Weekend Reflections

Lucky girls, who are growing up as I 
did—enjoying the beach and the
 water, and searching for sand crabs.

[To see more Weekend Reflections,
visit James's meme.]

dinner and a rainbow

 July 4th weekend:  Went out to collect
our dinner and came back with
a definite bonus.  I saw by friends posting
on Instagram that this storm
made its way up the East Coast and
left rainbows wherever it went.

[Linking back to signs, signs and Skywatch Friday.]

ABC Wednesday—Z is for "zucchini blossoms"

I ate as many of these as I could when I was
in Italy—fried, stuffed, or both.
Bonus: I never noticed the "Eat Me, I'm Ripe"
 sign until I got home and put this
up on the computer. 

[To see more ABC posts, go here.]

the red, white, and blue

Happy 4th of July from small-town
America—in this case, Piermont, New York.
It's only +/- 21 miles up the Hudson
from New York City, but
what a difference 21 miles makes!
Enjoy your holiday.

[Linking back to Ruby Tuesday
and Our World Tuesday.]

blue flower

This was taken with my new (okay, used)
macro lens.  Nice glass—and I'm
looking forward to the shots I can take when
I actually learn how to use it!

[Linking back to Blue Monday at
Magical Mystery Teacher
and to Macro Monday.]

inSPIREd Sunday

This is Santa Maria in Aracoeli, in Rome,
way up at the top of the Capitoline Hill.
I've been wanting to see the inside 
of this church for years.  Finally, last month, 
I climbed up there only to be stopped
at the door because there was a wedding
taking place.  The guard decided to
let us in, though—and I'm so glad.  There are
many, many gorgeous churches in Rome, 
but none with dozens of chandeliers like this one.
(And the wedding was beautiful too,
and bilingual: French bride, Italian groom.)

[To see more churches from
around the world, go here.]

The Weekend in Black and White

I was taught by nuns when I was in
elementary school.  Looking back, I realize
that some of them were up to the
task of dealing with 50 kids with that special
blend of tough and patient—and some,
frankly, probably shouldn't have been allowed
near small children.  Either way, I'm
left with a soft spot for nuns (especially elderly
ones).  These two were climbing  the
steps up to Santa Maria della Salute, in Venice.

[To see more b/w photos, visit Dragonstar's meme.]