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