Na zdravje, Alenka!

My friend, it feels like you were just here. Maybe because you were. Let’s see what all we did. (Story in the captions.)

The wall is okay. /Roma/

But I hear you prefer benches…/Pitigliano/

It’s better in two though. /Sovana/

Or in three. /Porto Santo Stefano/

You make a lovely family. /Orbetello/

Just your wedding planner is a bit out of shape… 😀 /Civitella Maritima/

…and sometimes confuses bridges. /NOT the way to Sovana/

But it was still a lovely walk.

It made us hungry and studying was in order. /Sovana/

Wow effect. /Pitigliano/

Matching colour scheme. /Porto Ercole/

Wow effect was on this side. /Capalbio/

By Lake Burano

We call it Spanish elder, they call it lilac.

The same field where I lied down and got zero poppies. /Capalbio scalo/

Matching colour scheme II.

Bodyguard.

Deserved rest. /Terme Saturnia/

But not for long: you are putting your shoes back on…

…and it’s action time again. /Capalbio beach/

Photo: a © signature mmm production

And a special thank you to Jože for this photo from Roma. We just had to sit down a little again. 😀

Dear Alenka, thank you so much for your visit and good times. Today is your birthday and no matter what have a cin cin in my name too. I hope to see you back here soon.

Thursday Doors, April 28

One CAN get overdoored. It happened to me in the last four days.

Doors were attacking me left and right. When sorting the photos I got so overwhelmed that I almost missed the deadline for this week’s Norm’s Thursday Doors. Here is just a teaser: one door from every place that we visited.

We started out with a day in Rome: here the Embassy of Slovenia in Vatican.

The next day it was Pitigliano first.

Then it was a hike to (the wrong) one of the Via Cave where a door was the last thing I expected.

And we ended in Sovana not on foot as intended.

Day three, the monastery at Monte Argentario

Porto Santo Stefano

Porto Ercole

Orbetello

The WWF Oasis Lake Burano headquarters

Capalbio

The last day started with Civitella Maritima.

It continued with Siena with its magnificent cathedral. Wonderful visitors minded bestia for me throughout. Thank you!

And to finish off the door odyssey: Abbey of St. Antimo.

Photo: a © signature mmm production

For Norm Frampton’s Thursday Doors challenge.

SL-WEEK 31: Fleeting time

I know the idea was to post a wicked long-exposure shot, but alas I don’t do that, except by accident. For me, the word that best captures the concept of time is fleeting.

But first a little story. We loved playing a kind of charades when we went to our annual sea adventure to Duba. The words to pantomime were random and sometimes very difficult to guess. One time it was mom’s turn to show and ours to guess. Before starting on the first word she looked towards the horizon and gave a little smile. “Fleeting,” came out of my mouth. Actually, “minljiv,” we are Slovenians after all.

It was correct.

These are kind of like that.

Photo: MM

For Sylvain Landry’s SL-WEEK 31: Time

WPC: Circling around

First a few edible circles. Portorož fish canteen: a glass is a circle.

Plates are circles.

Home cooking: A bone is a circle.

Two cooking utensil circles.

A yummy circle from Ljubljana restaurant.

An Etruscan circle from Vulci museum.

The wheel was invented on this beach.

Lovely circles on Mengeš streets.

Circular growth back home.

The setting sun in Piran is a circle.

A ball is a circle first.

Roma: The moon is a circle even when there is nobody in the forest to see it.

A circle on my daily walk to the station.

This pumpkin that was still growing in Piran garden last week is a bright orange circle.

A fountain is a circle.

And now some images with multiple circles: first two wooden.

Then a disco ball and kaki fruit.

Quite a few circles in Il giardino dei tarocchi.

Several happy circles from Porto Santo Stefano to round this topic off.

Photo: MM

In response to The Daily Post’s weekly photo challenge: Circle

WPC: Our ooops moments

Over here, ooops moments are rich and varied. Let’s investigate a few.

First there is weird camera stuff: two images that the camera decided to take by itself right here from the desk, plus two that I think are called double exposure (hm… yes?). Or maybe it’s parallel universes? In any case, I like it.

Ooops can also be in the action itself: a flood in Terme Saturnia, followed by a hurricane in our back yard, followed by dry Fontana di Trevi under construction, followed by a lovely bookcase, just a bit high up (yes, ours!), followed by what amore calls “the Italian fantasy”, and last but not least, not really a welcome in Porto Ercole.

Here are a few animal ooopses: a sheep that lost its footing, the gecko that to me is in itself one big ooops, a sea (food) predator, and a mysterious cage of a dead parrot in Porto Santo Stefano.

The following happened when our olive tree called Olgo (because it’s male) got refreshed and we burnt the cut-off branches in our fireplace. Never put the wooden crate in an indoor situation on fire like that, in case you didn’t know. It BURNS. Consequence: the lovely green mirror you see above the mantel cracked from side to side. (It would anyway, crate or no crate, since the chimney behind it was so hot.)

My favourite ooops moments involve funny poses: mom as Kenny, mom as a peperoncino walrus, bestia as a symbol of joy, silly puppy face and silly photographer stand (but with nice imagery of Val d’Orcia).

This is better.

Photo: MM & last two MeMa (that’s you, mom!)

In response to The Daily Post’s weekly photo challenge: Oops!

WPC: Extra(ordinary)

Extraordinarily, how it is all about perception in life…

An extra-ordinarily crammed shop.

And yet one can always find a happy-making object.

Even more than one.

An (extra)ordinary lagoon (at Orbetello).

Birds will be birds.

Except when they are pinkish flamingos! (This image is thanks to my zoom, I have yet to see them as up close. They like to stay away.)

Coffee will be coffee (never, if you ask Italians), but this one (in Porto Santo Stefano) is extra happy-making. Do yourself a favour: be extraordinary. Live happily.

Photo: MM

In response to The Daily Post’s weekly photo challenge: “(Extra)ordinary.”