Life in Northern Michigan

All Four Seasons

Kathie Schmidt

Travel

I am back!!!!!!!!!!

Kathie Schmidt 3Comments

I know it has been a long time. I had such a good time in Italy with my friends. Rained a lot but only ONCE on us. It would rain when we went into a museum, and it would stop when we got out.  Just the last afternoon did we get wet.  

However, two of us came home really sick. I did not move from the sofa for a week. One of my friends ended up in the emergency room, and her personal doctor said it looked like a mold reaction.  

My #1 allergy is mold.  Our last few days were in Venice, and every building in Venice is in the water. It floods constantly, so even being on the fourth floor did not keep us away from it.  I even cancelled playing bridge…so you know I was sick. All better now, but that was nasty.

So Italy is crowded, even off season. I love Italy, but so does the rest of the world, I guess. I would hate to see it this summer if it was that busy in May. The coffee is wonderful, and you just cannot duplicate it, but I try.  The black truffles, the everything….it is just an amazing place.   I do think, however, that Naples is still my very favorite place in Italy.  I love Florence also, but I spend too much money there. No one needs the number of purses I have.  But, I would say I am done with Venice. I have been a few times, and aside from the mold, it is like going to Disneyland. Ok, did that, check it off the list.  (However, offer to go with me to Harry Potter World and I am packing immediately. I have never been.)

I do have a few photos to share though.

While in Bologna, we saw that some poor young lady had lost her panties. Though we did not want to pick them or get anywhere near them, we kept in mind that we just might find the poor ventilated soul.

I want to recite, “The three little kittens lost their mittens,” but my mind goes a bit over the line on the rhyme that made it too my head.

We never did find her, but the next day we went to Lucca, and what did we find?

We found her!!! Sadly, the train ticket to pick up those panties would cost her more than they are worth, so we just kept her privacy. Well, I guess that is not true is it? lol

This is a photo of our Airbnb in Venice. We had the whole top floor. Not the place on the roof, but the actually fourth floor. It had a one person elevator that scared the snot out of me.

It was a very nice apartment with great views. Was it safe? You decide.

Seriously, I think it was safe. The top lock had to be turned until it clicked eight times. I kid you not. I don’t know if the landlord’s sense of humor was the stuffed dog as protection also.

We visited Burano, an island off Venice that is known for its lace. We saw no lace, so I think it was really known for painting each building a different color. It had a lot of character, and we spent the afternoon walking around.

I have a new favorite drink. It is a limoncello spritz. I am not a fan of limoncello. You are often served a small glass of it after your meal, but I think it tastes like lemon gasoline. But, mixed with prosecco, it makes a very refreshing drink.

I actually did not drink that many, but I am sure there will a few in my future.

I will leave you with my favorite photo from my trip. I just think it is very pretty and I might have it enlarged and frame it. It was taken the last morning in Venice as the mold was crawling slowly into our lungs.

CIAO!

Travel

I love…

Kathie Schmidt 2Comments

Butts, bums, bottoms, asses and whatever you want to call them.Men’s or women’s, I think they are the sexiest part of the human body and am having the most fun photographing the statues in Florence. No weiners, just butts! I will share a few here. I will do a food blog later, probably after I roll myself home. I am someone who has always hated mushrooms, but I find myself totally in love with black truffles. I know they are only a cousin of the mushroom, but they are still a fungus. Had a lemoncello spritzer tonight. New favorite! I do love Italy, always have, but I REALLY like it. Just wish half the tourists would go home. We will address the fact that I am a complete hypocrite at some point, also. I don’t eat meat, but I have spent “a week’s burying” as Ann used to say,(That means a lot of spending!) on leather in the last two days.Well, I have rambled. On with the show!

PS. I have had so much trouble getting enough WiFi to do this, that this my last night in Italy….this trip. I will do so much more when I get home, unpack, snuggle my dog, and sleep. Great trip.

I will end with a picture of Lu struggling while I have been gone. Poor thing.

Travel

CIAO BELLA

Kathie Schmidt 9Comments

Hello from Florence,Italy. Weather is great, though it does rain about a half hour a day. So far, my favorite meal was pasta with olive oil, garlic and red pepper flakes. I had two aperole spritzers the first day with no sleep and very little to eat. THAT was a mistake! Have not had one since.

We walked all over yesterday and the highlight was a Lindt chocolate…not even Italian but who cares, it is Lindt. Yes, we bought some!! I allowed myself to be photographed, which you know I rarely do. I always look gassy.

We walked the Ponte Vecchio, along with a thousand other people, and the views were beautiful.

While walking around we saw a shop called The Iris Gallery. They take a photo of your eye while shining a light into it. It show the color of your Iris that you never see. She commented that I must have blue eyed family members, which I do. I am brown eyed. My Iris has blue around the edges! Then they print and frame it for you. They added what is outside the Iris.

Amazing isn’t?

I have to say, typing on this little IPad is a pain. I think there will be more pictures this trip than words…or punctuation.

We went to the Uffizi Gallery today. Each room had its own guard whose duty was to keep the priceless items safe.

Sweet dreams.

Uncategorized

Things I Do Not Understand

Kathie Schmidt 8Comments

My neighbor set a toilet at the road the other night. Who does he think will pick it up?  If it did not look so nasty, I would raise the lid and put a flower arrangement in it. One a month our garbage pick up includes one large item, but that is the first pick up of the month. That toilet is going to sit there for over a week. I guess the across the street neighbors are following suit, and they have placed a sofa across from the toilet. It has rained two solid days. No one is going to want that sofa. Ahhhh,  the  beauty.

Why is packing for a trip so difficult?  I need clothes for thirteen days. We are staying at an AirBnB in Florence that has a washing machine. That should mean I need six and a half outfits. If you have ever seen me eat, you know I need a bit more than that. A tshirt dress can be warn twice, so that means with a washing machine that is four days of the thirteen.  Two dresses, eight days. A pair of capris and two tops, four more. Almost done, right? Hell no.  Right now I have three dresses, a pair of capris, two pair of pants, two tops each for both the capris and pants, ten pair of underwear, socks I will never wear, a rain jacket, a denim jacket and shoes. I also have another pair of capris on order.  I need someone to go through and minimize the stock.  

I want to go to Poland but no one is interested.  I still have family there, but would not know them if I ran into them. Actually, I would not know how to even say excuse me, if I ran into them.  Thank heaven my maternal grandmother was named Katherine, as I was named for her. My maternal great grandmother was named Theckla, and I think they should have named my sister that. Hee hee What a name.   Not much better on the paternal side. My dad’s mom was named Bertha Freeda, and she had two sisters: Ida Olga and Elsie Edna. She got even and named her sons Lloyd, Earl, Milton and Ellsworth. We do not good naming genes.

Did someone ask me about my trip?  Let me tell you. Flights are so frigging expensive that it is costing more for an eight hour flight from Chicago to Rome and return than my part of all the accommodations for the entire trip. I bring a sandwich when I fly. Not that I think it is a safety feature or anything but I would rather have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich than any of the stuff they call a meal. I did have a great banana on my last flight though. Bananas are bananas right? Wrong. This one was a perfect banana.   I  digress. They do beverage service, then feed you, then turn down the lights so you can sleep because it is really middle of night in Europe, but it is only 4PM my time. Thank goodness for pharmaceuticals.  If I can get four hours sleep, I will not be a zombie upon arrival. Note: Never chose a seat near the bathrooms….never, I don’t care how much extra you have to pay.  When you take off they are nice and have a fresh aroma. By the time you land you are having flashbacks to Greyhound bus stations.

When I travel I have more energy than when I am at home. Interestingly, about ten or twelve of you have actually traveled to Europe with me.   I have such fun. I did not enjoy Scandinavia, but it was pretty. Pretty boring actually.  I should do a blog of adventures I have had with some of you. I won’t use your names with the embarrassing ones.  Such fun. Ok, this does not fit with the title of this specific blog, but I am getting excited about going, and it is invading my thought process.

I might make it a tradition to end each blog with a photo of my dog. Why?  I love my dog. She is funny, a good companion and almost as stubborn as I am. Almost. She sleeps a lot. When you look at her from the angle toward her stomach she looks like a pig. I like pigs too. And I do not eat them.  Oh, that is another thing about travel, a difficult thing. I only eat fish and poultry. That is not easy in most countries. Italy is pretty easy, but in Germany I about starve. Thank heaven for beer and pretzels.  I looked into a tour of Morocco, and a review said, “If you do not like cumin you will starve to death. “ Hate cumin. Not going to see Morocco.

The next blog I will attempt from my IPad mini. If I can do it, then I can blog from Italy. At least I can upload some photos.

May 5 is now in honor of Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women.  Wear red to acknowledge. That is my politics.

Ramblings

I am not as smart as I think I am

Kathie Schmidt 22Comments

Long ago there was a blog. It was about Ann and I as we were building a cabin on a mountain. I did the blog for about seven years, and then it was hacked. I was pissed. I lost interest in the work it took to post all the time. I have a recurring dream that I live in a house for a very long time, and I find a room I never knew existed. Nothing scary, or boogerish as Ann would say, but a room. I told a friend of mine who has studied warped minds like my own and the dreams of those minds. Her immediate words to me were, “Fill your room.” I am beginning to do that, with the blog

Now, the problem is that I really do not know what I am doing. I don’t remember how I did it. I do not know how to put a gallery up or chose a decent background color.

I guess I will post on Facebook that I have blogged, until I can figure out
how to put a subscribe widget on the page.

Oh, the hell with it for now. This is my first in seven years, and I am
older, and slower, but feistier.

Spring has just started here in Northern Michigan. I sat in the sun on my
porch for a whole fifteen minutes yesterday before my toes froze. Trees are
budding and the flowers are coming up. The forsythias have not bloomed yet, and
that to me is the actual sign of spring.

As posted before on FB, I am crocheting. I am not good, but I am creative.
My baskets are getting better, and I am going to be working on towels and dish
cloths next. Think Christmas. That does not seem to be filling my room, but
only filling my time.

I have realized that travel will help fill my room. Ann did not like to
travel, but I really do. I love the planning and organizing almost as much as
the actual going. I am meeting my two freshmen college roommates in Italy in two weeks

 We try to do things each year, and this was an exciting endeavor. We
rented a VRBO in Florence for a week. Plan on doing some day trips. Then we
head to Venice. We travel well together, so I am really excited. In my mind, I
have packed and repacked so many times. I have made a serious decision. I am
going to travel whenever I can. Why save money at this point in my life.
Another friend and I are working on a trip to the German Christmas markets in
December. The roommates are talking about an Outlander car tour in Scotland. I
would love to go to Poland. Make a suggestion. Meet me somewhere in Europe and
we will have a blast.  Morocco is on my list, but I am afraid of the heat and other things.

My blog looks like a poem. It is not. I just do not have that part down either. Time.

This is my dog, Lulabelle. She is trying to give up cigars. She can eat a ten dollar bully stick in five minutes. Sometimes I think she is practicing for some unknown contest. Interesting note: Bully stick is labeled a Pizzle. Pizzle is Middle English for bull penis. Maybe I will switch her back to cigars. Lu is not going to Italy. She is instead going to Aunt Diane’s dog camp. Sam, Diane’s dog, will be coming to Aunt Kathie’s dog came in June. Works out great. 

 

Patience, please have patience. I wanted to get this up before I went to Italy because I wanted to be able to post while there.