Christmas was small and quiet, restful and fattening.  Me baby flew back to the UK the 29th.  GP and I drove southeast for a few days.  We had vague plans to end up in Termoli, a small coastal city above Italy's "heel".  We got there eventually and it was well worth it.  What a gorgeous little town, fine food and very nice people.  

Looking back at the old walled center of Termoli

It was wildly windy our first two days.  The colors are wonderful as the towns are either white and Greek isle-like or multi colored pastels.  The evening lighting was incredible for photos.

GP leaning into the wind

a house in the old center

evening

I don't know how this little shack stayed up

On day 3 we drove down to Gargano, the little outcrop above the heel that looks sort of like a dog's thumb.  That was getting a little too far south for GP though.  He started getting itchy and making comments about the lack of phone coverage and the quantity of fried food.  I found it charming but couldn't live there.  The guy that ran the cafe where we stopped for a coffee spent a half an hour telling us about the difference between his responsibilities AS A MAN (work) and his wife's AS A WOMAN (everything else).  The Cappuccino was great though!

The Gargano coastline

Rodi Garganico

We came back just in time as a huge storm hit the area the afternoon we left.  It is covered in snow and very cold.  As they have almost no way of coping with that weather, though it looks beautiful, it's a mess.  No plows, not great heating, and bad phone coverage!

I have spent my last few days of vacation cleaning up after Christmas and binge watching a show on Netflix called Tidying Up.  It's a reality show starring a tiny Japanese lady (with her translator as she speaks minimal English) who helps people tidy and organize their homes.  I LOVE IT!  Even though she has the voice of an irritating buzzing insect and is WAY too perky, she calms me.  Every time she does her house greeting ceremony I feel all warm and fuzzy inside.  She's got me reorganizing my underwear drawer and looking for stuff to throw away!  OK.  Off to do something useful.  I haven't gone through my sock drawer yet.  xxoo me