Rome

Forewarning: the spell check here is in Italian. There may be a few misspellings, sorry Keith.

Days 1, 2 & 3 were spent in Rome.

After spending 13 hours on a plane over the pond, we arrived in Rome at 10 am and spent the entire day touring the city. 38 hours of saying awake made for sleeping very well on a firm mattress at the convent, where we stayed while in Rome.

Some of the highlights: click on any foto to view full screen.

The Colloseum:
The Roman Forumn, the heart of Rome at its peak.
Eric's 'I was there foto' of the Forumn. I know, I don't like it either.
The view while having Lasagna at the Pantheon.
A sculpture of John the Baptists very much severed head.A fruit thing that was pretty much amazing.
Saint Peters Bacilica: The biggest church in the WORLD. I am sitting in the plaza below the church, near the obalisk. Please note the top of the dome in this picture.522 steps above the ground floor of the church, this picture was taken from the top of the dome. I was sitting in the center of the plaza pictured below. That might give you a sense of scale here, but probably not. This place is rediculously HUGE.
A sweet shot of a rather well done hedge in the Vatican, also taken from the dome of St. Peters.
The cars there were on the smaller scale for sure.
The Trevi Fountain, if you toss a coin into the pond, you will come back to Rome...
We are now off to Florence. I hear that there is a good market there for buying things...Then to Padova, Ravenna and Venice.

Until next time...

European Religion History Tour

As many of you know, I am going on a study abroad. I am currently enrolled in the European Religion History Tour through Brigham Young University-Idaho.

I am going through this experience so that I can finish up the last few random classes that I conveniently left until the end of my college career: my arts, letters requirements and 1 religion credit.

When looking at the classes offered, I had a decision to make. Stay in Rexburg, Idaho and take these last few painful classes stretched out over the whole semester, OR get the painful part over with relatively quickly and THEN go to Europe and witness the sites that history took place at firsthand. Well...I took the Europe option.

I leave on 25 Sep and return on 21 Oct. To view the jam packed itinerary, go to the Tour's blog through the links on the right hand side of this page.

I will be posting updates with pictures of the places we have been while I am over there.

So if you are interested, come back here and see where we have been.

See / talk to everyone when I get back!

THE Summer

This summer I stayed very busy working with Mariani Landscape as as 'Eric the intern'.
A few highlights of my time spent in Chicago:

#1 was the people that I met and interacted with while there.

*Click on any photo to view full screen*

A group from Mariani at my 'Huasta Luego' party.
A group from church from the very anti climatic 'white water' (more like flat water) trip.
My fearless mentor: Keith Lemburg. The man with many talents, an impeccable eye for detail, and the patience to deal with the most interns in the company's history...
He needed that vacation after spending most of the summer with me.
Jill Burson and Gomez, the best behaved Cheiawa I have ever met. Go team Burson.
Can you say: AFRAID of a bee? Thank you for saving all of us Shari, from the bee and the fleeting Jacqueline: your talents are many.
My fellow interns: Andy McDowell & Sam Kibler.A very flattering picture of Andrew Rulewicz, Andy McDowell and Tatum Collins. Sorry boys, I don't have anything better...
Andrew hard at work, and he isn't even very dirty!Frank, Ed and Heather took the interns to a Cubs game, on a rather stormy evening.
#2 The many things learned at Mariani. Not all things that I learned are included here:

Where do plants come from?: The Mariani Nursery Tour, Garden Prairie facility. It was fun to see the facility...
But the bus ride left something to be desired. I wonder if there will be as many attendees next time?The ILCA Summer Field Days @ Ball Horticulture's Headquarters:
New plants and their combinations: very cool.

#3 Much knowledge gained from the Mariani team on my one excursions with them.

A special thanks to: Marni Wilson, Ed Furner, Nick Voykin, Shari Precht, Larry Weil, Jay Stephenson, Andrea Ricter, Jill Burson and Todd Vena.

This list of people endured a time (some longer than others) in taking me around and showing me what they do, answering far too many questions about trivial things as well as parting of much knowledge to this small town Idaho boy. Much appreciation to all of you.

#4 Cathy's Though for the day. Very inspirational, Thanks Cathy.

#5 Nick's e-mails. Nick, you have an amazing way of writing. Whenever I read your messages, I could see your face, feel your enthusiasm and even when I didn't know who any of the people who made your 'We are better off because these people don't work at Mariani Landscape anymore' list, I understood, it was funny and motivated me to look on the bright side too.

#6 Last but not least, and sorry I don't have but one picture of yall: the BG 3rd branch of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. You know who you are. Thanks for your patience and perseverance in dealing with me. Keep up the good work. Watch out, I might be back next year.

There it is. Not a comprehensive list, but a few of the highlights.

Thanks again to everyone in the big city of Chicago. Take care and God Bless.

Montanta Visit

Well the summer is now over. Sad day.

This is s photo of the Stanza outside my sisters house in Butte, MT THIS MORNING!
I am not ready for snow and cold weather, but unfortunately that doesn't matter. Some Montana scenery on the way to the Lewis and Clark Caverns, just outside of Butte.

The Cavers: Eric, my seester: Michelle & her husband Barrett.

Big colored rock mountains.

This one was cool to see the contrasting colors just from the different minerals that were present in the stone when it was formed.

One of the large rooms with a display of many different types of stone coming from the cieling as well as piling up on the floor, sorry I forgot what they are called.

The end.