New Beginnings

 Everyone is blossoming. Rubble is perfecting his rock star tendencies, destruction included.

 So much so that the gliterati have taken notice.

 

 

We added another driver to the fold this month. 

 

  

 

 And of course, a new school year began.

Stress and Rest and RestFest

 Two things happened recently. First, RestFest25 happened. 

 

But this time was different, as you can see from the different sunset. This was RestFest: Island Edition. Tied up a little island all to ourselves.

Just as RestFest was wrapping up the best year ever, Levi had one of his lungs collapse on him during marching band camp. Three nights in the hospital, including a visit from his section pals. Now he's home, looking every bit like a guy with two functioning lungs, and resting.

 

 

Isn't She Lovely?

 This girl is 16.

Coming off of the first of hopefully 20 or more trips to New Hampshire in late July. Spoiler. This view is in southern Maine. 

 Here's the puggle over the summer.

The Start of the End

Today, senior year of high school began, unofficially, for Levi. The first day of marching band camp. The start of the school year. Senior year, the last year. Looking back to the same first day in 2022 I am struck by the change. That day in 2022 I drove him to camp after taking this picture. This year, as we were talking about that first year, I said "only this year, I'm not driving you." Half-listening as he always does, he replied, "you're driving me?"

OK, so some things haven't changed much. 

He's a good human, and always has been. He cares for people and for animals, always has. He knows right and wrong, and he works hard. 

Still, the images show change. Apart from the physical change, depicting a child growing into a young man, we see a boy become a man in the broader sense. 

Not just because he's got a job, and he's buying his own stuff. No just because he drives a car (he's an excellent driver). And not just because he's got a plan to do "something medical" with his future, and has the ability to pursue it as far as he wants. It's because he's figured out that happiness is the true goal of life. I hope he learned that from me. 

Nonetheless, I think marching band played a central role in developing him into the young man he is today. He's learned discipline, team work, leadership, and the ability work through the most daunting obstacles. It is, and he is, everything I hoped for on that July morning back in 2022.

 

Travel

This is a long overdue post combining several travel experiences. First, from home base back in the days when those Peloza kids had grown ups come and stay with them while parents travel.

On to the aforementioned travels. Ireland is up first. Here we are in a random park in Dublin.

Surveying a lake in Glendalough, the part of the country where St. Kevin did some stuff a long time ago. I always thought Kevin was more of a 20th century name.

Here are pictures of each other on Alexis' birthday in Dublin.

Back home we hosted a couple of Slovenians in Kentucky for a couple days.

Along with a couple of Illinoisans.

From there Eva and I trucked up to Canada with the aforementioned Slovenians to take in some shows. First stopping in Windsor for a bit of a family reunion.

 

 

 Then shows around Toronto, hanging with the band.

 

 And the living legend himself, Walter Ostanek.

 

 

 The trip included a first, a campus visit. This one to U of T. 

 

 

 Followed by a contemplative bubble tea in Chinatown.

 

 

Another recreation of a picture from years earlier. Not quite the same vantage point, but pictures from 2017 compared to 2025.

 

 

 

 

Home base was a mansion in the middle of nowhere, Port Perry. It's where Eva found her passion for hospitality, supported by about $190 in tips.  

 

After years of wondering who pays to go on that boat that takes you up to the bottom of Niagara Falls, we learned it was us. 

 

  

During a break in the travel, more meals out in Lexington.

 

 

A whole 48 hours back home and then it was time to go again. This time for Levi to test his maturity by being home on his own for basically two weeks while the rest of us went to Europe. Hence no pictures of Levi. 

 

But plenty of travel pics, beginning with Istanbul. Not Constantinople. More eating, drinking and walking.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 It was on these walks that I learned all about Turkish culture and I felt spiritually at home.

 

 

 

A city cruise was a great way to close the trip, since we could get a sense of what we were looking at from the Bosphorus Strait straddling Europe and Asia.

 

 

 

Istanbul, not Constantinople, was the home of cats. A feature that would mark many of our stops on the trip.

 

 

 

Next stop Sarajevo, a first time to Bosnia and also the first time to And Herzegovina. A unique opportunity to walk an abandoned Olympic bobsled track.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Managed to get a table on the second night at the world famous Dveri restaurant. It's not yet world famous but what until people read this. 

Next stop, the world famous - already famous - Mostar and it's bridge.

Second only to the world famous - now that Eva and I have t-shirts - Craft Beer Garden. Where Eva now has a permanent art installation. Also knows as a picture that is hanging next to the taps. It's a drunken jellyfish.

 

 

 

 Next stop, Croatia. Cavtat was the selected site, choosing to forego the touristy Dubrovnik. That sunset.

 

  

The aforementioned Dubrovnik. You don't see nuthin' in Dubrovnik but Dubrovnik.

Pushing north to Split, the land of sea views and interesting driveways.

It's where I discovered my interest in photographing the moon in the night sky.

 

Living like royalty. Dinner on the floor.

 

Next stop, that little patch between Rijeka and Opatija. The land of pizzas cut with scissors and nfinity pools.

 

 

One more recreation, this time it's 2018 and 2025. 

 

 

The last stop was back in Ljubljana. Land of Slovenian family and more recreation photos. First at the Friday afternoon Odprto Kuhna.  

 

 

This time the recreation is missing the chalk drawings, but it's 2019 and 2025.

 

 

 

  

More food and drink. First, Burija winery. 

 

 

 

Eva took this captivating photograph. 

 

 

Then Krhne in Vipava for lunch.

 

 

Then Cultus winery. A stone with a funny 1 like they used to write it in 1683.

 

But Tacen is the epicenter. Eva and Taja walk Figo, and expend some energy on the trampoline. Not a recreation per se, but two kids from 2019 and 2025.

 

 

  

 

 Kids eat ice cream, and strice and tetas get hugs. 

 

 

Finally, my spiritual home (besides Istanbul), Smarna Gora. And one last recreation, this one a series. From 2019 to 2022 to 2025.

 

 

 

 

 Rubble was with us in spirit. 

 

 And here he is for real.