I will write more later, but you have to see my SCORE at Nove. I got this same platter for 5euros - http://www.tiffany.com/Shopping/Item.aspx?sku=15251646&mcat=148208&cid=316225&search_params=s+5-p+1-c+316225-r+-x+-n+6-ri+-ni+0-t+
It has a very very tiny flaw that isn't noticeable. It does say Tiffany on the back. You know I am a Harvey shopper. Whoo Hoo.
Amy and I went to Nove on Friday so she could get a last few things. We saw a Prosecco sign and immediately had to stop! We went in and for the first time I saw where you go get your bottles filled up. It was a riot watching the guys come in with their gas cans filling them up with wine. I got a fairly big size bottle for 3 euros. It looks like a gas station for wine (about 8 different kinds).
We had a terrific pasta lunch with some more Prosecco.
Mom and Dad arrived today and some friends from Austin arrived the other day. We had a great time again on Prosecco road and ate at a terrific restaurant around the corner from me. I had pork with a red pepper sauce.
Monday, for my 40th, we ate dinner at Raffe's. It was delish! She made a terrific appetizer with eggplant. I am loving eggplant here as they just season it so differently. She made a pork dish with mustard glaze. Yummy.
Amy and I hit the mall in Udine.
Thursday 15 May 2008
Saturday 3 May 2008
It doesn't stop raining
Rain, Rain, go away, come again some other day. I can't tell you how much it has rained. Even Jacqueline lamented, "I wish it would stop raining." My rain boots, I must say, have been the best shoe purchase I have ever made.
We haven't done much of anything due to the immense amount of rain. Now, I wish I had a rain gauge! I can't even get our playground put together. We did have a few pockets of sunshine. Jacqueline and I planted sunflowers along our fence. You must have sunflowers if you live in Italy, right? We'll see how they do! We did discover the biggest earthworm I have ever seen and can't believe exists. I wish I had taken a picture, but we were so entranced by it. It was at least a foot and a half long and about as wide as two of my fingers.
You also must have geraniums. Supposedly, they repel mosquitoes, but with all this rain, we'll see about that!
We've discovered how superstitious the Italians are. And furthermore, it really isn't superstition, it's just they follow the moon. A friend of mine's husband explained to me, if I get a green tomato, it's b/c it was planted at the wrong time (according to the lunar calendar). You want to plant certain things while the moon is rising, not going down. It is why my neighbor, Angelo, told me not to plant my tomatoes until the 5th of May. You also couldn't put out your geraniums until a certain day. And supposedly, you must bring them in on All Saints Day. I am enjoying learning the rhythms of Italian life and discovering there is a little more reason behind their choices.
I also found out two more interesting factoids. The mountains behind us were all "skinned" not too long ago. It was farmland, but when the farms weren't being productive, they turned the mountain back to itself and it became forested.
I can see the beautiful town lights of Mezzamonte from my bedroom (well, in the winter). I met someone who grew up in this town and he told me the true story (and not the American version). During WWII, the Nazi's were getting raided by a group of people whose name starts with a "P." They would bomb the Nazi's in the flatlands, then run into the mountains. The Nazi's thought the town of Mezzamonte was hiding the people so they went to the town and gathered the people up (Including this friends parents) and took them the cemetery. They had their truck full of guns to execute them, but a lone captain came forward and said that "these people had nothing to do with the group and weren't hiding them." The Nazi's released the people. This event is frescoed on the ceiling of the church. I can't wait to go see it.
As I said, yesterday it did stop raining. We were over at Amy's as the girls didn't go to school. Gabby had slammed her fingers in the car door and Jacqueline didn't want to go to school w/o Gabby. Of course, this has to happen as we are leaving. Jacqueline takes her final run around the house and slams into an open shutter. Their son was a hero yelling for us. She came around the corner bleeding from her head profusely. I just stopped as it looked horrible. Luckily, Amy has been through this a time or two, including the previous day, so she gave me good direction. I seriously got down on my knees for a long time last night thanking God that this happened at her house b/c she called one of their friends who came over to look at it (his daughter went to school with Jacqueline). He took her up to the hospital on base and stitched her up. She was so brave. I would have had to have driven her to Pordenone ER and waited for who knows how long and had to wait for a translator. Plus they wouldn't have stitched it up as well as he did. He was very concerned about it leaving a scar. Guess who gets to take them out? Yes, me.
The poppies are blooming and the tulips are slowly returning back to earth. Irises are everywhere. Spring is beautiful. I will become a convert here and say spring is my favorite season.
We haven't done much of anything due to the immense amount of rain. Now, I wish I had a rain gauge! I can't even get our playground put together. We did have a few pockets of sunshine. Jacqueline and I planted sunflowers along our fence. You must have sunflowers if you live in Italy, right? We'll see how they do! We did discover the biggest earthworm I have ever seen and can't believe exists. I wish I had taken a picture, but we were so entranced by it. It was at least a foot and a half long and about as wide as two of my fingers.
You also must have geraniums. Supposedly, they repel mosquitoes, but with all this rain, we'll see about that!
We've discovered how superstitious the Italians are. And furthermore, it really isn't superstition, it's just they follow the moon. A friend of mine's husband explained to me, if I get a green tomato, it's b/c it was planted at the wrong time (according to the lunar calendar). You want to plant certain things while the moon is rising, not going down. It is why my neighbor, Angelo, told me not to plant my tomatoes until the 5th of May. You also couldn't put out your geraniums until a certain day. And supposedly, you must bring them in on All Saints Day. I am enjoying learning the rhythms of Italian life and discovering there is a little more reason behind their choices.
I also found out two more interesting factoids. The mountains behind us were all "skinned" not too long ago. It was farmland, but when the farms weren't being productive, they turned the mountain back to itself and it became forested.
I can see the beautiful town lights of Mezzamonte from my bedroom (well, in the winter). I met someone who grew up in this town and he told me the true story (and not the American version). During WWII, the Nazi's were getting raided by a group of people whose name starts with a "P." They would bomb the Nazi's in the flatlands, then run into the mountains. The Nazi's thought the town of Mezzamonte was hiding the people so they went to the town and gathered the people up (Including this friends parents) and took them the cemetery. They had their truck full of guns to execute them, but a lone captain came forward and said that "these people had nothing to do with the group and weren't hiding them." The Nazi's released the people. This event is frescoed on the ceiling of the church. I can't wait to go see it.
As I said, yesterday it did stop raining. We were over at Amy's as the girls didn't go to school. Gabby had slammed her fingers in the car door and Jacqueline didn't want to go to school w/o Gabby. Of course, this has to happen as we are leaving. Jacqueline takes her final run around the house and slams into an open shutter. Their son was a hero yelling for us. She came around the corner bleeding from her head profusely. I just stopped as it looked horrible. Luckily, Amy has been through this a time or two, including the previous day, so she gave me good direction. I seriously got down on my knees for a long time last night thanking God that this happened at her house b/c she called one of their friends who came over to look at it (his daughter went to school with Jacqueline). He took her up to the hospital on base and stitched her up. She was so brave. I would have had to have driven her to Pordenone ER and waited for who knows how long and had to wait for a translator. Plus they wouldn't have stitched it up as well as he did. He was very concerned about it leaving a scar. Guess who gets to take them out? Yes, me.
The poppies are blooming and the tulips are slowly returning back to earth. Irises are everywhere. Spring is beautiful. I will become a convert here and say spring is my favorite season.
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