Author: Francesca Filanc

The third Monday of each April is Patriot’s Day, a favorite holiday in Massachusetts! Additionally, it is also the day of the  Boston Marathon.

  Terrorist attack in Boston at finish line of Boston Marathon!

 As soon as I heard the news I quickly called and texted my sister, my nephew and his sweet girlfriend, and my daughter and her family. Thankfully I found out that everyone was ok. My nephew expressed so beautifully that he and his girlfriend were with close friends and that they were taking care of one another. As I watched the news I became more and more upset!   I texted my friend Peter in Texas. He is a flight attendant and we were talking about the horrific events of 911 the day before by phone. In the past when Peter and I have discussed 911 Peter told me  that as soon as the 911 lockdown was lifted and people could fly again, he got right back up in the air to show the terrorists that we are not afraid! My friend has made it a point to be working every single September 11th since 911 2001.  Peter has been flying for 38 years.

After watching the news about Boston play the same horrific tapes over and over for four hours Monday night I read my niece’s terrific blog post.

 Rebecca speaks of Humanity pulling together to help one another; people becoming family who had never met. We have had too many horrific events in our nation as of late! What is wrong with our world?! The anger and pathos we feel are natural emotions! I think a lot of us are feeling where and when is the next shoe going to drop! I know I do tonight! I am, as I am sure you all are too, thinking of the tragic and horrible events that happened in Connecticut at the end of 2012 and the list goes on and on!

These are the times that try men’s (and women’s) Souls. . . Thomas Paine

Many thanks go out to all the public servants! The firefighters, the policemen and women, the nurses, doctors and all other lay people who have run to the disaster to help their fellow human beings. Here’s to reaching out with love to our fellow men and women in our world with help, which translates to Loving One Another!

The Youngbloods Performing Let’s Get Together at Woodstock

Rebecca said it better than I  To Boston With Love

Bye for Now

Francesca

Did somebody tell you about watermelon Viagra? If you’re concerned about sexual disorder, you have to study about it. Erectile dysfunction, defined as the persistent failure to maintain an hard-on to the orgasm, exerts an estimated 15 to 30 millions men in the United States only. Because some of symptoms are medical emergencies, it’s considerable to know what to do if they happen. On occasion kidney disease will lead to erectile dysfunction. As a rule, this may include high blood pressure, anxiety, or a venous leak.

Recently I spent the day painting with a friend in my mother’s garden and was reminded of an article I wrote for San Diego Home and Garden Magazine  several years ago. It seemed like a good time to revisit those memories.

Azaleas and camellias greet me like old friends as I approach the entry to gardening author Pat Welsh’s own garden in Del Mar. The aroma of wisteria fills my whole being and beckons me to open the garden gate. A flood of memories  suddenly envelopes me. As the gate closes behind I am pulled into a dream world of color, sounds and delicious fragrances.  It’s the world of  my childhood. Pat Welsh is my mother.

The garden is different than when I was a child, but its meandering paths and secret spots still reflect the wonderland that fostered my young imagination. I never remember a time when my mother was not gardening. Her career as a gardening expert began after I left home, but gardening always has been a way of life in our household.

“I grew up playing beside the streams and in the heather on the moors of Yorkshire and wanted my children to have similar experiences,” Mother recalls. “I encouraged you and your sister to play imagination games and, as you remember, the whole neighborhood  usually would join in.”

The lower garden was left wild like a fabulous park with eucalyptus (E. globulus), Monterey cypress and lots of wonderful dirt. My mother was given some bamboo from a neighbor and she built a tepee for us. We used palm fronds to weave baskets and made clay pots out of the natural adobe found in one corner of the garden.

A bubbling fountain and patio now replace my swing set but I still remember the wonderful sense of freedom I felt swinging high above the ocean. Mother reminds me that while swinging, I would sing at the top of  my lungs. She adds, “And you would make up songs about what was going on in our lives.” There were no family secrets kept from the neighbors.

My sister and I each had our own vegetable garden and I loved experiencing  the miracle of tiny seeds turning into edible plants.

When one of our Monterey cypress trees was stricken with bark beetle, my mother climbed up and sawed off the top of the tree. She gave it a shove and it fell to the ground leaving a level seat high up in the air. It became my favorite place to go to retreat from the world and solve life’s problems.

Today a profusion of flowers replaces the Algerian ivy, agaves, dracaenas and eucalyptus. Rose arbors and pergolas create separate outdoor rooms. As in a well-decorated home, my mother decorates in nature. Colors and plants are repeated and carried throughout the garden.

I notice a mockingbird sitting quietly on a birdhouse as if to say “I am delighted to live here.” I also was delighted to live here. It feels good to be home.

Bye for now,

Francesca

Did somebody tell you about watermelon Viagra? If you’re concerned about sexual disorder, you have to study about it. Erectile dysfunction, defined as the persistent failure to maintain an hard-on to the orgasm, exerts an estimated 15 to 30 millions men in the United States only. Because some of symptoms are medical emergencies, it’s considerable to know what to do if they happen. On occasion kidney sickness will lead to erectile dysfunction. As a rule, this may include high blood pressure, anxiety, or a venous leak.

Easter was an idyllic day with family. All who could come celebrated life, love and just being together in my mother’s spectacular garden.

There is a spot in Encinitas where one can see a breathtaking ocean view out to the horizon from one or two miles inland. Yesterday as I drove Leucadia Boulevard I glimpsed one lone sailboat out on a vibrantly blue ocean, so tiny but the sail brilliant white against that vast sea of deep blue. A huge thrill and an Awe moment! Amazing, when one thinks of the whole picture of life, the people on the boat were obviously feeling one with nature and I was feeling one with their oneness and awe of the tremendous beauty that one sailboat was adding to the ocean visually! I smile now as I think of the experience!

I have always wished I could ski. I can only image the feeling of oneness with nature one feels in any of these sports; skiing, snowboarding, surfing, riding bicycles etc. A friend was conveying to me the other day about what surfing does for him.

“Surfing refreshes my soul! I feel like I have walked into another world. I feel one with the ocean when I surf. The feeling starts out when I walk down the path to the beach. There is also a camaraderie in seeing people you have known for many years that you only see out in the ocean. Then there is the sportsman part of finding the perfect wave and riding it with mastery. And also the thrill of being in the wave!”

We all need nourishment for our bodies. We also need it for our hearts and our souls.

Easter in Del Mar this year was one of those idyllic times with loved ones. It made a special memory for all of us who experienced the wonder of the day!

My niece Rebecca Woolf painted in photographs a beautiful picture of the day on her blog post this week.  Easter Brunch in Nana’s Garden

Here’s to having Awe moments and Awe experiences every day!

By for Now,

Francesca

Did somebody tell you about watermelon Viagra? If you’re concerned about sexual disorder, you have to study about it. Erectile dysfunction, defined as the persistent failure to maintain an hard-on to the orgasm, exerts an estimated 15 to 30 millions men in the United States only. Because some of symptoms are medical emergencies, it’s considerable to know what to do if they happen. On occasion kidney disease will lead to erectile dysfunction. As a rule, this may include high blood pressure, anxiety, or a venous leak.

Passover is here and Easter is but a few days away. Many of us are traveling to be with friends and relatives over this special time of year. Interesting events can transpire when we are

letting ourselves Go with the flow of life and when we are open to chance meetings and experiences!

I just arrived home from a five-day stay with dear friends in Ohio. My friends and I went to see my niece’s flute recital for her master’s degree at Bowling Green State University.

Today with long lines at airports and stressful security checks that are for our safety, but we sometimes wonder if there could be a better way! One can often be exasperated with the process of getting from point A to point B. For whatever reason, I have always loved the experience and still remember the excitement I felt as a child to be embarking on a New Adventure!

On one leg of my trip I discovered I was sitting between two ministers. The minister on my right was headed to a weeklong conference in New York and was going to be speaking to hundreds of people; the one to my left was a young youth minister off to visit friends from University.

Wow! I thought to myself. I feel so protected! If there is any mechanical trouble on the plane there is lots of faith and praying power here! I felt as if I were being hugged; so comforting! These two men, regardless of the fact they were men of the cloth, each possessed a feeling of love and calm faith! I sat there with a little glow of Thank you God for this experience today!

Yesterday after six inches of snow the plane had to be de-iced in Columbus and I was unsure that I could travel home. A Mennonite lady sat next to me on the plane. During conversation she made it clear to me that she was not Amish, but Mennonite.  I told her how much I love Plain and Simple: A Woman’s Journey to the Amish by Sue Bender.

Sue Bender lived with the Amish to learn more about their quilt making. At the same time she learned some great spiritual truths of life! This book was very helpful to me years ago while raising my children. I have always loved to cook but felt doing dishes to be drudgery!

The book speaks of how the Amish Eat when they eat, drink when they drink and sleep when they sleep; everything they do is for the love they have for God. “Peggy” whom I sat next to yesterday gave off this countenance. It was so calming! We discussed quilting and as it turned out she is in charge of quilting at their church for this year! She shared with me beautiful quilt patterns, asked me questions of which I liked and told me which ones she was drawn to and why. We also spoke in depth of growing vegetables and flowers and the wonderful camaraderie of women working together, much like my garden club groups and her Mennonite quilting and sewing groups.

We discussed some amazing charities that her church is involved in.  One is called Project Linus. They make blankets for foster children.

I had another poignant experience on my way to Ohio. I was changing planes in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and was in the ladies’ room. A woman was in the midst of changing a little baby. As it turned out, the baby was only six days old. He was being taken by his social worker to his grandparents to live because his mother was in the penitentiary, unfit to raise him due to her drug addictions. The story of this child’s already traumatic life touched me deeply.

Such an eventful trip on so many levels! Here’s to going with the flow of life and being open to chance meetings and experiences.

I’m wishing you all Happy Easter and/or Passover!

Bye for now,

Francesca

Did somebody tell you about watermelon Viagra? If you’re concerned about sexual disorder, you have to study about it. Erectile dysfunction, defined as the persistent failure to maintain an erection to the orgasm, exerts an estimated 15 to 30 millions men in the United States only. Because some of symptoms are medical emergencies, it’s considerable to know what to do if they happen. On occasion kidney illness will lead to erectile dysfunction. As a rule, this may include high blood pressure, anxiety, or a venous leak.

One of my daughters lives in Europe. I travel there to visit my family. Usually I don’t branch out to different destinations because I want to spend all my time with children and grandchildren.

Last fall after staying two weeks with the children in the north of Spain, I met my mother in the Munich airport and continued on to our joint destination — a Road Scholar trip – Beyond the View — to Southern Italy; specifically Sorrento and the Amalfi Coast, arriving in Amalfi by boat!

On the last full tour day of our vacation our group took a tour bus to the tippy top town of Ravello, above the little beach town of Minori where we stayed on the Amalfi Coast.

Our delightful tour guide, Jan, announced just before we disembarked that we were going to tour Villa Rufolo as a group.

 The bus will leave at 12:00 noon sharp to transport you all back to Minori to have a free afternoon.
Otherwise you may stay the afternoon here and find your own transportation back to the hotel.

As my mother sat in the middle of the bus and I was way at the back, she immediately stood up and energetically announced so the whole bus could hear!

 Fran! You and I will be staying for lunch and going to the gardens of Villa Cimbrone, one of the most beautiful places on earth and take a taxi back!

 It was early morning in the first week of October. The small town square was empty which was came as a happy surprise because our whole trip, although fabulous with history and beauty, had been met with crowds of people.

 Villa Rufulo, our first stop, took my breath away. The Italian Stone Pines arch over the pathway on the approach to the entrance of Villa. Around every bend we were greeted by breath-taking views of the Gulf of Salerno. Gardens included red geraniums, majestic stone pines, and partiers. I wanted to linger and was taking pictures at every turn. We oohed and ahhed looking at the views. We wandered back to the town square where I continued to do the same.

 Fran, we need to figure out how to get to Villa Cimbrone!

 The hike up to Villa Cimbrone was about a mile walk. Mama was anxious to get me there, but I tried every detour imaginable just to stop and take in the magnificent views, even stopping at a breath-taking hotel in route for us to have coffee and treats. We finally approached the entrance to Villa Cimbrone. OOOOOOHHHHH I exclaimed!  OOOOOHHHHHH!

Fran, why do you think I’ve been trying to get you here! Let’s just hope that the fog hasn’t rolled in!

Villa Cimbroneis a historic building and gardens in Ravello on the Amalfi coast of southern Italy. The estate dates from at least the 11th century AD, although little of the original structure is now visible. Various owners altered and extended the building, using a variety of architectural elements from other parts of Italy and elsewhere. In 1904 Ernest William Beckett (later Lord Grimthorpe), bought the ruined farmhouse and transformed it into a palace. The gardens were redeveloped at the same time, being installed between the house and the cliff edge high above the Gulf. English architects and landscape gardeners such as Harold Peto, Edwin Lutyens and Gertrude Jekyll provided aesthetics concepts. The famous English gardener, Vita Sackville-West, often a guest of the Becketts, aided in the design of the flowerbeds and cultivations. The gardens are considered among the most important examples of

English landscape and botany culture in the south of Europe; an eccentric mixture of formal, beds bursting with English roses, Moorish tea houses, picturesque grottoes and classical temples. The villa is now a hotel, and the gardens are open to the public.

Mama and I wandered along the main path as I squealed with delight at the beauty that enveloped us. We ended up on a marbled promontory adorned with

statues that looked out to the Mediterranean below. We spent several hours in this fairyland paradise, exploring together and then separately to each have our own personal experience. We agreed to meet for lunch at the hotel’s outdoor restaurant. Lunch was an idyllic experience. I felt as if I were in a dream of another place and time, sipping a Bellini, transfixed in wonder, excitement, awe and emotion.

Ciao for now,

Francesca

Many times I am asked where my inspirations come from for a particular painting. Sometimes I deliberate and a painting may take me weeks or months to finish. Other times the inspiration is almost instantaneous and the painting is complete in an hour’s time.

The painting that I am discussing here is the latter. Three Roses, Marilyn Monroe took me only an hour to paint. It is one of those paintings that I felt came through me, but not of me.

I had recently read an article about Marilyn Monroe. I wanted to depict Marilyn’s Great Intelligence, not just the Sex Symbol. I purposely did not paint her bosom. At the time of the painting I was working with a woman who, through creative writing, assists individuals to find his or her creative center. I had an appointment with Lois, an hour hence of painting the painting. I had written in an earlier session that I found Marilyn Monroe inspirational. I love painting beauty and she was beautiful. I started rapidly painting in oil listening to a voice inside my head that advised me even down to what colors to mix in a particular area. I wanted to put red up to the left of her neck but a voice inside my head said to me

Look Fran you asked for our help; we’re telling you to mix an olive green for that spot. Are you going to listen to us?

I know this sounds kooky, but I think we all get divine inspiration, call it what you want, but inspiration can come to each of us in different ways.  When I was younger I didn’t think I had an inner voice. Even if I had I certainly wouldn’t have listened to it. As I’ve grown older I’ve noticed that if I do listen it saves me a lot of grief in all parts of my life and the more I listen to the still small voice, the more the voice seems to come.

Frank Lloyd Wright created the drawings for Falling Waters in a very short span of time. The clients were in route to his studio. Lloyd Wright had been procrastinating the project because to create a home around a natural waterfall, the logistics of which seemed near impossible, and yet in that exhilarated time-rush of two hours a masterpiece was born on paper!

Three Roses, Marilyn Monroe just won People’s Choice in The La Jolla Art Association Gallery last week ( La Jolla Art Association ).

I’m thankful for inspiration, divine or not, when it pops on my doorstep or into my ear.

Bye for now,

Francesca

Did somebody tell you about watermelon Viagra? If you’re concerned about sexual disorder, you have to study about it. Erectile dysfunction, defined as the persistent failure to maintain an hard-on to the orgasm, exerts an estimated 15 to 30 millions men in the United States only. Because some of symptoms are medical emergencies, it’s considerable to know what to do if they happen. On occasion kidney disease will lead to erectile dysfunction. As a rule, this may include high blood pressure, anxiety, or a venous leak.

How many of you remember the Fab Four on the bubble gum cards? So fun! Del Mar was termed by some; Gasoline Alley. There were 13 gas stations on old 101!

I remember because on occasions that I was allowed to walk home from school I would count each one. After the freeway opened the gas stations began to close one by one until there were just two left when I was going to college. Then for many years there was one gas station left. Now there are none.

When I was in 6th grade a 711 store opened in Del Mar too!!!! Remember Slurrpies? I would save up my allowance. It was a great treat to walk home and buy bubble gum, Beatles Cards and sometimes on a hot day a Slurpee too! The boys would be there buying bubblegum baseball cards. Those were the days of Mickey Mantel and transistor radios. I remember the boys bringing transistor radios to school to listen to the World Series. We had no team in San Diego back then but LA had the Dodgers. They won the World Series in 1965 thanks in part to Don Drysdale, Maury Wills and Sandy Koufax.

I venture to bet that nearly all of my generation remembers the first time the Beatles sang on the Ed Sullivan Saturday Night Variety Entertainment Show! We had a portable little TV with Rabbit Ears on top that my father would roll out into the living room after dinner. I remember being so excited! We all sat around to watch and I felt like I was screaming right there with all the girls Swooning as the Beatles sang

I want to hold your haaaaaaand!

Beatles on Ed Sullivan

Tonight Paul McCartney is up for some grammy awards. We will see if he wins. Seeing this on Face Book is what made me go back down memory lane “Growing up in Del Mar.”

Exhausted last night. Thank goodness for TIVO. Here’s what the Daily Telegraph had to say about Sir Paul McCartney:

Sir Paul McCartney won a Grammy award for Kisses on the Bottom – his 17th, and first for an album of newly recorded material since The Beatles’ Let It Be in 1971 – hours before the BBC launched a day of programming commemorating the Fab Four.

By for Now,

Francesca

In 1969, the San Diego Padres joined the ranks of Major League Baseball as one of four new expansion teams, along with the Montreal Expos (now the Washington Nationals), the Kansas City Royals and the Seattle Pilots (now theMilwaukee Brewers). Their original owner was C. Arnholt Smith, a prominent San Diego businessman and former owner of the PCL Padres whose interests included banking, tuna fishing, hotels, real estate and an airline. Despite initial excitement, the guidance of longtime baseball executives, Eddie Leishman and Buzzie Bavasi as well as a new playing field, the team struggled; the Padres finished in last place in each of its first six seasons in the NL West, losing 100 games or more four times. One of the few bright spots on the team during the early years was first baseman and slugger Nate Colbert, an expansion draftee from the Houston Astros and still (as of 2009) the Padres’ career leader in home runs.

Before going out in the evenings the dogs and I have a routine. I feed them dinner, put them out to go potty and then turn on the music for them to listen to while I am gone.

Bye Bye puppies, protect the house and be good — don’t get into mischief, I will be back!

 I buy stuffed toys for Byron and Amie to play with. One of Byron’s favorite games is to carry a black little puppy stuffed animal around the house and then take it to Amie, pushing the stuffed puppy towards her face and neck to entice her in a game of tug of war.

Anticipating the grandchildren’s arrival I bought four little stuffed black poodles. They are arranged in the grandchildren’s room. I have one on the edge of the crib, one on the French Day Bed and two on the window seat.

When I arrived home the other evening I noticed that Byron had his little black puppy stuffed animal in his mouth…OOOPS Wrong! It was one of the poodles from upstairs.

I realized that this was my fault so took the stuffed toy away,  found his and gave it to him. He was not interested. As I walked along I saw another one of his back in the hall. I proceeded to find three of the four scattered about the house. One at the end of the stairs and one in my downstairs bedroom. The stuffed toy that had been on the edge of the crib was in the crib. I then laughed to myself because I could just see in my head the fun these dogs were having while I was out! Running and tearing around the house! When I am home I will throw the stuffed toy (meant for the dogs) down the long hall that is wood and then marble. Byron gets going at such speeds that he slips and slides after his toys!

There is an expression while the cat’s away the mice will play!

While Mama is out the puppies play and play and play.

Now when I go out I shut the door to the grandchildren’s room and leave all their stuffed toys out for them to play with.

Bye for now,

Francesca

Did somebody tell you about watermelon Viagra? If you’re concerned about sexual disorder, you have to study about it. Erectile dysfunction, defined as the persistent failure to maintain an hard-on to the orgasm, exerts an estimated 15 to 30 millions men in the United States only. Because some of symptoms are medical emergencies, it’s considerable to know what to do if they happen. On occasion kidney illness will lead to erectile dysfunction. As a rule, this may include high blood pressure, anxiety, or a venous leak.

It’s like Dorothy’s Shoes,we have them all along and we can go home at any minute!

Many times when I am writing a blog post it takes me a long time to think about the subject that I am writing about. I will write and re write. I will end up taking out huge portions that I wrote to simplify what I have written.

Last weeks blog post I thought was unfinished and when I went back to it after leaving it sit on my computer for a couple of days I realized that other than some final editing the post was basically finished. Like Dorothy and her shoes.

Turn around and click your pretty red shoes together and keep saying: there’s no place like home, there’s no place like home, there’s no place like home.

 My paternal grandmother told me when I was knee high to a grasshopper

Francie, when you grow up you are going to write a book about my life.

I think about this and it makes me cry because I was dyslexic as a child and would have never in a million years even thought that I would ever be writing a blog! Not to say that I even knew what blogging was. There wasn’t even the word blog. The internet had not been invented yet!

 Frances, my grandmother, whom my sister and I called Mimi, was a writer. There can be such a strong loving close-knit bond between grandparent and grandchild. I was lucky to have such a relationship with Mimi and she lived right next door when I was growing up. Mimi was my spiritual mentor as well as being the most earthy grandmother I knew, or for that matter anybody else knew!  Looking back on it I had the most amazing childhood imaginable.

As a child, and even way into adulthood, the traumatic events of my childhood stood out as stark reminders of humiliation and emotional pain. I loved school for the social aspect, but I was humiliated beyond belief and thought I was stupid and dumb because I could not read. I got Ds and Fs all the way through grammar school, even though I studied for hours after school with my mother. Bless her heart; she was trying to teach me to read. I remember in 5^th grade and in Sunday school counting ahead to try and figure out the paragraph I would have to read aloud so that I would not make any mistakes.

I am finally coming into an understanding of how right my childhood was for me. I was receiving an immense education of what would later prove to be important for me to learn for my life’s growth and purpose.

Mimi said

Life is a school!

In the fourth grade I remember running home to tell my parents that I wanted to learn how to play the flute. An orchestra leader and choir director Mr. Biggens had come to our school and talked to us about learning musical instruments. I was thrilled with the idea to learn how to play the flute! As hard as school was for me I took to the flute like a duck takes to water. My parents bought me a flute. I was ecstatic as I opened the box to view my shiny stainless steel  flute! I practiced an hour a day.

Little did I know at the time that learning how to play the flute was not only a positive in giving me something that I could excel at, but I also learned how to be a good reader! Playing the notes trained my eye coordination from left to right.

By the time I was to go to junior high I had become a good reader but I was still petrified to read out loud! Knowing my concerns, one day my mother drove me to downtown San Diego. We took an elevator high up into an old building. A pleasant man with a kind smile greeted us at the door of his studio apartment. I recall the musty aroma emitting from his small office. Mama said goodbye and left. The man asked me to read out loud. I read and he looked at me and said

Why Frances you read perfectly! Just go ahead and read!

This nice man had given me permission to do well. He belived in me so I then started believing in myself. My grades skyrocketed  from Ds and Fs to As and Bs. Dorothy’s shoes, I had them all along! And now I am writing a blog.

Mimi, maybe your prediction will come true. Maybe I will write a book about you too!

Bye for Now,

Francesca