Ice Tea came to visit

No, not the rapper Ice-T, but my cyper-friend and blogging buddy from Arizona! She's been on an exciting European vacation, including time in Italy, time in France, and a cruise from Basel to Amsterdam (Linda, correct me on the details!). All of this with her parents. Then, her parents continued on to Norway to visit as-yet-unmet relatives and she came back to Italy for another six days. We picked her up at FCO and she squeezed in a side trip to my little out-of-the-way home in Veroli for one night. Then she was off to Sorrento for a few days and eventually a flight to Venice and home. Whew!

It was nice meeting her in person and we found a lot to talk about. She was so kind as to bring me a little bottle of original cologne from Cologne, a bar of artisanal chocolate (yum yum) and .... a box of THIN MINT Girl Scout cookies! How did she know? Now they are a special treat for us all. Thank you, again, Linda and hope you are enjoying your last few days in Europe!

Of Cactus and London and this 'n that...

Haven't written here in ages, but people are still visiting (and even linking to me--thanks!) so I guess I'd better start writing again!

With the spring life has gotten very busy. We've been having work done to finish up the outside...brick and stone work on the front of the house, a cement driveway (and it's a long one), finishing up/off the upstairs... and because we use people who have other jobs, that work gets done almost exclusively on Saturdays only...so it's been a long drawn out process and is still not finished.

Gardening fever has also struck and I've got supina (hanging) petunias in my long front flower box (aout ten plants) and tons of perenial daisies along the wall of our upper driveway (OK, 30 plants total!) and we planted 44, yes 44 cyprus trees! They're babies, only about 18 inches tall, but one day, watch out Tuscany! We have two vegetable gardings going too, full of lettuce, eggplants, tomatoes, peas, beans, potatoes and herbs. I want to put in some brussel sprouts and black-leaf dinosaur kale too, but I think we'll wait until July so they can grow in the cooler fall months. Oh, and my cactus had three blooms at the same time! It's only about a foot tall, but it sits above a retaining wall that I have at the upper entrance to my driveway. Another cactus nearby promises to be a blooming spectacle soon (note all the buds!).

I'm still working three full days a week, and my students are busy preparing for a Cambridge Business English exam in early June. It's not easy and they are working hard (though many of them would prefer to forget the exam and just have conversation!). I'm working hard to keep all the photocopies organized, practice tests scored and remembering which class is which!

The menagerie here slowly grows, with our platy tank having two new members (2 sunset plattys) which brings the number in that tank to 10 fish, which includes two babies who have survived. We have another pregnant female (a mickey mouse platty) and hope at least one of her babies will survive too (they seem to be irrisistible snacks when tiny, even to their mom!).

At Easter we went to London and had a grand ole' time. Absolutely loved it. Dante was a little low-energy for the first couple of days as he initially didn't sleep well in the hotel, but once he got into the swing of things, he loved it too. My favorite thing (aside from finally meeting Big Ben in person) was Lion King in the theatre ("on Broadway" I would say if this were in NY, so what do I say when I see a show in London?). The theatre was beautiful, we laughed, ate ice cream in our seats during intermission, went to the martini bar across the street afterwards (and had typical roast beef with yorkshire pudding next door beforehand) and shopped in Coventry Gardens both before and after. Reminded me of the States in some ways, only waaaaaay closer. Yea! (See pictures on facebook.)

Got to run. I'm in an organizing, cleaning, moving furniture around mood (yes, Pio, things have changed a little in the week you've been in NY). I want to accomplish a lot today as tomorrow it will be back to working on the gardens, then Tuesday back to work. Whew! Have a good one, and thanks for reading, Diane

Italian-language blog discovered

One of my favorite things, when I have the time, is getting lost on the internet...clicking on one link, then another, just to see where I wind up. Well, this morning, through one click then another, I discovered a blog by Dianne Hales called Becoming Italian Word by Word. For anyone learning Italian it's great fun...and even if you're not, it's interesting. Words are taught by association. One post has lots of expressions based on "padre" (father) for example, another with expressions around the word "pane" (bread). Dianne Hales is an author and journalist with a long list of credits. She has a book coming out in the May called La Bella Lingua and I have a feeling I'll be adding it to my collection.

In the early morning of Saturday, February 21, my father-in-law passed away. The Sunday before he had eaten lunch with us, as usual, but not his usual quantity, complaining of a full feeling in his stomach. On Tuesday he went into a semi-comatose state with two doctors disagreeing as to the cause. On Thursday we still had hope he would come out of it, but on Friday the doctor said to call his children in America. In the end, in his coma, he appeared to have difficulty breathing and swallowing. Was he suffering? We don't know. At 6 a.m. on Saturday morning he passed away, at home, a few hours before his daughter and son who still live in New York arrived. Perhaps it was better that way. May we all remember him as he appears in this photo from a wedding a few years ago, full of fun and life. Rest in Peace Umberto.

Mid-Winter Harvest

The sun was shining (finally), so I went out into the garden to see what I could find. Aside from the usual lettuce, I picked a large handful of chicory (which was quite bitter but good boiled, then sauted with garlic and olive oil), a bunch of radicchio (made into a radicchio lasagna), some herbs (which I'm drying) and some cabbage roses (for a winter boquet). Not bad for a mid-winter harvest.

New Year's Resolutions--finally!

I don't officially make Resolutions as I know I'll never keep them up, which is not exactly the attitude that guarantees success. But, in a way, I do have some general ideas for 2009 which I thought I'd share, before we get to February. These are modest, I know, that's why I like them:

I think it's a great idea to visit at least one new place every year. 2007 it was Munich during Christmas season. 2008 it was Naples--three times. I count it even though it is only two hours away, previously my husband wouldn't even consider it! In 2009 I hope to visit Paris, London and/or Budapest. After all, we are in Europe and these places don't cost THAT much to get to. I'd be happy for just one of them. Going to New York to visit the relatives, while wonderful, doesn't count! (It must be a NEW place to properly stimulate the senses.)

Walk vigourously for 30 minutes at least five times a week. This is do-able most days, despite my working (Thursdays will be hard, so I've given myself a little wiggle room).

Keep knitting. I'm into socks at the moment, so that's fun for me and there's always something different to try (toe-up, cables, designs, even different knit and purl combinations). Something to do when I watch Oprah on the sling box DVR most mornings.

Aim for 7 to 8 hours (or more!) sleep every night. I will no longer allow myself to get up at 4 am as my internal alarm clock shifts and then I start doing that every morning. Six hours of sleep is not an option for my brain's proper functioning.

Post to my blog on a regular basis!

See, I said they were modest goals, and do-able too I think. Wish me luck!

Climbin' back on the wagon...

Well, I guess when I go "on vacation" I really GO ON VACATION!

I was supposed to have only two weeks vacation around Christmas/New Years, but because of a funding snafu, it extended to a full six weeks! I've been in heaven.

Before vacation I had some health issues which I thought were related to the fact that I had trouble sleeping more than six hours a night. And not walking anymore. At least I've had the chance to get into a longer sleep rhythm (between 7 and 8 hours, sometimes more!) and I've recently (now that the near constant rainfall is giving us a respite) gotten back into walking. And taking vitamins again. And I DO feel better. But I haven't been blogging. SORRY!!

What have I been up to? Well, for someone who's lived here for three years and never been to Naples (only two hours away) we went three times in December! I love it. There's something about it that reminds me of New York City I think. Has anyone else ever felt this? Oh, and the pizza and pastries are to die for. And the San Gregorio area is one of those special places in the world in the weeks leading up to Christmas.

I've also wizzed through making my third pair of socks (about two weeks, which is wizzing when you consider the last pair took me a year!). I'm proudly modelling them in the photo above. If they look a little big, it's because they're for my father. I have been doing socks on two circular needles, but was getting stuck at the point where you need to pick up stitches and turn the heel in another direction (from the tube part that goes on the ankle and is normally vertical to the sole/instep part which goes horizontal). I couldn't for the life of me figure out how to do it with two needles (actually I wanted to do two socks at a time on the two needles...but it was WAY too confusing for me without a teacher rescuing me every once in a while!). So, I had the brilliant idea to switch back at the critical moment to using four double pointeds (the way people have been making socks from caveman days) and VOILA! it got me around the bend. Then I switched back to my circulars. Ahhh....So, Dad, your socks are done! (except for a few final toe-rows I'll do today). Next will be a blue pair FOR ME! (Does anyone know how to get the picture I've posted down here instead of up there? I suspect I must edit the html...but I have no idea how!)

What else...I've also gone into Rome for a couple of work-related meetings, gone into my worksite this past week to work with a few individual students and do some testing (groups start next week) and have continued with my private English students here at the house--I'm up to 8 hours a week now if everyone shows. Great pocket money.

Which I need more of as I've gotten more fashion conscious. I guess living in Italy is affecting me. I got new eyeglasses that make much more of a statement than the rimless ones I got several years ago in New York and bought a new winter "swing coat" at the January SALDI (sales) at Luisa Spagnola. I'm even eyeing items in the Max Mara window, but I haven't actually gone in the store yet!

Part of the reason I'm now scared to spend extra money is that the money is ending before the month does because of all the work we're having done around here. The brickwork at the front of the house is almost finished and today workers are starting up on our second floor. First they are putting up a few walls (to close off storage areas and cover up the side brick walls) and then we'll have the same heating/cooling system put in the flooring that we have downstairs. Except upstairs we may make it a wooden floor. I will have a classroom up there and a guestroom. We're leaving room for a bathroom and kitchen, in case someday we need a little apartment up there, either for us or Dante. This is typically Italian!

Well, that's it for now. I have a list of things to do...and I find that if I make a list, it gets done! So, I'm off to look at my list.

I hereby promise to write much more often (if anyone is still reading). Again, I'm back on the blog wagon, so please leave a comment, even just to say HI, to let me know you're still there! Some of you have emailed me privately, just to check I was OK. Thanks! (blush blush)

We STILL believe (and here's why)...

Perhaps this is something that's been widely publicized in most areas, but a few years ago we discovered this website which has become a yearly tradition--tracking Santa. If you want to know where Santa is (or has already been) check out this website, complete with live webcam on Santa's sleigh (you'll see the Coloseum in Rome--though we'll be in bed by then here in Italy--the Great Wall of China, etc.). Have fun with the younger ones in your family!

Naples revisited!

You may have heard...it' s raining in Italy!  It seems like it's been raining forever, with only brief sunny repites.  In fact, last Thursday it rained more in Rome in one day than it usually does in the whole month of December.  The Tiber River which flows through Rome threatened to rise over it banks and the local river beds which have ALWAYS been dry are suddenly swollen with boiling, churling foamy brown rapids and waterfalls!  Our cisterns were already filled in November, so all this water won't directly help us water our gardens come July.  We may just have to put in a well, but that's an expensive project as the water table is very deep (at least $15,000 worth of deep).

We DID manage to spend a mostly dry day in Naples yesterday.  Twice in three weeks...I guess we really like it!  My son is enthralled by the street with all the nativity pieces for sale...especially moving pieces which show a woman feeding the chickens, a man shearing the sheep, etc.  He wants to build a nativity "Presepe" this year out of painted boxes and pieces we picked up in Naples.  

We also were given a private tour of a church/monastary and a  nun took out a special vial which still contained some of Saint Patricia's blood, then solomnly held it out for each of us to kiss.  This previously Lutheran American woman did find that kind of strange, I must say.

The fog is lifting...(I think)!

Aside from the foggy humidity we've had outside the past day or two (which has given us a welcome relief from the constant picking and time to clean the leaves and sticks out of the crates of olives and steam clean the stainless steel containers) I've noticed my brain feels foggy!

I've noticed that I struggle to concentrate when teaching.  Day to day here at the house I don't notice anything much different (except I'm light-headed), but loading and unloading the dishwasher or hanging up the clothing doesn't take much mental effort.  Teaching the future perfect and comparing it to the future perfect progressive (don't ask!) does.  What gives?  

I'm in my mid-fifties.  Isn't it too early for "cognitive decline"?  I mention it to the doctor and he prescribed something natural to help me sleep (melatonin--which I have used in the past) and a supplement of vitamins that I'm supposed to take for 20 out of 30 days a month.  Now I DID run out of vitamins a few weeks ago, so perhaps I am missing something important?  Who knows.

In any case, I've discovered a great website to exercise the brain in the areas of attention, processing speed, and memory.  It's called Lumosity and it's won web awards and gotten lots of media coverage.  lt's a lot of fun to work on your own "personal best"(or invite friends/family to try and beat your scores) and they offer a 30-day free trial.  If you check it out, come back and let me know what you think (and when I stop playing, I may even check my blog for comments)!

New-oil bruschetta!

Would anyone like some? It's delicious, great with salt on toasted Italian bread.

Last week two women (I was not one of them for more than a half-day) picked enough olives just from the trees around our house to make more than 150 liters of oil! Pay is five liters of oil per day's work, but because there is just so much we'll be giving them six liters per day. By the time we're all done we'll probably have more than 500 liters. Pio's brother will be taking quite a bit of it back to the States in January...and we'll have more than enough to last us through another year (or three). The trees are making up for last year's meager harvest when we got 150 liters from 400 trees...this year from less than 50!

Halloween in Italy

Halloween in Italy is mostly a big nothing. It's discussed in English class (Dante's class had to memorize "Trick or Treat, smell my feet, give me something good to eat" as homework this week) and the international schools may do something, but out here in rural central Italy, it's a quiet day, as usual.

We've given two Halloween parties over the past three years, but this year I just didn't feel up to it. I still haven't fully adjusted to working (and still being able to do anything else!), so the idea of 35 nine-year-olds running in and out of my house just didn't appeal. Plus, the bilingual woman and her teenage daughter who helped me last year run the games and prepare the food moved back to Toronto. It just seemed like too much work right now.

Luckily for D. and his friends another mother volunteered to host the Haloween party this year and the kids had a chance to run around in their Carnival costumes a few months early, eat a lot of junk food and tell scary stories. A light drizzle didn't put a damper on their fun. In the photo are just a few of those who arrived early.