I am writing this post in honor of all mothers and especially those that are often overlooked on Mother's Day each year.  If you have pets you are a mother they could not survive without you!  I also wanted to share the love shown by some of the animal mothers' for their babies that I've seen around the world. The top photo is of an elephant mother with her baby that I saw in Tanzania at the Serengeti National Park.

My husband and I have also taken in several stray pregnant cats.  We found homes for all of the babies and mothers including the seven orange ones in the second photo down.  We actually kept the mothers - Princess (the black cat) and Peaches (orange cat) for ourselves. 

More elephants in the Serengeti:

A pride of lions in the Serengeti:

Monkeys in Bali:

Foster cats:





Sled dog I saw in Alaska with her four day old pups:
I hope all of you have a wonderful day regardless whether you are a mother or not.  Thank you so much for stopping by.  Take care my friends!

~Michelle

 I have a travel charm bracelet that was a Christmas gift.  I collect a special charm on each of my trips to represent the area I visited.  This works out well for me because my luggage tends to be overweight, I never have a lot of extra space in my suitcase to bring things home. 

During my trip to Italy I decided to get two charms. The first one is a paintbrush and pallet to represent the beautiful art I saw almost everywhere in Florence.  The second one is a dome that is inspired by one of the most beautiful buildings I have ever seen called the Piazza del Duomond are a major attraction to tourists visiting the region of Tuscany. The Duomo is one of Italy's largest churches and the largest brick dome ever constructed.

The above is a kiwi bird from New Zealand - it's not recognizable in the top photo :)

The Duomo is so large, it was impossible for me to capture it all in one photo even with my wide angle lens.

I loved the carousel right outside the Duomo!

 Here are several scenes outside and inside the Uffizi Gallery.  I took the photos inside BEFORE I knew photos are not allowed at all :(.  I did not take photos of Michalangelo's fabulous sculpture of David at Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze... even though I saw others sneaking in a shot or two.

I will leave you with three photos of the beautiful Ponte Vecchio bridge which I never tired of looking at or photographing at any time of the day.

Do you have any collections or souvenirs that you look for while you're traveling?  If so, what inspired you to collect these things?  

Thanks so much for visiting!   Until next time.

~Michelle