Arrivederci Don!

Yesterday we had one last BBQ with and for our good friend Don. He's leaving us and retiring in Greece, poor thing!!

The "Grill Master" is at it again! I think we need a bigger table!!

Me and Angela, my dear friend from many, many, years ago.

Everyone trying to stay cool, it was a HOT one!! We did get some rain after everyone left that cooled things off, but for the BBQ we were all hot and steamy!!



Let's go everyone!! Group picture time! Worse than rounding up cattle!


Smiles everyone...smiles!

From L to R: Rena and Don, Patrizia and Santo, Larry and Cindy, Dee and John, Consiglia and Gianni, Francesco and Angela, Theresa and Stu and Tiziana and Curt

Looks like the natives are getting restless... Better put that vino down and start slinging the burgers!


Now we're talking!

Stu and Francesco

I think everyone is slipping into a food coma...
or maybe it's heat stroke...hard to tell!

Tim and Alex - Future basketball star!

Francesco and Angela

Lots of after dinner beverages...

Baba!! Yummmmm!

Dinner At "The Rock"

Last night we went to La Roccia (The Rock) for dinner with Gianni and Consiglia...as always it was an eating event....

We started with the seafood antipasti - Steamed mussels and clams, octopus salad, pickled salmon, fried seaweed dough balls (sounds weird, but they are yummy!!), mini fried squid and fried sardines.

Of course the hearty, crusty, tough as nails, break your teeth, give your jaw muscles a work out, delicious bread....

Pasta with eggplant, tomatoes, sausage and mozzerella...

Vino all around...

After dinner Amaro...

And the best for last! Yummmm! This place has the best gelato around!

But they sell plenty of other goodies too!

We all got a scoop of "Cassata" which as far as we can tell is a cream with chunks of candied orange with a touch of cinnamon...Yummmmmmmy!

There is something about eating ice cream (gelato) at 1130 at night that just brings out the kid in everyone!

Perfect ending!

Happy Friday

You know it's going to be a good day when your candy bar tells you to "Have a perfect day"!! I love it!

Need I say more???

(check out the name of the company!)

Gettin' Crafty...

Boy has it been a looooong time since I've done one of these! Our friend Don (Austin) is leaving us September 1st, so I made him a little scrapbook filled with things to not only remind him of us, but to make him laugh as well! He has been working with the Army for the past 5+ years so I thought this was the perfect send off!

One of my Italian co-workers at the hospital is having twin girls, so I thought I'd try my hand at making a diaper cake. I think it came out pretty good for a frist try... But, I'll have lots of practice, we have several friends (and family) that are expecting, yahoooooo!

Dublin or Bust!

We made our reservations for Dublin! We are going in October so the weather should be reasonable...

May you live to be a hundred years, with one extra year to repent.

Fun and Games at the Pool!

My folks just sent us some neat new pool floaties!! We have quite a collection cluttering up Gianni's pool!

Ahhhhh, la bella vita!

Yahoooo! All sizes and shapes!

Teacher and apprentice... Pool Cleaning 101.

Buon Ferragosto!

August 15th is Ferragosto in Italy, the day when Roman Catholics believe the Virgin Mary is supposed to have ascended to heaven, and a major Italian holiday.

We joined Gianni and Consiglia for a cruise to Positano to watch the fireworks... fantastic! We left Naples around 9 pm had dinner on the boat, all seafood of course, and watched the fireworks from the boat at midnightish. It was a late night (or early morning...) but how fun!

Positano by daylight

And this is obviously by night from the boat...too much movement to get a clear shot, but I think this looks kind of neat...

At the Porto di Napoli (Port of Naples) in front of the Castel Nuovo (New Castle) waiting to board our boat.

Gianni, Stu and Consiglia

Mt. Vesuvius looming in the background

This is our boat...

I guess the Fire Department ran out of money...the sign is hand painted!

Ferragosto is, next to Christmas, Easter and New Years, probably the most important holiday in Italy. Practically the entire country shuts down on August 15 to celebrate, but of course most of the country is already in shut-down mode, many Italians take the entire month of August off anyway.

I guess I need to do some homework on how to download and get the video's to work....AAAArggh!

Decisions, decisions...

Well, it's official... Theresa's last day of work will be September 3rd. And it looks like we will be departing Bella Italia this coming March. So if anyone has any ideas about coming over... now is the time!!

After that everything is still kind of up in the air. We are going back to the "Good ole U.S of A" in December to visit family and get a feel for Tennessee and Eastern Washington. Just to see what area we like, property prices, etc...

Although our time time here will be temporarily postponed, after we've settled back in in the States, we plan to spend at least a couple months of each year continuing our European adventures. But we are really looking forward to having our own place to call home!

More to come...