Rosemary has semi-retired and is on the tail end of a month long trip to Brazil to visit friends and to visit the area where she spent time in the Peace Corps years ago. I can hardly wait to hear about her trip. She's been off the grid mostly so all we know is that it's been very hot, she got sunburned on the first or second morning there, and the bugs have been awful. I do think she's enjoyed spending time with her friends, so I'm sure it's all been worth it.
October brought a new roof and paint for the house. I'll post before and after pics. It was quite a job and our friend Michael did a fabulous job (as usual). We had to have a moment of silence for the eco-system that was destroyed when the roof was torn off. I think there were 4 species of trees and more than 11 species of grass and weeds. Michael also found a live worm living up there, no doubt by way of a bird. Poor guy!
On the horizon is our much anticipated Italian vacation. Peggy, Rosemary and I decided to bite the bullet and travel in Europe this time. To make things even more interesting, I reconnected with my old high school friend, Kathy Ornellas, who was also my first room mate. I'm sure we'll have tales to tell the gang about the good old days . . . but not too many! We've not seen each other in more than 25 years. Turns out she and her partner will be in Italy at the same time we're there, so we will meet up in Portovenere and travel together to Florence and back to Rome to fly home. Funny that we'd have to go all the way to Italy to finally see each other!
Stay tuned for our itinerary and news of our travels. I'm sure we'll have editorials about fashion and food. I'm also sure that if asked, the Italians will have comments about our fashion, too!
Kathy
Old Roof and Ecosystem
Michael Getting Started
New Paint & Roof
Side View of Roof - yes, it's metal and it's purple!
