I'm Kevin Costner!  I'm going to be dancing with wolves!  I've been asked to chaperone the 4th grade classes on a two day field trip to a wolf sanctuary in the maritime Alps.  The trip isn't until May but I'm very excited.  Wolves were practically extinct in Italy until they were given protected status in the '70s.   Oh boy!!

On another note, GP and I had a lovely evening last Saturday.  We went with his hiking group to an area not too far away but WAY up high.  It's a semi-abandoned ski resort that was popular in the 70's but then, for whatever reason, fell out of fashion.  The village is called Montoso and still has a few inhabitants though most of the buildings are empty.  The resort itself is up past the tree line and the huge 60's style buildings that were once hotel and apartments, shops and restaurants, are now deserted.  The only tenants are the caretakers.  The area is also famous for stone and there are enormous quarries all along the road up and that can be looked down on from the top.  With no snow all you see is rock.  It's weird and a little creepy.  Very other worldly.  So we drove up for a sunset hike up to a ridge above the resort that has an incredible 365 degree view of the surrounding mountains.  Once at the top we were wined and dined by a catering team who does just that.  They drive a food and drink laden truck up to the ridge, build a fire, set out tables, and feed people.  It was great.  The meal was casual but yummy, the wine was excellent and the view couldn't be beat.  We hiked back down an hour or so after sunset and stopped at the bar these guy own at the base for an after dinner drinkie. 

the sun going down as we start out

looking back at the ski resort

setting up the tables

our torch

xxoo me

I've mentioned that behind our condo is an old villa surrounded by a small wooded park that was, until recently, a restaurant and events location.  The place was closed under mysterious circumstances last year (most things here are under mysterious circumstances) and has been closed ever since, its front gate padlocked and its park left to go wild.  If it were not for a year-long drought, that place would be a flipping jungle by now.  Well rumor has it, via our condo's whatsapp group, that it has been sold to a nonprofit that works with drug addicts.  Yep.  A rehab center is moving in behind us.  We are not fortunate with neighbors.  There are 18 units in our building.  Four have recently sold after spending less than a month on the market.  But our "friends" upstairs?  They who sing and scream, vacuum and launder at all hours of the day and night, does THEIR place sell?  NOOOOO.  Of course with our luck we'd get tap dancers with 3 kids under 5.

We have a group of kids visiting the school from an international school in southern India.   They are lovely and polite and sound like a Bollywood movie.  Today I accompanied them on a hike into the hills behind the school.  We took them by a wonderful old villa built in the 1600's and abandoned years ago that is said to be haunted.  It certainly would make a great location for a horror film.

the kids climbing on the front gate

The two chapels at the front

one of the many overgrown gates onto the property

We saw no ghosts.  Oh well.  Later!  xxoo me

My prayer for today.  "Dear God.  Kill me before I get that musty old person smell.  Thank you."  What IS it that happens??  Standing behind an 80 something at the supermarket or beside a old dude at the post office,  I find myself sniffing my underarms and clothing for that "left too long in the back of the fridge" smell.

That aside, it's been ages!  I have had a very quiet winter with a few hikes/snowshoeing days(ugh), a couple evenings out, and not much more.  Every other Thursday I do drive a car-less friend from work to buy a pintone of wine, (about 2 liters), that will get her through 2 weeks.  Then we drive back to her place and sit on her terrace looking out over the hills and drink and gossip about school.  The gossip is mostly about the Italian women who work in admin.  The admin offices are the font from which flows the myriad of minor disasters which is our school.  There's a reason that things don't go smoothly in this country and it's that people are "scazzati".  "Scazzati" translates into "pissed-off, listless, or down", (I looked it up), but none of those really fit.  It best translates into "don't give a shit".  And that is the general attitude about work in Italy.  Work ethic is not high on the list of important qualities in a person here.  Folks tend to do the minimum necessary knowing it's almost impossible to be fired. What that translates into is massive grumpiness when asked to DO something and a half-assed job of it when done.  But at least at school I will not have to deal with it much longer.  With a wee bit of remorse I am giving my notice on Monday.  That wee bit comes from not knowing what comes next.  Routine is comforting.  And I will miss the kids and many of my colleagues.  But the pros for leaving outweigh the cons.  

The daughter is here for a long weekend to celebrate GPs birthday.  We are going out to the country for dinner tomorrow night and having MIL over for dinner on Sunday.  She is getting on that MIL, so we now rarely eat at her place but have her here weekly.  Her once vast repertoire of dishes has been shrinking for some time and she needs to be warned way in advanced if she is expected to prepare something for others.  Her one constant is cake, either apple or hazelnut, which she loves making.  So Sundays request is nut cake.   I will force myself to eat it.... 

Other than that not much to report.  Ho hum.  xxoo me