Italy, Oh Italy

Tuscany of mellow light,
The golden hue,
The brush of green.
Tuscany of blue-washed height,
The creamy stone,
The dusty road,
Tuscany....a pleasing sight!

Shirl:)
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If I had a genii in a bottle....and I rubbed him until he popped out....up....uh, whatever....and if he granted me a wish to go anywhere in the world....I would pick Italy!
Then if this genii would transport me there....on a beautiful magic carpet.....I would have him gently lower me to earth upon the soil of Tuscany!

But, Venice would be a wonderful place to be transported to also....standing on one of the humped up bridges....watching the people!
The sexy frenchmen...with their berets and striped jerseys....the singing gondoliers....the piazas and side-walk cafes.....the vivid colors that sing and ripple!

Ahh...to hope.....to wish.......per chance to dream!!!..............

Arizona Babe

This is me when I lived in Lake Havasu Arizona. I am watering my cactus (which I stole from the desert!!).

The cactus is surrounded by black/brown lava rock (which I stole from the hillside up from the house!!!).

The fill-in is white quartz rock which you can walk through the desert and pick up (it's FREE!!!)

Out from the front of me and the cactus is about a four-foot hill down to the street. This hill is lined from top to bottom and side to side with black/brown lava rock (you know!!!!)

The rest of that yard remained desert. I lived in the desert; I loved the desert! No grass going in there!!!

If you enlarge the picture you will see that the property is up on a high elevation. That whole area sloped upwards from the Colorado River, to the hills. You can barely see, way out there and below a faint strip of blue which is the river.

Lake Havasu City was way down there by the river. It was small, just being built actually at that time. It has grown a lot!!!!! I lived here when they brought over the London bridge, stone by stone; dug a wide and deep trench between the city and the airport which was on a finger of land, making it an Island; and built the London Bridge there, reconnecting the airport to the city. It was fun to watch!!!

I was scrounging around down in the bushes and rocks along the river, picking up smooth, polished river rocks to take back to my cactus beds; found a beautiful gray and white snake skin that had been shed. Of course I had to cart that back home too. Kept it until it began to stink!!

My sons caught a scorpion in a jar and their father showed them how to make it sting it's 'own bad self ', as Cindy would say!

Once they caught a really cool grasshopper and put it in a cage, and put a saucer of water in there for it. It drowned in it's own drink!! (Sounds like me!!!)

My sons would wander the desert around our house; this was their playground. They took the youngest with them, who was barely more than a toddler, and he fell into a cactus!! (That was fun, for me!!!)

We, as a family, would take many trips out into the desert and explore; gathering (stealing!) cactus and rocks and strange pieces of wood; exploring mines, and observing wildlife.

I loved Arizona!!! It was my favorite place of anywhere I have lived!