The "Villa Mayorca" Story

It was an ordinary day. We just landed on St. Martin in the Caribbean. Went through customs, found our luggage and are headed out of the airport terminal to find our car rental guy. Every car rental company on the island has "runners" that stand at the airport with a sign with your name on it so you know who will be taking you to the rental agency. Some have really neat signs while others have pieces of cardboard they scratch names on. Some use the front and the back of the cardboard to conserve. We find our name and off we go to pick up our car. Nice car. Off to the realtor next to get the keys for Mayorca. Last year while on the island we visited a realtor to see if we could get a place to stay that was cheaper than the resort where we were staying. We loved the place, but the cost was getting too high. Naturally, plenty of places for us to stay. We eventually settled of a villa overlooking Orient Beach. As soon as we walked through the door to the villa, we knew this was where we wanted to stay. Can't believe it was cheaper, but is was only 2/3 the cost of the resort. Stephan is taking us to the villa above Orient Beach. As we enter the front door, we realize how neat it really is and why we chose the place. It's located at the end of a road so there will be no traffic at all. You enter the kitchen but the entire house is open to the pool which overlooks Orient Bay. How cool is that. Our own private pool. The owner constructed a wall between his house and his neighbors so the pool area is very private. The infinity dip pool is six feet deep so we (at least me) can stand at the edge and look over the view below. Only bad feature is they only have French Cable TV. I did fool around with the connection and managed to get "Dancing with the Stars," but only in black and white. And ...... no sound. So we put our Jimmy Buffet CD in and played that music while the dancing was going on. Beat was a little different, but still got to see the dancers. Our vacation when great for the first few days until we realized that most every day after cooling off in the pool, we would leave big black footprints on the tiles in the house. Then we figured it out. Right below us was a gravel road that led to the naturist section of Orient Beach and it seems like they are a popular destination for not only the sun worshippers, but the dune buggy, horse and jeep excursions. Depending which way the wind was blowing, it blew the dust from the road over our back deck area. And ...... it seemed to always be blowing our way. Oh well! Paradise has to have at least one drawback. Right? It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy. PS - Pixs from the top are: Entrance to Villa Mayroca, kitchen and living areas of villa, view of the pool and outside living area from the entrance of the villa, panoramic view overlooking Orient Beach and Bay and the culprits of the constant dust and dirt we encountered.

The "Easter Egg Hunt Turned Sour" Story

It was an ordinary day. We had finished with our yearly Easter egg hunt in the backyard on Janet Ave. Kids always love to do the egg hunt. We fill the plastic eggs with candy and coins and hide them. Used to make it easy and just lay them in the grass, but as the kids got older we had to make it a little more challenging. This year we had jelly beans in some of the eggs, wrapped chocolate candy in some, money in some and colored malted milk balls in some. The malted milk balls are my favorite and they are in a variety of pastel colors from light pink to sunset yellow to robin's egg blue. Well the egg hunt was a real success with Derek and Brynn looking for the eggs that were harder to find, letting the easier and more visible for our youngest, Tad. We had found all the eggs and the kids were taking them apart and putting them in plastic baggies. Just then Carol picked up what looked like one of the malted milk balls that was laying under the big maple tree which separated our house from Frank and Alice's house. Upon examination she realized that it was really a robin's egg with small specks on it. She walked over to Tad and held out her hand to show it to him and point out that it was a robin's egg when Tad grabbed it and popped it in his mouth. Thought it was one of the malted milk balls. "No, don't put that in your mouth," she said just as Tad bit into it. You could hear the egg squish as it broke in his mouth. Gross, really gross! He spit it out as fast as he had bit into it and into the kitchen he ran with Carol to wash out his mouth. By now everyone remaining outside was laughing. But, someone inside the kitchen thought different about the robin's egg malted milk ball. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

The "Burning Oven" Story

It was an ordinary day. Carol and I are headed to Schaeffer Elementary School in Manheim Township for parent's night. Our oldest, Derek, is in 5th grade and Brynn, our middle child is in 2nd grade. We should be gone for about 1 1/2 hours, so we let the three kids by themselves. Their grandparents live right down the street if they need any help with anything. Carol went to visit Brynn's teacher while I headed to visit with Derek's teacher. Well, the evening was very informative with explanations about what the kids are expected to accomplish during the school year. We only live a block from the school so after the meetings we get home pretty quick. As we walk in the door we smell something and know that something has happened. Carol heads to the kitchen and everything seems OK, but something smells different. So, we yell for the kids to come downstairs from their rooms. "What happened while we were gone?" Carol asks them. Derek speaks up right away and says that he was going to make a pizza for everyone so he turned on the oven to warm it up. We have a double oven and stove combination in a very small kitchen. We also have very little space to store food, so we make the best use of the double oven and store bread and pastries in the one oven. The oven that Derek had turned on to make the pizza. The oven that he forgot to remove the bread and pastries from before he turned it on. The oven that caught fire!! I teach shop classes and am accustomed to having a fire extinguisher everywhere. We have one in the kitchen. The fire extinguisher that Derek used to put out the fire. Wow, what presence of mind for a kid 10 year old. Brynn told us, "Derek grabbed the extinguisher and sprayed it in the oven until all the flames were gone. We also decided that it was best not to say anything to both of you when you came home so you wouldn't yell at us." Hey, they even cleaned the oven out, but putting the remains in the trash can under the sink left the smell in the house. Pretty good kids and they came right out and told us about it when we asked. So, we didn't scold anyone. Matter of fact we commended Derek on his quick thinking and decided it was time to find a new place to store the bread and pastries. Oh yeah, we also had the fire extinguisher recharged. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

The "Assisi Connection" Story

It was an ordinary day. We just finished breakfast in Florence and are headed to Assisi,Umbria. You read right. Assisi, Italy. Home of St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of animals and the environment. Assisi is a walled city where the Franciscan Order was started by Saint Francis. St. Francis was born in Assisi in late 1181. In early 1182 his father, who had been visiting France at the time of his son's birth returned and found out his wife had named their son Giovanni after John the Baptist. He was furious since the name signified a man of God so he renamed him Francesco which reflected his infatuation of France. Francis lived a life of luxury since his father was a wealthy man. He also lived a life of sin because of constant wild parties and frequently visiting France. He was eventually disinherited by his father in 1206. But, he finally started a conversion within himself and eventually founded the Franciscan Order in 1210. Today is a cloudy, rainy, cold day. Carol's boss, Rosalyn, who is also a guest on the tour today, is wearing her new beautiful while leather coat with fox collar! She looks very Italian! As we are standing outside the San Francisco Basilica it starts to sleet and snow. That can't be good for a new leather coat, I thought. This is September for goodness sake. And Italy. The weather can't be this bad, can it? We finally got to enter the Basilica and we traveled to the lower levels to view the tomb of St. Francis. Beautiful place and very moving. People crying and praying all over the place. Assisi is one of many walled cities in Italy and they all are so neat to walk through. The stone roads and architecture make you feel like you are part of history. I wonder how they could construct the city with the tools and materials that they had around the birth of Christ. We were told that they are still finding Roman remains in parts of the ancient city. Our tour ends with a four course meal inside the city walls. We start with an assortment of breads and naturally wine. Then the pasta entre. The main course is pork with some kind of potato patty. Very unusual. End the meal with tiramisu. Just an OK meal, but a fabulous place to have the meal. Tomorrow we will head to Rome! Now neat is that!! It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy. PS - Pixs from the top are: walled city of Assisi, pix of St. Francis, the San Francisco Basilica and Carol roaming the streets of the walled city of Assisi.

The "LDub Family Driver #4" Story

It was an ordinary day. Brynn, our middle child, and I had just returned from the Lancaster State Police Barracks. That's where they give you your driver's test when you turn 16 and want to get your licence. When Brynn turned 16 she was anxious to drive so I took her in our VW Bug to a large parking lot near our house to learn to drive the Bug's stick shift. Always believed that people should learn to drive stick shift in case they encountered a situation where that was their only option if they needed transportation. She did well! Picked it up very quickly, but preferred our 1985 Boogie Green Buick Station wagon to the VW because the Buick was automatic. When we bought the Buick, Carol and I thought it was a neat car. Big as a boat with plenty of space for a growing family with lots of vacations and the light mint color was easy to keep clean. I can recall taking Brynn to school a few times and as we approached the school, she would get real low in the seat so none of her friends could see her in the car. Now, that tells how much she enjoyed the car. But, if it means learning to drive, the car will do just fine. I was convinced that she was ready to be added to the list of full time drivers in the LDub family so we scheduled a time to visit the Police Barracks for the test. Then she asked, "Can we take grandpaw's car instead of our car?" She didn't want to take the VW and it seems she was afraid to try to parallel park a boat, so I agreed to take the 1986 Buick LeSabre. She had driven the LeSabre a few times already. Test day arrived and off we went. She was pretty nervous, but I told her it was a piece of cake to take the driver's test. She passed the written part with ease and then was assigned a very young male officer for the driving part. I sat on the bench by the driving course and watched as she hopped in, adjusted the mirrors, put her seat belt on and started the car. I watched as she approached the first corner and stopped at the stop sign. I watched as she went through the cones without knocking over a single cone. Go Brynner!! Then I watched as she attempted to pull as close to the curb as she could. Uh Oh! Had to be at least two feet or more away from the curb. I saw the officer open the door and look at the curb and figured when we could come out again for a retake. Well, they returned and went into the office. She came out with the biggest smile on her face and asked if she could drive home. SHE PASSED! "How'd you do that with the parking job you did." Then she started by telling me, "Well, first, when we got in the car, he told me he really liked my name. Never heard of Brynn before. Then he told me he really like the shirt I was wearing (I can just see her blush when he said that). Then he said he thought the BANDAID (yep, the bandaid) I had on my finger was cute." This guy would have passed her if she had knocked over all the cones! When I questioned her about only getting half close enough to the curb, she said, "Then he opened the door and looked out. I thought it was over then, but he said 'good job.'" WOW!! So we have another driver in the family and I have to pay higher insurance rates! I did tell her to avoid going anywhere where she would have to park along a curb. Only places where she could pull into a parking spot! It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

The "She's different than most girls" Story

It was an ordinary day. The big wedding was almost over. Our oldest son Derek was married today to Barb. Really neat wedding, but then when it is your son, the wedding had to be neat. Derek had dated a few different girls in high school and college and had always preferred the blond bombshell type. A few years ago he told us he was bringing his new girlfriend home to meet us. He said, "She is different than most girls I have dated in the past." And, boy was he right. She was a very pretty brunette and ......... she was extremely smart. Wore glasses even. Something new! Barb worked in customer relations for Donnelley Printing where Derek helped run a large web press. They were introduced and, as they say, the rest is history. Barb was from Elizabethtown which is nearby. The wedding was set for today, September 27 and all the arrangements followed. Barb had 5 attendants which included her cousin Lori and soon to be sister-in-law Brynn as well as three close friends. Derek had his brother Tad as his best man, longtime friends Johnny M., Jimmy D., Greg H. and soon to be brother-in-law Dave as his ushers. Johnny, Greg and Jimmy were friends who grew up with him on the baseball field. The wedding was held at the Hempfield United Methodist Church near the house they would share together. This morning Barb and the bridal party traveled to the New Image Salon where they had their hair and makeup done and then returned to Barb's mom's house to wait delivery to the church. Derek and the guys met at Derek's house in East Hempfield before traveling to the church. At about 1:00 PM a limo transported the girls to the church while the guys drove their own cars. Preliminary photos were taken before the ceremony as the guests arrived. A unique feature that they had was a Polaroid scrapbook. As guests arrived, someone took Polaroids of everyone to be used to place in a memory scrapbook. All guests were seated and the service began. Derek and his best man and the ushers enter by the altar and then the bridal party began their entrance from the rear of the church. Finally Barb entered with her sister who escorted her down the aisle. Service of marriage was administered with the prayers, vows and rings and then ....... kissing of the bride. Smooth as can be. The remainder of the wedding photos were taken and then the entire bridal party traveled to Landis Valley Farm Museum for a few more outdoor photos. Across the street they went to the Olde Hickory Inn for the reception which went off without any complications. Food, drinks, dancing, wedding cake, garter, bouquet, DJ and you know ...... the whole wedding thing will be a lasting memory for both of them. And as usual, my dear wife Carol looked stunning!! It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy. PS - Photos from the top are: Barb in her gown in our living room, my wife and son before the service, LDub and son before the service, the Bride and Groom and the wedding party.

The "Richard and the Gold Teeth" Story

It was an ordinary day. I had just bought a necklace from Richard. We are on the island of Barbados in the southern Caribbean. Beautiful island, but all islands we visit on vacation are beautiful. We found a deal in the newspaper from Liberty Travel. Seven days in Barbados for $595 and that included the airfare!! Can't pass that up so I called Karen, our travel agent at Liberty, and asked if the advertisement was for real. "Yes it is, but the place that is offered for $595 isn't what you usually like," she told me. "I can get you a nicer place, but the cost is slightly higher." Yeah, right! Well, she came through as usual for us. Found the Divi Resort in Barbados for $695 for the week. And we would be on the "Best of Barbados" promotion which gives you a coupon book for hundreds of dollar savings. Yeah, right! In the end, it really did save us quite a bit of money, but we would have had to do everything in the book to get the hundreds of dollars savings. We even decided to stay for two weeks for those savings. The Divi is located in an area referred to as the St. Lawrence Gap. Plenty of restaurants, stores, vendors, bars and churches. Really wouldn't have to leave the area except we like to explore. As we leave the resort we have to cross a narrow road made of tiles to reach the beach. A few vendors line this area and try to hawk their trinkets. Everyday this fellow with the bright red umbrella would give us a big smile and tell us when it was safe to cross the road. Not once did he tell us he was the vendor of the stand by our resort. Everyday he had the smile and we soon got to know him. Richard was his name and he was a native islander. Also sold jewelry as the sign on the tree proclaimed. Richard had two teeth with gold appliques on them. One had gold around the edges, but the other had a big "R" on it. Pretty neat. Towards the end of vacation I told Carol I'm going to buy something from Richard since he had been so nice to us for two weeks. "Why don't you buy one of those hats he has for sale," she told me. "Naw, I have too many hats already. I'm going to buy a necklace!!" After she stopped laughing, she helped me pick out a really nice necklace, with Richard helping all the way. And, naturally he had a big smile on his face. At first I thought I should have a big gold chain like Richard wore, but Carol convinced me to start with something more conservative. OK, so I bought a conservative necklace. And, I still wear it. Now all I need is a gold tooth with the letter "L" on it. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy. PS - Photos from the top are: Street in St. Lawrence Gap we crossed to get to the beach, Richard and LDub with the conservative necklace and Richard displaying his gold teeth. Pretty neat, aren't they?

The "Bite of the Water Moccasin is Deadly" Story

It was an ordinary day. We were at the vets. This story is a little different, but certainly not unusual for our family. The Howry family and our family are spending a week at the A-frame house. We name the places we have stayed so we can remember them better. This was a neat house which was along a small tributary which led into the Elk River in Maryland. It's August and hot. Gary has his boat tied to the dock at the bottom of a slight hill in front of the A-frame. Just enough water for the motor. But, the boat can't take all of us to the river at one time because all the weight would ground the boat, so we have a canoe tied to the boat and some sit in the canoe while others sit in the boat. We leave the A-frame with all the beach equipment, coolers, lunch, etc. and walk down the hill to the boat and canoe. We then have to load everything in the canoe and boat and slowly work our way out of the tributary to the river where we travel to a small island where we spend the day sunning and water skiing. Every day there was a fight over who would sit in the boat and who would sit in the canoe. No one wanted to sit in the canoe, because it tipped over easily. Then we have to do everything in the reverse order at the end of the day. As I look back on this vacation I wonder, why did we do this? WE MUST HAVE BEEN NUTS!! There were 10 of us that vacation. Five in each family. But, we had one h**l of a good time. How else could I have remembered it. One day after we had returned and Gary was tying the boat to the dock, along the dock he saw a large snake. Wasn't moving. "Holy S**t," Gary yelled. Naturally everyone had to see it. Except our youngest, Tad. He had to touch it, and got bitten by it. Somehow the snake, which we thought was dead, bit him on the hand. Then it took off. "Geez, what king of snake was that," I asked. No one was sure, but then one of the kids said it was probably a water moccasin. "Aren't they poisonous," my wife said. She wasn't kidding either. Hey, I didn't know either. By now Tad thought he was going to die. He is maybe 6 years old and in tears. Then he gets the chills. We grab him and head to the nearest neighbor. Bang on the door and ask if they know if there is a doctor close by, since our son was bitten by a poisonous snake. Probably should have been in a coma by now, but he wasn't. "No doctor, but the guy that lives at the end of the road is a vet," they tell us. Quickly we take Tad down the road to the vet. "Yep, he's here," I say as I see someone in the house. He comes to the door and we introduce ourselves and explain our problem to him. I'm sure he can see the panic in our eyes. By now Tad is white from fright. He examines the bite and tells us it is indeed a bit from a water snake. Just a plain old water snake! And ....... they aren't killers like we thought. He gets some anti-bacterial cream, rubs it on the wound and tells us he will be find. RELIEF!!! Tad all of a sudden feels great. So do Carol and I. Wow, and he didn't even charge us for his services! It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy. PS - In memory of my good friend Gary.

The "And....The Winner Is!!" Story

It was an ordinary day. I just opened my email and got this message: StMartinStMaarten Congratulations to Biglar for his winning photo and taking the #1 spot in the " Series 3 Photo Contest Shoot Out "Biglar took it home with photo #1 " Happy Bay Envy " with 41 votes. Congratulations to SXMNorm for 2nd Place for photo #5 " favorite view " with 35 votes. I won!! Thanks to all of you who voted for my photos. By the way, I'm known as Biglar. My brother has called me that for years, even though he is much bigger than I am! The forum administrator, Nanci, called me last night and asked for my mailing address so they could send me my prize. Anxious to see it. Maybe a trip for 2 for a month, all expenses paid, to some exotic island like St. Martin. But then again, I didn't think there was any prize given for the contest. Just some fun showing off photos I have taken on our favorite vacation spot in the Caribbean. I'm glad that everyone enjoyed looking at them and congratulations to Norm for his really neat photo of the airport runway on St. Martin. I have been trying for years to get a shot like he had, but he must have convinced the pilot to fly past and circle around before they landed. Sorry I can't post a pix of it here, but all photos entered in the contest were posted so that no one could copy and paste any of them. I guess that is best, because one photo had to be disqualified because it belonged to someone other than the person who took it. I understand that a new photo contest is in the works for the ELT board. Photos of the food from St. Martin. Hey, we are planning a trip to the island soon and I will take an extra card along just for photos of the food we eat. My wife can hardly wait! No eating anything until I have a photo of it. Hear that dear! If you want to see the winners from the recent contest, you can check them out soon at: http://enjoylifetraveling.proboards.com It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

The "Painted Fish" Story

It was an ordinary day. I was going to try to make something new today. Something I never tried before. Something REALLY DIFFERENT! Now, I published two stories already about the different items I made for the house, but this will be a challenge. Carol and I were visiting Annapolis and stopped in an art gallery and as soon as I saw the Gyotaku I was sure I could do that. Gyotaku is the art and technique of Japanese fish rubbing which is a process derived from an ancient printing method used before photography was invented. You actually use a fish to make the print and the resulting print is extremely detailed and accurate. We bought three prints from the artist, Lori Hatch. On the back of each print is the description of how they are done. Sounds easy to me. Just gotta try it. I know I can do it. When we got home I went to Central Market in downtown Lancaster and bought a whole fish with the eye staring at me from Kathy at "Kathy's Seafood." I get fish from her all the time, but usually alreadyfilleted. "Are you going to fillet this yourself?" she asked me. "Nope, I'm going to make a print out of it," I told her. She looked at me and smiled. "I'll bring it in when I'm finished and show it to you," I told her. It smelled really fishy, but why not. I washed the fish thoroughly and dried it with a hair dryer. I then used lithographic printing ink I had from school as she told me to do in her description on the back of the print I bought and placed the inks on the fish. Did all of this on the table on my back deck. Smell was pretty potent. The paper I used was a good quality drawing paper and I placed it on top of the inked fish. Now I'm to gently rub it with my fingers and then carefully peel the paper off the fish. Should be able to use the fish a couple of times it told me. Well it worked. But, it didn't look like a fish. It looked like litho ink on paper. I'm positive NO ONE could tell it was a fish print. I read and re-read the directions. And then I got it!! She left something out of the directions so I couldn't do it. Gotta be the answer, cause I was positive I could do it. Finally found something that didn't work for me. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy. PS - Pix is from a part of one of the three prints that I bought at the gallery from Lori Hatch.

The "Nipple Fish" Story

It was an ordinary day. We were in the 85 degree water in front of our room in Antigua. Jerry, Just Sue, Carol and I. We had just arrived, put our luggage in our room, put our swim suits on and jumped in the water. We had waited for sooooo long to do this. Started planning the trip a year ago and finally .... we're in the water. Enjoying ourselves immensely when all of a sudden Jerry yells and splashes in the water. "Something just bit me," he says. And then again it happens. "There, it bit me again. Right on my nipple." Now, the water is cloudy because of a few days of rain so you can't see anything in the water, but evidently the fish can see or at least smell us. Then it hit me. Three or four bites on my back and then a strike on my right nipple. Not the kind that draw blood, thank goodness, but the kind that startle you. We found that if you keep moving around, they don't bother you. But, we can't splash our way through vacation, can we? Since we can't identify the culprits, we have dubbed them "nipple fish." For some strange reason they don't bother the girls, but then they have that vital part of their body covered. As we attempt to enjoy the water, others start to enter it. Then we hear a scream from a man 20 feet from us. Wow! He didn't want anything to do with these fish, so out he hustles. We splashed around for half an hour and exit the murky waters. Before we left for vacation I was reading on TravelTalklOnline about aggressive fish at Club O which is the naturist section of Orient beach in St. Martin. They were writing in about the fish ramming into them while they stood in the water. Someone warned the men at the resort not to walk backwards in the water since it would be like trolling for bites. Another said they are "spade fish" which are ghost fish, since they tend to blend in with their surroundings. One fellow did have blood dripping from his private. Seems one of the fish took it for a french baguette. I finally did see the fish that were nibbling on us and they looked like snapper. Had a slight yellow stripe and tinge to them. In a day or two the water started to clear and we were not bothered anymore. Then ...... it rained again! It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

The "Stitches in Time" Story

It was an ordinary day. I just finished mowing the grass. Sounds like an easy day, but ....... IT WASN'T. This morning I went to Dr. Brod, my Dermatologist, to have some basil cell cancer removed from my back. Wasn't the first time so I knew what to expect. Two years ago he removed some from my chest. 24 hours after the surgery I removed the bandage and my wife proclaimed, "Did you have open heart surgery!" Really big cut with lots of stitches to close the wound. The doctor likes to remove tissue down to the bone. The surgery I had today was in the middle of the right side of my back. After completing the surgery he told me to return in 10 days to have the stitches taken out. I asked if this was something my wife could do and he laughed and said she could, but he would rather do it to make sure the wound had healed properly. He told me to take it easy for the rest of the day. I asked him, "Can I mow the grass using my riding mower?" He hesitated, realizing that I was probably going to do it no matter what he said, and responded, "Don't stretch or make any sudden movements or the stitches will rip out and you'll be back in here later today." I promised to take it easy and after returning home, hopped on my mower. This is the second time I mowed this spring and only needed to use the riding mower and not the push mower. Was going good as usual until I reached the north side of the property. I have a drainage culvert that runs along my property and has about a 45 degree slope down into the culvert bottom. All I have to do is lean hard on the mower and I can slowly cut the grass as I ride along the slope. Was almost done when the back wheels started to slip and I realized the mower was going to the bottom of the culvert with me on it. So I jumped off and rolled down the incline! Right on my back! Mower shut off immediately and slid to the bottom, also. But, I didn't pull my stitches out, I don't think. Don't feel anything running down my back. Now what do I do? First I went into the house and checked in the mirror to see if the bandage was red. Nope! OK, now what about the mower, I thought. I went to my garage, got a long heavy nylon rope and hopped in the car. Drove up the street to my neighbors house and headed up his driveway. From there I drove across his property to my property and backed up to the mower. Tied the rope to my car and the other end to the front axle of the mower. Made sure the mower was in neutral and hopped back in the car. And just like that ....... the mower came out of the ditch. Kept the tension on the rope while I went back to the mower and put the brake on to hold it in place, then released the tension, removed the rope and took the car back to my garage. Then, I finished the mowing. You know, I should have changed my good pants and shirt before I started to mow. I now have grass stains on the pants and grease and oil stains on me and my shirt and pants. After I finished, I took off the clothes, used the stain stick and stuck them in the washer. And, the doctor doesn't have to know about any of this. Neither does my wife and since she very seldom reads my blog, I'm sure she'll never find out. Right? It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

The "Donut Decision" Story

It was an ordinary day. We are headed to eat breakfast at Brown's on the boardwalk in Ocean City, MD. Always a fun time and something we try to do the first or second day we are in OC. There are 11 of us today, so it will take more than one table to accommodate us. Brown's has the best donuts on the boardwalk. It is on the northern end of the boardwalk and we take a car to get there. Today Dave is driving his Dodge Van so we can all get in one car. Two in the front, three in the second seat and the rest in the way back. Packed car, but we only have to drive 6 blocks to get there. He drops us off right at the boardwalk and goes to find a parking space. The line by the donut window has about 30 people in it. Going to take half an hour to make donuts for all those people. We got smart a few years ago and realized that if you go in their restaurant next door, as soon as you're seated you can order donuts and you get your donuts BEFORE the people in line. The donuts can't be good for you. Made with vegetable oil and are soooooo good. Warm and good for dunking. They have plain, chocolate coated, vanilla coated, cinnamon, honey and powdered. My favorite ........ the vanilla! We order everything from 3-egg omelets to french toast. But, the donuts come first. For 11 people we got three dozen. By the time our breakfast arrives, some were so full on the donuts they bared touched their food. Happens every year!! The next day Carol and I decide to ride the boards after we get up so we rented bikes with BIG seats. Can't stand those little narrow ones that stick up your crotch. We head down the boardwalk towards Browns. Yep, love them so much. But, on our trip down we pass Ove's Restaurant and as we pedal past, see that they also make cake donuts, but use apple cider to fry their donuts. Well, on our way back from the end of the boards we have to make a stop and try one and .......... I'm not sure which donuts we like the best. Gotta have to test both of them tomorrow. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

The "I Can Make That! Part 2" Story

It was an ordinary day. I was up to no good again. We had returned from Annapolis yesterday where we had been for the weekend. Love looking in all the shops that are near the waterfront in the city. We saw a really neat book shelf that was shaped like like a rowboat and sat on the floor. Carol said she like it, but she didn't want anything that was on the floor like that. If they had one that fastened to the wall she would REALLY like it. So, I told her I can make that! It used to be in our family room, but now occupies the space next to me in my office. It is attached to the wall and stands over five feet tall. Holds all my Caribbean Travel and Life magazines, my Islands magazines, my photo CD album as well as family history in photos. About three feet wide and has 5 shelves. The fish net and buoy draped across the top give it the beachey look. All I need yet is an oar! Hey, wait a minute. I have one of those on the front porch which I can sit next to it. Will have to do that today. When we moved into this house in the late 90s I made a toilet paper fish for our guest bathroom. Sits on the floor and the legs of the small stool hold a roll of toilet paper. Bright colors make it really stand out. Carol saw something like it in a catalogue so ........ I made it. Same thing for the bench and chair that I made. Ideas came from a catalogue! The bench sits inside the front door while the chair is in one of the guest bedrooms. Add that touch that make you feel like you are on vacation. On Carol's dresser sits a light that has a lampshade that looks like a beach umbrella. The bottom is a beach chair. I must admit I didn't make the beach chair. That was purchased at a gift shop and sat on an end table for a year or two and then was stuck in a cabinet when we found something better to occupy the space. Found it one day and decided I could use it to make a lamp for Carol. One time we visited Alexandria, VA at Christmas to see the boat parade and while there we visited the Torpedo Factory which is an old large warehouse that was converted into small shops for artists to display and demonstrate their talents. Saw this really neat idea in one shop and came home and made the same thing. The artist metal bottle caps, the kind you find on beer bottles, and painted VERY SMALL pictures in them. Put them into a grouping and framed them. I did the same, only with small photos from our cruise we had taken the yea before. Turned out so neat I made one for our daughter Brynn and our son Derek which held family photos. Now, they are real conversation pieces. Many thanks and an apology to the artist for her clever idea. Carol told me she needed a light over the sink in our kitchen so I put a light up and it looked too harsh so I designed a cover for it which duplicates the stained glass light in our dining room which we purchased at the shore. Looks exactly like it. I work at a frame shop for a guy I has as a student in high school and get to so many unusual framing and matting jobs. When work is slow he gives me the freedom to design items that would sell in his gallery. One of those items was shadow box that featured cutouts for 4"x6" photos with the word seashore cutout under it that would accommodate seashells. Turned out so neat that I made one for myself. Another item is using an entire photo as both the photo and the mat. Really adds some depth to the photo. I have quite a few of these hanging in my house, but the largest is over our fireplace in the family room where I made a 40"x16" photo of one of our favorite beaches in the Caribbean. Many other ideas that I started either found their way to the trash can or only got as far at the tip of my fingers. I love to add some creativity to my life with the items that I make. Hopefully they add some color to the life of others along the way. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

The "Mean Mrs. Hoover" Story

It was an ordinary day. I was still making spitballs. Here's why I'm doing that. Miss Hoover is my third grade teacher and she is mean. Really mean. Ask anyone in my class. Now, I'm sure the parent's will disagree, but they don't have to sit in her room everyday. I always didn't think she was mean. Early in the school year I was playing on the jungle gym in the school yard when I fell and hit my head on one of the bars. Cracked it open real bad. Miss Hoover helped me and called my mom to come and get me and take me to the doctor. Mom took me to Doctor M. and he had to put six staples in my head. Pretty neat scar I got and you can really see it now that I'm bald. Hurt more to have the staples taken out than it did to put them in. Of course, he used Novocaine when he put them in. That's when I thought she was nice. But, in the middle of the school year a few of us in Miss Hoover's class were throwing spit balls. Dave K., Jack B., John H. and I were caught red-handed with spitballs on our desks. All we were doing was throwing them at the girls. She didn't seem to understand that. Well, Miss Hoover wanted to know who started it and questioned each of us individually. Seems everyone pointed the finger at John H. and he then was paddled in the back closet. We all heard it and wow, she can swing pretty hard. John H. tried not to cry, but I'm sure it hurt. But, that was his punishment and now it was over for him. The rest of us had to stay in at recess until we made enough of spitballs to fill her BIG trashcan in the corner of the room. Must have taken over two weeks and a few reams of paper. Halfway through filling up the can I wished I had told her I was the one who started it. Could have been outside playing kickball now. Isn't it funny the things you remember from your childhood. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

The "I Need Your Help" Story

It was an ordinary day. I have just voted for myself. I'm allowed to do that, since I have the best photos. I entered a photo contest a few weeks ago on Enjoylifetraveling.proboard.com and was part of an elimination contest since so many people had entered. A few of of my photos have survived and are in the "Shootout" for the champion. I am writing this to ask you to vote for me. Deadline for voting is Sunday, April 11 at 9:00 PM. I need you to help me win. You must go to the website shown above then pick a name and password. Not hard to do. No one is going to give out your email address if you sign in. You'll see right away where you click for the photo contest voting. You can vote for 5 pictures. My name on the board is "biglar" which is for Big Lar

which is what my brother calls me. I have added photos here so you can identify which photos to vote for when you reach the board. The photo with the lime colored umbrella and beach is called Happy Bay Envy. The photo with the little girl is called Miniature Orient Village Vendor. The photo with the

fellow walking on the beach is called Dreadlock Walk. The photo with the dog and my wife in the water is called Both Ways Covered. The photo with the beach scene is called Dreamy Pinel. Hope you enjoy looking at the photos and thanks for taking the time to vote for me. I'll let you know what happens. Below this story is my story about Easter. Hope you enjoy that, also.

The "Happy Easter" Story

It was an ordinary day. As ordinary as Easter can be. Church and then start to prepare for the family. Daughter Brynn and husband Dave and granddaughters Courtney and Camille are heading up from Maryland. Bringing their dog Rocco with them. Didn't tell our cat until the last minute. Just enough time for him to hide all his play mice. Our oldest son Derek called at the last minute and said he needed to work a 12 hour shift on Saturday and Sunday and wasn't going to be here, but wife Barb and grandson Caden as well as Barb's sister Joy would be there. Other son Tad and my mom would also be here. We used to have a dining room table that would seat 10 with extensions, but it was Early American style and didn't look right in our house, so we gave it to our daughter. The one we replaced it with only seats 4. So, a few years ago I bought a 4'x8' piece of plywood and made a new top for it. Now it can seat 10 and with a card table at the one end, we're in business. Only takes about an hour to drag it down from the second floor, screw the legs to it and set it up. We do this every Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day. Gets old doing this every year. And the cost of the meal seems to get larger all the time. Easter morning and mom calls. Doesn't feel good and isn't coming. I told her to eat some toast and tea and I'll call later. My daughter calls her in an hour and tells her she is coming for her. She'll feel better with the kids running around. And she did! Easter baskets and egg hunt are always a big thing with the family. We had to hide 122 plastic eggs outside for the egg hunt. I'm not sure if they found all of them, but I will when I mow the next time. The making of the dinner is always a big job, but my wife has it down to a science after years and years and years of doing it. Ham, scalloped potatoes, candied sweet potatoes, baked vegetables, pineapple filling, applesauce, rolls and pumpkin bread is the usual menu. Banana split dessert tops off the meal. Then the hard part ...... cleaning up and doing the dishes. Good silver has to be hand washed. Good glassware has to be hand washed. Endless pots and pans have to be washed. Thank God for aluminium pans that we use to make some of the dishes. Throw them in the trash after the meal. Good place-settings can go in the dishwasher, but as soon as the dishwasher has finishing washing them, it must be opened to allow them to air dry. My daughter-in-law helps me with most of the chores. Then the egg hunt starts. Grand kids running in all directions, screaming. Then ...... we all sit by the TV and talk about the good old days. Doesn't everyone do the same thing? Everyone has left now. We have collapsed on the sofa. The cat has come out of hiding and we will do the same thing again in a few months for Thanksgiving. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

The "Tempest Reigns" Story

It was an ordinary day. I was on my way to US Route 30 Drag-O-Way in York, PA to race my car. The story started in 1965 when I saw a guy at a local McDonald's with a really neat blue suede jacket with white leather sleeves. On the back of the jacket in big letters read "U.S. Route 30 Drag-O-Way." I told my friend Terry D. that I have to get one of those jackets. Seems that in York, PA the year before someone opened a drag strip for car racing on the York airport runway. I was some what of a piston-head, but only because I loved really neat, shiny, fast cars. I had a 1958 Chevy Impala convertible at the time and had just customized it for a class at Millersville State Teacher's College. I told Terry that I'll have to take my Chevy to the drag strip and see if I can win a jacket. "Yeah, right!" was his answer. Well, a few months passed and I continued to read about the drag strip in York and all the big names that were showing up there to race. Don "Big Daddy" Garlits raced there on occasion. Crowds of 10,000 people were common. The airport had a 5,000 foot strip so the big horsepower cars could race there. The "Funny Cars" would compete there occasionally. The racing was between two cars that would accelerate for 1/4 mile in a hopefully straight line to see who would reach the finish line with the best time. Many "Muscle Cars" or high performance cars with big cubic inch engines were being produced and in Detroit at the time, so everyone wanted to see who was the best. I fell into that craze!! More time passed and I sold my Chevy to a friend I worked with at the Acme Supermarket. How dumb was that? Gas was getting costly and I wanted a more economical car. So I bought a 1961 Pontiac Tempest. Yeah, you're reading that right. Certainly not a car for those with speed in their blood. Burgundy in color with a four cylinder, 195 horsepower and automatic transmission. Certainly not cool, but I was getting over the "being cool" stage of my life. No, that's not right, because I never got over that yet. Terry saw me one day at work and said, "Now you could probably win at the drags." "With that car?" I replied. "You race against cars with the same horsepower and cubic inch engine so you should have a chance," he said. In the meantime I had added really neat chrome wheels to add some "class" to the car. My uncle said If I take the exhaust off at the engine, it would add a few extra horsepower to the engine. "OK, let's go," I told Terry. We're on our way to U.S. Route 30 Drag-O-Way to win a jacket. Didn't tell my parents. Thought I'd surprise them when I walked in with the jacket on that night. Took about 45 minutes to reach the race track and it was packed. Paid the fee and followed the signs to the pit area and had them inspect the car and write a classification on the driver's side of the windshield. Terry and I disconnected the exhaust from the manifold and I pulled in line to race. Close to the front of the line an official came by the car to check it and told me to put on my helmet. Uh, Oh! "Don't have one," I told the guy. "Can't race then," he told me. Just then here comes Terry with a helmet he borrowed from someone. Strapped it on and I was ready. Finally, it was my turn! I pulled to Lane 1 and a big Ford with a scoop on the hood pulled next to me in Lane 2. The noise was deafening! No way can I beat that guy!! The "Christmas tree" or starting lights began. These are a series of about 6 lights with 5 red running vertically top to bottom with a green light at the very bottom. I pushed the gas pedal halfway down and pushed hard on the brake. The red lights started and when the green light came on I released the brake pedal and pushed the gas pedal to the floor. Then I realized that the car next to me hadn't started. I later found out he was in a different classification and I had a time difference based on our horsepower. I had a 100 foot lead when he finally started. I was halfway down the 1/4 mile when he went flying past me. I'm not sure of my time anymore, but I remember that I almost reached 80 MPH. What a feeling! Half exhilarating, half scared! I pulled into the pit area and Terry said that he found out that I am the only car in my category for the night and I automatically win. A jacket! No way. Then I found out there has to be a minimum of a dozen cars in a class before they award a jacket. For my winning effort I got a certificate. Can't even locate it anymore. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy. PS - Don't have a photo of me at the drags, but do have a photo of the Tempest that was decorated for my wedding. Check us out in the back seat.

The "Really Big Pizza" Story

It was an ordinary day. The pizza is here! Tad, our youngest son, was treating for supper. The family travels to Ocean City, NJ every year for a week at the shore. Everyone usually either brings along a meal or two or treats for a meal. Tad decided to buy pizza for supper. Now, this isn't any pizza, but the GIGANTIC pizza from Three Bros. from Italy shop on the boardwalk. They have a sign hanging in the shop that says "Eat the Whole Pizza in an hour and you get it free plus free pizzas for a year." You know they can't afford to do that too many times, so they make it so big that no one can possibly eat it in an hour. And, Tad bought three of them. They must be at least three feet in diameter. There are 10 of us who will be eating supper and there is no way we can finish all three. Or is there? One is just a regular cheese pizza. One is half barbecue chicken and half sausage. The last one is half broccoli and half extra cheese. Drinks for everyone and we start eating. Add some chips and you have a great UNHEALTHY meal. A piece of this is almost like eating a personal pizza at other shops. Well, it wasn't long before we had the three pizzas polished off. Can't believe we ate all that. Then Tad said, "Hey, anybody ready for some Rita's?" It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy. Photos from top are: LDub holding supper, Camille looking at the intimidating pizza, Tad preparing for supper and the grand kids chowing down.

The "Street Slug" Story

It was an ordinary day. I was heading home from a day of teaching school. Since I teach graphic arts and photography, the school also hires me to do most of the in-house printing that needs to be done during the year and in the summer. Items such as hall passes, tickets, programs and anything that can be handled on our school letterpress. Yep, a letterpress. The kind that you pushed to get it started and a belt would keep the press running as you hand-feed paper into the press. You needed to set type by hand and lock it in a chase which fit in the bed of the press so you could run multiple copies of what you needed. Now you're talking ancient times here. Late 60s to late-70s I taught the kids how to use these presses. If I had a larger job I would visit Beitzel Composition Co. on Ross St. in Lancaster and Bob would set the type on a linotype machine for me. This machine had a typewriter keyboard and you would type a document and small letters would fall into place. Molten lead would fall into this mold and would form a line of type (linotype), also known as a slug. This is how newspapers were printed for years and Edison referred to the machine as the 8th wonder of the world. Bob was my baseball coach when I played Midget ball and I always went to him if I needed a job set in type for my press at school. I usually stopped at home after school to see who wanted to go see Bob with me. Always someone went because Bob had a big box with candy in it for the kids in the neighborhood. Today my daughter Brynn is going with me to pick up some type that Bob set for graduation announcements. She's only 6 years old, but enjoys going anywhere with me. Out of the car and in Bob's door before I close my car door. Bob saw us coming and greets her with the candy box. She picks a piece, Bob hands me the package of type and out the door we go. I have to help Brynn into the back seat and put her seat belt on her so I place the type on the top of the car while I do that. Same routine I always do. Well, by now you guessed what I forgot to do today. Yep, I buckled her in her seat, closed the door, went around to my side and hopped in the car. Started the car, backed out of my parking space and headed home. We were home for a while when all of a sudden something struck me and I started to sweat. Where is my type? Holy crap, or something like that, I yelled. Out the door to the car. Not in the car or on the car. I got my keys and off I went, tracing my way back to Bob's place. There in the middle of the street at Beitzel Composition Company was my job, scattered all over the street. Cars had smashed most of the lead lines of type flat. Gathered up what I could and took them inside to show Bob. I walked in the door and placed them on his counter and said, "Do you give a 30 return on this stuff?" It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy. PS - Letterpress at top and linotype machine at bottom.

The "Stretching an Almost Lie" Story

It was an ordinary day. I'm off to Cub Scouts with my neighbor Dave G. Dave is not one of my parent's favorite people for me to play with, but I guess they figure we are only going to a Cub Scout meeting. Dave is a few years older than me and tends to get into trouble. We have to walk about a mile to get to the house where the meeting is held. Neat place on Duke St. in the city of Lancaster. The scout mother is Mrs. W. and her husband has his Doctor's Office in part of the old city mansion. The cellar where we meet has a pool table in it and we are allowed to play pool and throw darts when our meeting is over. There are 10 boys in the den and we meet every other week on a Monday. Have to hurry home from school to get to the meeting. Usually my dad will stop and pick us up on his way home from work. Dave and I leave about 3:30 PM for our 4:00 meeting. Head from my house over Liberty Street to Duke, then South on Duke to the mansion. Today we are taking our time and throwing pine cones as we go. We both filled our pockets with the pine cones as we passed the Catholic Church on the street. Aiming at almost anything we can throw them at. I'm 8 years old, but can throw better than my 10 year old friend. We see a stop sign and stop to throw a few pine cones at it. On the opposite corner is a group of about half a dozen junior high school boys who probably lived in the neighborhood and were up to no-good. Seems that Dave threw at the stop sign and threw a little too hard. Just as his pine cone headed across the street towards the boys, I was releasing one also. The boys looked across at us and saw me throwing my missile just as Dave's hit one of them. They weren't very happy. They started across the street and Dave took off. I knew I couldn't outrun them so I kept walking as if nothing had happened. They confronted me and started to ask where I was from and what I was doing in THEIR NEIGHBORHOOD! Just then, a city police patrol car pulled up and the boys took off. The officer asked what I was doing and where I was going. Lucky for me I had my scout uniform on that day. I'm sure I looked terrified, probably because I was. He asked what was in my pockets so I showed him the pine cones and told him they were for a project we were doing that day. I didn't say a scout project, just a project, like in a throwing project. Hey, I'm a scout and couldn't lie! He told me to get in and he drove me the four blocks to my destination. Dave G. never showed up at scouts that day. My dad picked me up after the meeting and on the way home I convinced him that I really didn't want to be a Cub Scout anymore. Especially if I had to walk in Duke Street again. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy. PS - the good looking dude is me in my scout uniform.

The "Virtual Coffee Shop" Story

It was an ordinary day. I had just checked my facebook page for activity. I now have 35 friends. Not many I know, but I don't try to accumulate hundreds as some people do. No need to add people I see every day or family members, since I talk to them on the phone regularly. People who I have stored on my cell phone don't need to be my facebook friends either. So why do I have a facebook page? Sometimes, I'm not sure. Seems my childhood friend, Bill H., thought I should have a page when he visited me at Christmas in '08. Helped me set it up. Then when he came for a visit the following year he asked about it and I told him I didn't do anything with it. Well, we pulled it up again and I had forgotten the password. Had to redo the password and now I am in business again. Thanks, Bill. I have added trip photos and photos of my stained glass window panels in case anyone may want to buy one, but I haven't "talked" with facebook friends all that much. One day I typed in my name on the "Find Friends" link and viola! I instantly had over 180 new friends named Larry Woods. Started searching and picked out some who looked my age and wrote a note to them and requested they be my friend. Now we're getting somewhere. Friends started to pour in. LW#1 was from Stockton MO and enjoyed gospel music and reading the Bible. Is 69 and tells me that getting older isn't what it's cracked up to be! LW#2 is from Arlington , VA and is 30 and a member of the University of Virginia Black Alumni. Really guessed wrong on his age! LW3# doesn't list where he's from, but lists 58 as his age. LW#4 is from Tennessee and is 70 and a member of the Saudis Baptist Church.LW#5 is from Sydney, Australia and invited me to come visit. How about that! Says we should have a reunion of all the LWs in the world. He says he's a crisis catholic? Only goes to church if there is a crisis. Also tells me that Aussies shorten many names and words like: Lazza orLaz. Hey.! "$%.^&*. What the h**l is that? LW#6 was 70 on March 29thand lives in Arizona. Keeps telling me how nice the weather is out there. He does web site development. LW#7 is from Glens Falls, NY and is 51 and enjoys sports and Bruce Springsteen. Coaches Little League baseball and HS sports. LW#8 is from Wakemani, OH and enjoys reality shows and country music. Is 53 years old. LW#9 is 71 and a born again Christian who lives in State College, PA. Retired from: Univ. of Iowa as the Information Systems Director, Univ. of ND as the Library Director,Purdue Univ. as the Head of Research and Development and Dartmouth as Chief Librarian of Automation. I should add some of this kind of stuff in my write-up. LW#10 is from Edmon, OK and worked for the Panhandle Eastern Pipe Line Co. He is 71 and told me his mother was born in Lancaster in 1918. LW#11 is 65 and from San Luis Obispo, CA. He is President/Owner of Westcoast Broadcasting, Inc. Big time Republican who likes Rush and Sean. LW#12 is from Loomis, CA and is 62. Big basketball fan and says that "We must be a great bunch of guys, right?" And ..... the list goes on. At some point on my blog I must tell you about the TWO other LWs from Lancaster my hometown. Story that is both entertaining and tragic, and I must find the right way to tell the story. Until then, I'll keep in touch with my couple of friends on facebook and enjoy what they are doing. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy. PS - Pixs from top are: My friend Bill from AZ, LW#5 from Australia with wife and son, LW#9 from State College, and LW#10 with wife.

The "I'm Not Catholic, But..." Story

It was an ordinary day. Today we are traveling to the Vatican. Yep, THAT Vatican. The one where the Pope lives. Vatican City is a walled enclave within the City of Rome. An enclave is a sovereign city within the boundaries of another sovereign city. Vatican City has an area of 110 acres and a population of approximately 800. The Pope is the head of the Government. Vatican City only came into existence in 1929 and is distinct from the Holy See which dates back to early Christianity. The Holy See is the body of 1.1 billion Catholics around the globe. Hey so much for the history of Vatican City. I'll tell you I was impressed when I walked through the gate and I'm not even Catholic, but close since I'm Episcopalian. Paolo is our guide and he's a handsome Italian dude. He leads us and 10,000 of our closest friends through the Raphael Rooms, Sistine Chapel, St. Peter's Basilica and a viewing of Michelangelo's Pieta. The Raphael Rooms are located in the Palace of the Vatican. They house the frescoes painted by the artist Raphael. The fresco of Adam and Eve is one of the most impressive. As we walk from building to building you start to feel "religious," if you know what I mean. Hard to imagine how long it took to build these structures and paint all the frescoes and make all the statues that grace the halls. We enter a long hall leading to the Sistine Chapel. The amount of gold leaf on the ceilings and walls is unbelievable. Guards keep close watch. You are allowed to take photographs until we enter the door to the Chapel. Small room!! I guess I was expecting to see some humongous area, but it is very small. And ... don't you dare touch your camera. Guy in front of me did and he didn't have it in about 5 seconds. Didn't even have it to his eye. The camera police grabbed it and told him where he could get it upon exit from the room. They say the flashes will damage the paintings. The floor of the Chapel is mosaictiles while most of the paintings are by Michelangelo with a theme of the history of mankind before the coming of Christ. And .... I'm standing there, looking up at the ceiling and wondering how anyone can paint using a small brush while laying on their back. I have enough trouble standing up and painting the house with a roller. Building was constructed from 1477 to 1483. Can't believe they did that in only 6 years. We headed next to St. Peter's Basilica which is a late Renaissance church which has the largest interior of any Christian church in the world, holding 60,000 people. Wow, I should have gotten married in there so I could of had a few more friends and relatives show up. While in the church we solemnly walked past Michelangelo's sculpture, La Pieta. This famous work of art depicts the body of Jesus on the lap of his mother Mary after the Crucifixion. Truly moving!! We walked into St. Peter's Square which is in front of the church. Paolo points out the window where the Pope greets the people standing in the square. Seems he won't be greeting us today. Something better has come up for him. You know, it's funny how all the girls and women seem to hang around Paolo and ask him questions. Dumb things that really don't have anything to do with Italy. You can't be anything but impressed with our journey today. History is neat, even though I hated it in high school and college. Ended the tour in the gift shop, naturally, and bought a "Christian stamp" from Vatican City. I was half afraid to lick it when I was putting it in my scrapbook. Also bought a Rosary for my sister-in-law Kathy. Really neat and she loved it. Well the day is over and I don't think I would have done anything different. Oh yeah! Now when I get home, I've got to have my named changed to Paolo. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy. PS - Pixs from top: Sculpted Sphere in courtyard inside Vatican City, Raphael's Adam and Eve fresco, hallway leading to Sistine Chapel, inside Sistine Chapel, St. Peter's Basilica, St. Peter's Square panorama, front of St. Peter's Basilica and tower view of St. Peter's Square.