on politics- puts me in a terrible state of mind

Newt personifies the opposite of Christian values ( as I understand them - compassion , love they neighbor etc etc) and deserves his own ring in The Inferno

Perry is a nutcase and it scares me to think his message resonates with anyone

Santorum is a sanctimonious, self-righteous < insert cussword here>, who I would be ashamed to have speak for our country

I have friends who vote democrat because the republicans go veering off on crazy, right-wing agenda items. If the republicans would stick to the important main issues, many more of these conservative democratic voters would swing their way - and they would keep many more of the midwest fiscally conservative folks who swung to Obama in the last election. They have no need to cater to the far-right. Those folks would never vote democrat anyway.

Portland social/political scene is too much for me. I want the basics fixed: broader economic base, better environment for business, better support for education, infrastructire maintenance. Paying for larger bikelane decals just irks me. First things first.

Why don't we have a value added tax - that is a state tax on things other than groceries/food, medicine and clothing?

I do wish there were leaders willing to do the right thing for the most people. I am not a dummy and this stuff just doesn't seem so complicated unless the status-quo, big money is part of the equation.

Are people really so very lazy that if they have the chance to get something like unemployment, they will not look for a job?

Frustrating...

what is January for anyway?

I live in the moment. Enjoy it, smell it, see it, laugh it, hate it.

January gives me trouble. I try to live in the moment but find that she

slams me into "hurry up and be over" mode. Is it the dark mornings and early nightfall?

Is it the pressure of new start/look back? Awaiting spring, awaiting spring break.

Even if I am not in look-ahead mode, I am doing my least favorite things - those that I can only get to when the sun is not beckoning - patching, paperwork, organizing.

I should realize I need it, take advantage and be grateful for this closed-in month.

But this is hard to maintain for 31 days.

February is even worse - it has 4 weeks too!!

hope, accept, coping

i have concepts, thoughts and ideas that I cannot put into great words. i write inelegantly about them

i dont have a gut for beautiful design/balance vs imbalance etc etc, so I need to experiment much more to get it right. It will probably still not be elegant but I will be content

i just dont enjoy crafts. I do all of the many many things I do enjoy and leave crafting to crafty people

i am still trying to cope with not having any more children

i would have liked to be famous with all the ecoutrements for about 2 days or a week

i want to live until 300 in my current state of 46 year old body and still somewhat pliable mind. I like this age with the balance of a semi-usable body with a richly-expereinced mind

i dont have a bucket list per se. i just want more of the joy from snow, lakes, loons, kids, food, music, books, fixing things

i try to think of how i will think of my 46 year old self being worried about 5 extra pounds when i am 70

perspective is cancer, starvation, death of a child, birth of a litter of puppies or kittens, loss of one's sight

AGES AND AGES

Wow it has been ages since I have posted anything. Mostly since Feb posting, we came back from Italy after a spring filled with visitors from the US and a summer filled with travels around Europe. I've decided to go freeform on this blog with whatever strikes my fancy until I find something specific worth devoting wordage to. Things I am interested right now and spending time on are:

Fabrics and furniture for my old house. I gave myself five years after we moved in to do some furnishing and I am behind!

Coding for Aireyes, Inc. where I am the new owner. I am amused daily by all the little reminders that I am coding like a gamer.

Are we gonna move our garage or not? The development review board has the say on whether we can do this or not. I have garage build plans to put together to apply and see what happens.

Job: hmmm education, healthcare or another tech/software gig? Will some small startup be interesting? I am spending time reading, talking to people, and doing my best to put a toe into the "new networking" a la founder's coffees etc in Portland. I am enjoying reading about the Portland business scene.

Then there is regular , domestic stuff which seems to take at least 25% of my day - plus the boys which take any and every second they can :-)

Genoa day visit

Genoa is a ninety minute drive from Neive - or perhaps 75 minutes if you are with Carlo driving a BMW. We had a rental car today and possibly a first we WERE the speediest car on the road ( at times anyway). It is probably good that we have a slumber minivan and not the zoomer we had today. I think Carlo has drunk the koolaid on the BMW make of cars...

Anyway, we had been to Genoa once before but it was for a boat show and a trip to the Aquarium with grandparents and 4 kids - that was a different "tourist" experience. Today, we have four hours to do whatever and we decided to just walk mostly and find a lunch spot. So , after an uneventful freeway drive and an oops - founds the one way streets already!- in Geneo , we parked and started walking. We breezed by the three palaces and will visit one or some on another visit - and instead gawked at the palazzos on that same street peeking into courtyards and peering into some windows. We found a pretty spectacular water feature/grotto in one courtyard! Carlo had read that Genoa was the first place to really DO window grating - so we have a few shots of that. Carlo took lots of pictures this trip.

We accidentally found a tiny chocolate shop that I had seen on some blog or another. We bought some of them, but then Carlo had to try these chocolate pastilles with flavorings like: basil, anise, red pepper, coriander - you get the idea. I have no interest at all. The place definitely had the aura of artiginale ( artisanal) work, and the slow food people must swoon over it.

We also found a big – I would assume chain- book shop that had a great selection for kids ( Italian books). We picked up some more Asterix, Geronimo Stilton and Richard Scarey and Dave Pilkey.

Via Settembre XX is the high street lined with porticos and mostly the same shops found in each Italian city of a certain size (H&M, Zara, Motivi, Intimisso, Benetton, etc etc.). We had previously passed high end shops (Ferragamo, Prada, etc) but skipped by those as again they are in each Italian city. Carlo took lots of pictures of buildings which are highly decorated and varied. We then by accident found the Marcatino Orientale which I had read about, Very nice fresh food market with many, many stalls for fish, meat, poultry, cheese, and fruits and veg.

Have I mentioned that the street names are the same in each city in Italy here are some:

via Roma, via XX Settembre, via Garibaldi, via Cavour, Via Vittorio Emmanuele

There are about 10 more and then the next 10 if the city gets larger. I suppose we have the same in the US - main, 1st 2nd , tree names ...

We found a nice lunch spot after (of course!) waiting til a decent Italian lunch time of 1:30 or so ( and Carlo was STARVING at this point) called "the 3 crows" - in Italian. We were thinking of perhaps fast food - like farinata (focaccia’ish bread mad with chick pea flour - similar to socca in France), or fried seafood )( for Carlo) – but anyway we found the 3 crows. Had their thin cheesy focaccia a la Recco – the next village over ( yum and perfect when you are STARVING!), lasagna made with chestnut flour pasta, and rigatoni with sausages and cheese. The lasagna was wonderful and delicate with a light cheese/nut sauce. The rigatoni was not just al dente but al cemente J as I told Carlo – of course he loved it! The dish was tasty as could be with perfetto sausages. The wine was a white one and delish – starts with a “V” I think - Vermentino I just asked Carlo.

So we step out of lunch and start walking a few steps and find we are in the heart of some kind of prostitute area and the girls are all out and about (completely in black and each one in super high heeled, thigh high black boots) of course because everyone (else) is off work for the long lunch. Very, very odd experience.

After that we had to hightail it back to the car to get the boys from school in time back in Neive.

Next time in Genoa: palace/museum visit, more street wandering, farinata, perhaps ride up to the hilltops to get a view of the city.

Fully domesticated ?

I have been made into a stay at home, fully domesticated mom. I had an idea to buy a small poinsettia plant for each teacher. Ago has 6 and Jujee has 4. Augustin "built on" my idea saying we should make a flower and put a chocolate in it. Wellllllllllllll - since he was so gungho and I had some time, I went for it. I MADE teacher presents. ARGGGG. What was I thinking? I was in a bad mood after the first one! We have them done with the additional 6 for all the bidelli( sp?) (janitors).

Note to self : do not be tempted again - you do not like crafting.

Chow for now!

JT

Piemonte - foot of the mountains ( piede dei monti)

Probably not too many have heard of the Piemonte region in Italy - though you may have heard of Turin or Asti a couple of the main cities- and maybe if you are a wine person the village names of Barolo, Barbaresco might be familiar. Here is a little bit more about the area and what we have experienced so far.

Italy is divided and subdivided into administrative sections as follows: region, province, municipality, and fraction. Piemonte is a large region in Italy ( other examples are Lombardi with Milan, Lazio with Rome, and Veneto with Venice ). SB: I have yet to understand exactly the boundaries of the state vs region vs the provinces as far as governance - but probably it has to do with politics back when Cavour was working to unite Italy. There is still politics over how autonomous each region is - you can read up in wikipedia or elsewhere to delve into the intricacies of it all.

Piemonte is known for the food and wine. Carlo and I have definitely explored the gastronomic offerings here and have enjoyed it very much. The white truffles are world famous and cost (like$6 per gram so a grape sized one would be about $30). There is always rumors hat here are not possibly enough truffles in Alba for the world demand and so they may be coming from elsewhere. I like this saying about this: "the only one who can guarantee a truffle's origin is the dog".

There are other typical regional dishes that I have written about before. ONe that is popular right now AND goes well with truffle shavings is fonduta. Fonduta is not like Swiss fondue but rather is simply fontina cheese, melted with milk overnight then warmed and combined with egg yolks. Sort of the richest cheese sauce you could imagine. My fav fonduta dish is over a flan with some sort of vege like asparagus, cardoons, or artichokes. Many have it over simple gnocchi.

In order to "combat" the great food, Carlo and I have taken advantage of the hills surrounding the river valleys ( Po, Tanaro, Belbo) for hikes and biking. When the weather is nice, there are just tons of bicyclists on the roads- in the proper spandex and super kitted out road bikes of course! Italians are always attired and equipped splendidly - no matter the activity. Also lots of motocyclists - gain kitted out royally.

On Monday, for example we plan to walk to Barbaresco and have lunch at Antine www.antine.it/ - then walk back home. About 12 K altogether.

The capital of the region is Turin ( Torino). I love Turin. It is perfectly sized for exploring and abut an hour or so away from here. It has some of everything. It was at one time the capital city when the Savoy's were in power so there is a richness and beauty of the city. I love the covered promenades throughout the center around an radiating from the couple of main piazzas. There are a couple of palaces to tour, many upscale shops, several excellent restaurants, and well I have only been there two times so far. Looking forward to more visits! The Savoy also had other minor palaces here and there throughout Piemonte and of course the royal hangers-on has their castles and villas near the Savoys. This makes for some lovely castles and palaces to visit. Also the skyline is beautiful with the castled hilltops everywhere. We found a little castle in Coazzolo http://www.coazzolo.com/ that is also a B&B - lovely soaring rooms to stay in and you can see our house across the river valley!

We have not yet explored the Alps in the North and West of Piemonte but we will go through the next region north (Valle d'Aosta) and into France to Chamonix next week and plan to do skiing in nearby resorts after the holidays next year! I am looking forward also to some hiking and camping in the western parts or perhaps Valle d'Aosta next spring!

Chow for now & Buon Natale, and Felice Anno Nuovo!

JT