More of Lina's visit 10/2008

Of course, we had to have a cooking picture. Serena, Elena (the little helper), and Lina. I was taking the pic. The next three pics were up in Idyllwild at a restaurant. Idyllwild is in the mountains nearby, about 8000ft elevation.

Wedding Anniversary Trip Lake Arrowhead 11/1/2008

These are all pictures from a lovely walk we took around Lake Arrowhead during a weekend trip there for our anniversary.

Visit with Zia Lina 10/2008

This is my cousin Maria Giovanna Pasqualina Marro Erdmann, known to the family as Lina, to Elena as Zia Lina. Elena thoroughly enjoyed her visit. The top pic is in my house with Elena clowning around with jammie bottoms on her head. The next pic is at a mall. The next is at Oak Glen where there's a petting zoo I had taken Serena and Steve to many times when they were kids.

Nonna's Brag 10/2008

Elena at 2y 7mo drew a fish, she informed me...then she said....I'm making a "fffff" for fish....and she did!!

Garin 9/2008

Ok, now you know I AM around the bend. The fuzzy monkey on the left is Garin. Elena and I were sitting down enjoying play dough and she wanted me to make a Garin replica, so the little blue guy is another Garin. The red guys in the foreground are a duck and a dog. I'm certainly no sculptor, but we had fun. Oh, I am unsure of the spelling of the name. She named the monkey herself, so who knows?

Ensenada 8/2008

This is our favorite seafood restaurant in downtown Ensenada, a beach sunset, and a shot of Erich, Elena, and Serena on the Ruta Vinicola, the Mexican Wine Country right outside Ensenada.

Mexico 8/2008

This is typical chillin' at our beach place, this time with our granddaughter Elena and our dog Zoe.

Farmer Elena 7/2008

Elena, Serena, and Erich moved in to our downstairs June 30. We recreated an apartment there replacing a stove and fridge. The counter and sink had been left from the original owner before we moved here back in 1986. Anyway, I put in a summer garden in the spring just after I found out they were coming to stay. Elena loved picking the veggies. A side note: her hair really has changed color. She has a shade darker roots now with lighter streaks instead of the solid super light hair.

Paul and Terri's Wedding Shower 7/2008

The top pic is Kimberly, Lee's sister Jane's daughter. The next pic is Terri, Jane's now daughter-in-law, Paul David's wife. The last pic is Jane, Lee's sister, Serena, and Elena. It was an ultra elegant, very PINK affair. Marvelous food. I had just gotten back from the UK and Serena drove up to Fresno with me. Good thing she drove, since I was still pretty jet lagged.

Final Leg of Road Trip UK 7/2008

Ok, now here we have fantastic authentic British balmy weather. (pouring rain) Steve is reveling in it, bare headed. Lee is attempting to stay dry. We were looking for the huge cement dishes that were the "listening ears" during the war. We never were able to get close because it was locked up. They have special tours to go out to them, apparently they're on an island. We got to eat some more bad English food though. In London we always ate all the Continental, Asian, and Middle Eastern food. Out in the country we had to eat the authentic British stuff. EEEK!

Bed and Breakfast in the UK 7/2008

This place had fantastic places to roam around. The dining room had a lovely atmosphere. Typical English food (bad), but overall a great place.

South of Dover, UK 7/2008

Sure looks like the White Cliffs of Dover. We stopped at the end of our first day of roaming at a lovely bed and breakfast. Fantastic location right at these magnificent cliffs.

The English Channel 7/2008

We took a road trip with Steve. The first day we hit Brighton and saw the English Channel, sampled the local seafood. This does not look like a warm beach in July to me!!

Greenwich, UK 7/2008

I had heard lots about GMT (Greenwich Mean Time), but I had forgotten about the prime meridian. This explains it all. The town of Greenwich was lovely. I didn't include lots of other very green lovely pix. We didn't allow enough time here. A full day wasn't even enough. We could have stayed here overnight and enjoyed spending more time in this very peaceful place on the outskirts of London.

British Museum Egyptian Christian Exhibit 7/2008

The top pic is the oldest icon I have ever seen in person. I got to venerate it quite in peace...I didn't even know it was going to be there....I forgot where I was and that there were other people around. They were very kind to let me have a moment. I came back to earth and realized where I was...I think maybe my metanias and kiss made people realize "Oh it's not just another artifact on the wall." The explanation is below it. The next is an explanation and a picture of another part of the exhibit.

Pix from the London Eye (July 2008)

Royal College of Art (RCA) for Steve's Master's Graduation

The top pic is Steve with his classmates and their very posh Master's robes. Real (?) fur trimmed hoods no less. Next is our felled son at the feet of the monument across the street.
I can't do justice to the next pic...check out Steve's site..stevenlevon.com. The next pic is his graduation with one of the speakers and you all can guess who he is in the blur of faces. Maybe Steve can clue us all in.

Family Pix in NJ in June

Sadly, the reason I went to NJ was my sister in law Olga's funeral. The bottom pic is me with my brother Louie. The middle one is one of the collections of pics of Olga that was at the funeral home. She was much loved and will be greatly missed. She was my mother's favorite, so I grew up with a positive image of her that just grew as I became an adult myself. The top pic is Tom sleeping. He's technically my nephew by marriage, Louie's son in law, married to Michelle. Anyway, I even have a movie of this scene with him snoring, but I thought it was too mean to put it on the web.