Thank you to any who’ve visited this page while I’ve taken the spring and summer to travel and spend time with family and friends. Special thanks to those who have commented.  I sincerely appreciate your thoughtfulness and contribution to this body of information.

We’ve spent time in Italy, Scotland and Ireland (two visits since I’ve last written) and we took one more epic road trip through the great American West. This time, we brought along some friends from Ireland, so it was fun to see things through their eyes. For one of them, it was the first-ever visit to the U.S., so it was special to hear her take on the relative vastness and diverse topography of our country.

We’ve also tried out a new product marketed for travelers, so you’ll soon be able to check in that category to see what we thought of the TRTL neck “pillow.”

Our family has grown. (We still have just the three married daughters and five grandchildren, but have recently increased our little empty-nesters’ household by two)…PUPPIES!. Though we gave a lot of thought to the decision and did quite a bit of research into what breed to get (we had golden retrievers when our kids were young, but needed a smaller version with a similar disposition now that we live in a condo/patio home) it’s a fair bit harder at this age, when we’re more set in our ways. So my current motto, with all the potty trips outside in the humid, 90+ heat, is, “It’s a good thing they’re cute!” Finnegan is at left in the photo, and the tricolor, Fife, is named for Dave.s favorite region of Scotland – The East Neuk of Fife – a golfers’ paradise. Working with them has proven to be quite time consuming, but we’ve fallen pretty hard for them. Even so, with a journal full of notes, and a head and heart filled with new memories and images to share, I’m anxious to get caught up on this writing hobby of mine.

It’ll be a while before ALL these trips are encapsulated into share-worthy form, but the process has begun. The Italy entry should be posted soon. In the photos below are Positano, on Italy’s Amalfi Coast, The Natural Bridge at Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah, Horn Head in Dunfanaghy, Co Donegal, Ireland, and Scotland’s Isle of Ailsa, just off the UK’s west coast.

I hope you’ll come along and enjoy the ride.