Books Adventure Travel Books

Home hobbies is this week's Spoonflower challenge. Arts, crafts, sewing -- these have been hobbies but also necessities. With three daughters to clothe I spent many years sewing and I loved it. But they moved on and so did I. At one point I worked in the DIY industry -- so lots of arts and crafts. Now, in retirement, I'm able to pursue surface design.  Arts, crafts, sewing -- they are what I work at. Hobbies are what I do in my leisure time and for me, it's books and travel. 

My "home hobby" Spoonflower challenge depicts books and travel. When I was still in my teens, I read

Winged Skeleton

The Winged Skeleton jumped out at me (pun intended). The American tourist that I am, I immediately thought of Halloween!

The skeleton is a Monument to Cardinal Cinzio Aldobrandini and is located in San Pietro in Vincoli (Saint Peter in Chains), a church and minor basilica located in Rome.

Travel | Italy

My Zazzle Travel | Italy Collection was one of my planned goals for this year. Little did I realize I would be reliving my wonderful Italian adventures

as Italy is under siege from Covid-19. Nor did I expect to be confined to home indefinitely as Covid-19 ravages the US.

Sorting through photos from six different trips has been a poignant journey. Such happy times that now sadden me. Will I ever be able to return? I worry about the interesting, friendly, happy people I met while I was there. I have no family connections, no history, but Italy spoke to me.

Evening Stroll

Dusk, a beautiful time for a stroll. And the perfect place for a stroll is along the Via Appia Antica, Rome Italy. As day flowed into dusk, the ancient walls and ruins, the umbrella pines, and the cobblestones conjured up images of days gone by.

To blog or not to blog?

First web site in 1996

I’ve had a website since 1996 so it is hard to give it up. But I did – sorta. When I first started the website, it was innovative and worked well for me because I was in the DIY industry. I used it as a portfolio to promote my design work to vendors and picked up newsletter followers who were interested in the work I was doing for publications.

Around 2003, life got in the way –