We’re home now. Well, I’m home, Denis is working on something fun in NY (that I’m probably not supposed to mention yet) and the kids are with him. I’ve spent the morning snuggling with horses and now am in bed, snuggling with dogs. I’ve bored all my creatures with the stories of our trip and now am out of wind, so instead of boring you, I will show a few last photos.
Oh, by the way, Barbara sent me some great pictures of the first annual Ann Leary Blogapalooza, but for the life of me I can’t figure out how to convert her photos so that I can post them here. But I will figure it out. Also, I’ve been quite touched by all the warm comments to Cheryl. I hope she’s taking it easy.
Finally, an excerpt from an article John Steinbeck wrote about Positano for Harper’s Bazaar in 1953.
“Positano bites deep. It is a dream place that isn’t quite real when you are there and becomes beckoningly real after you have gone. Its houses climb a hill so steep it would be a cliff except that stairs are cut in it. I believe that whereas most house foundations are vertical, in Positano they are horizontal. The small curving bay of unbelievably blue and green water lips gently on a beach of small pebbles. There is only one narrow street and it does not come down to the water. Everything else is stairs, some of them as steep as ladders. You do not walk to visit a friend, you either climb or slide.
”
Welcome home!!!!! It was wonderful sharing your trip.
I have photos of yesterday, as does Kristin. I thought it would be nice if each of us wrote short ‘reports’ of the brunch & send some pics, & you could do a blog post, if you don’t mind.
It was such a nice time! Meeting Kristin, Barbara, & Kristin’s friend Lindsay was wonderful. We hugged each other upon meeting like old friends. We all talked excitedly, & found out more about each other. I won’t share anymore details yet, will save them for the ‘Official Report’.
It was a wonderful day! Barbara & I went off afterward & had our own adventures in the city, which was a blast, & have plans to pick a day next month to meet in the city to have more adventures.
I don’t know if Kristin has email access this week, so we may not hear from her this week. I may call her to check, & if not, maybe just Barbara & I will send in our reports & my pics, & you can do a post before it gets old. Kristin can send her report & pics when she gets home this weekend.
It’s all thanks to you Ann. We never would have met if not for you & this wonderful blog! I have made some wonderful friendships through email & facebook because of this magical, special place, & I thank you.
For anyone that could not make it, & who lives w/in reasonable distance of NYC, I urge you to come to the next one – you won’t regret it. Also, anytime anyone is coming to town, let us know, we’ll plan one specially for you.
Stunning pictures! I’m so wanting a vacation now, especially after seeing all the warmth and water portrayed in those shots.
Ok, I totally missed something…what is this blogaplooza? Sounds interesting, whatever it is.
Love the little street, and have to say not only do I feel I climb here I think I have also slide to a few of my friends to bad it wasn’t as beautiful of a ride lol. I think I have to also say sorry your home I am sure this is one of those vacations where you really don’t know if you want to go home(but there really is no place like it)so welcome home Ann
thanks again Ann for letting me post and receive the warm words trully do help there are so many big hearts here yours being the Queen bee ..lol this is my relaxing place so as you can tell by so many comments trying…
Ann:
I’m glad you and Denis are home safely. (Intriguing little tease you dropped about his new project….can hardly wait to find out what he’s working on now.) What a dream vacation you just enjoyed!! Thanks again for keeping us all in the loop and mesmerized with your stunning photographs.
Photos from the Ann Leary Blogapalooza are eagerly anticipated by everyone here, I’m sure!!
I echo your concern for Cheryl and the hope that she is pampering herself.
Welcome Home!
You will dream in the azure blue of the Mediterranean for months to come. Thanks for sharing your time in Positano and along the Amalfi coast. It is truly magical.
Welcome back!!! Beautiful photos once again and thank you for letting us share your vacation.
Welcome home!
Just dreaming.
Glad you had a wonderful time and a safe trip.
Once again – thank you so much for including all of us on your trip!
I felt like I was there, walking along with you and Denis.
In the end, it is always good to get home!
Can’t wait to see pics of the Blogapalooza!
I am thinking of a BlogFest in the fall so some of us in the south can come see the autumn colors in the NE.
Ah, but what a dream place it was! Thanks once again for sharing it with us.
Ann, glad your home safe and sound. Thanks again for the wonderful pics you shared with us, hope the jet lag is not too bad. Sleep well in your own bed.
Alyson, and anyone else who might have had the audacity to skip a day or two of my blog, the “Blogapalooza” was the name given to a brunch that a few bloggers here had over this past weekend in NY. Barbara, Tracy and Kristen have all become email friends through this blog and decided to meet up and have brunch. I would have joined them but I was away, as I’m sure you’re all aware. You’d think I’d never set foot out of our little CT town the way I’ve carried on about this trip. Anyway, the ladies decided to call their brunch the first annual Ann Leary Blogapalooza, which thrilled me no end, and is very funny when you see the photos and there are just the three of them, plus one friend who apparently just tagged along. Well, I have to figure out a way to post these photos and I will. Have been having all sorts of computer problems today. Cheryl, nice that you have been checking in with us. xo
Ann:
Welcome back!.
There is something magic about the lands you just vacationed at. Being there, and all of that beauty around you.
Looking forward to seeing the photos of your Blogapalooza, which is a very funny name. I know what a blog is, I am not sure about the apalooza bit. But I am sure I will learn it soon.
And I just wish that the itching inside my ears, nose, eyes, chest would go away. If I take everything the doctor gave me, I would be a zombie.. it is annoying to have itching from the inside out? Unsure how that works. Oh, there was this one lady at this Walgreens place, and she was picking up ONE spray thing for her allergies, and she paid $255.00 dollars for the thing. She showed it to me. I wonder what it was made of!!!. One spray thingy!. I guess I cannot afford to get allergies then!.
Good you made it back and that your animals got some love. They probably felt terribly confused.
Yes, I can be a bit audacious from time to time.
Blogapalooza sounds wonderful! How awesome how people have connected like that through your blog, Ann! I love it.
Hi Ann,
Glad you made it home safe and sound. I enjoyed the pictures. I’ve never been to Europe, due to work I missed an opportunity to travel throughout Europe with my mom 3 years ago. By the way, she’s reading An Innocent, A Broad and talking to her colleagues about it.
There is one question I must ask. I am not Catholic. I know very little of the saints. After reading Angela’s Ashes, ‘Tis, and Teacher Man I learned of a few saints but they have since faded from my memory. I know there is the Lady of the Succor, I know of St. Francis of Assisi, and of course, there is Saint Patrick. However I have never heard of The Lady of Perpetual Fellatio. At the risk of being struck by lightening, is she the patron saint of women who gamely pleasure the anatomical parts men value about themselves most? Does she stand for what I think? Forgive me if The Lady of Perpetual Fellatio is a saint of loftier pursuits. No dispect intended, but I just couldn’t resist and finally gave voice to this curiosity.
Annie M.
Welcome Home!! The stories and the pictures were wonderful…they were really terrific pictures and I’ve been wondering, did you take them with your small Canon camera that you’ve spoken of earlier, or did you use another type? Maybe something bigger with different lenses? The colors and details were just beautiful.
The brunch with Tracy and Kristin was wonderful. Kristin’s friend Lindsay joined us and she was lovely and terrific company. I was so very nervous before I got there ( my daughter told me that she couldn’t understand my nerves–I’m a person who just talks to any and everyone-my family tells me that I’d talk to a tree if I thought it would answer me!–and they are probably right)….but I had nothing to be nervous about. It was easy, friendly, comfortable conversation and laughs right from the start. It really was friends getting together to catch up. We did take some pictures and there are more stories…
Lupe.. I am sorry to report that there are no shoe pictures. Not much to tell of sneakers on Tracy, Kristin and Lindsay, and unexciting? sandals on my feet. The others thought the most interesting aspect of our feet was the neon pink toenail polish that I sport in the summer, which was visible in my sandals. So perhaps at the next one.
Sandy O…I could do a Blogfest…sounds like fun..we’ll make it a convention/festival.
I’m already looking forward to the next get together, and meeting more of my new friends…Barbara
Welcome home Ann!
Positano is now on my “Travel List.” It looks truly magical! Thanks again for sharing your photos here with us. I felt the magic through these little pics, I can’t even imagine being there in person! Wait, yes I can!
Looking forward to the Blogapalooza pics too!
Annie, many Catholic churches have names that begin with Our Lady. For example in Marblehead, a Massachusetts town where I lived, there was “Our Lady Star of the Sea” church, which I always thought was a beautiful name. Near us in CT, there is “Our Lady of Perpetual Help.” I have always thought that these churches were named, not for saints but for the Virgin Mother, but I might be wrong. Maybe some of you better Catholics can help me out here. Anyway, I made up the Our Lady of Perpetual Fellatio name as a joke, as the man at the church seemed to think my attire would be more appropriate at a place like that. And he was speaking Italian and every other word sounds like fellatio to me. But I’m a little warped that way.
Barbara, I couldn’t bring my good Canon, so I brought this cheap little camera. It’s amazing how any digital camera really takes pretty good pictures these days. Plus it’s hard to take a bad picture in that part of Italy. The light and colors are fantastic.
Yes, Ann, “Our Lady” does refer to the Virgin Mother in naming churches and chapels. I thought your joke was funny(a little irreverent maybe)but I did laugh.
Now I want to know if Annie M really believes there would be such a name or is she being facetious? If she really believed it, that is offensive!
Is it good to be home or do you wish you were still in paradise?
: )
Annie, I was on the fence about whether I should post the “our Lady” thing as I didn’t want to offend anybody. I checked with Denis and he said, “It’s funny, so post it.” Not exactly like asking the Pope. I don’t think Annie M meant to offend.
Ann – your “our lady” comment was one of the funniest things I’ve ever read, so unexpected in that part of the post. Hilarious!! I say always ask Denis if you’re on the fence…..
Hi Annie
I was not trying to offend, I honestly thought the delicious word in question had holier meaning. I was naive, if anything. Considered me spanked. Ever watch any of DL’s comedy acts? Instant Coronary.
Annie M.
Story about the ‘Our Lady of’ means “Nuestra Senora of”.
There are names like:
Nuestra Senora del Pilar
Nuestra Senora de los Milagros
Nuestra Senora del Carmen
Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe..
All girls are/were named Maria-Something. So, we are all ladies of (name to follow. Maria was the name of Jesus Mother. Not all girls, just some.(I have no intentions of getting into the Trinity bit or Orthodox Christianity or anything else. Just sharing how it was for me.
My ‘other’ name is: Maria Guadalupe Useros Fernandez. Okay, so it got tweeked somewhat when I arrived at JFK back in 1971, they skipped the Maria and made it a middle name, they took the Guadalupe part,they stuck the Pankratz and forgot the Useros… a good thing I have both a passport and a Green card.
In Spain, there is the “Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe” (Our lady of…) BUT there is another “Nuestra Senora of” in Mexico. We celebrate (just to be contrary) the “our Ladies of the same name..” at different dates, whereby my Saint’s Day is December 12th BUT in Mexico is celebrated at some other time (I think is October).
So, for the longest time I had lots of explaining to do… about why was I celebrating my Saint’s Day in December vs in October.
That over with, I inquired. And this is what my parents told me:
My mother was pregnant with me. My mother was taken to this hospital in Madrid, Spain. The nurse was a Nun named ? Guadalupe!. My dad had a crush on the nun. My mother played deaf and dumb.. way concerned with small details such as labor pains. The nun was nice to my mother.
My dad decided to name me AFTER the nun.
My mother continued playing deaf and dumb.
(she was a Castillian, and she always kept a poker face, and you could not get a reaction out of her, just ’cause you wanted to).The nun’s Saints Day was December 12th.
Every year, on my birthday, my dad would take me to see said nun. We would bring her a bag of candies. I do not remember much besides the headwear she would have on, all nice and stiff with starch, very uncomfortable looking, and how she would hold me in her lap. Her long dress was navy blue. I do not remember any smells. I do remember my dad ‘acting up’, kind of nervous and kind of grateful and kind of glad to see the nun again.
Is that a story or what!
I think that Ann had a cool comeback to the excessive zeal (about the probably very expressive Italian verbage, out loud) about her shorts and her sleeves.It probably has no meaning in any other culture, besides ours. The fellow of the shawl probably had nothing better to do, and decided to make a point. I wonder what he would do in some clubs and bars…anywhere, really. Like Amsterdam??
Now, I just had a discussion with my younger sister, who goes by Mari-Fe (Maria Felicidad) as to why why why they did not call me Mary-Lu
(Maria GuadaLUpe). She had no answer… even after all these years. I went by Guadalupe, the whole thing, specially when my mother got upset at me.(My dad was very fond of me and I could do NO wrong…)(I did plenty wrong).
It is funny how customs are so ingrained in the different cultures, and what is desirable in one place is a NO-NO in another. No wonder we have wars…huh?. It was a riot (for me) at the Universities.. being among so many ‘youths’,pronounced like in the movie “My Cousin Vinny”. Some probably felt offended that they were taking classes with their ‘grandma’ (me). I did not care about that. But it was of interest. Related to all of them and had great laughs. At times, the Professors did not how how to tackle things, not to offend. And he/she were just TEACHING something new. Fun.
OK, Annie M, I believe you, I think offensive was probably the wrong word in referring to your post. Sorry about that.
I’m the only person on here who doesn’t care for DL’s comedy. I do like Ann’s writing and sense of humor ‘though.
: )
I was on the fence about whether I should post the “our Lady” thing as I didn’t want to offend anybody. I checked with Denis and he said, “It’s funny, so post it.”
Whatever the opposite of irony is, this is it.
Ann, glad you made it home safe and had a great time….
Thank you for the beautiful pics of paradise…
Italy is one of the places I hope to see sometime in the future…:)