Thank You Veterans for Your Service!

   

My Grandfather Ransford WWI

"On that day let us solemnly remember the sacrifices of all those who fought so valiantly, on the seas, in the air, and on foreign shores, to preserve our heritage of freedom, and let us reconsecrate ourselves to the task of promoting an enduring peace so that their efforts shall not have been in vain."
 -- Dwight D. Eisenhower

Though both my father and father-in-law honorably served this country in WWII and The Korean Conflict, these pictures are of my grandfather who served in WWI, Europe.  After purchasing a small diary overseas, he pounded out a case for it out of scrap metal.  In this tiny book, he wrote the names of every soldier with which he served.  He also wrote of the mundane daily life he experienced as well as his hopes and thoughts.  I'm happy to have this part of our family history.

1905 Frank Ransford

My heartfelt gratitude goes out to all those Veterans whose sacrifices have made this country the great place that it is to live.  And thank you to those currently serving these great United States of America.

--Carolyn

Summer Time Fun

Written in a hallway in Chicago!

NYC! Happy 28th!

Thanks to my hubby of twenty-eight years, I had quite an amazing summer.  After looking back through all the photos, I have chosen a few to share (and a few to share again!)  Traveling is such an adventure, from discovering new cultures, to experiencing the thrills of a spectacular view.  Little did I know in fifth grade (circa 1973) when I flunked Geography because I could not fill out the blank blue line maps which were part of the curriculum, that forty years later I would be mesmerized by the maps of the world, and dream of experiencing those places in real time. So many spots are awe inspiring, and getting to experience some of them this summer made memories to last a lifetime!   

The Twelve Apostles, Great Ocean Road, Australia

The Down Under Crew

Austrian Alps

   Some of the best memories are those shared with loved ones.  One of our favorite spots is Innsbruck, Austria, and its view of the Alps.  We did venture into Slovakia and found its capital of Bratislava with the blue Danube meandering through, just delightful.  My daughter and I were thrilled with the Spanish Riding School in Vienna, and enjoyed climbing the hills of Salzburg.  My wonderful sister-in-law introduced us to the pottery craftsmen in Soufflenheim, France.  I was able to introduce my sister-in-law and my daughter to the lovely Coburg, Germany which just happen to coincide with Deutschland winning the World Cup.  Fun times for all involved!

Bratislava, Slovakia

Veste Coburg, Coburg, Germany

The summer ended with a great trip to the Rocky Mountains and an equitrekking adventure at the Drowsy Water Ranch.  Once again I was drawn to the spectacular views seen from any perspective possible, whether from the back of a horse, on foot, or even from a zip line!

Success!  Made it to the "Land above the trees"
 in the Rocky Mountains

Some of the best memories were made right at home in the middle of Indiana with loved ones of both the two and four legged variety.

Hope you too added great memories to your memory bank this summer!

The Indiana State Fair with my much missed son and my wacky sister

Happy horses

Happy cats

Flower Power

Pottery Shops in Soufflenheim, France

Hydrangeas full of blooms!

Flowers, flowers everywhere.  Knowing what the summer had in store by way of travel, I decided to forego the normal flower plantings I love to do around Mother's Day since inevitably they would not get enough water and attention to survive the summer.  Maybe it was due to this fact that my senses were heightened to notice flowers everywhere while I travelled around.  It seemed like every corner we turned, bright colored blooms greeted us.  Even abandoned stone buildings had flowering bushes erupting from them.  I'm full of ideas for my flower garden next summer.  

 The Schoenbrunn Palace in Vienna was truly spectacular.

 If you look closely at the green spaces, you will notice that the patterns are made up of thousands upon thousands of blooming shrubs.  All the gardens were really unbelievable.

We really enjoyed the villages, towns, and cities all over Bavaria and Austria.  The flowers just put an exclamation point on it!

 

Salzburg, Austria

Bad Urach, Deutschland

More blooms than leaves!

Windows throughout the region are adorned with blooms.

Seriously?  These potted flowers have no dead heads!

 The Palace in Ludwigsburg, Germany shows thousands of blooms not only in  its gardens, but even along the fence bordering the property.   These make a gorgeous backdrop to this delightful city.

Even the cemeteries are bursting with blooms.  This cemetary was in a tiny Austrian village tucked into the alps.  We just happened upon this location where tourists are rarely seen.  Even so, the gardens are pristine.

Oh the Places We Go!

After making our way around turbulent weather to LAX from the middle of Indiana, we were still able to make our Sydney bound plane, and settle in for a fourteen plus hour flight.  What an adventure my friend of 25 years and I were anticipating for the next two weeks!  But first we had to sit back, watch a couple of movies, sleep, read, and watch a couple more movies.



With a fourteen hour time difference, we landed bright and early in Sydney, dropped our luggage at the hotel for afternoon check in and walked down to the Sydney Harbor to catch a ferry and enjoy the views of the city from this famous Harbor.  We were not disappointed!

Our first stop was Manly Wharf. We were blessed with fabulous weather, even though winter had officially started there.  We explored, walked the town, and ate fish and chips on the beach while taking in the fresh South Pacific Ocean air, and watching the impressive surfers do their thing.

After a full day of exploring, we headed back to The 1888, a boutique hotel in a primo location just a short walk down to the harbor, and across the street from the city tram. We enjoyed a delightful dinner in the lobby restaurant.

With my friend being an avid Twitterer, she read a tweet from Coldplay, YES THE REAL COLDPLAY, needing extras for a video they planned on filming in Sydney the next day.  Since "making the most of opportunities as they present themselves" seemed to be our theme of the trip, we headed out the next morning to try to get in the video.  What a fun experience.  We were able to see a neighborhood in Sydney we would have missed (Newtown), spend the day with fellow Coldplay fans (known to  break out in acapella  Coldplay songs without prompting), and participate in a really cool video - "A SKY FULL OF STARS"   See it here!  But our day didn't end there...we still had a bridge to climb!  So off we went to get the best view of Sydney and the Harbor - a fabulous experience, and a great way to learn about the city.

http://thebucketlistbondi.com/

 Sydney is a wonderful city, full of great spots to explore.  We enjoyed the Coastal Walk from Bondi Beach, and Featherdale Wildlife Preserve.  I found myself taking multiple photos of the Opera House because its appearance changed all day as the lighting changed in the sky.  It truly is a modern day masterpiece sculpture which happens to be a world class performance hall.

 The reason for our trip in the first place was to reunite my friend with her son who was just finishing up his semester abroad in the southern coast city of Melbourne.  After a few days in Sydney which barely scratched the surface, we were off to see Michael and have him show us around his favorite Australian hometown.  Melbourne has a much different feel than Sydney, with the Yarra River winding through Victorian buildings and large green spaces intertwined with splashes of modern sculptures, buildings, and colors.  I was awed by the famous Hosier Lane and the graffiti artwork found there.  We also took in a "Footy" game, and found it a fascinating combination of fast paced soccer, rugby, American football, and even basketball. 

We spent a day admiring the Southern Australia coastline by driving The Great Ocean Road, an absolutely spectacular coastline featuring The Twelve Apostles Marine Park with stunning natural rock sculptures.  This was right up there as one of my favorite Aussie experiences - so beautiful.

 No trip to Melbourne would be complete without visiting Port Phillip Bay to see the colorful Bathing Boxes inhabiting Brighton Beach since 1862, and the historic St. Kilda's Pier with it's resident penguins, which we barely saw tucked into the rocks.

 New Zealand was the location of our next experience. With just a few days to spare, we landed in Queenstown and made the most of our time there by exploring Lake Wakitipu and the surrounding area including Paradise and the Middle Earth Forest, Arrowtown, and wine country.  New Zealand is known for extreme outdoor adventures, so paragliding off the mountain seemed to be a must!  What fun we had!

 

Flying over Queenstown

This is one of my favorite photos because it captures the beauty of New Zealand and sums up all the fun we had on our entire trip!  Thanks Peggy and Michael for letting me tag along.  The biggest thanks has to go to my hubby for taking care of things at home so I could have such an amazing experience!  I love you Kevin!