Book Friday !

It's here, it's here !

Yesterday a book came in the mail.
From a friend from my homeland, who is the author.
First Edition.
Signed, with dedication.
About my city, my land, sea, and then more.
A real treat.
Come back soon for a complete review.

In the meantime, thank you, Simone.

Goodby, CowBoy !

It was a matter of time, we knew that, we were hoping that somehow Cowboy would be around for a long time, even for a cat. Only kitten from our Moka mama-cat, he has been the most long living, real survivor on a property with coyotes, howls, hawks, and many more dangers.

Here we lost countless cats, one dog, and the count goes on.
But no Cowboy. He was a natural born killer cat. Didn't look like it. At first sight he looked more like a lazy, fat cat, content to stretch on the front porch, and play pranks on our dogs...

However, no squirrel, no bird, no snake were safe from Cowboy. His agility to climb, and his unbelievable speed made him a squirrel killing machine hard to beat. Often we would find dead (and decapitated) squirrels by the front door, with Cowboy just few feet away...

Cowboy is no more. One morning he just didn't show up as usual. Guess he found the "faster gun"...

Goodbye, old friend.

Books Books Books ( for free ! )

Well, for once a post with no pictures..

I am super excited, following a friend's link, I found a site called
Book Sneeze.

Here is the deal: if you are a blogger, and love books, you just found a small gem. After you send in an application, this guys will have a look at your blog, and if accepted, you can request a free book at the time, read it, write a review on the book, blog about it, and keep the book.

For a family of bookworms like mine, this is so sweet.

Sorry, Roberto V. from Trieste Daily Photo I am afraid this is only for US residents.

Have a happy weekend, you all !

Flood

If you goo back in the blog, you will find a post about us moving, and the picture of a moving truck in our driveway.



This same driveway pictured right here, only a few weeks ago: yes, water everywhere. Yes, we did move out from there , but we still had some stuff (mostly books) stored in a small garage just a bit to the right, in this photo. It has been a 100% total loss of our stuff, and now it's between mildew, stink, and the insurance company. Only in 337 books we lost almost $7000, and that is an underestimate. My father and mother in law had their house flooded, and their losses are hard to even look at. But life goes on, bleach spray bottle , mop, bucket, and all. Have a safe and happy Halloween, y'all !

I am back. ( again )

After a year ( almost ) of absence, I decided to resurrect this blog.
It's kind of a rebellion to Facebook.
I need *my* space.

So, here we are gain. I will try to do my best to publish few times a week. Daily, is out of the question. There is way too much stuff going on in my life to commit to daily publishing.

Come back, see what's new, leave me a comment, and let's see where I can take this blog.

Welcome back.

The picture of today is a "memory lane" one.
My parents ( couple on the right, with some friends, in Zagreb, Croatia, circa 1954.

Thanksgiving

Oggi e' la Festa del Ringraziamento, negli USA. Thanksgiving, lo chiamano. Ogni anno, questa festa segnala l' inizio delle festivita' Natalizie, e, dello shopping piu' sfrenato che abbia mai visto.

Non per noi, quest' anno. Abbiamo deciso 11 mesi fa che questo Natale, i doni saranno rigorosamente "fatti in casa". Tanto per ridimensionare le cose, e renderle piu' ... personali, se vogliamo. Si sono verificati altri cambiamenti, ultimamente, che modificheranno queste festivita'. Cose nostre, di famiglia, private insomma. E' un momento di riflessione, di intimita' come famiglia e di profonda riflessione personale.

Ci vediamo tra pochi giorni.

Sunset sky inTexas

After what seems an eternity, I emerge from a sea of fever, aches, coughs, Kleenex tissue, nights spent sleeping in a chair because I could not lay down and try to sleep ( cough and feeling of choking would overpower me).

Call it flu, bronchitis, pneumonia, call it any way you want it, it was a nasty bug.

Not 100% over yet, but good enough to get back to work and boy, do I gave a backup to catch up to ...

Now our youngest one has started on the same path of endless, repetitive, dry cough spells at night, and insurance or not, she is going to the doc. right away, like NOW.

In the meantime i leave you with a masterpiece set up in the Texas sky few days ago. I happened to be in the right spot at the right moment, and I even had a camera.

Wrong lens, but hey, who is looking, right ? (hint: click on the picture to really see it..)

This picture is "straight out of the camera" NO editing of ANY sort.

Enjoy the entire sequence here .

And don't steal my pictures, copyright law enforced. And I am coming after you.