I suppose since this is my embroidery blog that I should have some stitchery included. Knowing that I was facing a crazy amount of hours on the flights and also, a stupid 6 hour layover in Manchester, England, I did bring 6 -12″x12″ canvases- which I had already drawn skulls onto. I rolled myself a large ball of Aunt Lydia’s black cotton thread. Two of the canvases and the thread fit neatly in my tote. I kept the other 4 canvases
in my carry on bag. I was too lazy to review the status of scissors ✂️ and TSA. I have had a few pairs of scissors taken away at security in the past. The last time that happened, they took away my scissors, I then went thru security only to find that a shop by my gate sold scissors . So, what was the point of taking my nice little snippers, if I could buy another one at the gate ?
So, this trip, I put scissors in my luggage- for later. I waited until after security and then shopped by the gate. There were no scissors this time but there was nail clippers. So, I purchased them. They worked great.
I have been traveling abroad since I was 14 years old. Not once have I slept on a plane.This trip was no different. I did manage to get a skull outlined on the flight. I had quickly gotten the outline on, removed my sketch and began to stitch a design on it as we pulled into Manchester. Manchester was tough TSA, I got pulled aside and felt up and got the wand treatment as I had already been thru at SFO on my way. Is pop it my hippy clothes? My ethnically ambiguous appearance? I don’t know but I am always the one out of three that gets pulled over to security. Didn’t even have scissors this time.
At Manchester, as you may recall from my last blog, I hoped that I could leave the airport (6 hour layover) to go check out the Countess Ablaze shop. After the kind of harsh security, I decided not to leave because I would’ve had to go thru security yet again. Not worth the hassle. My advice here is that if you have to choose a layover airport, don’t choose Manchester. Even if they were less harsh, they only have a couple food venues and not much 🛍.
After forever, we settled down on our flight to Amsterdam. It went quickly. We love the Schiphol Airport. It’s quick and the train into the city is right there. From the train station in Ams. We hailed a taxi to bring us to our hotel. But, this blog isn’t about Amsterdam but about the week in Rome – no embroidery news, so it’s going to be about the Villa from this point on. Coming along?
Scott’s little niece, Ashley was the flower girl at our wedding. She is the same age as my older son. We had a fun bond from the beginning as we included Ashley with us on a trip to Yosemite with my son before my wedding. Both my kid and Ash were instant cousins and played well together, performing little shows for everyone at family gatherings. We were thrilled to have been invited to her destination wedding in the Roman countryside. Our last trip to Europe had been with my parents, my sister- our kids and spouses. This time we were at the villa with both of my husband’s sisters, their spouses and their kids- just missing a nephew who was having an adventure of his own. Another nephew was there with his wife and our 2 baby grand-nieces. The space was limited, so our kids stayed home this time.
The villa-aka- Casale del Gallo, is located maybe 20-30 minutes from the city of Rome. It was everything you want in a villa, spacious, grand, 2 saltwater pools, 3 houses, beautifully maintained grounds and views.
For the visuals- and descriptions, I am handing you off to my Pinterest album, where I will detail the place with photos
May be back soon with more thoughts on this trip.g
I managed to have filled in 3 of the 6 canvases I brought along. I look forward to completing this little series by San Francisco Open Studios- I’ll have art up in the Divisidero section of SF. More on that later.
