Pompeii Excavated

I always forget to post pictures and show you souvenirs that I buy from places we visit so I think I will show it to you first. Here they are...a little jar and a pot.

The week went by so quickly. Time sure flies when we are having fun, isn't it? Well, it is Saturday again and whether we are tired or not from all activities such as displaying our blues, pinks or reds, showing befores and afters, showing our possessions of 3's or more, sharing what we have hanging on our walls, going outside to take our outdoor pictures, creating tablescapes and cooking for Gollum's potluck, we have to go on a trip! So put on your traveling comfy shoes and let's go! We will be walking on uneven streets and pavement, so be prepared for that. Today we will excavate Pompeii, a buried ancient Roman empire, which is only a 30 min. drive from modern Naples in Italy.

Oh look, there is my family and travel companions! My 5 month old pregnant daughter, Tina sure looks a lot happier here, doesn't she? Praying to our Blessed Virgin Mary when we visited her home in Turkey last week really did some wonders.

Just like any other modern city, Naples is congested. Who would think that there is an ancient city nearby?
And right outside walls of Pompeii are these vendors trying to make their living from selling souvenirs to tourists. And I am one of those suckers, LOL!

Isn't AJ so cute? She was so excited when she heard we were going to Pompeii. It just so happened that they were just studying about it in school. She said she couldn't wait to tell her teacher about her visit. Do you see why we take her with us on these trips? I think the education she picks up from them is priceless.
Ok, let's go in and explore! Here's a little history. Pompeii, a city in Campania on the Bay of Naples, was buried with its sister city, Herculaneum, by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 AD. It was a long catastrophic eruption that lasted for 2 days. Pompeii is 5 miles away from the active volcano. It was buried for over 1600 years. The volcano is very active and had numerous smaller eruptions after that but it was not until the volcano had another major eruption killing around 4000 people that Pompeii was discovered by the people who were working on the restoration. It took another 300 years for the excavations to reveal their story.

Before it was buried, it was a very active place. It had a basilica, an amphitheater, a central swimming pool, an aqueduct providing water for more than 25 street fountains, at least four public baths, and a large number of private houses and businesses.

This is the Basilica, at least, it used to be.
Just an example of ancient streets of Pompeii.
What do you think this is, an oven or maybe a fireplace? I was so busy taking pictures that I wasn't paying attention to the tour guide. I am hoping some of you were and you can tell me.
It wasn't exactly a poor town. Just look at these ornate marble found in excavated buildings. It was known to be erotic too as evidenced by mosaic art found on walls but sorry, I won't go deeper into that.
Poor Pompeians below are buried in ash and pumice. Can you imagine the struggle, fear and pain they must have experienced before finally resting in peace?
How would you like your body to be stored on a shelf?
more display of anguish and fear below

My granddaughter was really fascinated by what we were seeing.
ancient walls of Pompeii
and right outside is a very modern city
I hope you enjoyed our trip for this week as I did. I'll see you again next week, I hope. Thank you for coming along!

Sushi to complete the Asian Tablescape

Yipee! It's Potluck time again at Gollum's Foodie Friday. Please come and join us at http://www.designsbygollum.blogspot.com/. Check out everybody's yummy food contribution.

Since I had an Asian tablescape yesterday, I thought I'd make some Japanese food. So here is some California Maki and unagi with unagi sauce. Enjoy! Now I am off to see the other food. See you all there at Gollum's!

Thanks, Gollum, for hosting the potluck!

Abstinence

It's Thursday! Yipee! I get to play with my plates and table. Thanks to Susan for hosting this program cause it gives us a chance to express our creativity. Please visit Susan at http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/, enjoy her tablescape and then go visit the others and enjoy them as well. I know I will!

For this week, since Lent just started and we are supposed to abstain from eating meat on Ash Wednesday and the following 7 Fridays, I thought I would serve sushi which I, John and my mama all like. And why not create a perfect Asian ambience with Oriental accessories?

My friend and I went to Baton Rouge last Monday to go shopping for more rugs. I spotted this orchid centerpiece just as we were leaving and I asked the store owner how much it is. Because my friend and I bought enough rugs to make him happy, he told me I can have it for free and for my friend to get one too. I like the natural and Asian look of it.

Then we saw a store that had a 70% off sign posted on the window. Don't you just love and stop for signs like that? Naturally we went in and I spotted those Asian warriors. Everything in the store with white tags were 70% off but the red tagged ones (meaning they've been reduced considerably already) were at 30% off. These had a red tag of $8 so I paid 30% off of that for each of them.

I used thick bamboo placemats I bought from Pier 1 a long time ago in Florida. I bought the sushi plate set from Florida also. Dh bought the little bunny sauce servers from World Market when he was working temporarily in Sanford, FL on locum tenens. Aren't they cute and just perfect for serving soy sauce individually?

Aren't these brown rectangular plate chargers unusual? If you click on the picture, you will see that they are embossed leather (could be faux, not too sure) and they have a very nice texture. I got them at the same store I found the warriors and they cost me $3.50 each. I only bought 2 because at the time, I wasn't sure what I would use them for. Shucks! Now I want to go back to buy more and you know what that means. If I go back, you know that's not all that I will spend money on.

Serving California maki, unagi, Miso soup and green tea.

See the green Persian rug? It's one of the 8 rugs that we bought from that guy in Baton Rouge. Now, do you see why he gave me the scalloped round rug in the foyer for free? I love the green rug color for this nook. It matches the valance, which by the way are table runners which I hooked into the curtain rings.

I tweaked the cabinet top and added Asian accessories. The cabinet already has an Asian look to it.

I am just showing you different views here. Of course you know you can click to enlarge the pictures, right? Orchids are my favorite flowers.

Do you like my blue and white ceramic tea pot napkin holders?

the handsome warriors guarding the table

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you enjoyed my tablescape contribution for this week. I sure enjoyed having you over.

Thanks again Susan, for this wonderful event!

Nice Day for a Walk

It's that day of the week again where we can enjoy our outdoors and everybody else's outdoors, sponsored by Susan at http://asoutherndaydreamer.blogspot.com/. Make sure you visit her blog, check out her outdoor post and then go check out everybody else's.

A few week's ago after my friend Nit invited us and served us a scrumptious Thai lunch, we felt the need to work it out. We decided to meet at my house and take a walk from there. It was such a nice day that even the cardinals were out.
We walked down the hill from our house. There's our house behind me. Sorry, the grass is not quite green yet or is it just the many dried leaves covering the green grass? I should rake but I would rather sit here blogging and reading your blogs.
Then we turned towards the back of the house.
There's my friend, Debjani. She just moved from New York and she wanted me to take her picture so she can email it to her friends in NY to make them jealous, showing them that she is walking around in short sleeves and skirt without a jacket. LOL! Our house is the one with a U shaped backyard that you can see behind her in the corner. You can 't really see the courtyard, can you? But do you see my raised vegetable garden in the back of the house? I started planting lettuce and spinach. I planted tomatoes too but I don't think they made it cause it got cold the last 2 nights. I will blog about them when the veggies get bigger.

There is the creek behind our house. If you go there early in the morning, you will see deer and foxes playing around.

Posing with me is our good friend Nit who is so nice to cook for us all the time. And she makes the best Thai food. I kinda wonder why she never gains weight and yet, we all do. :-)

After the walk, we went back home and sang Karaoke. What a fun and relaxing day! Thanks for joining me!

Blues, Awards and New Rug in the Foyer

It's Monday and again, I have been busy taking pictures so I can join both Blue Monday and Met. Monday, which I enjoy. Thanks to both Sal at http://smilingsally.blogspot.com/ and Susan at http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/ for sponsoring these fun events! Please be sure you visit their blogs and then visit all the other participants. I know you will really enjoy them.

Last Saturday, I took you to Our Blessed Virgin Mary's home near Ephesus. I

have made a little home for her in our house too, which I would like to share with you now. This is in a short hall connecting the family room and the kitchen. We have a little niche which I thought would be perfect for her home and for Baby Jesus and my collection of Saints.Isn't she beautiful? Please click to enlarge so you can see her amiable face.
Right across her little home is a wall where I hung a picture of our Lady of Fatima with the 3 children, Jacinta, Francisco and Lucia who witnessed the apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary at the Cova da Aria while tending to their sheep.
We bought this in Fatima, Portugal. Would you like to go there one of these Saturdays? The picture is made out of 6 tiles and we had it framed here.

There's Baby Jesus! Do you see the saint who is laying on one side at Jesus' left side? That is Saint Cecilia, the patron Saint of musicians. She was beheaded and was buried in the catacombs.

Isn't Baby Jesus handsome? I bought Him from a flea market in Barcelona, Spain. He is not exactly blue but we make Him feel blue when we are being bad.

Here you will see exactly where the niche is.

Let's take a little break before I show you my Met. Mon. post.

First, I would like to thank Shelia of http://notesongs.blogspot.com/ for presenting me this wonderful Best Blog Thinker award. I just received this award from Marty of http://astrollthrulife.blogspot.com/ a few days ago and posted the rules on my Holy Cottage in the Mountain post so please refer to that for the rules.

Another award? I cannot believe how wonderful my friends are at Blogland. These are just too much awards for me. I don't think I really deserve them. This Sisterhood award was presented to me by Laura at http://tomariescabin.blogspot.com/ and Susan of http://asoutherndaydreamer.blogspot.com/. Ann of http://ann-jamesaskletonyahoocom.blogspot.com/ presented me this award also a few days ago and just like the Best Blog Thinker award, I posted the rules on my Holy Cottage on the Mountain post. Please refer to that also. Please visit all these wonderful ladies. They are what makes blogland a lot of fun!

Now, it's time to show you my Met Monday post.

This is the "before" picture of our foyer.

and "after" Can you spot the difference?

Before

and after

Before

and after. If you noticed, I replaced the mirror with a rectangular one. It is framed in black slate so even if the oval mirror matches the chest, I think the slate in the rectangular mirror goes well with the black slate floor.

Here is a close up of what's on top of the chest now.

Before

and after.

I still have the same frame, the same vase with Bird of Paradise flowers but I replaced the bamboo stool with a marble top pedestal with a small Buddha fountain on it.

Here's a close up of the fountain. I think it gives the space a relaxing atmosphere.

A view from the formal dining room.a little closer

the view from the formal living room.

This is a really cheap picture I bought from K Mart a long time ago. I just love what it says.

A cherub and a live plant on the right as you enter the front door .

I hope you enjoyed the changes of the foyer. I really like the round rug with scalloped edges. I thought it matched the chest perfectly. Best of all, we got it for free yesterday! We stumbled into a rug store that is closing and everything was sold at 75% off. We bought 4 larger hand knotted Persian wool rugs and I negotiated with the seller to give me this for free. And he did! It never hurts to ask, isn't it?

Now, I am off to see the other posts. Hope to see you all there.

Thanks Sal and Susan, for sponsoring Blue and Met Monday.