ... sometimes I wished I lived in the in New England or the Mid-Atlantic states, just because of all the wonderful historical and cultural opportunities ... then I see something like this and think... maybe I'd rather not.   Holly

Say what?

 DH and I saw these at the Deutsches Technical Museum in Munich recently ... 

just have to wonder who would use "Dummy" guides for these ... 

Holly

Farewell 2014 ... Hello 2015

I wish all of you and yours all the 

joy and happiness

 your hearts desire in 2015.

Hooray for the start of new year ~

Another chance for all things 

to become right!

Happy New Year!

Holly

most influential person ... thought-provoking

I found this on a dear friend's Pinterest page today ,,, I found it incredibly moving.

No matter your faith ~ or none at all ~ this could be part of anyone's life ...

and it isn't limited to only women of the world ... 

many men are belong as well ...

The World Does Not Know Her Name 

I realize how blessed I have been by so many people whose aid or help 

I took for granted ... how small of me ... and how great of them.

Doesn't matter your faith ... looking back, many of those who helped me

were of faiths vastly different from my own. 

Wishing all of you a Happy 2015!

 

Holly

Getting a jump start on New Year projects

My dear husband is currently deployed ... so I am home, alone and while I am getting out a bit to enjoy the German Christmas season ... for the most part, I am working on projects and purging out my clutter (and I seem to still have quite a bit even with all the de-cluttering and purging I have done over the last two years).

While roaming around the web today, I ran across this link ...  

 http://www.popsugar.com/smart-living/List-Things-Dispose-24575006

A lot of times I don't know quite where to start .. or I have a limited amount of time (15 minutes, half-hour,  maybe even just five) and while I want to do something productive, am stymied how best to spend that time ... this link has a great list of things to toss, purge, donate or otherwise exile from my home so I don't have to try and come up with ideas (if I don't already have "stuff" screaming "let me GO!!").  
 
I will be adding this list into my Home "Flight Control" binder (that is a long-term work in progress ... but I hope it will be finalized by early next year so I can have it printed off.
Yes ... I am old-school enough to prefer a "printed on paper" list of routine, home maintenance tasks and suggestions.  Having a known maintenance cycle of projects and upkeep will let me take care of most things preventatively ... love that concept!!

Here's to chipping away at the clutter and my projects .... would love to hear your ideas for keeping your life in control.  Please share what works for you.

Back into the dimly, dark corners to see what I can find!!   
Holly

gotta love it!!

A friend sent me this on Thanksgiving... just had to share 

(okay... didn't HAVE to ... but I'm going to anyhow)

Don't know who the creator is so I can give him/her credit for this ... 

he/she has a great sense of humor and imagination!

Smiles!!   Enjoy your day ~  Holly

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to my friends around the world!

May your stuffing be tasty, may your turkey be plump,
May your potatoes & gravy have nary a lump,
May your yams be delicious, may your pies take the prize,
May you remember your blessings and hopes that the rolls will rise.
Wishing you a joyful time with your families this Thanksgiving.
*********Happy Thanksgiving! *********

Holly

I'm back ... what's new in my life

Seems like I'm making a hobby of disappearing for long periods ... I realized that I was spending way too much time on the Internet and neglecting my life, home and family.  Pinterest (love it ... but ....) especially was a source of hours of mindless wandering ... tracing one idea after another. 

Went nearly cold turkey ... only was on the Internet to take care of our finances and limited Emails.  Amazing how much time I had to invest in my home and family.  Didn't stop using the computer ... just the Web. 

Was able to organize masses of digital photographs which were buried in the hidden recesses of my computer ... no one could enjoy them, they were stashed away.  Gathered them all together ... sorted by month, then event, deleted the duplicates and the "fuzzies" ... next step is to create a photo book (I'm going to do it by year) and have the book printed.  Still tagging and naming some of the photos ... but I've gotten rid of SO many that were just there.  Such a feeling of relief!!

As you may remember - DH and I moved last year up to Germany.  Our home here is quite a bit smaller than our one in Sicily (still miss Sicily ... it's become a second home) ... so I've been purging out a lot of belongings.  Still have more than I want ... but making progress.   Have run into a problem with lack of storage pieces .... gotta have some place to store the extra blankets, jackets, cushions for the patio furniture ... so have to figure out how to resolve that.  Not a lot of room to put the storage units ... but I really do need to figure out how to store what is only used seasonally or irregularly. 

We're still exploring our new area ... lots to see.  DH and I have gotten into the habit of walking most mornings ... lots of walking paths in our village.   Am also been experimenting more in the kitchen ... lots of good food ... some failures. Weather has been changeable ... lots of drizzle, some rain, a bit of sun ... getting cooler ... the leaves are starting to change colors.

Shall we explore Holly Berry's World?

Holly

Feelings about San Diego Wildfires

The more I see of San Diego County fires --- the more I really don't want to ever move back there.  I have a phobia about wildfires... when I was in the Navy, fires onboard ships don't bother me so much ... they can be contained and we were trained to deal with them ... wildfires just keep jumping and expanding.  My fear is rooted from my freshman year of high school.  There was a really big fire in the area just east of where we lived.  That weekend was homecoming weekend for our church; Sunday the sky was all yellowy and a lot of people didn't show up for the homecoming.  The church and our home were close to the edge of the populated areas ... it was a lot of semi-wildness and overgrowth to the east.  At school on Monday, lots of students were missing since they had been evacuated or their parents kept them home.  The district decided to cancel school midway through the day and sent everyone home.  We lived a couple miles from my high school - it was considered within walking distance so I started walking home.  One of my teachers stopped and gave a ride to the corner of our street and dropped me off there.  Walked down the block - no one was home.  Dad was at work and no idea where Mom was.  She didn't leave a note.  I'm pretty uneasy so try to find a neighbor to stay with until Mom comes back.  Knocked on every house on our block --- no one answers other than one son and he was getting ready to leave (on his motorcycle).  Since he didn't have an extra helmet and I wasn't experienced being a passenger on a motorcycle he didn't want to take me with him.  Now I'm really uncomfortable --- so I try to call Dad at work.  One NEVER EVER called my Dad at work .... it had better be a death or an emergency to call him at work.  That didn't work ... the phone lines are out.  I'm now panicking ... so I toss some stuff in a daypack and start walking to my grandparents home in Pacific Beach (about 20 miles away).  Skirted the foot of Mt Helix, got into La Mesa (city) and am chugging away. Probably got close to 8-10 miles on my way when the cops picked me up because it is well after dark, I'm a young girl alone (qbout 13 years old) with a backpack and some of the nearby areas were not the best.  I explained I was on my way to my grandparents because school was closed mid-day due to the fire, none of our neighbors were home and I couldn't reach my parents.  Cops called my grandparents, who came to get me.  Late that night they finally get hold of Mom and tell her I am with them.  Mom comes to get me and she is furious.  I realize now that she was scared since she hadn't known where I was ... but she never seemed to realize just how terrified I was.  When I expressed my fears about the fire over the weekend while several of our neighbors were leaving to stay with friends or relatives ... she discounted my feelings and told me there was nothing to be worried about.  I couldn't understand why she's saying there's nothing to worry about while I'm watching the Boccias, Waterhouses and Mitchells (all adults) pack up and leave the area.  Just didn't make sense.  Then the district cancels school mid-day ... just added to my confusion.  As I said, Mother was furious when she got to my grandparents home.  It was one of the few times that she ever hit me with a belt.  Now I can understand that she lost control because she was so upset over not knowing where I was or what was happening to me.  But -- I was scared and there was no one to ask for help.  Could have gone and stood in the middle of a busy street near the house and begged for rides ... but knew that behavior was completely unacceptable in my family.  Wildfires still terrify me to this very day.   In 2001 (Cedar Fire), had to drive a section of freeway with flames on both sides of the road (and firefighters) to get to work road and another time when DH and I went to check out a car my son wanted to buy - one of the roads we had to drive crossed the path of a wildfire and we saw the fire jump the road.  DH got to see me come completely unglued at that point.    

Nope - the wildfires may outweigh all the wonderful qualities of life in San Diego for me.

interesting movie and musing

DH and I were watching "The Battle of Britain"  (1969 version) this evening on British FreeSat.  Really good movie.  DH enjoyed seeing all the different aircraft used (he ADORES planes and flying) -- according to IMDB, so many planes were used in the production that it was actually the production operated the 35th largest air force in the world at the time and most of the movie budget was spent on acquiring and refurbishing aircraft.

I was enjoying looking at all the locations - we have lived in southern Spain and visited the UK (lots) - so it felt familiar.  

During the final credits, a list was shown of the nationalities involved in the battle ... I was surprised to see that Israel was listed as such ... Israel wasn't created until 1948 and the Battle of Britain happened in 1940.   Oh well ... it's just a matter of phrasing.  

Battle of Britain happened 74 years ago early in WW2.   Lots of areas here in Europe are having commemorations this year of World War I (1914-1918).  

So much has happened in the last hundred years ... wonder what the next hundred will be like.
Holly 

What's up?? Clearing and Purging ...

Howdy! 

Bet you all thought I fell off the end of the earth!  Sometimes it feels like I did!

Been busy purging out things I should have gotten rid of before our move last year ... and each go-round, I find more and more to get rid of.  DH and I went back to Sicily for a month (him for work and me to play, see friends).... and I brought back a ton of stuff ... most of which I am now looking at and saying "why - why - WHY???"

I forgot my codes to get into this blog -- embarassing, right??  I changed them ,,, and then didn't update my passwords chart ...like a goofball, I probably figured "I'll remember that!"  and promptly forgot.  

The last two months or so, I have working hard on organizing digital photos.  Have gathered up all the CDs, memory cards and sticks, old computers (still have to find a place to E-cycle them after getting them wiped clean) and anything else I can find that I've stashed photos on over the years.  Probably will find more as I continuing purging the excess "stuff" I've collected over the years (shudder to think of the money I've wasted ... but so life goes and learn from the mistake).   Getting rid of the fuzzy photos, labeling and organizing the others.  If I make the effort to take them ... may as well have them accessible so they can be enjoyed.

Plan to move photographs over to an online photo storage company like Flickr or Photobucket or such after I research which one works better for my life and also will go old-school and have some photo albums made of many of them.   Quite a few pins on Pinterest show people having photo albums again and using a company like Snapfish, Shutterfly or whatever makes it easy to put one together and with sales, it can be done fairly reasonably. 

Cleaning out my bookshelves (Son, bet that is something you NEVER thought you would hear your mother say) and have sent many books away using Paperbackswap.com.  Love, love, LOVE this FREE website!!  Been a member for about three years now.  You post your good condition books on the site.  If another member wants one of your books, you print off a mailing label, pay the postage and send it off -- the sender pays the postage and has credit posted to his/her account for the book.  That credit can be used to get other books from other members.  The "requester" doesn't pay a cent for the book ... just a credit from books previously sent out.    Over the last two weeks I have sent away 36 books ... but I've gotten in quite a few as well.  Not many reasonably priced English bookstores over here ... so this works great for me.  You can list books you want and if someone posts that book as being available ... you'll be notified so you can request it.   Makes up for the frustration of buying a book and discovering partway through that the book bores you silly ... put it up on Paperbackswap.com ... may find a new home for it.    Not limited to paperbacks ... there are hard-covers, audio books and more -- there's a sister-site for movies (though I haven't been over there). 
Yup ... I'm "Holly-Berry-Elf" on paperbackswap.com.

Been fighting a cold over the last week .. drinking lots of hot water with lemon juice, apple cider vinegar, honey and either ginger, cinnamon or cayenne in it.  Sad part ... I've actually gotten to the point that I LIKE the taste of the stuff !?!

Re-organized our pantry last week.  It was a disaster ... though I think I need one more "canned" shelf in there.  Found (and tossed) a lot of expired stuff and things I have no idea just why I bought them  .. donated the still usable items. 

Before

Before

After 

After

 










Chat with you all soon!   Holly

Chicken Pitcher

Traditionally, Italian chicken pitchers came about after the Medici family (a very wealthy and powerful family in Renaissance Florence) was saved due to a flock of chickens.

The brother of Lorenzo the Magnificent named Guiliano decided he wanted to hold a large celebration in the village of Gallina (which no longer exists).  The night of the festival (after everyone had drunk their fill of wine, beer and ate all the food they could possibly hold ... and were all soundly asleep) ... assassins hired by the Pazzis - a rival family to the Medici - tried to sneak into Gallina to kill Guiliano.   They might have succeeded except the assassins crossed a yard full of chickens whose cackling and noise awoke both Guiliano and his guards.  

Guiliano was so happy that his life was saved - he threw another party for the village and had artisans create ceramic chicken pitchers to use for wine and gave them as gifts to all the villagers as good luck gifts. 

It is now Italian tradition to give a chicken pitcher to friends and family to protect them from danger or trespassers.  

Found this little guy while up in Naples one weekend ... thought he was so charming I just had to get him.  Not traditional by any stretch of the imagination ... but, I love the tuxedo!

Holly

changes ... changes ... changes

DH was notified a few days ago that he has been selected for a job he applied for just after New Year's  ... so we're cleaning, de-cluttering, donating and trying to get ready to leave Italy.  DH has to be at the new job in less than a month!  Yikes!!

Both looking forward to it (a new area to explore and new friends to met) ... and not (leaving our current friends... though can still keep in touch via Email, cards and Skype ... our wonderful apartment, even more wonderful landlords and the charm of life here in Sicily).  We really do love the pace and joys of life here.

Doubtful I will be working any time soon once we get moved .... so I can devote more time to sharing my world.

See you soon!

Fond memory ....

While attending a volunteer holiday celebration the other evening ... I overheard two volunteers discussing their children and the difficulty both had getting their children to fall asleep.

I was very fortunate in that regard.

During my first tour in the military, I was stationed here in Sicily at the base my husband works at currently (this is where we met, and we both had very positive memories of the country and the people.. so it was an easy decision to come back here when he found out about the job he now has) ... but I digress ...

my son, Chris, was 8 years old when he got here and he was nearly 12 years old when we left.  Sometime during the second year we were here, my boyfriend (now my husband) and I joined an Friday evening bowling league on-base.  We would pick Chris up from the after school program he attended, have dinner (usually on-base at the bowling alley or the galley... Chris considered either a treat) and then bowl.  Chris would read, listen to the TV in the bowling alley, do homework or other stuff (we kept things in the car that were only brought out while at the bowling league) at the little tables there in the bowling alley. 

If we had the early session on Friday, we could be done and get home before Chris' bedtime at 9:00pm.

However, if we had the later session ... it was a bit different.  Things to keep in mind: this happened nearly twenty-five years  ago - we are in a full bowling alley with all the racket of balls being thrown, pins being knocked down, food orders being called by the fry-cook at the grill in the bowling alley ... it's a Friday night and many of the people are relaxing with "adult beverages" and there are lots of loud cheers or moans from the various teams bowling.  Looking back seems like there were about fifteen lanes .... so there were quite a few people in the room and the bowling alley had those hard plastic chairs set in half-circles for the players on each lane. 

By 9:10pm, Don and I could be assured, that almost without exception, Chris would be stretched out on those hard plastic chairs, with all the noise and commotion going on, and be sound asleep.   His body knew it was bedtime and out he would go. 

Whenever we got done on the nights with the later sessions, Don would pick Chris up off those hard chairs and carry him to the car and then up the stairs to my apt. once we got home.  Sometimes we could get Chris awake enough to walk up the stairs ... but he never really woke up all the way.... it was more a form of sleep-walking.

DH and I still think back on that and smile .... fond memories....