Adventures of the LLB Gang: June 2026

6/22/26

Italy Adventures - Assisi and Verona

Happy Italy Tuesday! Thank you for joining me as I re-cap our trip to Italy. After we left the southern coastal region of Italy, we headed northeast towards Venice. We stopped for the night in the town of Assisi in the Central Umbria region of Italy.

As you drive through Italy, you'll see a bunch of villages/towns located on hilltops like Assisi (above). I guess having the advantage of being "on higher ground" really does matter when you are defending a city. Being from a "young" country like the US, I didn't much think of things like this.

While in Assisi we visited the Basilica of San Francesco D'Assisi, including the Assisi Cathedral. The most impressive thing about visiting this Basilica is that there is no talking (or photography) allowed while inside. The rule itself wasn't the most impressive part...this rule applied while visiting Cathedrals and Basilicas throughout Italy. But, the "no talking" rule was rarely enforced. In this Basilica, the Franciscan Friars themselves strongly enforced the rules. I have to admit, it was hard to talk anyway as I was in awe of the beauty and history that surrounded me.

After finishing our tour, we walked through the Piazza Inferiore de San Francesco.

...and admired some local architecture!

After our Assisi visit, we were whisked off to our hotel for the night where dinner, a colorful sunset sunset and dreamland awaited.

We hit the road early the next morning to make the long trek north to

Venice Along the way, we made a stop for lunch in the romance capitol of Italy (and the setting for Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet),

Verona!

Porta Borsari, one of the most well preserved gates of Verona. It was built in the first century AD. The whole trip it repeatedly amazed me to be walking in such historic areas.

The Arena di Verona is another one of Italy's well preserved colosseums. Built in 30AD it is older than Rome's colosseum and

is still in use today as an Arena for Opera and classical performances.

Historic Verona is surrounded on three sides by the scenic Adige River.

Again, at the risk of sounding like a broken record, the architecture was just amazing.

We ate lunch right behind the Torre dei Lamberti, built in 1172. The arches, the staircase, the stone...just wow!

More architecture, and more than a few doors can be found below in the video I put together this week:

I do appreciate your reading (and watching the videos) and virtually tagging along with us!

We are joining Sandee at Comedy Plus for the

Happy Tuesday Blog Hop this week!

6/21/26

In Aaawww of da Teefies

Why yes Mama...my teefies are looking pretty good. Thanks for brushing them every night to make sure they stay whiter than white.

It's very important to be able to give your adoring fans a sparkly smile!!

We're also joining Comedy Plus for the

Awww Monday Blog Hop!

6/18/26

Italy Adventures - Sorrento Beauty and a Farmhouse Dinner

Welcome to Nature Friday where we get to meet new friends and share a picture or two of what nature looks like around Blogville.

In order to get our blog back sooner I have decided to let Mama use MY Nature Fridays for the next few weeks....

In return, she promises to:

a) post a picture of ME with the NF intro

b) make sure Nature is involved

AND

b) have all this Italy stuff posted by the end of July

Today, she said something about wrapping her and Daddy's time in Sorrento.....

(that intro should definitely get me an extra cookie, right Mama?)

Thanks again Rosy....but let's wait until this afternoon before you get any more treats!

We didn't get to spend as much time as we would have liked exploring the town of Sorrento, but what we saw of it was beautiful.

Sorrento is the start of the famous Amalfi Coast Scenic Road. You can drive the 25 mile along the southern coast of the Sorrentine Peninsula.

Of course, it is twisty turny and crowded with buses, mini vans...and suicidal Vespa drivers!

The town of Sorrento itself is a bustling beach town with a small village atmosphere. We spent a fun couple of hours just walking the streets, window shopping and taking in the views.

I especially enjoyed the scenic glimpses of the ocean through the rocky coast!

After our afternoon in Sorrento, we had the pleasure of touring a local farm where not only were we taught how they pressed their own olive oil....

but we learned all about the lemons of Sorrento.

I wish you had smellavision because the smell of the orchard was divine.

The lemons in this grove were actually "spliced" onto bitter orange trees making their lemons huge!

After touring the lemon grove, we experienced the fun of shaping mozzarella cheese.

We watched the young man roll and braid fresh mozzarella. After showing off his handy work, we all made our way to the dining room where we enjoyed a delicious meal including olive oil, mozzarella and limoncello made with fresh ingredients produced on the farm!

Here is a short(er) video of some of our time in Sorrento:

Sorrento was just amazing and someplace I would love to visit and explore more. After we bid farewell to Sorrento, we were off to Assisi, and then Verona but more on that Tuesday!

We do hope all our friends get to enjoy some Nature this weekend!

Show us your nature! It can be flowers, your current weather, a scene out of your window, or maybe a picture from a vacation, walk or other journey! Any kind of nature picture will do! If you don't see a link below, click HERE to go to our Hoppity Page.

6/17/26

Thankful for Good Pets

Today, for Angel Brian's Thankful Thursday, I wanted to say how thankful I am that, after almost nine years, I have finally trained Mama on how to give good pets!

It took her awhile to learn that chin and neck scritchies should always be part of a pet session...

Between my eyes and along my snooter are more of my favorite places to be petted that also took her awhile to figure out.

Whew, I sure do love a good petting session and am very thankful that Mama finally knows all my favorite places to be scritchied!

Do you have your humans trained to scritchy scratch all your favorite spots?

Thank you to Maxwell and Angel Brian for hosting the

Thankful Thursday Blog Hop

6/16/26

BWW - Springtime Western Tanagers

This season, it seems that some of our usual Spring birds have just stopped by our yard for a day or two before moving on.The Western Tanager usually sticks around most of the Spring and Summer. For some reason, this year they seemed to disappear after only a few days.

Luckily, TC caught a glimpse of them visiting the fountain:

I see you up there Mr. Hummer, but a lot of your friends are missing this year too.

What kind of birds are you seeing in your corner of Blogville??

We are joining Sandee at Comedy Plus for the

Wordless Wednesday Blog Hop this week!

6/15/26

Italy Adventures - Pompeii

Happy Italy Tuesday! Thank you for joining me as I re-cap our trip to Italy. We'll get back to the Amalfi Coast and Sorrento on Friday but today, we are going to go back in time and explore the ruins of Pompeii.

The eruption of Mt. Vesuvius lasted 2 days, over 19 feet of volcanic ash covered Pompeii. I can't even imagine what it must have been like to experience a catastrophe like this. Excavations didn't began in earnest until the 1700s and it was amazing how much has been unearthed that has shed light on what life was like all those years ago.

I'll take this opportunity to say that the historians that our tour company hired were excellent. I say historians because, in Italy, there are hoops you have to go through before you are able to lead groups through historical sites and places.

One of the more recent discoveries, Pompeii fast food, or as it was called, the thermopolium. Citizens whose kitchens weren't safe, or did not have kitchens, would gather to eat at the counters of the thermopolium. Ready to eat meals were kept warm in terra-cotta containers sunk into the counter. The thermopolium was also a place for people to gather and exchange news, chat with merchants and see what was going on in other parts of the town.

Above is the "Teatro" where performances were held. Although I didn't get a picture, they also have one of the oldest Amphitheaters in the world (constructed in 70BC). It was mostly used for Gladiator events.

Imagine living in a town without modern plumbing....most of the roads were built lower then the buildings to allow for wastewater to flow easier without getting into businesses or homes.

Raised cobble stones, like the one Ed is standing on, were used to get from one side of the street to the other.

This is the Temple of Apollo, built in the 6th century BC was used for religious and political meetings.

Frescos (paintings done on fresh plaster) that have been recovered give a small window into what life must have been like in Pompeii before the eruption.

Here is a video/slide show of everything we experienced in Pompeii: