But while on vacation, I do carry a small pad and a ball point pen in my back pocket.

It's not meant to document everything I see as much as it's there to fill up down time.

I would never impose on my family to sit and wait for me to draw, but rather I would break it out while we were waiting for a plane, sitting on a train, souvenir shopping, looking at art in a museum, or stopping to use the restroom.

They're done quickly, most in a minute or two.

When added to the hundreds of photos, countless little pieces of paper, receipts and Donna's journal, it bring the memories flooding back..

This year was a special vacation. Donna and I are celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary.

Andrew just finished his undergraduate degree and Alyssa her second year at Rutgers, so I don't know when, if ever, we will get a chance to all travel like this together.

We laughed a lot, drank and ate a lot, walked a lot, saw so much history and art, and absorbed the atmosphere and culture of Rome, Florence, and Capri.

Ten days I'll always remember.

Ciao!

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Ball point pen on Italian Newsprint

Ten days in Italy with my family was a trip of a lifetime. Rome, Capri, Florence, food, wine, history and art, Molto Bene! I'm happy, refreshed and champing at the bit.

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