“And remember, people like to read stories about things going wrong!” The final words from my visiting friend as we said goodbye have gnawed at me for the last couple of weeks. So I think it’s time to write something. It was a beautiful summer, ahhh summer, and I felt, above all, positive and hopeful….
Vacation State of Mind August in Italy is when nothing happens and also everything happens. There is a party or concert or dinner or market or town festa just about every day. We’ve been treated to art exhibits and concerts with world class musicians in the most unlikely and beautiful venues – a town with…
It has been exactly one year since I left my Bainbridge Island home and came to my Pieve di Teco home. It has been a year of surprises. It has been a year of pain and loss. It has been a year learning, on a massive scale. I want to take a moment to reflect…
It’s American week at my local Lidl supermarket. American week! Each week the store features special foods from a different country. I missed English week last time around which bummed me out because it’s the only time you can get decent cheddar cheese around here without driving to France. I miss cheddar cheese, much like…
I know I’ve been quiet. Too quiet. The truth is, there is so much I want to write about, so many things to share, but there is also a big scary thing that has kept me from being able to face my own keyboard. I don’t know how to talk about it, but it is…
For the last five years I have done a cold water plunge on New Year’s Day. It started with peer pressure and then I realized it’s actually kind of transformative. Not just on New Year’s Day but whenever you need to change your frame of mind. This is not to say that I like it,…
Here a festa, there a festa, everywhere a festa festa. We are coming to the end of party season in in Northern Italy. So very many opportunities for eating and drinking. Every weekend for the last three months there has been at least one event, either a community one or something hosted by a friend….
I wanted an adventure. That’s what I was telling myself as I sat in a puddle of guilt and relief on a hospital cot at 2:00 in the morning while listening to my son breathing normally, finally. I wanted to experience the full gamut of real life in another country, complete with ups and downs….
I can’t NOT tell you about the beauty pageant that took place a few days after we arrived. It’s old news now, but I’d be cruel to keep it from you. I’ve never seen the likes of this and I guarantee that if you weren’t in attendance then you haven’t either. Just like the US…
I’m so confused here in this strange land called Italy. Not every minute, but a lot of the minutes. I have many, many questions and I’m sure some of them have answers and but I’m also sure that some do not. Here are a few that have come up in these first few weeks of…
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