Castelminio comes to California

 We have been having a great time with the Simionis from Castelminio Italy!

Mattia Simioni, the first Simioni I met on Facebook who lives in Rick's father's hometown, nearby Castelfranco Veneto. He's going to school at UCSanDiego and his mother, father, sister and her boyfriend, have come to San Diego for almost 3 week.

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Return to Yellowstone & Grand Tetons National Parks

Rick and I don't usually want to visit our national parks in the peak Summer months, but we we received an email from Rick's Ford buddy Jim White saying his family was heading to Yellowstone with their 5th wheel, we decided to join them.

It was HOT! 115f in Vegas when we stopped there the first night. Whew! Our trusty Ford F-250 diesel registered 140f while we were pulling the RV uphill. No problem for the truck. We on the other hand were too hot!

Still, we enjoyed our time with Jim & Kathy, their daughter Wendy, her husband Doug, and their 10 year old son Noah. He's a great kid and it occurred to me that the last time we visited Yellowstone we had 10 year old Julian with us! What a great age for a boy! Jr. Park Ranger, frogs, and all that good stuff!

We went here, Artist Point in the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone
on our honeymoon. But I broke the film.

Jim & Kathy White
with grandson Noah

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Meeting Eduard Simioni (from Cittadella)

Allora, the Simioni adventures continue! I just never know when I might meet one!

Earlier this week I saw on Facebook that Eduard Simioni (from Cittadella, Italy, but currently working in Germany) was in Las Vegas. I asked if he might come over to California and we were able to work out a plan. Eduard and I had chatted on Facebook a few times but not much. Still, it was exciting to get to meet another Simioni!

Eduard had had an "interesting" trip after having his driver's license stolen (not in the USA) and he had to take Greyhound buses to get around after a conference in Berkeley California.

We ended up meeting in San Diego -- I was able to show him around some of our favorite places in the little time available. We had plans to do more but got stuck on Coronado Island when the bridge was closed due to a potential "jumper"! So we stayed there and enjoyed an American barbecue dinner. Later we were able to drive back to San Diego, and take a drive-by tour of our "Little Italy". We ended up inviting him to stay at our home overnight.

Rick and I were happy to host Eduard, treat him to an American breakfast, show him our gardens, great beaches and Oceanside Pier, before heading over to an Italian restaurant to meet some of our friends for happy hour. We shared some vino and many laughs! Instant friendships!

Eduard has a fascinating scientific background and we think he and Julian will have a lot in common. They are now friends on Facebook too.

Time went too fast -- next time will plan something ahead of time!

Lisa DeLucchi, Rick, Eduard

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Our first visit to London

Post to follow

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Return to Salvatronda, Italy 2012

Back in Simioni-land!!

updates and photos to follow.

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A Busuito, Gigli, and Simioni in Rome!

Big surprise!
I was contacted on Facebook by a Busuito living in Rome!
Elisabetta Busuito. a criminal law attorney.
Her father was born in Sicily, she in Rome.
...we met. and, her sister is married to a Gigli from Rome.

more later.....

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Rome for my 60th Birthday

more later ( I hope!)

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Julian's 26th Birthday

Rick and I took a trip up to visit Julian for his birthday which fell on Easter this year. He's in Mountain View, California.

We also enjoyed time with Carole Polan and Hank Love. The newlyweds moved from Michigan to Berkeley last Fall. Julian and Carole grew up together, especially Summers at Higgins Lake, as we are close family friends. It was fun to have the "kids" together. Now we just need her brother James to get out there and take on Silicon Valley.

Julian directed us around the best of Mountain View and Palo Alto, with a drive through Stanford University, and by the high tech companies we all know so well: Facebook, Google, eBay/PayPal, Intuit, AOL, and more.  Then we took a drive up to Skyline Ridge which gave us views of the San Francisco Bay and surrounding cities. It was a long winding road through beautiful wooded scenery and while just minutes away for all that is Silicon Valley.

Julian just left his job at Zynga to take a few months off, and that give us time to spend Monday going to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, which is always cool!

Dinner at La Strada Restaurant in Palo Alto!

Julian, Carole Polan, Hank Love
Skyline Ridge near Palo Alto, CA

Monterey Bay Aquarium

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Flooding and mudslides in Cinque Terre

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There were terrible rains and mudslides in Cinque Terre about 10 days after we were there.
I'll post some of my "before" photos, but here are some from an Italian newspaper:
genova.repubblica.it/cronaca/2011/11/24/

I found it through an American girl living in Liguria's blog. I'll post one of her updates "Prima-e-dopo", but if you also read her earlier posts, you see how awful the mud was/is.

Monterosso

This church was directly across from our apartment in Monterosso al Mare

Another news story from when the floods happened:

http://www.euronews.net/2011/10/28/italy-declares-emergency-in-flooded-northwest/

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Michigan!

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Sue Lassiter's surprise 60th birthday party.

SLHS '70
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Italy 2011

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Giro dei Simioni 2 -- 2011

Here I am, in Bologna!  
Rick and I are in the 3rd week of our 5 week return trip to Italy and Simionis.

We started with Castelfranco Veneto, and Alice's family -- we proceeded to go on a cruise with them on MSC, the Italian cruise line Alice works for.  While Bari, Greece, Turkey, and Croatia were nice to see, the real joy was the fun we had with her family as her parents Emanuele Simioni and Renata Zampieri celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary.

The most fun was trying to communicate with them for 7 days and nights when they speak no English, and we speak little Italian!  We had to create word games which became quite hysterical! Of course Alice, our fluent English/Italian speaker, was quite busy most of the time!

After the cruise Rick and I spent a few nights in Venice. Rather than just "see Venice" (we have visited on 2 other day-trips) we choose to rent an apartment back away from the crowds. We roamed quite streets/canals, but also went to visit St. Mark's Square with the basilica and Doge's Palace. (Be sure to use the time-saving tips for avoiding the long lines for tickets and entry. Ask me. We walked right in!)  

I found this article written by someone who stayed in the same district we did, Cannaregio, and also rented an apartment. She writes much better than me about why we enjoy getting a more local feel for cities we visit. Yep, we are still tourists, but try to be respectful visitors.
live-like-a-local-in-cannaregio-venice

After Venice we returned to Simionis and Castelfranco Veneto.

When back on land we spent time with Alice's aunts, uncles, and cousins, and especially enjoyed the polenta festa! (We went twice!)  We were surrounded by hundreds of people from local villages and all their families. A taste of not only great "poenta" (the Venetian dialect for polenta) but real Italian life.

Our main reason for visiting Castelfranco Veneto has been to trace Rick's father's family. We have not found any Simioni relatives, but this year we found a cousin! Rick's aunt's son, Alfredo Fior, right in Salvatronda! (See more on "Finding Desiderio" blog.) We could not have done this without Alice and her father taking us to Alfredo's home and introducing us to him in Venetian dialect! It was something special!

Still, Alice and her family ARE our family now! Maybe not by blood, but by the heart! We love these people! And I will continue to investigate upline since we also have more info (birthdates) of Desiderio's parents...  maybe we will connect up a generation or 3! 

While staying in our Castelfranco apartment, we drove to Thiene/Sarcedo and visited the families of Roberto and Francesco Simioni again. Francesco organized a family pranzo at an agriturismo which provided a fantastico meal. We ate and drank for 2 hours of course! Giulia Simioni was home from her NYC job for a few days, so we all enjoyed a reunion! New babies and toddlers, food and wine, english and italian. 

Francesco let Rick take the controls a bit!

- - - - - 

Rick and I spent two days alone in Verona, with a great spot right over Piazza Erba, and across from Torre Lamberti! We met a British couple we share breakfast and wine with on our hotel balcony both days.

Here in Bologna we've had another special treat as our San Diego friend, Lisa DeLucchi, who is spending 7 weeks in Florence, came here and spent 2 days with us! We've talked about this for months with our Italian language meet-up groups and friends, and we did it! We met right on her birthday and went out for terrific tagliatelle ragu, and tortellini en brodo!(at Eataly -- followed by some ridiculous singing of "My bologna has a first name, it's O-S-C-A-R..... yep, got it on video!)

Add that our Bolonese friend, Alessandro Cipressi. He gave us a personal tour as he did last year, but the sun was shining this time!  And we then had a fantastic lunch (although that is not difficult to do here in Bologna!)


We soooo love the food here, and Bologna is such an interesting town, but really, we are here for the food!  :)


... more to follow....



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Jennifer turns 50, and a great visit with the Schwarz family

It's hard to believe that I haven't been back to Michigan in 2 years. Time flies.
So when a $180 round trip airfare with Delta popped up a few weeks ago, I grabbed a flight and arrived in Detroit to surprise Jennifer Yess on her 50th birthday.  What fun it was to do so!

Thanks to Julie Rybicki quickly organizing a surprise lunch for Jen with a few of our ol' GM pals, I was able to walk in and join the celebration!  Then later on that Saturday night, I was treated to dinner at the top of the Ren Cen at Coach Insignia restaurant with Jen, John and 4 others.  I think John paid more for my dinner than my flight cost!


And then there were the Schwarz kids! I'd been looking for a reason to get there! Beautiful 21 month old Bella and her baby brother Bryan, just 2 months old! Me and Mom Alexis spent several days together playing, feeding, rocking, changing diapers, cooking, and lots of talking and hugging! It was so fun to see these lovely babies, and to give Alexis, and Jon, a little break. What a treasured time for me!

Several friends came by at Alexis' to visit with me so I could help out AND see people.  Penny through a family party on Friday night, so I was able to catch up all those fun kids and parents.

There are still some great airfare deals popping up.  I may have to do this again soon!

Love you all! 

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Bryan Schwarz, Palm Springs, and Joshua Tree National Park

The newest addition to our family arrived 10 days ago:  Bryan Schwarz.  A little brother for Bella, and a son for Alexis and John. Well, not so "little"... he was 8lbs 14oz.
Unfortunately I cannot figure out how to steal photos from Facebook anymore, or I'd post some here.  Maybe later.


Meanwhile,

A week at our timeshare in Palm Springs.

Had a great day today at Joshua Tree National Park.  Love the rock formations. Rick and I took two hikes, one to the dam, another through Hidden Valley where massive boulders create this secret place cattle thieves used to hide out in.

Keys View, up over 5,200 feet, took us to a fabulous overlook, and a little bit of snow.  I made a snowball and got my fill of "winter"!

It is about 15 degrees cooler here in Palm Springs than it should be, but at least the rain only lasted a day.  We strolled through a couple of art and street fairs over the weekend, had a great Mexican dinner in town, and are just sort of hanging out.

Neither of us feel like studying our Italian lessons.  oh well.

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Orlando!

My cousin Louise flew down from Detroit to Orlando and I arrived from San Diego within 15 minutes of each other which was great!  No snow delays in spite of some crazy weather the north, northeast, and even Atlanta which was my stop-over city.

My Dad is down this way each winter, in Lakeland.  He's 86 now and I came down to visit him.  Louise's brother, my cousin Roger, and his wife Jill, are also down here for the winter.

But it's been COLD!! And then stormy.  Finally our last day the sun is shining brightly.

No theme parks this time, just hanging out.

On Monday I picked up my Dad, his friend Marie, and drove to St. Pete to visit the Miller.

.......  more later.

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Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

We had a wonderful Christmas.... more to follow.

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Pesta-Palozza!

Wow, I've been so busy with Christmas stockings and packages for the troops with my "Aunt Nancy USA" project, and my SendOutCards home business, that I didn't get around to updating this blog when our tourist season ended!  ;)

Rick Brosch came by for a week --  but, as has happened a lot this year, he didn't get good weather.  :(  Still, we always have fun when he is here!

Over-lapping a bit, the Pestas started arriving:
Melissa and Dutch arrived on Friday (and stayed at Carolyn's)
Leslie flew in from Florida Saturday morning, Rick flew out mid-day, and Penny and Carl flew in Saturday night!  WHEW!

And again, in spite of the crummy, wet, weather, we had fun.  Even spent two days at Legoland and "Brick or Treat" there on Saturday night!

Watching the Michigan v Michigan State football game with Rick(s) in Pacific Beach

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More fun with visiting friends!

Ray and Sharon are friends from Michigan (Ford) who have retired in Las Vegas. After a summer of 110 degrees for months, they were looking forward to a few days in San Diego to cool down a bit.  We promised them cool ocean breezes.

Well, after the coolest summer in San Diego since 1933, we are having a heat wave this weekend!  It's in the 90's here in Vista, which is actually still pretty nice.  We hung out by the fire pit last night with glasses of wine and a full moon.  Awesome!

Today we did the Hwy 101 tour: Oceanside Pier (and yes, Ruby's for burgers), then the coast, through Carlsbad, Encinitas, Solana Beach, and down to Torry Pines Golf Course.  

Now for some football, cold beer, and just chillin' out.

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Alice in Wonderland!

Alice Simioni is here from Castelfranco Veneto, Italy! 

What a sweetie!  I'm having a blast showing her the best of San Diego, hitting all the parks (Zoo, Wild Animal Park, SeaWorld, and Disneyland!)  We're eating 'amburgers & fries, pancakes and French toast.  Watching "Gone With The Wind" and "Centennial". 
Rick is even allowing the Disney Channel while Alice and I sing songs together.

San Luis Rey Mission

Del Mar

California Simionis BBQ

Corn on the Cob American Style!






Our hot tub and pool






Wild Animal Park

We got together several different times with her Simioni relatives in Laguna Nigel.  It still amazes me that Castelfranco Simionis live that close to us.  I wrote down all the names Olga Simioni remembered, and we'll work on more later. What a fun family!

Alice tried to help Rick with his Italian lesson studies, but I don't think it helped!

And our "Princess" got her crown at Wonderland:

We met crazy Fausto too!  He came for our BBQ and also went with us up to Laguna Nigel for the day we had to return our Princess.

Alice: we are sorry you had to leave and look forward to your return to Wonderland!  <3




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Welcome Back Art & Kathy!

It was short but fun, as Art & Kathy came back to Villa Simioni!

Art had a conference in San Diego, but we got them here 4 nights and 3 1/2 days.  While we didn't get our best San Diego weather (it was cooler than normal and overcast from the marine layer in the mornings) we managed a trip to Temecula Wineries.  

LaJolla glideport by Torrey Pines, a trip down the coast on Coaster train, and then a visit with Kathy's MSU college friend Patti.

Well, Patti's family was wonderful!  We were taken for a ride around San Diego Bay on their boat, ate a little dinner and laughed for hours!  We were all a little surprised when Bill let Rick drive the boat... well, when he had him pull it right into the marina!  Rick was a bit relived when Bill took over at the end!

Thanks Bill, Patti, Kelly, & Jason!

Best of all may have been Art & Kathy's repeat gift of a carryon bag full of White Castle hamburgers, and two 5 pound frozen blocks of National Coney Island chili!

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