on the subject of unhealthy foodie stuff . . .

i left the pickle relish in my pocketbook over the weekend.  gah!!!!

and why exactly did i have a tiny tupperware container filled to brim with sweet relish?  silly.  because we went to river grille for lunch so i could snag one of their outrageously delicious 12" long hot dogs and because sometimes they have relish and sometimes the don't.  so yes, minerva, i bring my own.  not a lot beats an ice cold beer, an extraordinary hot dog and some roasted red taters.  yes.  i did.

back in the day,  one day a week was experimental dinner night.  something new.  untried.  the 9TS and i had some glorious flops but we also had a growing number of do-agains.  last night with the girls, it was homemade strombolis. 

but wait . . .  did i tell you we are now officially a hen house?  my 19 year old granddaughter moved in last month so it wasn't such a wicked daily commute to college.  it makes life delightful if not confusing.  kidlet and her niece have different first names but share the same shortened version.  to avoid confusion, i usually refer to them in writing as k1 and k2.  k1 being the older first version.  in voice . . . well, that's where it gets tricky . . .  the phone rang this morning asking for their singular name and i asked which one.  without batting an eye, the caller said the 26 year old.  people are learning.

anyway, last night the kitchen exploded in pizza dough, marinara sauce, pepperoni and mozzarella.  trial by fire would be appropriate considering the oven was cranked up to 500º.  but we ended up with this:

 and since we all know i usually forget to photograph until i'm half way through, this:

we each made our own and before k2 was halfway through hers, she was asking if this could be a do-again. with k1 nodding in the background, mouth stuffed with goodness.

why of course, sweet peas.  of course.

last day in venice . . .

playing with more shots:

this is so much more fun than doing laundry.

a plumber i am not . . .

so i've had this persistent drip in my bathroom faucet.  if i move the ball to one very specialized locale, the drip ceases.  but this morning, even before grocery shopping, i decided to look up the issue on YouTube.  bad idea.  i followed the directions and after a splurt of inky black water and some gunk, nothing.  no water.  of course that means no drip so i guess technically i fixed it.  i'll remind myself of that every time i go to wash my face or hands between now and monday when i call the real plumber. 

king walla walla poo poo rises again . . .

what happens when you put an 18 year old, a 26 year old and a 66 year old on a bed giggling into the night and being silly?

aching sides from laughing too hard and tears running down faces.  so much fun should be illegal.

just remember, king walla walla poo poo be-leaves in you.

thank you, google . . .

but i know who really sent it.

see the black ribbon.  it's supposed to be a reminder of 9/11.  but it is really melanoma's cancer ribbon.  rock on 9TS.  thanks for the birthday wishes.

yes. yes . . .

dear 9TS, you were:

day 10 . . .

i absolutely adore having my expectations surpassed.  i have no idea what i really thought venice would be like but wow.  my socks got blown off. i want to go back again. and again.

kidlet and i made a list of things we wanted to see and do.  hers was short and to the point.  she wanted to take a ride in a gondola.  i wanted to visit st. marks square and see the bridge of sighs and the rialto bridge.  i know it's not a lot but by this point we were wearing down and we thought that would be enough.  and it was.

the first place we headed after taking the vaporetto, aka water taxi,

from the port to center of town, was to find a gondolier.  the first place we checked, did not have an opening until much later in the afternoon.  our little hearts sank.  was this something that needed to be purchased before we left home?  then a nice venetian sent us to another site and we were off on our expedition.

meet our gondolier:

 

he didn't speak english but we didn't care.  look where he took us first!!!!!  the bridge of sighs.  color us both happy.

 and then around the block a couple of times while kidlet and i sat with our mouths open.

and did i tell you we walked through st. mark's square on the way to meet our gondolier?

yay!!! and then we hiked across town down the tiniest streets with massive crowds . . . yet still fun, until we found the rialto bridge:

having a few euro left jingling in our collective pockets, we decided to stop for some pizza in a tiny little establishment off the beaten track.  yummy, yummy pizza.  and to finish, a glass of amaretto with hazelnuts at the bottom of the shot glass.  let me just die in peace.

so that, other than the 24 straight hours it took us to find our way home, was our little summer vacation.  but never fear, you have not seen the last of it.  my little finger snapped the shutter approximately 862 times. happy.  happy.  happy.