Check out this car we followed out of the school parking lot.  Grace said the driver was Caceres, a Juventus soccer player who has a young son at the school.   That car costs more than my two houses put together.  Geesh.

left my little natural gas Chevy in the dust

Tomorrow, GP and I are going up to the mountains for a hike.  It is a much needed reprieve for us.  For GP it's a break from all the stress and late hours related to his father's passing.  For me it's a break from the flipping smog.  The air quality here has been awful.  Torino is always on the list of most air-polluted cities in Europe, having one of the highest concentrations of cars per capita.  The past two years have not been too bad, but this fall is different.  There has been no wind to clear away the haze and the sky has been grey and heavy.  Even sunny days have bothered my eyes and throat.  But being the considerate person that I am I haven't bitched about it, (as I normally do), as GP has enough on his plate.  Grace is going to a friend's house to study for upcoming PSATs.  Sadly, there is no irony in that "study".  Sometimes I wonder if I'm a bad mother because I want my daughter to go out there and have some fun.  She has classmates who have a wild old time, having sex in school bathrooms and sneaking drugs across international borders during field-trips, so I am grateful that she is such a good kid but....  maybe it's just that living vicariously through our children thing.  I'll have to ponder.  xxoo me