Day 8

 Rome and Home!

OOOOOOOOOH!!!! I'm going to have to sit on my hands TODAY!!!!!!!!

DD due home very late tonight!!!!

Thank You to everyone that's joined me this week and left comments.Xx

Day 7

The Island of Vulcano. If you’ve read Roman mythology you’ll be familiar with Thermessa or Vulcano. It was the abode of Vulcan, the Roman God of Fire, and also the entrance to Hades. It is a volcanic island and Thucydides, Siculus and Aristotle have recorded eruptions.

 It's where the word volcano comes from.. I have been informed.

Spectacular!

Mud bath and quading biking cross country if they have chance this afternoon!

Day 6

Already? Really, hope it's not going to fast for my DD.

♥Etna Summit Day♥

Not sure DD's team will make it up there today..
 

Mt. Etna was looking pretty active yesterday
 

...de-gasing

KEEPING MY FINGERS & TOES.. EVERYTHING ELSE

CROSS FOR YOU MY DARLING XXX

~♥♥♥~

Day 5

No rest for some people! My daughter spent last night on an over-night ferry to the Mediterranean Island of Sciliy.

She set off from Naples Harbour at 20:00 hrs. The ferry was expected to arrive at Palermo Harbour at 06:00.

Just hoping she managed some sleep!

Palermo's harbour is one of the most ancient in the Mediterranean.

No time to stop! DD has a 4 hour coach transfer to Zafferana Flanks today at Mt Etna.

I'm not green, I'm not green, I'm not green!!!!!!

Day 4

Transfer day today.. as DD waves good-bye to Sorrento she heads further south to Positano and a tour along the Almalfi Coast.

After settling in it's time for a coastal walk along the limestone cliffs and a visit to the Emerald Grotto.

The Grotto dello Smeraldo is a spectacular sea cavern located in the Conca dei Marini and is known as the 'Emerald Grotto', getting its name from the rich green colour of its pretty sandy floor. Reached by either boat or bus, the Grotto dello Smeraldo is one sight not to miss and inside you will discover some huge stalagmites and stalactites. 

Another highlight of my daughter's trip!

(I still can't get over the fee for parking a coach for the day! £900)

Day 3

Day 3 already?! Today my daughter is visiting Herculaneum an ancient Roman town destroyed by volcanic pyroclastic flows AD 79.

It is most famous for having been lost, along with Pompeii, Stabiae and Oplontis, in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius beginning on August 24, AD 79, which buried them in superheated pyroclastic material that has solidified into volcanic tuff.

Pyroclastic flow..doesn't mean a thing to me but I know my daughter will be happy to see some IRL!

Today also sees my daughter visiting Solfatara a shallow volcanic crater at Pozzuoli near Naples (part of the Campi Flegrei volcanic area. Solfatara is a dormant volcano, which still emits jets of steam with sulphurous fumes.

Looks spectacular!

Day 2

To say I'm a little worried about my daughter today is an understatement. I know she will feel very emotional today visiting Pompeii and her first volcano of the trip.. Vesuvius.. 

I am so looking forward to hearing what she makes of her visits today and know today is a very special day in her life for her.. she has been so looking forward to today in many ways!

Yikes, the volcano can still errupt at any time..

My Daughter is very much in touch with the spiritual side of things and I know today will be humbling for her in my ways on many levels... 

My thoughts and prayers are with her today..xxx

Day 1

Thursday 23rd June: Arr College 2:30am

Liverpool to Naples

Flight departure: 06:10am, Temperature: 55f (12c) Visibility: 6 miles... rain!

Duration of flight: 3h 00m

Arrival: Status Details: scheduled arrival time 10:10 Actual: 09:53, Local Time: 10:54

Naples

Temperature: 78f (25c), Wind 1mph.... SUN!

Yeah! DD landed safely 29 minutes ago!!!

Coach transfer to Sorrento (2 hours)

 Afternoon to explore Sorrento

then evening meeting to discuss Day 2 intinerary to Vesuvius and Pompeii

Have fun my Darling! ♥♥♥

Sorted!

Today is the day..... at 2.30am my daughter sets off to Liverpool Airport for her flight to Naples, Italy.


Finally!!!! The final checklist is ALL crossed off!!! With 1 1/2 hours to spare!!! Just need to keep awake now!!!!

SORTED!!

What a week that followed the fire!

Should I share my good news or my bad news with you first?? Lets, get the bad stuff out of the way!

It was only in the early hours of last Friday morning that we had to deal with a fire outside our window and now tonight.. just look at THIS!

Just as we have been coming to terms with the flashbacks we breathed a sigh of relief a week on.. and now we are having to deal with more upheaval.. this work was scheduled for the 20th June in a letter we received one day ago! Why dig up now on the 10th June? on a Friday?? It did take them a whole nosiy day to produce about 6 holes this size on the street.. this is 'ours'

not quite sure how they managed to dig 'around' the smoke damaged spot of last Friday's fireball! but they managed it!!

 our matching 'hole' across the road :( and a teeny weeny one to keep it company!

I pray the emergency services don't need to come past in a hurry in the next few weeks.. look at the size of the gap!

I hope they don't work weekends!!

I did have some 'nice' stuff that happened this week. Yeah! (my Birthday! she whispers... I said I didn't want anymore!!) but.............. that got spoilt by the glass repairers on the morning of my birthday giving us an hours notice that they were comming to repair the broken windows from the fire.. we were told it would be Friday.. did the glass repairers have a crystal ball and know they wouldn't have been able to get near our windows today????

No matter what has happened this week I can't tell you how grateful I am for the kind wishes we have received since the terrifying fire. I appreciate everyones messages and emails. Thank you so much.

I was speechless when I opened this gorgeous card all the way from the Netherlands..

 Thank You so much Nellie.. your card made me smile and your sweet message too..xx

~♥~

I have been so lucky to have had lots of lovely post arriving this week. 

A very special Thank You for all the beautiful hand-made birthday cards that came through the door. It was such a great pleasure to receive them.

Thank You! XXX

These are some of my beautiful cards that I received.. 

 What can I say! A Wonderful surprise indeed this week to receive

an original piece of artwork from Jo Capper-Sandon

(you can see Jo's original pic on her blog :)

another surprise and super amazing card from Pat 

 (details on Pat's blog)

I adore and will treasure ALL my birthday cards.. Thank You ♥♥♥

Over on the Bubbly Funk forum we like to share photographs of the cards we have received from the lovely talented ladies in the Birthday club.. here are some of mine :-)

Please forgive the watermark I have added after Googling for an image the other day and spotted one of my tags on the first page.. couldn't believe it! not sure how it got there!

Net ~ (Caique-momma)

Tracy ~ crafty me!

Karen ~ Karen's Carry Ons

Kaz ~ Slightly Wonky Crafts

 Wow! I was only admiring this card the other day!!

 Nicky

Chrissie

 

Ali

Sue ~ Sue's Snippets

Hazel ~ My Crafty Outlook

Kathy ~ Kathy's Waffle

Thank You Bubblies.. I LOVE and adore all your beautiful hand-made cards.XXX

~♥~

I am so excited to share with you some of the beautiful gifts I received.. can't believe I forgot to include the Dylusions sprays.. they have been already whisked away and added to my ink box!! Special Thanks to Ben for finding something I have been searching for everywhere! AFTH came up trumps!

I also received a fabulous gift voucher to spend at The Craft Barn and some gorgeous images and die-cuts to play with.. THANK YOU.XXXXX

~♥♥♥~

Even though my birthday, day didn't go to plan I had a fantastic day last Monday spent in the company of one very special lady friend She ♥♥♥ I was very lucky indeed to meet up with the fabulously talented Sheila and spend the whole day at Oswaldtwistle Mills (Sheila is a warm, bubbly person who glows with happiness which can't help but rub off onto you! It did me a world of good to spend some quality time with She and also my daughter and youngest son. A fabulous time was had by all!

(I have just been over to Sheila's blog to collect a link for here.. and I am smiling all over remembering our wonderful day.. I was quite surprised to see how awful I look on photos!!!... not sure I want to share the link with you now!!! rofl!!!)

Sheila presented me with some of her gorgeous artwork..how lucky am I?!! 

a fabulous guardian angel canvas!

I shall treasure it always :-D

a card to open when we met :)

Sheila also made me a beautiful birthday card

and presented me with my grungy chunky book..

 The book was bound and the covers hand-made by Sheila..how beautiful they look :-)

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE ALL THE PAGES in my book and promise to share them with you soon..along with the pages I made too :-)

My book is truly an AMAZING work of art and I adore it madly.. THANK YOU everyone in the swap.XXXXX

~♥♥♥~

I've one more thing to share with you tonight..now this morning.. 

 My dear, dear friend Carolyn over at Love Stitching Red ♥

sent me the most beautiful card and gift along with some wool my children bought me for my birthday from Carolyn's Etsy shop.. take a look if you get the chance.. Carolyn has some wonderful goodies planned for her shop :-) 

OOOOOOH I LOVE this wool.... save me some if you can!!!!

Promise I'm going to shut up now.. I am sooo tired!

I started this post 2 hours ago can you believe it!! I know I probably shouldn't have left a space between the word copy right.. at the time I was trying to spread it out across the pic.. now I've uploaded the pics I thought how silly am I? at 1.42am please forgive me..

I have so many personal emails and Thank You's I want to send and promise to write to everyone over the weekend.. Thank you for taking the time to read through my mega post! One thing blogging my week has helped me to realise is that the 'good things' have wayyyy out weighed the bad things this week.

Thank You Everyone from the bottom of my heart for making the BEST bits of this week WONDERFUL.XXXX

Nearly forgot to show you these.... gorgeous flowers that arrived through the post! Have I been spoilt or what!

:o)

Special Thank You for everyone's birthday wishes over on my crafty blog.xxx

The Simple Woman's Daybook

FOR TODAY Sunday, 5th June 2011

Outside my window... rain.. again! ... back to normal then!

I am thinking... what's causing my bones to ache constantly..

I am thankful for... that my vertigo feels like it is finally lifting after 7 1/2  months!

From the kitchen... shut til lunch..

I am wearing... soggy wet jeans turned up at the bottom & long sleeved t-shirt

I am creating... with the most gorgeous digi images..

I am going... to be another year older in 3 days.. yikes!

I am reading... STILL reading.. Harry Potter book 4 to my eldest son..

I am hoping...  we soon get our broken windows fixed & the house re-painted after the fire.. (see my other blog.. HERE)

I am hearing... rainfall outside :(

Around the house... seedlings that were potted on yesterday.. too tiny for the garden just yet!

One of my favourite things... huggles with my little boy

A few plans for the rest of the week:  meeting my very dear friend She tomorrow... trying to come to turns with another birthday!! & hopefully creating art.. it is so good for my soul :)

Here is a picture I am sharing... 

 click to enlarge

I am linking my post to June's The Simple Womans Daybook

Thank you for calling.. have a lovely day. Gez ♥