Outside area is all fruits and veggies.  Note how everyone is dressed for the Arctic.  It was in the 60's.

inside, meats and cheeses

clothes and dry goods

the old center

ditto

Market day!  I finally got out with my Canadian friend to the large market in the old part of the city.  We haven't been since well before Christmas.  It is actually the largest market in Europe.  It was in the low 60's and sunny, a perfect day to be out and about.  I didn't really need anything but I love to go to see what is being offered and to hear the vendors yelling and selling.  There is a big inside area that is reserved for meat, cheese and bread.  The vegetable and fruit vendors are outside divided by a road into local and non-local products.  There is an area that sells clothing, household goods and odds and ends, and a huge indoor fish market.  I could wander all day.  I bought artichokes and a Thyme plant, stopped for coffee and a hot croissant, and then followed my friend around while she filled three bags with produce.  After shopping we meandered in the narrow walking streets of the old center and had lunch at a wonderful little restaurant we found.  Pasta and wine of course.  It was a good day.  xxoo me

Ah the scent of spring.  Today on our pre-lunch walk it smelled of old, wet soil and something that could be cat urine.  I walk every full day that I'm at work with a couple colleagues.  We tromp up the road behind the school that leads to an alternative secondary school that teaches innovative agriculture.  They have greenhouses and vineyards, orchards and fields.  It's very pretty.  We only walk for about 20 minutes but it gets us out and moving.  I've also been swimming once a week at a local pool with two other mothers.  It is wonderfully warm but they use so much chlorine my eyes burn through the next day.  I don't want to think what they are trying to kill in that water. 

After school today we went to a local shopping district, a sort of open mall, to buy Grace ski equipment.  It seems as though she will be skiing enough to make it worth the while.  After one season she will have made up the cost just by saving on rentals.  She has a school ski trip next Thursday and has been invited to Switzerland for a week in April with a friend and her family!  Can you imagine?  Anyhow, after buying her things we went to, of all places, McDonald's, for dinner.  It was not my choice and in fact I just ate an ice-cream.  I don't eat fast food at home, I'm sure as H*** not going to eat it here.  Grace and GP sneak out for it every once in a while because I am a anti fast food Nazi evidently.  And here's the kicker.  At least in the States it's cheap and fast.  Here it costs twice as much and the lines are practically out the door.  This is the country where for 5 bucks you can get a delicious, "brick" oven pizza (the ovens are actually made of cement but they are wood burning), with all fresh ingredients.  I'm not spending almost 8 dollars on a lousy McD's burger. 

We finally have curtains up in the kitchen.  We've owned this place for 23 years.  There are various explanations for why we haven't had them but mainly it's because we haven't been able to figure out how to put them up.  Our window frames are metal.  Our other curtains all hang from the ceilings but that is not an option in the kitchen as the windows are over the counters and the curtains would be in the way.  Anywho..... So I found some fabric I like and took it to my mother-in-law who was a seamstress in her day, and she whipped them up in no time.  Gp concocted a way to install them as we want them, (vertically open-able not horizontally), and we hung them.  The evening that GP brought the finished curtains back from his mother she sent the extra fabric back too.  She said to hold on to it in case of a fire so that she could patch them if need be.  What the?  xxoo me

What I like best about a day in the mountains is coming home, taking a scaldingly hot shower, curling up on the sofa under a blanket, and drinking a big glass of red wine.  Today we went to Bardonecchia, where they held the snowboard competitions and some ski events during the Torino Olympics.  It's a big resort with miles and miles of slopes.  We met a couple other families up there and while Grace went off to ski with her friends and the other parents skied, GP and I took to the snowshoe trails and walked straight up.  What took us three hours up, pausing to "take pictures" (breath), and "discuss the view" (breath), only took 1 hour to come down.  We stopped half way up to have lunch at Pian del Sol, (plain of the sun), and stopped to watch the skiers tackle the slopes at about 6562 feet!  We were walking on a trail that unfortunately is also used by crazed snowboarders and "off track" skiers so we had to keep throwing ourselves into the snow banks on the sides to avoid being plowed over.  When we got home Grace crashed early and I'm well on my way.  Every muscle in my legs hurts and it took 3/4 of a bottle of wine for my feet to thaw out.  Think I'll go to bed now.  xxoo me

Spring is in the air!  The gardener who takes care of our complex has already put out Impatients and there are green buds on my Forsythia.  It has been in the high 40's low 50's and they say the last frost has come and gone.  I predict I'll be out cleaning my little garden within a month.  To get a little more out of winter we'll have to go to the mountains, which, in fact, we are doing tomorrow.

Last night Grace was at an overnight with her friends so GP and I met went out to dinner.  We were picked up by Riccardo who is newly single and so has been coming to town every weekend for company. ( He lives out in the wine country.)  We met Bepe and Allesandra at the seafood place at 8.  The fish was very good, the wine great and the made-at-our-table sorbet was incredible.  Sometime during the evening we all switched places so that R. could cry on A's. shoulder about his love life and the rest of us could avoid hearing about it for the nth time.  GP has been friends with all of them since his teens and I really enjoy them.  B. and A. are stereotypical.  They are both very stylish, always dressed beautifully.  She's a knockout.  They have no kids, just a spoiled dog who goes everywhere with them.  Shakira, the dog (she's from South America), spent last night under the table at the restaurant eating Bepe's handouts.  They also have huge blowout arguments over who knows what and then make up the next day.  The night before they got married (18 years ago), Allesandra threw Bepe out of the house after giving him a fist sized bruise on his arm and said she never wanted to see him again.  The next morning he showed up on time to go to church and she was waiting for him as though nothing had happened.  This morning we got a call from Riccardo saying that Bepe and Shakira had spent the night on his couch because A. had thrown B. out again but he'd had to get up early and leave because they were taking the dog to the vet.  Allesandra is the one whose mother is a bit nuts and always has wonderful stories.   Last night she told us that at Christmas her mom had made a traditional local dish but forgotten one of the main ingredients.  She had also over or under cooked it and Bepe spent the entire night in the bathroom being sick.  He's convinced that his mother-in-law is trying to poison him.

The kid up-stairs is a super hero today.  I may just have to poison him.  I wonder if he likes muffins?  xxoo me

Next chapter of license saga completed!  I have taken my pile of documents into the Department of Motor Vehicles to be registered.  Now I have to wait a month for them to put all of my info into some computer somewhere, return to the DMV and sign up to take the written exam.  At that time I also have to take a receipt showing that I have deposited another 14.62 euro into the appropriate account.  Then they should give me a date, time and place for the exam.  Of course not everything went smoothly today.  We left at the break of dawn to get to this place (on the other side of the city) early enough to avoid the lines.  We were obviously not the only ones to think that way.  There were already dozens of people milling about, waiting in line, smoking cigarettes (outside).  But we grabbed a number and only had to wait 20 minutes or so.  In September I had downloaded the full instructions on how to attain a license from the DMV's web page.  I have followed it religiously, checking off each step as I go.  Alas the page was a) not up to date or b) written incorrectly in the first place, because I didn't need my notarized photograph, but I did need a photocopy of my identity card and they would have liked another regular photo.  Thankfully there was a functional photocopier in the lobby and they let me pass with 1 less photo.  Now I have a month and then some to practice the online tests that I started yesterday after finally finishing the damned manual I've been reading for the past 4 months.  The tests are helpful in that they show me just how much I don't know and what I have to go back and reread and try to memorize which is impossible because I have menopause brain which is ten times worse than pregnancy brain.  I'm going to school now.  xxoo me

Well.  As a good friend recently pointed out to me, I fill all of you in on my daily comings and goings, but I hear very little from all of you out there!  I need attention people!  There.  I feel better.

Lots of little stuff.

Tomorrow was supposed to be market day but that fell through so I get to spend the entire day preparing for my STUPID driving test.  I'm going to try to skip out to have coffee with a friend and hear about her possible break-in over Christmas.  This is not the German friend.  This is another!

The kid upstairs has been driving us up a flipping wall with all of his barking.  I'm going to suggest a shock collar if he doesn't cool it.

Friday night Grace has a birthday party sleepover and GP and I are going out to dinner with friends.  We are going to try some seafood place which always makes me a bit leery.  There is something about eating fish 100 miles or so from any large body of water that bothers me.  Plus there was that time 20 plus years ago that I ate mussels at a pizzeria and was sick for two days..... 

Sunday we are going skiing/snowshoeing again.  We will probably go caravan style with a couple other families so that should be a lot of fun. 

One problem with living in an apartment, especially a diminutive one, is that anything you cook can be smelled in every room.  We've been trying to diet so have been eating a lot of vegetables.  My clothes are perfumed with eau du cabbage.  I smell like one of those old ladies that wear wool caps and work boots in the summer.

Tomorrow after dropping Grace off at school I have to go to the city offices and pick up our ballots for the upcoming elections.  Do you know how many parties are represented on the national ballots this year?  257.  You read that right.  I am not actually voting but if one doesn't retrieve their ballots they will be harassed.  Voting is not a right it is a duty!

That's all for now.  xxoo me

So was the guy behind President Obama during his inauguration speech staring solemnly at his gloves or nodding off?  Hmm.  Though it is inauguration and Martin Luther King's Day, we had school.  Grace is taking mid-terms and just found out she and a group of 11 other students are going to a history competition in Rome in 2 weeks!  She has switched from soccer to volleyball because the soccer coach is a womanizing twit and there have been some bizarre staff changes at the school.  The new IT teacher for 7-9th grade is up from elementary music?  Who knew?  No other news at moment.  Thursday will be my next installment of "Shelly gets her Italian license."  xxoo me

The neighbor's sad, sad palm.

Little back garden

Front walk

Alas the auto has probably been sold.  We need to call back on Friday.  But it snowed!  It won't last long but very pretty right now. 

Big dinner last night with friends here.  We were a bit squished into our tiny living, dining space but the food, wine and company were good.  Today is a day for dishes, laundry and recovery.  Think I'll have another cup of coffee....  xxoo me

A weekend at home.  They say it's going to snow here but the forecasters are so rarely right that no one pays much attention.  But it is gray and cold so one never knows!  It's cleaning and studying for me for the next couple days with the exception of one little side trip to see a potential car for me!  Of course then there would be all the hours of paperwork and taxes and fees and ..........  xxoo me

You've gotta love Italy.  So while I'm waiting till next Thursday to go into the city to the Department of Motor Vehicles to give them my documentation and sign up for my written exam, I decided to start checking out driving schools.  Why you ask?  Because even though I am studying for my license as a "private", I'm still required to do 6 hours of driving with an instructor who will also be the one to conduct my driving test.  All for a cost of course.  So, as I don't work on Thursdays and it was a lovely, brisk day I walked down the hill to Strada Genova which is the commercial district below us.  There are two driving school in about a 30 minute walking distance so I visited both.  This is what I found out.  When I pass my written exam I will be given a pink slip which I am to bring to my chosen driving school.  There I have to sign up, (180 euro), have 6 hours of private driving instruction, (160 euro), and then will be given the test, (35 euro).  When this is all said and done I'll be a pauper.  But the most interesting thing they told me was that in a few months the written exam will be given in English, again.  Up until a couple years ago the exam was given orally and was offered in all different languages.  To be more efficient, (cough, cough, oh! sorry), the exam was changed to be computerized and to be given only in Italian, German and French, (there are two semi-independent provinces of Italy where German and French are the first languages).  Now after a couple years they realized that all the immigrants who come here are failing the exams because they don't have the language.  As of April,(so he said), the exam will again be offered in every language from the European Union.  Soooooo.  If I don't pass the first time I'm waiting until the tests are out in English before trying again.  xxoo me

Oh my God!   I started a riot at the doctor's office!  I went to see the 2 brother doctors; one for my driving license pre-check-up and the other for my check-up.  The first, Dr. Angelo Sedran, just filled out a form saying I didn't have any disabilities or illnesses that could prevent my driving.  That one costs 60 euro.  Then Dr. Luigi Sedran, (the oral surgeon), checked my eyesight and filled out another form with a photo, (yes that one), and tax stamp (14.62 euros).  That one cost 25 euro.  These visits are not covered by the national healthcare system because they're not considered mandatory cause one doesn't have to drive.

Anywho, back to the riot.  So when you go to a Dr.'s office you don't generally have an appointment but you take a number, (if available), and sit down and wait.  If there is no number to take you ask who the last person to come in was and you take your place after them.  Tonight when I arrived at 7:30ish there were about 10 people already waiting.  I took a number, (26), and also asked who the last one to come in was.  It was a short, fat grandmotherly type woman.  Well the office has 2 doors, one serving each Sedran brother.  As new people came in, the conversation went to which brother they were all there to see.  One gentleman said that he was there to see the general practitioner, while all the others said they had to see the oral surgeon in order to renew their licenses.  I said I had to see both of them.  From that point on I didn't really follow the talk as I was trying to study for this damned test.  After a few people had gone in and out, Dr. #1 came into the waiting room and called "next" and the gentleman in front of me said, (I was sure), "this lady is before me", and so I went into the office.  A few minutes later, upon coming out, there was a huge wave of voices yelling at me and the short fat old lady surged at me like a rabid little dog loudly voicing how rude I was and what did I think I was doing!  I had no idea what they were talking about!  It seems I had misunderstood who needed to see whom and had passed in front of some of them!  I was all flustered and had to go into the other office to pay for first visit as that's where the secretary is and the little old lady was trailing me and practically biting at my heels.  I just kept saying, "He told me to go!  He told me to go!" meaning both the guy from the waiting room and Dr.#1 who had sent me directly into office #2.  Well I closed the door of the second office behind me with relief knowing that there is another exit through there to the stairs and assuming I would not have to go back out into that rabid pack.  But I assumed wrong because after paying my bill the secretary told me I had to go back into the waiting room until Dr.#2 called me in for my visit with him.  I didn't dare look anyone in the eye when I went out.  I sat down on the closest chair and immediately took out my book to study.  I was already determined that I wasn't getting up again until the last person in there had seen both the doctors.  Then Gian Piero walked in.  He'd been out of town on business and thought he'd stop by and wait with me knowing it could be a while.  So I told him what happened, (in English), and suggested he go home to Grace as I wasn't budging for quite some time.  He loves a good fracas so he decided he had to stay and watch this play out.  He is also an instigator.  I was getting nervous.  Dr.#2 finally showed up and called his first patient and then it started again.  Who goes next, I was here first, pointing at me, that lady went out of turn, it should be my turn.  Then what do they do?  Decide it was my turn as I had already visited the first guy!  I said "no".  They said "yes, it's your turn".  I said "ARE YOU SURE?"  They said "yes".  I said "OK, I'm going."  The doctor meanwhile, was standing there watching all this when one of the men decided it was all his fault.  He wanted to know why the office had patients take numbers if they didn't utilize them and the screen showing the numbers over the door was broken.  He asked this very loudly with a finger pointing in the doctor's face.  I ran into that office.  I told the doctor Italians are nuts and he still gave me my health certificate so I think he agrees with me.  Gian Piero loved it.  He sat out in the waiting room with a big smile on his face.  When we were leaving he wished everyone a peaceful evening.

Now I have to go to the department of motor vehicles and sign up for the written test.  I better pass this damned thing cause I cannot go through all of this again!  xxoo me

My German friend B did not have a good week last week.  As though having their home broken into over the holidays wasn't enough, she was almost pick-pocketed in the city on Friday.  She had gone in to have coffee with her husband and was walking along the sidewalk when she felt something tug slightly at her back.  She swung around quickly to find a teenaged boy standing right behind her and her backpack unzipped.  She started yelling at him in German and he answered with an eastern European accent.  Most crime in Italy is now committed by people who came from the east since the "wall" went down.   The kid didn't get anything but the experience unnerved her.  Our lines of defense are down here at our place as everyone leaves the outer gate open and the door to our stairwell is broken and won't lock!  Good thing we have our bank vault of a front door.  I don't know as crime has gotten any worse because of the economy, or if I just hear more about it as I'm socializing more with foreigners and people who tend to be targets.  When we lived here before, the problem was heavy drugs and addicts on the streets.  They are mostly gone, (dead?), but now there are so many thugs and lowlifes from Romania and Albania and all those "anias".  I think those countries emptied their prisons and sent the occupants all over the borders into western Europe to wreak havoc.  Argh.  xxoo me

Starting out, crossing river

meself

himself at cross country trail intersection

that's France over there!

view from refuge

Oh what a lovely day!  We went up to Pragelato, a ski area an hour away, known for being the training and competition area for cross-country ski in the winter Olympics here.  Now it is half a common man's ski resort with emphasis on cross-country trails, and half the club-med where all the Russian mafioso have their ski places.  The town is divided in two with the "Italian" side on the left; one little lift, a tiny log cabin bar, another log cabin rental shop, and the "Russian" side on the right:; club-med gated community with huge, gondola lift, big lodge with a restaurant and bar etc.   We made the mistake of cruising around, peeking in (tinted) windows, and walking into an outside buffet "for members only" and were quickly sent away by a big, burly guy with a heavy accent.  Lots of long, black cars with dark windows and body guards, very out of place in suits and ties.  But sticking to our side of the tracks, it's great.  The area borders a national park and there are miles and miles of maintained trails for skiers and snowshoers.  Grace brought a friend along so we dropped them off to ski and GP and I headed up the snowshoe trail to the refuge at the top.  It took two hours to get there and about half that to get back as was quite steep and very icy.  It was a beautiful, sunny day so we puffed our way up, surrounded by mountains that are layered like sharks teeth, going on and on the higher you get.  At the top, (1915 meters or 6,283 feet!), we got to the refuge that's open October through May.  It has 40 rooms to rent, a bar and a restaurant that only makes polenta and stew, and has nice clean bathrooms.  We had brought sandwiches (baguette and prosciutto of course), and drank mountain spring water from the fountains along the trails, but I got a coffee and we sat in the sun and rested.  When I went in to use the facilities the sun was still peeking over the mountains and we were nice and warm.  A few minutes later the sun had gone down and it was freezing.  We made it back down very quickly.  If I can figure out how to download the photos from my phone I'm going to put some pictures on for all to see.  I am sitting enjoying a wonderful glass of red wine, a blanket over my legs and my husband cooking.  Ahhhhh.  xxoo me

I am really that person in those horrendous photos!  I know this because they were notarized (for the measly sum of 63 cents) this morning at the central office of registry.  I am now ready for my next step which is 2 check-ups; one by my regular doctor and one by a doctor certified to do check-ups for licenses.  In my case, my family doctor has a brother who is an oral surgeon but who also is certified to give theses exams and happens to have an office right next door.  Both are at walking distance, down at the bottom of our hill.  My appointments are for Monday evening at 8pm.  Yes, you heard right.  After those are done and paid for and stamped and registered or whatever, I can take this boatload of paperwork to the Motor Vehicle office and apply to take my written exam.  The written exam is 40 questions, no more than 4 of which you can get wrong, in Italian.  They ask everything from street signs to engine parts to first aid.  And they use trick questions.  I am afraid.  I can take it twice but if I don't pass the second time I have to start this entire proceeding over again!  xxoo me

Well what I should have accomplished today was to get to the register office, (as I figured out the "anagrafe" translates), to have my photos notarized.   Alas our local office, only open on Thursdays between 2:30 and 4:00, was closed at said time.  So off to the central office I went only to find that they are closed in the afternoons to permit employees to go out to the small local offices, which in our case they did not do!  Tomorrow before work I'll try to get to the central office again.  Assuming they are open. 

Yesterday when I picked Grace up from tennis I spoke to the father of one of the other kids.  He is the manager of a cinema in the city that shows films in their original languages.  I'm thrilled as I don't enjoy watching films in Italian.  I lose all the subtleties.  Plus somethings, no matter how well done, just don't translate.  Like musicals.  Or Tarantino. 

Saturday we are going up to the mountains.  Grace is taking a friend to ski with her while GP and I will snowshoe.  The place we are going borders a national park and there are many, many miles of trails.  Hope we don't get lost and have to forage for food and shelter.  If we are stranded and I die first I told GP he should go for the thighs.  xxoo me

On my quest for the elusive Italian drivers license, today I went to the supermarket where there is a small shop for photos, shoe repair and keys,(who knew?), and had my new document pics taken.  Sad affair that.  Then on to the post office to make two deposits in mysterious accounts that I assume have something to do with the department of transportation or motor vehicles.  Yes you do that at the post office.  Then on to a tobacconist, (a shop that sells cigarettes and newspapers and lottery tickets), to buy a "marca di bollo".  This is a type of stamp that is really a tax that gets affixed to some official document.  In this case I believe it will be affixed to the official declaration from a doctor, (one of 2 I need), saying that I am of sound enough mind and body to drive.  Tomorrow I'm going to the "anagrafe", a city, state, or government office that hands out ID cards and the like, to have my photos notarized.  As though anyone else would claim to be the person in the pictures they took of me today.  Sad.  xxoo me

There were a rash of break-ins over the holidays.  There always are a lot of break-ins but it seems to be rampant among the Internationals.  It is probably because they tend to live in expensive areas, in single homes or remote places, and they travel a lot.  Thieves know when and where to hit.  Our German friends live in a duplex outside one of the villages over the hills toward the school.  It is a rather exclusive area and the house is surrounded by orchards and so very private.The family on the other side are also German.  In fact, it seems a stream of Germans have rented there over the years.  Italian's wouldn't rent there as they know the risks.  Our friends were on holiday in Tenerife, one of the Canary Islands, when they received a call from their security system.  There wasn't much they could do but call the landlord and the police.  The alarm stopped the thieves from entering their home but the neighbors were robbed.  The police do nothing as it is so common and the criminals do this as a profession.  They will never be caught and the stolen items are gone for good.  Insurance and a safe are good things to have here.  xxoo me

That step 1?  Not going to happen for a few days.  Before taking photos in to be notarized I have to have new photos taken as I only have 2 photos and I need 3 or more photos and God forbid they not be identical.  So Wednesday after work I'll head down to the little photo shop at the supermarket and have the  new photos taken.  Then I can have them notarized on Thursday.  Maybe.  xxoo me

Happy Epiphany!  Last night the Befana came.  The story goes more or less like this.  When the three wise men were following the star in search of baby Jesus, they passed the house of an old woman in Sicily and stopped to ask her directions.  (I'd say they needed them if they were in Sicily).  The old woman was busy sweeping her house and wouldn't give them the time of day so they went on their way, eventually finding Jesus on January 5th, (the 12th day of Christmas), and giving him the gifts they had brought.  (Why Epiphany is celebrated the day after I don't know).  Well the old woman started to feel guilty about not helping them, so she packed up her donkey with toys (she just happened to have hanging around) and her trusty broom, (cause you never know when you might need to sweep something), and headed off after the wise men.  She never found them nor the baby Jesus but to this day she wanders the world (or at least Italy) and leaves gifts for every child she finds on the evening of January 5th.  The Befana, from the word Epifania, is represented now as an old witch, flying on her broom with a bag of gifts on her back.  Hmmm.  Sounds familiar.  So Italian kids get gifts from Babbo Natale ie: Father Christmas, or the baby Jesus on Christmas and gifts from the Befana on Epifany.  These kids make out.  Grace got some cool gloves and candy and that's it! 

Tomorrow we're back at school and I officially start the saga of getting my Italian driver's license.

 Step 1:  Take 2 passport photos (white background, no smile) to town office to be notarized. 

Wish me luck.  xxoo me

Honey I'm home!  Or should I say, "abroad" again.  It's 50 degrees and sunny on January 5th.  I knew I was back in Italy when I got off the plane to the smell of cigarette smoke and the volume turned up.  Noisy folk these Italians.  And pessimists too.  GP called his mother to announce our safe arrival.  She said she'd been watching the news for reports of plane crashes.  GP said that there is a better chance of getting in an auto accident, to which she replied, "Well yes I always worry when you're on the road too."  This is the woman who used to light a candle in a little alcove of their old home every time GP would travel for work.  That was a lot of candles.  (Older Italian homes often have these little areas carved out of the exterior wall and lined with a portrait of The Virgin Mary or Jesus.  The American version would be Mary in a half shell on the front lawn in East Boston.).  I don't know what she does now that they are in an apartment.  I guess we're on our own.  Today we are going to venture out to buy a desk chair for Grace and maybe take a nice walk in the city.  Have to take advantage of the weather as an "Arctic blast" is coming through in the next few days.  That means it will be in the 30's and everyone will dress like they're in Helsinki.  They will however, be very fashionable.  xxoo me