Yesterday I went to the driving school at the bottom of the hill and signed up to take my actual "driving test".  That means 130 euro for admission fees, 130 euro for 5 hours of driving lesson that by law I have to take even though I've been driving for 35+ years, 85 euros for the test itself and 16.42 euros for the infamous "tax stamp" which is the governments cut in this.  I start my "lessons" in 2 weeks and will hopefully have finished by the end of April which means by the end of May I hope to have taken my test, passed, and be done with all this!  If I pass.

Grace has been gone for 5+ days and it is very lonely here without her, even with replacement dog.  We've been using the dog as an excuse to go out and take long walks again.  We'd been doing them all fall then laid off for the winter.  Now it's relatively warm, trees and flowers are blooming, we have no good excuses and winter-in-Italy weight to lose.  But not today as it is raining.  I'm doing spring cleaning and waiting for GP to come home with the car so that I can do some errands.  We have friends coming for dinner tomorrow night and have no food in the house, plus I have to drive 1/2 an hour to Chieri, the town after the school, to a specific coffee roaster that will grind my coffee for an American drip coffee maker.  The coffee in shops here is of course made for espresso machines and much too finely ground for our coffee makers.  There are doggie prints all over the floor so have to wash it.  xxoo me

Borrowed dog "Belle"