L'aventure américaine

Is he the worst dog or the best dog? Today on our hike, Odie ran up behind me with a big glob of brown stuck to his collar and the left side of the neck. It was in such an odd place that I assumed that it couldn't be poo, that he had to have been digging... But, of course not. Somehow, he had gotten poo stuck on his the buckle of his collar and the front, left side of his neck and NOWHERE else. I still don't understand how this happened, but I spent the remainder of the hike wondering how I would get this off and drive him home in the climate that I live in: one without water. Fortunately, there were several plastic bags at the end of the hike for poo clean-up on the hike (or at the end, in my lucky case). So, I "gloved" up with some plastic bags and took his collar off, then proceeded to dump a 1/3 full water bottle on him repeatedly, since the weak water fountain would only fill it up that much. I strapped him into the car and prayed that he didn't jump a...

I didn't really want to wake up at 3am in Phoenix this morning and truly attempted to go back to sleep, but I thought of Clara, happily teaching at noon in her international school and Charles and family, probably trying to get Daniel to eat a good lunch and then take a nap and I got up to look at pictures. I made it home last night after a fairly smooth day of traveling. It's always so surreal to say goodbye to a friend in Milano and hello to friends in Phoenix, but it's good to be back and it's warm here with chirping birds outside. It was such a wonderful last leg of vacation and I felt giddy the entirety of my stay in Milan. It had been five years since Clara and I had seen each other, but it was literally like yesterday. Non-stop conversation and laughter and fun commenced as soon as I saw her smiling face at the train station. I was quickly immersed in a little family gathering of the Gallina's (the family of her boyfriend, Filippo) with delicious food and...

Karma has been good to us these past two days that forecasted rain, but seemed to just miss us. It was a serendipitous day as we started in the nearly empty, but absolutely fabulous Museo del Duomo, where we saw Michelangelo's Pieta and Donatello's Mary Magdelene among others. When the line to enter the Duomo was too long, we decided to have an early lunch, which turned out to be one of the best meals we've had so far. After we finished, the Duomo had no line and few people inside. Perfetto. We caught a train to Milan this afternoon and are currently in our biggest room yet! Mom flies out tomorrow morning and I return to the city to see my dear friend, Clara. I will meet her Italian boyfriend's family and go to an Italian improv show, so it will certainly be a change of pace! But, as I miss my brother and his family, I will miss Mom as well. What a wonderful traveling companion!

It was sad sad sad saying goodbye to Charles, Elisabetta, Daniel and Josephine, but luckily Mom and I had more vacation to go! So, we hopped on the train for Florence and have been trekking around the city since. We're staying in a lovely B&B near the Duomo where we've enjoyed delicious cappuccinos and the best yogurt ever. It only took a few minutes to walk to the Uffizi Gallery yesterday morning where we saw priceless works of art (I.e. The Birth of Venus) and priceless people-watching. Of course, the most memorable part was when I didn't realize that the windows overlooking the Arno River were double-paned and very forcefully slammed my head into the window. A picture of grace... That's me. We also visited the ever-impressive, always stunning David at The Accademia. We interspersed these activities with some delicious pasta and wine and lots of very successful shopping at the Straw Market! The day prior we had hiked up to Piazza Michelangelo to get some views of ...

This will be my last post with pictures as this will be the last time that I can usurp my brother's computer. We are loathe to leave Vigolo Vattaro, even though beautiful Florence is ahead of us. I don't want to miss Daniel's cry of "Bia!" when he reaches for the ball. I don't want to miss Josephine's sweet sucking sound and the way she curls up her legs and is in the shape of an egg. I don't want to miss Daniel's faces and [he's the only one allowed to do this] the way he calls me "Kathy." I don't want to miss conversations with Elisabetta nor her risotto. And I don't want to miss Charles's puns and jumping on his back, despite his T6 compression fracture. It has been another excellent couple of days. Charles and I hiked La Marzola yesterday, which was quite the challenge but well worth it. It was super steep and we climbed 1000 meters; they don't seem to believe in switchbacks here, so it was pretty comical a...

Italy remains idyllic for us and it seems as though the Trentino-Alto-Adige region is posing for a tourist's brochure. We continue to take walks around Vigolo Vattaro and visit the playgrounds with Daniel. I made some new friends yesterday and have decided to meet enough people in this small town as to always recognize one when I leave the apartment. Charles said that that should take about three days. On Friday, Charles, Mom, Daniel and I went to il Giardino Sigurta near Lago di Garda. We missed Tulip Mania by a week, but no one told the tulips and the day was perfect. Beautiful tulips blooming all around amidst perfectly groomed grass that we were allowed to walk on. We visited the Didactic Zoo (the petting zoo), but Daniel really wanted to throw rocks in the water as opposed to touch any animals. We played in some ponds, enjoyed a picnic and ran barefoot in the grass (a new thing for Danielino, but he quickly became a fan... Good barefoot Hoosier genes!). It was a perfe...

It's another beautiful spring day here in Vigolo Vattaro and we are all enjoying the sunshine and temperate weather. As well as the delicious risotto and pasta that Elisabetta has been making for us between Josephine's meals. Daniel is delightfully charming and is full of fantastic facial expressions. He is quite the tease, but it's hard not to laugh at him when he misbehaves, since he's so darn cute about it. Their little town is so gorgeous and I have wanted to burst into song every time I've walked out the door ("Little Town" from "Beauty and the Beast" seems so apt.), but so far, no one has appreciated my singing. Charles and I did go to BimboSplash this morning and it was just as fun as I'd imagined: 5 babies and Daniel swimming around with their parents and an Argentinian swim instructor named Esteban. Add to that swim caps for everyone and it was a blast. Daniel is a good little swimmer, er, walker in water and didn't even min...

Mom and I made it senza problemi yesterday and loved seeing Charles at the old Trento train station. We made our way up to their lovely village of Vigolo, which is unbelievably picturesque. The weather is gorgeous, the mountains are snow-capped, the apple trees are blooming and the forsythia is a radiant yellow. Josephine is delightfully beautiful and spends her time eating and sleeping, with some good watching time in between. Daniel has decided that he does indeed like me and we're having a wonderful time playing together. It's a happy family here in Italy and I am thrilled to be here. Pictures to follow.

Goals for this trip: 1) Improve my Italian... Again. 2) Get my nephew to love me, er, at least let me hold him. 3) Go to "BimboSplash" and swim with a swim cap (and brother and nephew), because doesn't that sound hilarious? Incidentally, my brother asked me to bring my swim cap. Ha. That will be my favorite souvenir, I can already tell. Trip commence!

I recently started a new relationship... it's only been a month so far, so I don't want to get ahead of myself, but I am pretty sure that I am in love. He's so charming and pretty; sleek, one might say. He's full of incredibly useful information: as much trivia as I want as well as personal stuff that he always remembers. He's so great at directions and is even teaching me Spanish. He's willing to go wherever I want to go and I love showing him off to people. Granted, he always wears purple, but his thin frame can really pull it off. Have I mentioned that he vibrates? Oh, iPhone boyfriend... How I love you. (On an unrelated note... does my hand look weird in this picture? I think that it's monstrous.)