Sunday, November 30, 2008

What Thanksgiving?


Above and below: Caroline's first attempt at sculpture, and the fruit of her labor this weekend.


Below: The olive harvest at Pat's house. The little girl in the photo is our friend Emma's daughter. A great playmate for Eli.



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Below: Eli and Caroline check out some vintage planes.





I can't believe it has been a month since our last post. Tempus fugit.

All is well here. Eli is smack in the middle of his "terrible two's." He cries over spilled milk, literally, and he is pretty much a maniac most of of the time. We are slowly adjusting to the new reality and are hoping that we can make some headway before Eli's little brother comes on the scene in 8 weeks!!!!!

We have mostly stayed around Viterbo since we got back from Gaeta. Caroline, Eli and I have all had our bouts with sickness, and we are finally coming out the other end of that tunnel. We did manage a trip to a nearby aeronautical museum near Bracciano. Eli loved checking out all of the planes, and we had a fun time watching him. We also managed to fit in some olive harvesting at Pat's house (Pat is the director of the school and he has over 60 olive trees on his property outside of town.) and a short trip to Orvieto to eat pasta with fresh truffle shavings and do some shopping.

It has been pretty rainy over the last couple of weeks. We were awoken last night by a spectacular thunderstorm, although somehow at 3:30 am it was not that exciting. Caroline is in Rome this weekend doing a two day sculpture seminar. She is taking some pictures of the finished product today. Maybe I can convince her to post a few. Next weekend we head to Napoli for a three-day weekend. We are excited to eat lots pizza, drink some excellent Neapolitan coffee, visit the Museo Arcaeologico and do whatever else suits our fancy.

School has been a bit of a bear for me lately. I was acting director for a week or so while Pat was at a meeting in India (he got back two days before the events in Mumbai), and suffice it to say that all was not peaceful in his absence. This has been a pretty tough fall for a few reasons, not the least of which is that there have been no long weekends since school started. I got a bit of a break by staying home while the kids traveled to Torino for a four day trip a few weeks ago, but I am very much looking forward to the holiday break and recharging my batteries.

We missed you all very much on Thanksgiving. It was a normal school/workday for us here. We took out rotisserie chicken for dinner and watched an episode of Weeds or Gossip Girl or something like that. We feel lucky to have such great friends and family like you. We have a lot to be thankful for.

I hope that you all enjoy the pics and the post. We'll try to be better about posting more frequently in the next few weeks. Ciao! A presto,

Sam

Sunday, November 2, 2008

three observations and a pipi in the potty

A few weeks ago I had to get our annual smog check done. I took the car to the mechanic and asked him when I should pick it up. He said "Pick it up? This will only take a few minutes. Has your car been causing you any trouble?" I said no. He said "Ok then. Here's your certificate for 2008-2009." He never asked to see the car. This may be why Italy has an air pollution problem.

Last week we went for a walk one evening and saw that a fire truck pulled up to a small apartment building. Two firemen had climbed a ladder onto a second floor balcony and were breaking into a window. Presumably a rescue effort was in effect. A third fireman was at the foot of the ladder holding it for them - while having cigarette.

Yesterday, I found out that most Italian grocery stores provide a dedicated check-out line for pregnant women and the disabled. Brilliant idea, if I do say so.

In other news, Eli just made the move to a big-boy bed. The transition is smooth thus far because I don't think he realizes yet that he can get down from the bed by himself. It's only a matter of time before he figures it out so we're enjoying it while it lasts. He's also shown great interest in the potty lately. The other morning he got up and suddenly wanted to use it. He went pipi in the potty three times that morning like it was old hat. ...still waiting for a repeat performance.