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Dear Friends:
Wow! What a trip! We had such fun on our Mediterranean Cruise. We went from Rome to Livorno (Florence/Pisa) in Italy, to Monte Carlo in France, to Barcelona and Palma de Mallorca in Spain, to La Goulette (Tunis/Carthage) on the African Continent, and back to Italy—Sicily, Naples, and Rome. My family and I were able to spend a lot of quality time together, and it was wonderful. It isn’t often that so many of us are together for that length of time. It was neat to watch the younger kids pick out a particular older cousin to admire and hang out with.
Grandchildren Kate and Picco, left, trying to shove over the Leaning Tower of Pisa, while Chiara and Sarah, right, try to hold it up.One of the biggest thrills of the trip for me was Barcelona, Spain. I absolutely loved the Sagrada Familia (Church of the Holy Family). Designed by architect Antoni Gaudi (built 1882-1926) in the Expressionist Style, it is also known as the Gaudi Cathedral.
The Gaudi Cathedral in Barcelona, Spain, is one of my favorite memories from the trip. The sculptures are magnificent, and the whole thing reminds me of a giant sand castle.The children all loved Tunisia, particularly Chiara. They had a great time riding the camels. P. Buckley Moss Society member Floyd Boothe of Richmond, Virginia, even climbed aboard one! In a week or two, I may have a picture of Floyd’s camel ride to show you. Personally, I was more interested in the beautiful tile mosaics than riding camels.
Another joy of the trip for me was going to Sicily and having lunch with eighteen of my Sicilian cousins in Palermo. Many of you know the story of how my mother Letizia “Elizabeth” Panno Buckley came to America as a baby in 1904 via Ellis Island. She and her family were originally from Castel Daccia, a town near Palermo, Sicily. My grandfather Francesco Panno decided to move my grandmother Providencia and most of the children in the family to the United States, but some of the older children stayed behind in Sicily. So, I still have cousins living there today.
My children, grandchildren, brother, sister-in-law, and I on an excursion in Cefalu, Sicily.
My great, big Sicilian family! My immediate family and I joined eighteen of our Sicilian cousins for lunch. The petite, white-haired cousin on the far right, front row, looks so much like my sister Honey that I started calling her my sister.In Naples we got to see the ruins of Pompeii. Archeologists have found that Pompeii was very advanced; they even had running water!
While on board the cruise ship, our group of Moss family and Moss Society family held a fundraising auction for the P. Buckley Moss Foundation for Children’s Education. A total of $2,485 was raised. A big thank-you to everyone!
This beautiful quilt, which features one of my hand-painted fabric centerpieces, was stitched by Janet Amlin and Phyllis Alder of London, OH, and donated to raise money for the Foundation. We took it on the cruise to auction it off. The highest bid ($1,700) came from Bill and Toni Jernigan of Doraville, GA. L. to R.: Bill, Toni, and me. Toni shared with us that she was drawn to the quilt because of the lamb in the centerpiece. It reminded her of her son whom she lost in Iraq last year. He was “her lamb.”I returned to Virginia last week just before my Barn Show and Museum Open House, and last Thursday I attended a publicity event at Stuarts Draft Post Office for the area’s 6th Annual Sweet Dreams Festival. The Sweet Dreams Festival will be held at Stuarts Draft Park on Saturday, July 25, from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. I was most honored when the Sweet Dreams Committee asked me to create a special postage stamp cancellation design for the event as well as a commemorative print. The cancellation will be used for a limited time, on request, at the Stuarts Draft Post Office as part of the Sweet Dreams Festival activities.
The P. Buckley Moss Museum will have a booth at the Sweet Dreams Festival at Stuarts Draft Park on July 25 and will be selling my commemorative print Delivering Sweet Dreams. The prints will retail at $70 each, and 15% of the proceeds from each print sold during the festival will benefit Sweet Dreams.
The Moss Portfolio will also offer the cancellation image as a giclée on paper for $10 with the purchase of a Delivering Sweet Dreams print.
Stuarts Draft Postmaster Kevin T. Blackford and I with the framed original of Delivering Sweet Dreams.While I was in Waynesboro for the Barn Show, I had the opportunity to visit the Osceola Mill in Steele’s Tavern, Virginia, and have dinner there. The food and the atmosphere were fabulous, and I highly recommend it. I featured Osceola Mill in my print Valley Mill, which was our special show print for the April Barn Show. The mill is one of seven that were originally part of the Cyrus McCormick estate. Today, it serves as a bed and breakfast and offers fine dining. Reservations are a must!
I highly recommend the food at Osceola Mill! L. to R.: Mill owners Kim and Kevin Daly, me, and Moss Museum Director Corrado Gabellieri.Next Tuesday, July 21, I’ll be signing from 1:00-3:00 p.m. at MAG-The Gallery here in Mathews, Virginia. If you aren’t far from Mathews, please stop by and see me.
Love,
Pat
The Moss
Portfolio
74 Poplar Grove Lane
Mathews, VA 23109
(800) 430-1320
©P. Buckley Moss 2009