The 200 pound mass of palid teenaged flesh that lives above us is clomping around in cleats as he prepares to go play rugby. For some strange reason, his mother tells him put on his shoes at home as opposed to the field. Consequently every time he has practice we hear him upstairs, coming down the stairs, going back up the stairs because he forgot something, coming back down the stairs, possibly going back up the stairs because he likes the sound the cleats make on the marble floors, back down the stairs and into the underground garages. Then a few hours later we hear him clop back up again. It sounds like a well shod horse going up and down. Speaking of our wacko neighbors, the other day when he was heading out his mother made this comment about his outfit. "Why do you continue to perpetrate these chromatic errors in your dressing style?" They are the most well spoken weirdos. I'm on a diet to control my acid reflux. The no-nos are basically my weekly shopping list. Wine, tomatoes, spice, chocolate, cheese... Does my body not realise that it lives in ITALY for chrissakes? I'm supposed to keep this up for a couple weeks and then slowly reintroduce stuff one at a time to see what really gives me problems. A couple weeks! AHAHAHAHAHAHA! Looking into meds. More cheery news. We had booked a few days in the Alto Adige for after Christmas. We wanted to visit the famous Christmas markets, drink some mulled wine, eat a lot. The Alto Adige is the German speaking region of Italy that borders Austria. Well Austria just went into lockdown and the Alto Adige is on high alert. We cancelled our plans. Weeks later... I never finished this nor posted it. Oh well. We are having our first snow! It's very pretty but won't last long. The flakes are already the size of quarters and will soon be rain. Italy is in pandemic mood. We've already been obliged to have a green pass (proff of vaccine or negative tests) to enter in a multitude of places. Masks are required indoors and many shops are limiting the number of customers at one time. Now that numbers are climbing in other parts of Europe, tho here not, the government is inforcing a "Super Green Pass". Now the pass is only for the vaccinated, (no more negative tests), and the vaccines are valid for only 9 months. I recieved notification this morning that my Green Pass will expire February 11th. This is getting ridiculous. Boosters are out there and available but I'm going to wait til after the holidays. Maybe they'll have discovered a cure by then... I went to a Steve McCurry show called "Animals" on Sunday with friends. He is amazing. It was doubly wonderful because it was located in one of the royal palaces outside of the city called Stupinigi. It was one a "hunting lodge". The enitre population of Boothbay Harbour could easily be housed in there. It's massive.

Here I am with me Santy mask. Life goes plodding on in these "on-hold" times. Dinner tonight with MIL. Always a good excuse to eat!!! xxoo me

I've been slogging through the quagmire of my life as a broad abroad. Since I arrived a month ago I've been trying (unsuccessfully) to get my American passport renewed. After two methods of payment refused, (the consulate doesn't accept personal checks except their website says THEY DO), (the bank check was written out incorrectly - I didn't specify the MILAN consulate), and two trips to UPS to mail said bad checks, and endless emails back and forth, I'm heading up to Milan on the 8th to do this in person. I am taking a trunk load of documents with me so they cannot send me away. Wish me luck.

Autumn is upon us. Days are cool, gray and gloomy but there is a bit of rain after many, many months of drought. I've started my hibernation. I've dug out the woolies, started making soups, and have the desire to sleep for 12 hours when I'm not cuddled up under a blankie on the sofa. It takes a lot to get me outta the house in this weather. Food and wine work. GP has to bribe me with promises of a good bottle to get me to take a walk. It has to be a GOOD bottle. I'm not THAT easy.

MIL is beginning to lose her buttons. She's starting to fib. She was always the most truthful of people. She never had cause to lie as she has always believed herself to be right in all things. She is now starting, at 90, to doubt herself in some small matters and so fabricates stories as cover-ups. She shouldn't eat much cheese, denies she does, then buys (not exaggerating) 10+ varieties every time she goes to the supermarket. WE TAKE HER TO THE SUPERMARKET. WE SEE THE CHEESE! MIL enjoys the attention she gets when she goes to the doctor for check ups and blood tests so she invents reasons to go. She calls to order a range of blood tests she doesn't need beacause she just had them a month ago and tells us the doctor ordered them.. He did not. GP is contacted for all of her medical events. She waited til GP was in Germany on business to do it. As if he wouldn't find out. WE TAKE HER TO HER DOCTOR'S APPOINTMENTS! Tomorrow is market day. Let's see how it goes.

After years of thinking about it, I've joined The International Women's Club of Turin. So far I've only signed up for one activity, Mindfulness. How long has Mindfulness been on our radar? 5 years? 10 years? I have no idea. I thought I'd give it a try. After 2 weeks I have come to the conclusion that there is either NO POINT in my doing this or that I really, REALLY need it. There is no middle ground. Trying to control my thoughts is like playing pinball. My attention bounces all the hell all over the place and I'm trying to get it into a teeny hole and keep it there. The gal who runs the sessions is a German doctor with a PHD in something or another. I wasn't paying attention. She assigns us Mindfulness practice exercises that we should do every day. HA! Whether I am pondering the raisin I'm about to eat or contemplating my toes during my full body scan, I am fighting a full out battle in my head. I have the attention span of a gnat. I'm off to do my homework. Sob. xxoo me

I am not a happy camper. My garden did not fare well this summer. With temps over 100 for long stretches and rain a no show, only desert plants seem to thrive. Anyone who doesn't believe in global warming need only come here and see what has happened in Northern Italy. The heat and drought have literally cooked the landscape. Leaves are blackened or have already fallen from trees and bushes, plants that should grow well here have shrivelled up. The soil is like baby powder. I've cleared out the weeds, a grass referred to as couch grass but is like crab grass that is unkillable, and am assessing the damage. What has survived: The lavender in the ground but not in pots, The palms, 1 miserable broom eaten by snails, The virginia creeper because it thrives anywhere, My unfruitful olives, The groundcover referred to as creeping thyme but it's no creeping time I have ever seen. However it's fragrant, prolific and covered in small purple blooms in the spring. A keeper. What died: My clematis, 3 brooms even tho they are weed plants here, covering every hilltop in a profusion of yellow in May and June. An indigenous rose I searched high and low for as it's found only on old farmsteads and along ancient walls. It's almost impossible to kill once it settles in. Huh. Potted everything. And ferns and hellebores in my one deep shady, wet area. So sad. I'm going to the garden center to buy frickin' cactus. Oh and by they way, I had put down beautiful strips of thick grass sod this spring only to return to a patch of brown crab grass. Nope, not a happy camper at all. xxoo me