It's like the flipping dust bowl out there today.  It still hasn't rained and there are two inches of dry powder anywhere it's not paved.  A foehn wind has come down from the mountains and is blowing the powdery dirt all over.  We need the wind, though not as much as rain, because the pollution level has become critical.  Traffic in the center is closed, people in the city are being warned to keep their windows closed.  GP and I drove up to the Aosta valley to see a flower and plant fair at Masino Castle.  It was wonderful and had I felt at all inspired by my garden here I would have loaded the car up.  But the already terrible clay soil has turned to cement and no amount of watering seems to help.  Nothing has ever been particularly successful here apart from ivy and some damned grass-like weed that has the deepest friggin' roots I've ever seen.  After this past hot, dry summer half my plants are dead and others are hanging on by a thread.

The day started gray but cleared up by afternoon

I want this guy

afternoon nap

We are still on our diets and there has been success but it hasn't been easy!  This weekend we took a break.  Yesterday we had a BBQ Italian style at friend Bepe's property in the country.  Like many families here, Bepe's family has various practically unused properties that were either inherited or bought as investment years ago and have never been updated.  Their living quarters in this old farm were last decorated circa 1970.  Imagine the Brady Bunch does Italy.  Lots of psychedelic prints and Swedish influence and tinted glass.  I don't think anyone ever goes there unless it's for an occasion like this as has a old wood paneled party room with a fireplace that his father put in 50 years ago.  We ate, we drank, we drank, we ate!  Life is good.

GP playing with fire

Bizarre home made BBQ

This one looks like Gaudi

Anyhow...  So, back to diet and work tomorrow.  Praying for rain and world peace and all that stuff.  xxoo me

Another beautiful warm day.  Which is good for me sitting out on our balcony enjoying the sun but not so good for the farmers as we are going into our 5th month of drought.  It is powder dry.  Yesterday I took advantage of the weather and went to the sea with two old friends.  And they are VERY old.  MUCH older than me!  I've known K since I first came here in '84.  She was leaving her position just as I was starting mine teaching at a language academy in the city.  We ended up with mutual friends and that was that.  C and her family moved into one of the condos the same year we did, 1990.  She's half English and so we were bound to meet.  I introduced the two of them that year and they've been fast friends since.  We drove down to Noli, a little town 15 minutes west of Savona.  It sits in it's own bay surrounded by high hills so seems far away from the larger more populated towns in Liguria, (the Italian "Riviera").  The hills are tight in on the sea and the train bypasses it, going inland at that point, so Noli remains small and quaint.  Summers are still untouchable as there isn't a square inch of sand to be seen on this coast in July and August.  But once the majority of the vacationers leave, it's a lovely place to visit.  GP's parents used to bring him here as a child and it's the first place on the coast that he brought me to.  Awwwwwwww.  So yesterday we sat on the beach, had pasta with pesto and white wine for lunch, and walked around the old center.  

Looking towards the ruins of the castle on the hill

Beach babes

Tonight we are having MIL for dinner.  I'm sure she'll be quite tasty.  xxoo me

To do any sort of organized sport or exercise program one needs a health certificate to show that you won't drop dead in the middle of a crunch.  To get said certificate you can't go to just any old doctor.  Oh noooooo!  You must go to a qualified to hand out health certificate doctor.  AND you have to have an electrocardiogram.  To get that you have to get a referral from your regular doctor.  So in order to continue with my exercise classes at school I have to go to my doctor, get a referral for an ECG, get a referral for a sports doctor, get the ECG at the hospital or clinic and take it to the sports doctor, which is three different appointments in different locations for a cost of about 45 euro.  OR I can go to a cardiologist that we know of and get it all done with one appointment and 35 euro under the table.  That's Italy.  The certificate lasts a year so I should have done this every fall before starting classes but my past instructors never insisted on one.  This new guys does.  He's South African.  He's tough.  I'm in constant pain.

I took a whirlwind trip to London to see Grace's apartment last weekend.  I flew out Friday evening and left London at the break of dawn.  By flying those hours with a low cost airline I can go back and forth for the cost of a tank of gas for my car.  Her apartment is cute, her roommates are lovely and we had a great Thai dinner.  Of course it rained.

Now I'm off to bed to rest my aching glutes.  xxoo me

So way back in our first autumn here, I shared the traumatic experience we had of putting together an IKEA "wardrobe", (also know as piece of s*** cardboard box).   Well I got the bright idea the other day to repaint Grace's room which unfortunately entails moving said wardrobe.  We had forgotten that we'd screwed it into the wall to keep the crappy thing upright.  The next time it's moved it will go out the window and into the trash.  GP was able to patch the hole...

Our diets are going well in that we've lost weight.  But I had my annual blood tests done this past week and after almost a month of bread and water I expected everything to come back marked E for excellent.  Nooooo.  My flipping cholesterol has gone up even higher!  I don't even remember what cheese tastes like for crying out loud!  Depression set in.  I drank 2 glasses of forbidden wine.  Guilt set in.  I went to bed.

So now on top of dieting I'm increasing my exercise.  I'll be doing Cross Fit twice a week at school and Yoga once.  I had my first Cross Fit class today.  I do not like it.  It is painful and difficult and I am at least 15 years older than everyone else in the class.  Plus the instructor is just too damned skinny.  I don't trust people with so little body fat.  I miss Pilates.....

All for now, xxoo me