Catching Anchovies in Italy-by Christina

This is provolone cheese shaped like pigs.


Anchovies freshly caught


Christina in Messina


Another anchovie catching picture

The Shilling Family on the beach in Italy!

Hi! Today was a fantastic day! We spent the morning at the beach, then took a break so we all could take a rest from the heat of the day. I boiled up some homemade pasta from the supermarket and Angela and I enjoyed a fabulous lunch. We later hit the beach for more fun. My mom's back hurt, so she didn't come again to the beach, just this morning.

Angela and I tried to catch fish, but they were too fast for us. My Dad fell asleep on the beach, and all of a sudden, woke up and saw Angela standing in the middle of a huge seine net. People were crowding around the net to see what creatures the fishermen caught. It was amazing lots of little silver fish flopping around, anchovies! Check out the awesome pics!

Christina S.

A pictorial sampling of Italy

Stan and the girls on their way back from the beach.


Stan wishing he could take a ride on this boat.


The girls catching fish in the sea.


The restaurant that you must walk through to get to the beach.

A view of the beach from the restaurant.

Christina and her Dad.

Christina helps her sister build a sand castle.

Paulette drinks water from one of the spring mineral water fountains. There is one in each town near where we stayed. Everyone comes and fills up all of their bottles and takes them home to use.

Paulette's Dad's turn to have a drink.

Paulette and Father Benedino

Stan and our cousin Paolo

Cousin Meluccia

Christina, Angela and cousin Nilde at another fountain of mineral spring water.

Paulette's Dad, and stepmom, Judy.

Angela, the scuba girl A.K.A. FISH and cousin Nilde

Christina and cousin Nilde read magazines on the beach. Nilde helped Christina with her Italian and Christina helped Nilde with her English. Together, they were able to communicate.

Angela eats and enjoys an Italian pastry.

Christina with her cousin Anne Maria at a family picnic.

Paulette's Dad with his Aunt Maria, Christina, Angela and Nilde at a family picnic

Christina and Nilde.

Angela and Nilde.

Christina and Nana Judy.

Angela and Nana Judy.

Christina and Angela on their way to Italy.


Photos are in order from bottom to top.

Tomorrow we head to the city of Messina in Sicily and the Lipari Islands. More pictures to come, more family to visit, and more memories to make.

The Quilt and other updates

Here is the queen sized quilt that I have been working on. I still need to put the borders on (3 separate borders), and then, make the quilt sandwich with the backing and the batting. Last of all, start machine quilting it. No hand quilting for me. The kids go to school for a few more days this week and then they are off for the summer/winter, so there will not be as much time to finish the quilt. It is strange for the kids to be off that long during cool weather. Christina will have her first "winter" birthday at the end of August as will I :) It is always so hot for our birthdays. Angela will have a "summer" birthday at the end of December and it will be hot.

Getting back to the quilt. I plan to finish it over the kids "summer" break in between vacations and sleep away camp at Sugar Bay in Durban for Christina.. During the 2Nd week in June we will be going to Italy for 10 days to see my Dad and Judy and to stay at their house. In July we are planning on going either to The Seychelles Islands, Mauritius, or Mozambique. So we will get the beach in Italy in June and the beach again in one of the 3 places listed above. Can you tell this family loves the beach. The South African Rand exchange rate continues to drop to the U.S. dollar. It was 10 Rand to the dollar when we arrived at the end of Feb. and now it is under 8 Rand to the dollar. It all makes a difference when you are planning vacations.

In December, My Mom and Auntie Jean will visit for about 2 1/2 weeks and will be here for Christmas and my Mom's birthday.

An experience of a lifetime!

Angela sees a giraffe while sitting in the Game Drive vehicle.


The welcome sign

A pair of rinos get a little too close to us.

This is inside the game drive vehicle. We are up really high so we can spot the animals.

Mother and daughter.

A very aggressive elephant that charged us.

An itchy elephant.

The elephant finally takes off down the road towards another vehicle.

A beautiful view

The Shilling family at a viewing shelter.

A watering hole.

Christina and Angela walking out of a protected viewing station.

An Impala

A bossy hippo

An warning sign as you enter the park/reserve.

The kids at the hotel.

A giraffe munching on a treetop.

Christina and the giraffe

A lion in the middle of the road after he almost jumped into my open car window.

Another warning sign.

Existing the park.

Stan and the girls in Sun City

Christina in a hammock at Sun City in the Cutural Center

Angela in a hammock

A zebra walking along.

A wort hog after he crossed over the road behind us.

The Shilling family just returned from Pilanesberg. The Park brochure states the following, "Pilanesberg exists within the transition zone between the dry Kalahari and wetter Lowveld vegetation, commonly referred to as "Bushveld". Unlike any other large park, unique overlaps of mammals, birds, vegetation occur because of this "transition zone". As a result of the range of habitats and vegetation, there is a wide diversity of animal species, from the "Big Five" to 50 other species, 18 amphibian species and thousands of other interesting smaller animals.

The Shilling Family saw the following while driving through the park: Baboons, Elephants, Giraffes, Hippopotamus, Impalas, Jackals, Lions, White Rhinos, Springboks, Warthogs, Wildebeests, and Zebras. When I saw all of these animals, I kept thinking how small humans are compared to these incredible animals. Seeing these animals in movies, pictures, etc. is just not the same as seeing them right outside your car window. In fact one of the lions caught me by surprise and almost jumped into our car through my window. He came out of nowhere. We had to wait while elephants and lions crossed the road in front of us (not at the same time). We watched while the pride of lions just played with each other like they were little kitty cats. Just amazing. We sat watching while a giraffe munched on the top of a tree. I will remember it forever. This national park is only 2 hours from our house. We plan to go back often. The kids were amazed and touched forever by what they experienced. I hope the above pictures give you a glimpse of what we experienced.

Paulette