Some bored newspaper reporter had nothing better to do last night so he stood around in Genova's main hospital and counted the elderly folk carted into the emergency room for over-eating.  Really.  Our generation and younger try to abstain from the heavy gluttony of ole but those 70 and up, those who lived through the hard times in the war, go whole hog.  There were 12 pensioners who had eaten to the point of being of semi-comatose at the time of his report.  In just one emergency room.  Imagine how many in the country.  Today I'm putting away all of the signs of Christmas as we are off for our now annual after Christmas family trip.  This year a road trip north through Munich, into Austria, then Hungary etc.  A few nights books but the rest we're winging it.  As I sit our next door neighbor lights are flashing in the window.  He and GP started a conversation about Christmas lights in the US and the next thing you know his front balcony is done up like the disco in Saturday Night Fever.  I told him this means war and next year we are planning something BIG.  Eric has a landscaping business and owns cultivated fields in the farm land up behind the condos.  He will spontaneously lean over the hedge and offer us a crate of cabbage or fresh spinach.  He also provides me with all my annuals every year.  I LOVE him.  Watching the news with alarms of possible attacks around New Years in European cities.  Great.  We'll be in all major cities.  Off to finish packing.  xxoo me

Merry Christmas all!  The cat is outta the bag and Grace has her "big" presa.  Her oldest and dearest is coming to spend February vacation with us.  I wish I'd thought to record it.  There were many tears.  So cute.  For GP I booked a session of rock-climbing lessons.  He's wanted to do mountain climbing for years and has in fact gone with a friend once but I'd rather he knew what he was doing so I hooked him up with these.  He loves the mountains and this should be fun.  Then an hours long lunch with MIL and great Aunt and cousin from across the hall.  As usual I ate/drank too much and am now considering crawling into bed at 7pm.  Ah the holidays.

The Italians

Merry Christmas!!!  xxoo me

News from Italy this holiday season.  52 days and counting with no rain.  Longest drought since some time in the 1800's.  The lack of rain has made this windless place smoggy and grey.  The air quality stinks.  I have constant red, irritated eyes and a stuffy nose.  Can't wait to get away for a while after Christmas.  We really lucked out with the past 3 winters with out-of-the-ordinary wind and clear skies.  Alas it has returned to the climate I remember from 25 years ago and the pollution is bad, bad.

We've had out first terror threat here in lovely downtown Torino.  The Mole Antonelliana, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mole_Antonelliana, Torino's best know landmark and site of the National Museum of Cinema, was targeted with a bomb scare today at noon.  As far as I know it's still standing but the police did evacuate the area and close down streets.  The terrorists are getting what they want.  After a few attacks, now all they have to do is sit back and make crank calls. 

The Jubilee year has begun.  Sacred church doors are being opened around the globe for sinners to walk through and have all their guilt washed away.  There are 5 churches assigned this duty in Rome alone.  If you ask me they need a lot more than that.

On a cheerier note, I'm home baking cookies today to take to Pilates class tomorrow.  Sort of defeats the purpose doesn't it?  My once annual baking helps me get in the spirit.  We have our little Charlie Brown tree up, presents all bought and wrapped, a few guests for wine and nibbles on Wednesday evening and Christmas dinner with the family.

On an even better note, Grace got her first acceptance letter this week from Simmons College in Boston.  Yeah!  Exciting, scary and bittersweet time for us all. 

Off to get me cookies out of the oven!  xxoo me

The situation has degenerated.  We are making alliances.  This is war!  I'm not talking about the Middle East or Russia and Turkey or anything like that.  This is us against the insane upstairs neighbors!  Either they had been keeping it down a bit or we had simply grown accustomed to the noise of arguing and vacuuming and singing ballads.  Other than some head shaking and the occasional  “Shut up!” yelled at the ceiling, life was relatively calm.  But last week there was a real screaming match one night and GP had to telephone and tell them to cool it.  Then this past weekend there was a first.  A battle WHILE she was vacuuming.  Double whammy.  Then a couple days ago the kid had a friend over.  (They must have paid him, the “friend”, to visit.)  PC, (we call him pig-child), argued with HIM all afternoon, and then started off on his parents.  The arguing intensified though the evening and by the time I got to bed they were screaming.  And I mean SCREAMING.  The kid was hysterically raging around their apartment and his parents were hollering and then they must have tried to subdue him because he started yelling. “Get your hands off me!” and “Help, Help you're suffocating me” and “This place is filled with crazy people!”   The kid was seriously flipping out.  This was now about 11pm.  Grace was trying to sleep and we wanted to go to bed but it was impossible.  GP stomped out to bang on their door, (they wouldn’t hear the phone over the racket).  All of the neighbors had gathered into the hallway and they were discussing what steps to take when there was a huge slamming of doors and then silence.  We heard PC in his room playing with whatever the hell it is he plays with on his carpetless floor til all hours of the night.  The kid doesn’t sleep.  There is obviously some serious issue with him and he’s getting BIG so scary.  The next morning GP wrote a note and taped to the front door of our building where everyone will see it.  It says something along the lines of;

To the inconsiderate neighbors on the 2^nd floor.  Thank you for the circus show last night.  In the future we would appreciate a little more tranquility in the evening.

Then he went to the police.  He didn't files a complaint so much as an official heads-up.  This way in the future if it gets out of hand again all we do is call the cops and they have a file on the family.  Had they even once apologized or acknowledged the issue we wouldn't be so pissed off but nary a word from them.

On another note...I don't know why they even bother to have right of ways and stop signs and traffic lights in this country.  It's a frickin free-for-all!  I practically got myself killed driving home from the supermarket just now when some old fart drove across the road in front of meet with in feet and never even bothered to look.  

Cooking dinner for the MIL tonight.  She is home from knee rehab and doing fine.  She'll probably out live me.  SHE doesn't have to drive here!  xxoo me

Long weekend.  Gray, chilly day.  Grace studying and the shops are closed.  I'm binge watching Broadchurch.  How is it the British are so much better than us at TV?  Soooo good.  No gratuitous blood or violence or sex. 

Who are these gorgeous women!?

Among the issues of living in a small apartment is the fact that we have inside walls in our bathrooms.  No windows.  The steam builds up and mold grows up on the ceiling even though we use the vent.  So once every couple months I put on my special just for this occasion clothes, empty the bathrooms out, and spray the ceilings with a bleach/water mix.  I was doing just that today standing up on the bidet to reach the corner when I made the mistake of looking over my shoulder right at the vanity mirror and a view of my entire backside.  AAAAHHHHHHHHH!  I have Kim Kardasian"s ass!  If I look at myself from the side I can fool me into thinking my jeans really are the same size they were when I was 16.  Alas that clear back view today told me another story.  Damn.  I prefer self delusion.

the crowds!

Govone Castle

Today we went to a Christmas fair in a town called Govone with a castle that's a UNESCO world heritage sight.  The road up to the castle was all lighted and lined with stands selling Christmas food and crafts.  Unfortunately it was VERY crowded.  There were so many people and the upper village is so small we all had to leave our cars below and take a shuttle up.  We had hot chocolate (Grace and GP) and mulled wine (me) and wandered around for a couple hours.  It was fun. We stopped for pizza on the way home so that I could add more inches onto my behind.  Heavy sigh.  xxoo me

Yesterday after school I went into Torino with a friend to see an art exhibition at the GAM, Torino's modern art museum.  It was a Monet exhibition on loan from one of the museums in Paris.  What I love about the Impressionists is that up close, the paintings look like nothing or rather like just a lot of random colors.  But take a few steps back and those dabs of color become people or shadows or buildings.  Either these guys spent a lot of time walking back and forth, to and from their easels or they had some seriously long handled paint brushes.  After we went out for dinner and a walk around the center to see the holiday lights.  Torino is supposed to be a top Italian city when it comes to decorating for Christmas but it's got nuthin' on any small American town this time of year.  The only really outstanding sights are the pastry and chocolate shops.  The windows displays are amazing and very tempting.  We have a four day weekend coming up because the 8th is Immaculate Conception Day.  ( Did you know that when referring to Immaculate Conception they are actually referring to Mary's conception, not Jesus'?   Who knew?)   So Grace and I are going to a Christmas fair in a tiny town with a famous castle out in the wine region.  I have to do something to help us feel more festive in light of all the cheery news we hear every day.  xxoo me

Well it wasn't muthas turkey dinner but it was cooked served and cleaned for us so no complaints.  The menu was more Italian than colonial American with sliced turkey, squash flan, green beans wrapped in prosciutto, and some sort of stuffing made into a sort of loaf.  Hmmm.  I miss the home cooking and the company of family.  Heavy sigh.  MIL is healing well and rather enjoying her time at the rehab clinic because everyone tells her she doesn't look er age (she doesn't) and how quickly she's recovering (she is) so it's good for her ego (which needs to be stoked).  She comes home Monday so we'll see how that goes.

Thursday morning I talked to my classes about Thanksgiving and had a truly international/culture shock moment.  The class I was speaking to is made up of 20 six year old children from across the globe.  There is only 1 American in the group so I was explaining why we celebrate Thanksgiving and what we do.  I mentioned that we eat traditional food.  A little Japanese girl asked if we ate sushi.  I said no.  A Turkish girl asked if we ate kebabs.  No.  I heard tortilla, pasta, etc etc.  with every different nationality suggesting their traditional food.  I think I needed to be more specific.  It was great.  I wish I could have recorded it.

Anyhow, this lousy month is coming to a close.  It started with the terrible accident with Grace's classmate and was followed by the attacks in Paris and all the fallout.  Let's pray for a more peaceful December.   xxoo me

I'm home sick again today.  Can't seem to beat this bug.  Would probably have been fine today if I hadn't come up with the great idea of meeting our friends in Florence for lunch yesterday.  Doesn't sound bad til you consider that Florence is a 4 hour drive away!  We left at 7 am and were home by 11pm.  It was great to see them, Florence is ever lovely and the weather was beautiful, lunch was yummy but I don't know as we'll be doing that again any time soon.  The drive was exhausting especially for GP who did most of it.  Poor guy.  I put him through a lot...  It was a fine little adventure though.  We drove down following the Maritime Alps to the Apennines Mountains that make a spine down Italy.  It was gorgeous.  It has already snowed up in the mountains so we went from grey autumn here to bright snowy winter and down into the warm spring-like sunshine of Tuscany.  I think I got over-tired though because coughed and sneezed all night.  That'll teach me for gallivanting about.

Just realized I never posted this.  Must have been the cold medicine.  Better now!  xxoo me

It hasn't rained and there hasn't been even a puff of wind in weeks.  The smog is terrible.  My eyes and throat burn and the air is actually visible.  Bombs haven't killed me but pollution might.  A little gallows humor there.  We are all watching the events unfold and thinking that this is a unique and dangerous time in history.  But no!  Funnily, today at work I came upon some old history books called "Decades" in my struggle to reorganize the library.  They are short magazine-type books talking about the '60's, '70's and '80's.  That might seem like yesterday to many of us but is certainly considered "history" to our students.  If you look back, the '60's and '70's were rife with terrorist attacks and coups.  Especially in Europe.  They were mostly communist factions but dead is dead and there was a lot of that.  When GP was in school in the '70s, his bus had to go through road blocks in the city.  The Red Brigade was blowing up things left and right and there were assassinations and kidnappings weekly.  There were the Palestinian hijackings and bombings of airplanes and the attacks at the Olympic Games in Germany in 1972.  This isn't new.  But every time something happens it feels so raw and as though we've lost our footing.  One would think we'd smarten up but humanity seems determined to wipe itself out.  So we go on going on.  This weekend there is lunch with MIL at the clinic and then Sunday in Florence.  It will be a loooooong day as the drive is 4 hours each way but our friends the W's will be there and we think they're worth it.  Plus they are delivering Baking Soda, a rare commodity in these parts where people actually cook with yeast!  xxoo me

You know, November so far?  It's really sucked.  Between the tragedies of the two kids at school, (no good news on that front), and war raging in various parts of the world, this is not a good beginning to the holiday season.  I feel the need to lighten the mood a bit so I'll tell you about MIL and her stay at the hospital/rehab clinic.
When she was in the hospital driving the nurses crazy, her roommate was a woman a couple years younger than her who drove her crazy by simultaneously being grumpy and complaining that MIL was recovering more quickly than she was, and by not being pious enough and complaining when MIL watched her 10th consecutive Papal blessing of something or another.  Plus she didn't take her evening Rosary seriously.  The nerve.  These two were scheduled to be transferred to the rehab clinic on the same day and roomie wanted to share with MIL again.  Uh, no.    MIL insisted that GP be at the hospital at the break of day to make the move and give her a head start.  By lunch she was happily ensconced in her new room with her new roommate who, guaranteed within a day or two, will lose favor.  The clinic is on a hilltop in the wine region.  The rooms have balconies with a view out over the vineyards and the food is amazing.  GP and I are going on Saturday for lunch because the dining room acts as a restaurant for visitors.   It's so popular we have to book.  Now that's rehab.  Laundry is only done in these facilities for a cost so MIL sends hers home with GP for me to do and let me tell you...it's terrifying!  I am sure nothing is clean enough, smells good enough or is ironed well enough.  Not that she'd ever say.  One just knows.  Every time we have to do a load for her GP and I study the situation carefully and decide how hot, how much detergent, bleach, softener is required.  It's a trial.  I pity the "help" we will eventually have to get for her 'cause it sure as hell won't be me.  I love her but she's tough!

xxoo me

Europe is on edge.  We have the 24 hours news thing happening.  ISIS has threatened attacks on capital cities across the continent.  We in Torino are insignificant enough that I'm not worried for our safety but this is all so scary and sad.  But before the crazies get all up in arms about Muslims, a report from NBC says that more Americans have been killed by our own right-wing extremists than by Islamic extremists in the years since 2001.  The threat is extremism, not a religion.  Those right-wing nut jobs are a lot harder to spot than the dark guy with a backpack yelling, "God is great!".  So.  How many people have I just offended? 

What this means to us here in the immediate future is even more security at train stations and airports. The long lines at check points will simply get longer.  Borders that were open between countries in Europe are now going to be controlled again.  Ironically, after an attack is when we are safest.  Does anyone remember the film Brazil?  In it, terrorism becomes so common place that characters remain sitting at their lunch table talking while the other side of the restaurant is blown to bits.  That scene has always stuck with me.  What a world we've made.

 I hope you are all well and safe.  xxoo me

My mother-in-law, in the future referred to as "MIL", has been very naughty.  She went in to the hospital on Monday for her second knee replacement.  The first was done about 8 years ago and went well.  She is now heavier, older and has a mild heart condition but decided she wants to be more mobile.  The operation went well and miraculously they had her bending her knee within hours.  The problems began when an overworked staff didn't hop to her every command.  MIL is amazingly stubborn and has a very strong sense of self worth.  The morning after the operation she couldn't be bothered to wait for a nurse to help her to the bathroom so tried to get out of bed on her own.  She fell of course but fortunately didn't damage anything.  She probably bounced.  Then when they got angry at her SHE got angry at them and evidently caused enough of a scene that they called GP to come to the hospital to calm her down.  He was not pleased.  She has also been snarky to the nurse's aides who haven't been coming in early enough in the morning to change and wash her.  This is a woman who has always been up and at 'em by 5am.  The nurses probably come to her room at 7 and she still thinks it's too late.  Even though she is supposed to be restricted to her room, she convinced GP to help her to the cafe today because she wanted a "decent coffee".  I hope she wasn't wearing a nightie.  MIL is being transferred to a rehab clinic for a couple weeks on Saturday.  I'm sure the hospital will be glad to see the back of her.  We are all going to see her tomorrow afternoon.  Hopefully she will behave.  xxoo me

It amazes me that anything gets done in this country with everything so damned unorganized.  I had to pick up a package today from a shipping company similar to UPS.  (I'm being generous by saying similar.)  The company is basically a warehouse with a desk and an office of sorts.  There were three clerks in the place milling about with little sense of purpose.  One guy took my info and wrote it on a scrap of paper he found under the counter, then wandered off.  Another guy came over a few minutes later and asked me what I wanted and I told him I'd already been helped so he shrugged and wandered off too.  About 10 minutes later the third guy came over to tell another customer that his package hadn't arrived and then asked me what I was waiting for.  In the meantime, the first two guys had gone into a little glassed-in office and were pounding away at computers, so he went to join them.  After 10 more minutes guy number 1 came out and got on a mini forklift and started driving up and down the aisles of the storage area.  I use the word "aisle" very loosely as most boxes and packages weren't actually stacked on shelves but just sitting around in giant piles on the floor.  The building isn't any bigger than a basketball court and the package was a cell phone so he didn't need to be driving and he sure didn't need a forklift.  But he zoomed around, back and forth while guy number 2 yelled instructions like, "It's probably just a large envelope!", and "Try the pile that came in last Tuesday!".  Finally after half an hour I got my new phone but only after the clerk had taken down some numbers from the package on yet another scrap of paper pulled from under the counter...... 

Tomorrow annual visit to the Apple Festival in Cavour.  xxoo me

What a horrible couple of days at school.  Not because of my job which, even though I complain, a lot, I love.  Horrible because there are two kids in critical condition in the hospital and we are all waiting to hear what the outcomes will be.  One is a classmate of Grace's.  He was in an accident while riding home on his motorcycle after school Monday.  He has broken his neck and has already undergone 3 surgeries.  He is one of my favorites and in fact was in gabbing with me before the end of the school day Monday.  He wanted to work for me to get some required service hours calling himself child labor.   The second is a 10th grade girl who has been diagnosed with cancer.  How is that possible?  Why can't this be prevented?  I find it so frustrating that billions of dollars are spent on ways to destroy human lives instead of saving them.  Sorry for ranting but I'm just so sad about these kids.  Done now.  xxoo me

Returned from Edinburgh, the Motherland!  Just so you know:  The Cunningham motto is Fork Over Fork, which I'm sure either means "give it to me!" or gluttony.  Hmm.  The tartan is red, black and white and I bought me a scarf.  The shield has a unicorn which is pretty cool.  That's all I got. 

Now on to more important stuff.  Food and weather.  The food was great.  Lots of seafood and stews and New Englandy.  The weather was off and on rainy, peeks of bright blue sky and very blustery.  The foliage in the parks was lovely and colorful and again, it reminded me a lot of home.  It is a beautiful city all grey and brown stone, hills and open space on one side and the Firth of Forth on the other.  A firth is an estuary.  I just love saying "Firth of Forth"!  Firth of Forth, Firth of Forth!

We had two days in Edinburgh then a one day/overnight to Newcastle then back to Scotland for another two.  All that Edinburgh is, (charming, upscale, clean, inviting), Newcastle isn't.  From what I saw it's an awful city.  It's grey and grubby, dirty, rundown, dark and Dickensian.  It depressed the hell out of me.  It's the kind of city where you don't want to look people in the eye or spend anytime off the beaten path.  It made me feel dirty and unhealthy.  Can you tell I didn't think much of it?  We went down to Newcastle so that Grace could meet some girls she has become friends with through a fan chat group on line.  They came from all over the UK to go to a concert together.  I agreed to this little side trip because Newcastle is home to a children's book museum that I wanted to see.  It was the ONLY thing worth seeing.  I couldn't wait to get back on the train north.

On our last night we went to a light show at the botanical gardens.  The gardens are in my favorite part of the city, Stockbridge, with little twisty roads and lots of green space.  The light show was magical.  They set up a path to follow where trees and fountains and garden beds were lit by colored lights that changed to music.  There were fire fountains in the ponds and interactive displays.  There was an artificial fog bank where you couldn't see the back of your hand and a beautiful botanical video projected onto a villa and another on the glass Palm House.  I could have spent all night in there but Grace had had enough after an hour.  What is wrong with kids today?  I will return by day someday......

Next time will be a tour around the country!  xxoo me

what can i say?  Gotta love them Scots.

a side street in Old Town

an out-of-work bagpiper?

cause why not?

the castle

the view over New Town and towards the firth

tall and spiky thing

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Haven't been writing much because I have been sooo tired at night.  This change of season stuff really gets to me.  The shorter days, lack of sun, wearing socks...  Anywho.  Grace and I are off for our 4th annual mummy-daughter autumn vacation.  And alas, at least for the next 4 years, our last.  We are flying to Edinburgh in the morning and staying through Friday with a 1 day trip to Newcastle on Tuesday.  Our little Newcastle side trip is to allow Grace to go to a concert and meet up with "friends" she has made through fan chat groups.  She has girls all over the world who she considers friends though she's never met them.  It's the modern take on pen-pals I guess but I find it very unnerving.  With pen-pals back in the day, there was little chance of ever meeting these people and usually one could tell by the handwriting if you were conversing with a 10 year old or a 40 year old preeevert.  While Grace is stalking the band and at the concert with her pals I will be checking out the sights of Newcastle and spending as many hours as possible in the world's largest Children's Book museum!  I must say that was the deal maker for me when G was trying to convince me to make the detour.  The weather looks like it should be decent and I'm ready for a break.  Yeah!  More later.  xxoo me

Damn these GPS!  Ours nearly killed us Saturday night.  We could have plummeted to our deaths!  And it would have been a terrible death at that.  We would have been starving! 

GP and I went to Le Marche for a long weekend.  Le Marche is the region next to Tuscany on the Adriatic coast.  It's what Tuscany would be without all of the massive tourism.  It is a lovely region, famous for it's food and churches.  The people there are serious Catholics and there are monasteries and sanctuaries on every hilltop.  We visited Loreto, famous for it's Shrine of the Holy House.  It's an important pilgrimage sight because the cathedral is said to contain the walls of the Virgin Mary's house that was transported to Loreto by the Crusaders.  Uh huh.  Anywho, the place is massive with the church, a school for Jesuits and a monastery. 

We also went to the Conero National Park and hiked from top to bottom of Mont Conero.  We couldn't find the trail heads at the base of the mountain, (more of a large hill actually), so started from the top, blowing all of our energy on a swift descent and having to huff and puff our way up again.  The park and trails are on a promontory that sticks out into the Adriatic and is edged with beautiful white sand beaches, reachable only by boat or foot.

Out terrible GPS experience was Saturday evening when we were trying, unsuccessfully, to find a restaurant that had been recommended by a friend.   It was in one of the dozens of tiny enclaves in the hills and valleys of the area.  We put the address in the GPS and it led us up a perilous, twisting road to a castle and tiny square surrounded by high walls.  Obviously our restaurant was not there.  There was a road that wound around behind the castle, and as we could barely turn in the square we thought that maybe this was the way out.  It wasn't.  The road became narrower and narrower and then dead ended at a gate, with no warning.  GP had to back out all the way with the castle walls touching the mirror on one side and a bottomless precipice on the other.  Did I mention the rain?  It was pouring!  We drove with both of our heads out of the windows saying "Stop!"," Right!", "Left!".  I think I may have lost a few years of my life in those moments. 

We survived the trip and are now back in the thick of things.  Crazy busy time.  I'm off to bed.     xxoo me

view down to secluded beach

from top of Monte Conero

moi

what one does on holiday on a rainy day.  couple cases of wine.

the church that houses the house of the VM

incredible waiting room for confession with a video screen for available confessional booths

a view of the sanctuary of Loreto

Check this out.  I have my own personal seamstress team.  Cousin C gave me a lovely wool coat this summer that was just a touch too large in the shoulders.  GPs mother and her cousin, both seamstresses in their younger years, took the coat apart and rebuilt it to fit me perfectly.  A snip here, a dart there...

I'll model the finished product when it gets chillier!  xxoo me

I need to make an amendment.  Their budget for a house was $2,400 not euro so cheaper than I had thought AND may I just say this woman bugs the crap outta me.  moi

Fall is trying to fall.  The past few days have been cool and grey.  Next week it's supposed to be warm again however and I'm happy as we have a 3 day weekend and GP and I are off to Le Marche.  More on that later.  The signs of autumn....farmers buzzing around cutting corn, tilling fields and spreading eye-watering liquid pig poop.  Farm stands are everywhere with their local products.  Peppers are big around here right now.  Our new teachers, from the US, UK, Africa, Finland, are settling in and trying to adjust to life in Italy.  Poor things.  It can be quite a shock.  The school gives out a welcome packet to all new employees each year with such useful information as museums, festivals and sights to see.  Well that's great for a tourist but little help if you plan on living here.  I'm thinking of writing up a "What you really need to know if you don't want to be robbed blind, sent into convulsions by red tape, or killed on the roads."  I would include such useful information such as, "NEVER leave anything visible or even not visible in your car."  It will be broken into.  "Pretend the post office doesn't exist."  As far as our perception of a "post office", it doesn't.  "Be constantly vigilant on the road!"  There's crazies out there!  In the last week, one new couple from West Virginia or some such place, had their school bags stolen from their vehicle.  A Canadian has spent endless hours trying to sort out his visa while a nice Brazilian couple have been dealing with local providers of internet, TV, water, gas, etc which is a full time job unto itself.  They ONLY come between the hours of 8 and 12 or 4 and 6 so you have to take off work to be home and often they don't show up. 

An interesting note.  One of our school families is featured in this week's House Hunters International.   Check out the link.  Little Sophia is one of my kiddies.  And note the budget they have, (2,400 Euro a month or close to $2,700).  They have their rent paid by the company that sent them here.  Alas we have no company paying our living expenses which explains why we live in our tiny apartment!

 Password: hgtv
 https://vimeo.com/140745721


xxoo me

Thank God.  I've just finished a book.  Reading it was like slogging through deep mud.  It took ages.  The writing was very good but it was soooo sloooooow and nothing ever really happened.  I kept expecting the story to pick up but by the time I realized it never would it was too late.  I was too far in and had too much invested.  I can't, with very few exceptions, not finish a book once I'm in it.  I can name the books I've never finished;  Michener's Poland, (I kept getting all the characters mixed up because they all had similar unpronounceable names), the Bible, (never got past Genesis), and a really, really badly written mystery novel by a local "writer", (who is I hope is a better a lawyer), that I was told I just had to read!  So I had to finish this one.  Even though the characters bugged the crap out of me and the dialogue was so vague I felt like I was reading in a second language.  I never felt as though I knew exactly what someone was saying.  So, if you're up for a challenge read Surface of the Earth by Reynolds Price  xxoo me

Well THAT was a bust.  We went to the World Expo in Milan for the second time today hoping to see the half we'd missed in spring.  Unfortunately 250,000 other people also thought today would be a good day!  Instead of slowing down, the crowds are getting bigger.  The lines into the stands and pavilions were hours long.  Japan, one of the most popular, had a sign saying it would be a five hour wait!  We didn't.  In fact we only got near the entrance to 1, Uruguay, only to be told, (after 30 minutes standing in line), that they were having technical difficulties and were turning people away til further notice.  After 3 hours of attempting to see something we turned around and came home.  This was to have been Grace's only chance to see it so it is disappointing.  Not to mention wasted tickets, gas, time better spent etc.  Ah well.  I came home and took a nap.  That'll teach 'em!  Tomorrow GP is off to scale a peak.  I refuse to leaving home.  xxoo me

I'm giving my hip pain, (since an accident 10 years ago), one last shot.  I've tried everything The States have to offer so I'm going to a physical therapist here.  This guy is an expert on the pelvic area?  Whatever.  Funnily, he used to rent an apartment from the in-laws back in the 90s.  He remembered me!  I am quite memorable though not necessarily in a good way....  Anywho, he maneuvered and manipulated the heck out of me yesterday and put his hands places few have dared to venture.  (The muscle injury is to the back of the pelvic area or upper backside which is arrived at by most awkward means.)  He tells me it will take ten consecutive sessions of an hour each, (weekends not included), so I'll be very busy the next few weeks.  If this doesn't work I'll just have to stock up on Advil.

GP's great uncle dies a couple days ago and today was the funeral.  Grace and I were excused but GP was responsible for getting his mother back and forth.  The man would have been 100 in June and had been living in a nursing home for almost 30 years!  He had been in a child-like, semi-vegetative state for the last 5 at least but his death was still an occasion to mourn and carry on.  These Italians like their pathos.

We are going to the Expo in Milan on Saturday as when we went in June we only saw half in a full day.  We're going back to eat our way around the other 50% of the world.  Off to bed.  xxoo me

Wow, I am still adjusting to life back here and feel like I haven't quite got a handle on it.  Between work, senior year/college prep, extra tutoring, (getting students for next year when I'm no longer at the school), doctor, dentist, ortho. appointments and catching up with friends I haven't caught my breath. 

Sunday GP and I went hiking in the mountains with two friends and made it to the trail we wanted just under the wire.  It closed for the winter the next day.  Because it was the last open hike day and because the weather was so beautiful, there were dozens of cars heading up to the parking areas at the head of the trail.   When we arrived at the lower parking area an official looking guy told us the higher lot was full and that we'd have to take a shuttle up to the trails.  We lined up behind a group of people waiting to get on the bus that was parked on the road.  The shuttle filled up and drove off leaving about 10 of us behind.  As soon as it had left, the parking official started letting the cars that were still arriving up to the higher lot!  Parking at the high lot costs 5 euro a day.  That is what they were charging each person for the round trip shuttle.  Of course each car had at least two people (we had 4) , so these parking guys were making money off the shuttle and pocketing it.  When the cars started driving past the rest of us who were waiting, there was an all out revolt.  One old guy screamed, (roughly translated), "It's too early in the day to be shit on!" and then stomped back to his car with his family in tow.  After that we all ran for our cars, people yelling obscenities and making very rude hand gestures at the parking guys and drove to the higher parking lot where we all found space.   Thieves and scoundrels!

As for the hike itself, that was also an adventure.  The trail is so high and so steep I thought my lungs were going to explode.  GP had climbed this route earlier in the summer and assured me it wasn't too bad.  Liar, liar, pants on fire!  He knows I don't like heights and am only comfortable on good trails.  When we got to an icy patch and had to scramble over rocks on our hands and knees I started to get a little uneasy.  When I saw the first rope hold we had to use, so as not to tumble off into the abyss, I started to get scared.  And when we got to the iron bolts that were our only footing up,  I got pissed. 

on the way up

rock slide

the gang at the hut

I made it to the top!  Monviso behind me.

 We all survived and made it down in one piece, exhausted and hungry.  It was worth it!  xxoo me

me and friend C.

heading down again.

glacial melt

farmer bringing in grapes to weigh station

 We went out for dinner in the wine region last night to celebrate our 23rd anniversary.  We stopped to buy some wine for the mother-in-law at a co'op and timed it with the arrival of tractors full of grapes.  First they weighed their loads and then dumped them in a masher like a giant underground meat processor.  The smell was amazing.

check out the ladies on the back wall

 Our restaurant, (pic above), was great but for the fact that the owner's son, a long haired, '70's dressing coke-head, was waiting on us and was a complete asshole.  First GP asked which of four bottles of wine was the least "oak barrel aged" and the guy answered snidely as though talking to an ignoramus, "They are very different wines!".  K.  But that doesn't answer the question does it?  Then when our pasta dishes arrived, mine with mushrooms, I made the mistake of asking for Parmigiano!  What was I thinking?  He stopped dead in his tracks and turned to me and said, "But that just isn't done!"  meaning Parmigiano on mushrooms, and may I just mention that in fact, it IS done.  The guy was higher than a kite.  Apart from that, the food was wonderful, the wine was wonderful and the place is charming.  We even had naked breasted ladies stomping grapes to look at.

Monforte

The restaurant is in Monforte, one of my favorite towns in the region.  It is becoming more and more popular with tourists however and that's both good and bad.  Good because it has brought a lot of money to the local folks and they have restored all sorts of gorgeous old buildings that were literally falling to pieces.  But bad because as is always the case' it is at risk of becoming more Disneyland than a real village.  It has loads of restaurants, bars, bed and breakfasts and wine shops now, and very few "real" shops for the locals.  Many of the old farms have been turned in to hotels and big moneyed people are buying up land and building mega homes.  I must admit I resist change.  GP says I am anti progress but sometimes progress is at a big cost.  Heavy sigh.  xxoo me

Good God, my new desk-mate, (filling in for colleague out on maternity leave), is a Christian!  That's CHRISTIAN.  He and his lovely wife, married just one year, (after having had a very chaste period of courting I imagine), are sweet as can be and set my teeth on edge.  She is uptight and he is just so damned sincere is the only word I can come up with.  He's a very nice young man.  But he's very nice and very young.  And I'm neither.  Heavy sigh.  If I have to behave myself all day it will be a long year indeed.  My other colleague, who was with me last year, has set up a chat for us so we can talk freely without his noticing.  Either of us could be his mother but we're acting in an extremely juvenile fashion, exchanging notes (via computer) and giggling.  Poor Michael.  He knows not what he's gotten himself into......

On another note, the refugee issue is all anyone is talking about these days.  It's a serious, serious issue.  The numbers of people flooding the countries along the coast are unbelievable.  There have been brutal crimes by some immigrants that of course categorize them all as criminals.  People are very worried.  This ain't your momma's Europe any more.

Still haven't ventured farther than school but Saturday is our anniversary so we are going out to dinner in Le Langhe, the wine region.  We have to go early because the mother-in-law needs to be restocked with the only wine she'll drink.  Tonight is a nice dry rose' from Cinzano in the hills northeast of Torino.  Yum.  I'm going to be a glutton in my next life.

xxoo me

Here we are again.  I'm back on the Apennine Peninsula.  GP is cooking dinner and I'm drinking a glass of cold Ribolla Gialla, a super yummy white wine we bought last January in Slovenia.  Maine seems very far away indeed.  Since we've been back, only 3 days, I've cleaned the garden, (which was mostly dead and brown from the extreme heat and drought this summer), dusted and vacuumed the apartment, (an accumulation you wouldn't believe after only 3 weeks of GP's absence - damn city life), and worked for two days reorganizing the library at school 'cause the headmaster is an idiot.  I'm already ready for the weekend.  There is nothing more to report at the moment.  I go to bed early with jet lag.  Wake up about 3 with jet lag.  Fall asleep again at 5 and get up at 7 for work.  I should be back to normal, no snickers, by Friday.  Then the adventures begin!  Miss you all already!  xxoo me

We're back in Maine!  I’ve been too busy to write about our trip up Monviso last Sunday, (the mountain in the paramount pictures logo).   It was June 21^st, the summer solstice and opening day for many mountain trekking trails.  Our destination was Quintino Sella, a “hut” in a pass way up near the summit.  We left in the early a.m. and got back in the evening all in one piece.  On the way we saw 4 lakes, progressing from swim-able to still frozen, a bunch of ibex, (the local mountain goats that are practically domestic as they are protected and accustomed to hikers) and a whole hell of a lot of real hikers who left us in the dust.   The first hour going up my lungs were on fire, but eventually I adjusted to the altitude and scampered along like one of the little goats!  At times rock slides had covered the trail so we’d wander off in the wrong direction and add ½ hour onto our trip.  We had to cross a lot of areas still covered in snow but we all had poles with us so I didn’t slide off into any crevasses.  Looking down over some of the precipices nearly made me lose my cookies.  The trip was long and exhausting but worth it.  It was quite chilly especially at the summit.  We left the city at 70 something degrees in the early morning and by the time we reached the top it was maybe 50 with wind chill.  We were above the clouds!  So gorgeous.  Take a look-see.

our destination, Monviso

first lake

Lago Fiorenza

rock slide and wild Azalea

GP and Federico

second lake

intrepid hikers on the trail

Lago Chiaretto

still snow

third lake - no name?

Last lake with moon like scape

ditto

The summit above the clouds

This was a bit discouraging.  3 plaques dedicated to hikers who had died here.  Thankfully I saw it on the way down.

Ibex!

So that is it for Italy this year.  Taking the summer off to garden!  I'll be back in September.  xxoo me

Remember that "drama" thing I mentioned in my blog yesterday?  We'll here are some doozies. 

First, a mystery!  An old, odd guy in our condo complex makes honey and has a dozen or so hives along the side of an orchard up the road.  He stores it in barrels in his garage.  All the neighbors woke up this morning to signs taped on the glass doors to our buildings accusing one of us of having stolen his honey and leaving a sticky mess behind!  (Last year he accused someone of breaking in and making off with a weed whacker.)  It's all the gossip over the garden hedges today.  We are now on the look-out for someone with sticky fingers!  Ha ha?
 
In the news we just heard this one.  Some crooks in Naples have been arrested, after a long investigation, for emptying out rarely visited tombs in a popular cemetery and then reselling them.  It was discovered when a family, who had moved to the US and was back visiting relatives, dropped by the family tomb to find someone else in Grandma's spot. (or plot)  No one knows where Grandma is now residing.

Gp went into the city today, Saturday, to do some errands and came back without having completed any as everywhere he went, businesses were closed.  On a Saturday.  With the Pope and the Shroud and hundreds of thousands of tourists in town.  We are talking about shops here people!  Business sense zero.  Give Italians the choice between money and free time and they'll take the free time any day.  5 cents in their pockets and they'll put it towards their holidays.  There is a huge lack of work ethic which is the basis of so many problems here.  But on the other hand, they are having yet another "communal pizza party" in the garden in front of the condos.  The children squealing and yelling, the loud talking and laughing, will go on til all hours of the night.  Most of the neighbors are there with the probable exception of Mr Schiaccavillani, the victim of the honey heist.

xxoo me

Tomorrow is my birthday, the Pope will be in Torino on Sunday, and we'll be flying home a week from now!  I would love to go see the Pope as I think he's just swell, but GP and I are scaling some damn mountain where there is a glacier and it's frickin' 30 degrees.  I only agreed because he said I always want to go to the sea and never the mountains, poor him.  Don't get me wrong.  I love the mountains.  But I have no desire to freeze my tush off.  As for my birthday which I'm trying my best to ignore, I am doing nothing spectacular.  I have to clean and shop and pack for the trip home.  Yeah!  It has been a long year.  I'm tired of Italy and school and all the drama that comes with both.  A couple more dinners, a few more bottles of wine and I'll wrap up the 3rd year of my Italian adventure.  xxoo me

This is what our neighbor does on holiday.

 http://edition.cnn.com/2015/06/17/football/arturo-vidal-crash-chile-football/index.html

He's the one whose groupies party til all hours behind our condo.  Latin American music blasting until 5 am, big, loud sports vehicles racing up and down a very narrow road, and hours of yelling and singing and cheering after a big game.  Of course the cops do nothing because soccer is king here.  I've given heads up to friends who bet on the odds of players coming and going from the team.  If their kids haven't been re-registered for school next year, we know the player has been traded to another team or is retiring (at 35!).  Surely there must be some way for me to make a buck out of this!  Mamma wants a new pair of shoes!  xxoo me

Today my baby turns 17.  Wow.  She is studying for her finals and we've started packing for the summer in Maine.  We are very excited to get home.

For her birthday dinner Grace is deciding between sushi and Mexican.  When I first came to Italy, 30 or so years ago, the only "foreign" cuisine was very bad Chinese food.  Now the city and even small towns offer a selection of eats from all over the world.  There are approximately 5 million immigrants accounted for in Italy.  Those are the people who are in some way registered, residents or new citizens.  That doesn't include the thousands that arrive weekly on the southern shores and islands.  In a country with fewer than 60 million people, that number is huge and rising exponentially.  Italy, and to a lesser degree Greece and Spain are carrying the brunt of an epic exodus from Africa and the Middle East.  I can't speak for other European nations, but Italy is losing it's Italian-ness.  I suppose it's the nature of progress, but I find it a little sad.  Italians are having fewer and fewer children, with most families in the north having only one child.  Many of the babies born here now are to Romanian or African parents.  Torino has the largest population of Romanians outside of Bucharest!  There is an entire area of the city where you hear only Romanian spoken.  Beautiful little tradition wooden churches (Eastern Orthodox) are popping up in vacant lots between old brick and stone buildings.  The large park outside the city where GP and I have taken to walking is where the Romanians congregate to picnic on weekends, hold weddings and other celebrations.  They gather by the hundreds.  The old market area where once the workers from Southern Italy lived is now mostly Africans, Middle Easterns and Asians.  The pizza places have been replaced by kebab shops and Chinese restaurants.  The market sells all sorts of spices and food products from far and away.  As immigrants moved in, Italians moved out and the vacuum was filled by more immigrants.  There are old women from Syria making and selling their yummy flat bread still hot from the griddle and Nigerians selling gigantic bunches of good smelling herbs I can't identify.  It's become quite exotic and interesting but has lost it's old Italian charm.  As happens, the immigrants are doing all the jobs the Italians no longer want to do.  They are the domestic workers and street cleaners.  Unfortunately the numbers are so large and so frequent, there has been no time to absorb them all.  The country is saturated and is throwing it's hands up.  I wonder what the European landscape will be in another 20 years.  For dinner we've decided on Mexican.  Have to make a reservation. xxoo me