Home Sweet Home

I'm back in Italy and Fabri, the house & Olney all survived my absence just fine. Now I'm caught up on the laundry and the cleaning which is good. Fabri and I went to the grocery store on Friday and bought lots & lots of groceries to refill the fridge.

Saturday we're throwing a 4th of July Barbeque. I'm excited about that and bought a bunch of American Flag decorations and such. Too bad there won't be fireworks. We're going to make hamburgers & hotdogs & bbq ribs outside on the grill. Also pasta salad and maybe cole slaw. I want to get a keg, but we'll have to wait and see. Oh, did I mention the party is at the pool in Ruffia? So that should be fun. Go America!!

6 Days!

This post is more for my own information than for all of you, but you should feel lucky to be a part of it. I'm getting ready for my solo trip to the US. Cleaning and doing laundry and such. I have to say I'm nervous about leaving Fabri & Olney alone. Fabri will have to take a break in the middle of his day to come take the puppy out.

So I arrive Wednesday evening in DC. Through my years of experience, I can guess that I will be tired and won't be doing anythign that night. Then Thursday night I'm going for crabs in Baltimore with my sis & rents! Yay! Crabs! Friday I head to Gettysburg for the family reunion. We're getting back Sunday afternoon and that night I will be hanging out with Amy & Vicki (hopefully) and anyone else who wants to hang out. Then I have no plans for Monday & Tuesday other than shopping at the advantageous rate of 1€ = $1.40. Wednesday I will pack, hang out at home, have an early dinner and then fly back to Italy arriving Thursday evening after a looooong flight.

Some things I want while in the US:

yogurt covered raisons
Callinectes sapidus (look it up)
grilled/barbecued everything
American flag paraphernalia
Pancakes!
clothes sales
sushi
microbrew beer
Pancakes!
and
quality family time (CHEESEY)

9 Days til DC

I'm going to be home for a little visit in 9 days. I arrive the evening of Wednesday, June 17 and I leave on Wednesday, June 24. That weekend (Friday late afternoon to Sunday early afternoon) is the Latchaw Family Reunion in Gettysburg, PA. So that weekend is full of wild Latchaw merriment. Unfortunately, Fabri won't be traveling with me. He has an oncology exam tomorrow for specializing school. When he goes to that, he'll learn when a second exam will be, also in June, so he couldn't plan to come to the US and risk missing the second exam. It's not such a great system if you ask me.... Anyway, I'll be traveling alone, which doesn't make me happy, but I've done it many times before.

Meanwhile, Fabri will be working, studying and taking care of the puppy! Poor guy.

We've been spending a lot of afternoons in Ruffia next to the pool. Olney really loves it there because he gets to be off the leash and has a huge yard to run around in. He's still not sure about the pool. We carry him in with us and he swims no problem, but he just heads right back out of the pool. Maybe as it gets hotter he'll want to go in on his own.

I've been keeping busy with my classes. I also have 3 private students which is 3 hours a week. Fabri and I are also starting a business where we do Italian English translations of scientific and medical documents. We had one person interested in our translating a CT report into English, but they wanted to pay only 12 euros for it. Our estimate was 50 euros. You have to pay for a doctor and native speaker's time. We're going to advertise in the hospitals around here and maybe set up a website.

I'm excited to say that I have been seeing a lot of honey bees around here. It's been sad in the US with all the honey bees dying. They're all over the clovers. The dog run at our apartment complex is full of them!