Perhaps It's The End Of The Gnomes...Sigh.

  Back in the good old days, I knew what to expect as far as garden gnomes were concerned...

A bit of this....

...some of this...

...and a whole lot of this.

  But something very wicked this way has come, Dear Readers, and I fear the worst.

  The 'Gnome Phenomenon', in my humble opinion, has reached critical mass.

  And I mean CRITICAL.

  Really, people? Must it come to this?

Spock! You should know better!

  Or this?

Good Lord, no.

  For God's sake, what were they thinking?

COME ON!
Have we no decency????!?

  Hey, I don't want to rain on anyone's little gnome parade, but it just seems as though the genre has been taken to, ummmm...the extreme?

And I'm a zombie fan!
But this crosses so many lines of wrong, dude!

   When I found THIS travesty, below, I just knew that I'd have to reconsider my yearly Gnome-A-Thon, here at "Live Pronto"...

Enough is enough.
Jeez.

  This all being said, I did get some last parting Gnome Shots to share...sigh...perhaps for the last time.

  Is this really the end? We'll see what turns up in 2017.

  I have to admit, it's getting really hard to find any of these fellows that I haven't already shown here before, in previous years....

GNOMES & SETTE NANI 2016

He'll keep the light on for you.

This guy either has serious neck issues, or...
he's just jolly.

I'm just hang in' out with my Duck Lamp.

Me, you & a couple of toads.
NOW it's a party.

I have absolutely no idea how I'm going
to get this hunk -o- wood into my wee fireplace....

Heeehhh Ducky, wanna play checkers...ehehhehehhh.

I love this new lip color.... 

Hey, Dopey...Grab the bunny and let's make a run for it...

  I can't believe I found three Snow Whites! Of course, she doesn't have all her Seven Dwarves, but at least it almost seems like she does.

  In my book, that's just fine.

A classic line up.
Snow White looks exhausted. Must be from searching for Sneezy...

I would love to have this group..
Honest. The patina is fantastic...

Maybe not last, but defiantly not least...
I especially like the addition of a second giant sized Dopey.
We all could use more Dopey, me thinks.

  We'll see how it goes, but I may have milked this Gnome thang as much as I could.

  (does that sound as weird to you as it does to me?)

  I have enjoyed keeping an eye out at all times for these devious characters, and it's always been a hoot when I have found new ones lurking beneath a shrub or on a porch....so let's just wait and see what the future holds, shall we? 

  I think we have to.

The Good Stuff

  The Good Stuff?

  It's just the moments that are so fun to reflect back on. Moments that I can't help but capture, not knowing why or when I might want to revisit for a blog post here and there.

  Random shots that, at the time, seem relevant in some way....Oh, maybe I'll do a post about textures, colors, city life...maybe flowers blooming...shrines? Sure, why not? Food...always!

  Then, as I go back through my thousands (true) of photos, I am blown away. Not by the pictures themselves (though I do have to pat myself on the back at times), but by the actual idea that I could possibly get my act together enough to follow through with all these 'ghost-posts'!

  Who am I trying to kid? I'll be lucky to get my 'Mirror Shots' and this year's 'Gnomes' on record before we hop back on a plane and leave again!

  And then the damn photos start all over....jeez. 

  So, though I had every intention to write a post today about everyday 'details', with photos arranged in groups of subject matter, I think instead I'll just throw these on out there, in the order they were taken, for the most part.

  I love every shot, and many speak for themselves. These are just random bits of any given day we spend in Italy, and I think I like this idea a whole bunch the more I sit here and poke away at my keyboard, dang it. 

  Plus, since I nailed down the rental car today for the next trip, I'm getting more and more excited, which is always the best way to get motivated and blog!

  Andiamo, i miei amici!! 

  

  

One of Mr. J's favorite art supply stores.
Florence.

It's gotta be Remo, in Rome.

A favorite locally produced wine, here enjoyed
at Simone & Lorena's osteria in Panicale.

...and we are right where we should be.

Morning walk.

Dashboard wildflowers.

Johnny's dream ladder.

My dream garden fence.

Caught while Johnny was painting.

At the lake.

The morning set up.

My next Halloween costume.
Right?

A charming moment.

It's all about the gold stars.

It's all about the rust.

My head is in those clouds.

My other next Halloween costume.

Hedgy!

A scene in Rome.

Another type of scene in Rome.

Sculpture at the lake.

A lovely herb garden.

Our walking sticks.

In a nearby borgo.

More dreams for my garden....

In a nearby church.

A scene at Lucia's.

It's all about the bees, baby.

A shrine outside of Montepulciano.

The massive wisteria in Tavernelle.
We visit it every year.

Me in love with my new camera's 'micro' setting.

Wildflowers that almost look fake.
They aren't....

Roses....

...and roses....

....and some more roses.

  That's about it.

  Except for this sweetest little last picture, which was taken on our very last day, at the train station below Panicale.....

  Waiting for the train that would take us to the airport that would send us home.

Sigh.