It's a rainy Sunday and I'm NOT planning on leaving the house today if I can help it.  Instead I am contemplating.  Something I've been doing a lot of lately.  After almost 4 years here, in a few months everything will have changed.  Grace is graduating in May and heading back to the States.  At the moment our lives are on hold til we know where she'll be going to college and how much it will cost us!  There are many things in the balance.  My job at school, my time in Maine, what in Hell am I going to do with myself now that being Mom isn't my #1 occupation!  It's a very stressful time.  Right now, a few of we moms are planning the graduation.  The ceremony and a little cocktail party will be held at and by the school, but we are organizing a dinner celebration at one of the rowing clubs along the river in the city.  After the dinner all the kids will head off to a dance club to party the night away while we old and sad parents will drown our sorrows on the patio of the rowing club.  That's as far as we've gotten. 

Grace found a place in the city that makes Bagels yesterday!  I'm off to have breakfast and weep into my coffee.....  xxoo me

Is there anything as gratifying as crawling BACK into bed?  GP has been traveling a lot for work recently and this morning had to catch a 7am bus to the airport.  I drove him to the station so was up and out at 6:20.  An hour later I crawled right back into bed and it was still warm.  Glorious.  Didn't wake up until the wacko kid upstairs started pretending to be a ninja, yelling and jumping all over the room above my head.  Curses upon him!

Spring is beginning.  It's sunny and in the 50's by midday.  Tomorrow I'm taking a mental-health day.  School and all of it's drama, (firing and whispering and backstabbing and secrets.  It's like working in a soap opera!), is stressing me out so in payback I'm taking the busiest day off in the library.  That'll teach 'em.  I'm hoping for nice weather.  I'm going to take a long walk and go out for breakfast with a friend.

A group of parents of the 12th graders are making plans for our kid's graduation in May.  The ceremony will be held at the school followed by a little cocktail hour.  We are organizing a dinner for graduates and their invitees with music and dancing.  Afterwards the kids will all go out to a club while we oldies stumble off to bed.  We are planning on visiting all of the rowing clubs some afternoon this week to see if we can rent a space.  AAAARRRRRGGGGGHHHHHH!!  Sorry.  Just the thought of my One and Only leaving me.....

Off to do some shopping.  xxoo me

I have eaten nothing healthy in the past 48 hours.  I've lived on chocolate, bread, cheese and red wine.  Fortunately I've also hiked and snowshoed twice.  We are up in the mountains and have rented an tiny apartment in Pragelato.  Grace and C are skiing and I'm on the sofa looking out at the town hall square and the mountains behind.  I can see clear to France.  It's freakin' cold but I'm all toasty with my pj's and bottle!  GP and I snowshoed yesterday up our regular route, stopped at the top for our regular hot chocolate (him) and cappuccino (me) and then back again.  Today for something different we tried a trail up behind the village but ended up carrying our snowshoes as there wasn't enough snow.  We hiked up to a teeny enclave called Grand Puy which means big nit.  I hope it was so called because it isn't much bigger than a large nit as the other possibilities are too horrible for words...  Anywho.    Straight up the trail was only about 1.5 miles but it was very steep and me wee legs ache.  We took the 3 miles but much easier road back down.  The photos below I took on my phone and I had taken all sorts with my camera but unfortunately it died and took all the photos with it!  Dern technology.  xxoo me

the village Townhall square with our apartment w/brown door

in town

view looking down on village from hike to "big nit"

It finally rained!  Unfortunately it was Grace's buddy, C's, first day but what the hey.  She was half asleep anyway.  We picked her up at the Torino airport at 11 am.  The place was packed with British groups coming over to ski.  We counted 20 flights on the ETA board from the UK.  These are chartered flights that work with British companies to offer packaged deals for ski weeks.  The road outside the terminal was lined with buses and there were all sorts of young people in bright colored jackets carrying signs with the names of the tour companies standing near arrivals.  As the groups would come through they'd direct them to the correct buses and send them on their way.  There were HUNDRED'S of them all dragging ski bags and pushing piles of suitcases.  There were kids running all the Hell all over the place and groups of young guys in shorts and tattoos you could tell were just itching for their first Italian beer.  In the middle of all this chaos was one little flight from Paris carrying one little girl from Maine.  When she finally came through, we fished her out of the melee and brought her home.  She probably though English was the common language here.

Today is sunny and bright and the mountains are white with yesterday's snow.  I'll shop and pack up for the mountains while the girls head to the city.  Vacation good.  xxoo me

The idea was to go snow shoeing Sunday but when we got to our destination, Gran Paradiso National Park, it was raining, (the first we've seen in ages), and there was no snow, only ice and puddles.  It felt just like March in Maine.  We backtracked half way down the mountain to a wonderful hike along the edge of a very deep and narrow valley between two mountains.  There are tiny enclaves, reachable only on foot, that are still inhabited!  They are mostly second homes now but still!  How DO they carry in their cases of wine?  The rain had stopped but it was misty and grey at times.  We hiked as far as a teeny tiny village center composed of a church and a town hall with a minuscule square between them.  They serve the houses scattered around on the mountainsides.  By this time the sun had come out and it was gorgeous.  A hint of spring.  Next Sunday Grace's oldest and dearest is coming to visit for a week and we should finally get some snow which is fortunate as I've rented an apartment in a ski area for 3 nights.  This has been the driest January in 215 years.   (Evidently the church has been keeping track of the weather for much longer than the American Weather Service)  While on our hike we passed a large dry lake bed well known for windsurfing in summer.  Don't see much of that happening unless it really starts coming down.  Then I'll be ready for beach weather.  xxoo me

we saw this guy when stopped for a coffee.  he didn't move once.

flowers January 31st in the Alps!

kiwis growing on a light pole.

tiny village square

a view from the path