My dearest daughter is not stoic.  Yesterday she slammed her thumb in the door of the car.  Did you hear the screams all the way over there?  If you had been listening very carefully you probably could have.  She does not tolerate pain well.  Or blood.  There was a lot of blood.  We had just arrived at our German friend's house for mom's birthday party.  We burst into the house with Grace hysterical, blood dripping onto the floor, me carrying all of our school bags, birthday gift, coats etc.and saying "Emergency, Emergency!"  The room was full of happy party moms and kids who all stopped at stared and poor B, (the birthday girl), looked traumatized.  She is very good in emergencies though, as she hustled Grace into the kitchen, put her hand under cold water, got an ice pack and towel.  I bandaged her up and gave her an ibuprofen and sent her off sniveling and whining with her friends.  Later I learned that the reason B had looked so shocked, (and gotten hold of an icepack so quickly), is because her son had just pushed down one of the other kids giving him a big black eye.  Not a good way to start a party.  But all went well from there on.  There was lots of cake and wine, cheeses and breads.  The husbands all showed up about 2 hours later by which time we were all half way in the bag.  Today Grace has a big raw, purple thumb and she will probably lose the nail.  She had her last tennis lesson of the year and couldn't do backhands but still managed to beat the boys!  xxoo me

Yesterday, GP and I hiked up Monviso, the tallest, pointiest peak in our neighborhood Alps at 3841 meters. (That's 12,601.7  feet.  I checked.)  Monviso, or Monte Viso, is where the the Po river begins.  The source runs out of a crevice in the rock at Pian Del Re, 2020 meters up.  Grace stayed behind with the grandparents and studied for upcoming exams.  She told us that after this year she has become "profoundly against the idea of walking" unless there is a destination in sight.  We have dragged her up or through too many mountains, castle steps, parks and gardens.  So we left her to study, packed a picnic lunch and headed off.  The Po river is the major river in Northern Italy and runs west to east, emptying out into the Adriatic Sea south of Venice.  It is said all northerners must make a pilgrimage to Monviso to see "the source" once in their lifetime.  Sort of like Mecca for Padani or people from the Po Valley.  It is also said that if Napolitani, people from Naples, get too close to the source they shrivel up like vampires in sunshine.  We drove to Pian Del Regina, about 1700 meters, and parked.  The road was closed past that point and doesn't open until June 1st.  From there we walked up to Pian Del Re, and then continued another 200 meters or so to the snowline.  It was sunny and clear but cold, cold, cold.  We bundled up and ate sandwiches perched on a rock looking down over the valley.  There were hawks circling all around, hunting for marmots that have just come out of hibernation.  There were also way too many crazy people who hiked up to the snowline like we did and then continued up on skis.  Let me repeat.  UP ON SKIS!  Then there were all the cyclists with their amazingly firm buttocks who passed us going up!  What is wrong with these people.  We were huffing and puffing the whole way.  I felt like I was going to faint from lack of oxygen and I though GP was going to have a coronary he was so red-faced.  It was lovely.  We were tired.  Ate a big dinner to make up for all of the lost calories.  Wouldn't want to waste away.   xxoo me

view of Monviso from highway

starting out

getting higher

it may look flat but it's not!

never know when you'll feel the need to pray

that's it - the source of the Po

view from lunch

heading back down.  you can see the road meandering.

Just to clarify, I am not sad.  Yesterday's ponderings were just that, ponderings (another made up word).  In fact I am quite cheery.  The sun has finally returned though it is still chilly compared to how it should be.  It's in the 60's by day and 40's and 50's at night when the norm this time of year is summer-like.  The mountains were out in their full glory yesterday.  It felt like months since I'd last seen them, hidden as they were behind gray skies and rain.  Also, the year is winding down and in less than a month Grace and I will be back on home turf.  This has me looking back over the past 9 months and all we've been through.  It started out pretty rough with much homesickness but we have managed to settle in.  I have almost achieved my goal of getting my license.

Big aside - I still need to take my practical exam and I'll check in tomorrow with the driving school to see when they have it set up.  If after this long and laborious year, if I don't get that lousy piece of paper I may do the "myself on fire in front of the Motor Vehicle Department in protest" thing.  That'll teach 'em. 

We have taken all sorts of wonderful trips, short and long.  We've met all sorts of interesting people and made a few friends.  Though we, (grace and I), would still much rather be in BBH, I think we'll survive here. 

xxoo me