Roma

Roma--I think I am in love all over again! Today we explored the Pantheon, then walked to the Treve Fountain and to the Spanish steps. It was fun to see Peggy and Rosemary so surprised when we turned a corner and the beautiful fountain was in front of us. It is such a surprise! We hopped in a cab and crossed the Tiber River to the Trastevore area--the medievel part of Rome. It was fantastico. Rosemary and I are off again to explore some more tonight before leaving in the morning for Tuscany. I am blogging from an Internet cafe near the hotel since we still have not been able to hook up with our own computers. European keyboards are different. There is no apostrophe so I can not use contractions! Anyway, here is a little glimpse of the Trastevore area. More tomorrow, I am sure.

Ciao.

Kathy

A beautiful spring night in Roma

We have been delayed posting to the blog due to technical difficulties but hopefully we will have more success now.

We have been here 2 days and seen 2,000 years! Ancient ruins yesterday, Vatican tour today. The Pantheon and more tomorrow. The best fun of all has been connecting with people. I think Rosemary has found a new home. Her Italiano is very good and when she speaks, people treat her like a long lost sister. It is very fun to watch her in action.

Peggy is sitting next to me and is completely speechless. We are at an internet cafe near our hotel just to type a note on the blog to let you all know we are having great time and that we will be posting more regularly now.

Peggy s only disappointment has been Michelangelo s design of uniforms for the Swedish guard. In all else he excels. He should stick to those pietas.

And so until tomorrow--

Ciao!

Kathy and Peggy

Almost ready to go

I too am full of excitement about our trip to Italy. It's my first time too! I think our itinerary is absolutely fabulous. I am prepared to be on sensory overload the whole time and am keeping myself (relatively) sane with the thought that it's just my first trip and will go again, so I don't have to see everything this time.

In addition to all the sites, a major source of delight for me is that I will meet Italian cousins (mother's side) in Genoa. I've made copies of some old family pictures for them so they can see a bit of what became of their great, great (great?) uncle Agostino and his family in America. I expect this will be great fun. It's already gotten me in touch with cousins in this country I haven't seen or talked to in years.

That's it for now. Gotta go. Still cleaning house, haven't started packing yet.

Rosemary

Tomorrow: Italy

Does anyone else remember the PBS show about Sister Wendy and her European adventure? She is a Carmelite nun who studied European art endlessly and, being cloistered, certainly never dreamed that one day someone would spring for her to actually go to Europe. There was a camera at her back as she perused the art museums of Europe. She ended up as the star of her own special, and these were the days before reality t.v., which only goes to show that you never know what's coming. An intelligent individual, Sister Wendy knew that the show was what was hanging on the walls.

Today, I am Sister Wendy. I'm going to Europe tomorrow and it's my very first time. I have so little knowledge of the art but knowing is different than feeling and I'll pick up the vibe (whether I want to or not). Sandwiched in between Rome and Florence are two weeks of Tuscany and Cinque Terre, which we hear are two of the loveliest places on earth.

I am ready with my Territory Ahead and Macy's wardrobe. There's a lot of color (for me) coordination and scarves to tie the whole look together. I'm repulsed by my big flat Keens shoes, even though they're new, but I do want to report in that I'm taking a pair of cool short black boots. Yes, they're sensible, but there's a little style worked in there, too. The touring wardrobe is in a 21 inch carry on, by the way (and thanks to Kathy).

For plane trip entertainment, I've downloaded a 1968 radio interview of the Dark Shadows cast onto my ipod. Kathy, the smart one, has downloaded onto our ipods a lot of Rick Steve's Italy information. Rosemary has taken the flight from Seattle to Amsterdam many times and assures us movies (let's hope it's not "Juno" again) and tells us that time will fly.

See you in Rome.

13 days and counting

Since web access may be a problem in some places, our blogging capability could be diminished!  I'm testing out blogging via email and text.  Let's see if this actually posts.

A trip to Italy (Dream Come True)

We're going to Italy. In three months, we'll wake up in Rome. To prepare for the trip, I'm exercising, reading about Renaissance art, and planning my wardrobe.

Kathy and I have been working out with a 20 year old personal trainer for a couple of months. My goal is to get my balance in better shape and to improve coordination. Oh, and the weight loss thing. Twice a week, Kathy and I make our elderly way to the gym and run, push and pull for an hour. It's torture, but the best thing we can do to get ourselves ready for the Tuscan hill country and all that gelato.

The artist I am most interested in seeing is Raphael, in particular, his painting School at Athens. It's a merging of art and science, which is what the Renaissance accomplished. I like School at Athens because it is Raphael's salute to his teachers and because of this story: Raphael was painting down the hall from Michelangelo, who was working on the Sistine Chapel Raphael was so impressed with Michelangelo's work that he smudged out the face of one of his people in School at Athens and painted in Michelangelo's face. You never know when you're being a teacher and what the reward will be. I think we'll see a lot of pietas and I well up when I think of standing in front of one. They look to be sculptures of tremendous feeling and I'm up for that.

As for the wardrobe! We are guests in Italy and I will dress accordingly. I'm thinking of going American classic - white shirt and dark jeans, although, I do not want to look like the Maytag repairman. Kathy got me a lovely white Talbots shirt for Christmas and I have one from Territory ahead. Blue denim may be too informal, so I may go with black denim. We visited REI a couple of wks ago and I bought a pair of black Keens, shoes that plant my feet and won't let me go over on my ankles. I also bought a pair of frog green (Keens) sneakers, making it official that I am moving into the comical clothing phase of my life. I have a Marc Singer Softwear jacket-y sort of thing to dress things up and I'll take a simple neutral raincoat.

Updates

I see that I've been exceptionally remiss in my blog updates! Last time anyone posted was Peggy back in July. I'm happy to report that today is her 6 month anniversary at the "new" job. Now I am looking for a new job as our research project lost funding. I am so bummed about it that it's hard to even write about. But this too shall pass.

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!