Cookie

This is Grace's new puppy "Cookie"......she has had her for 2 days now....she is the best puppy...a little German Shepherd....

Leyla and Paolo got her for Grace to replace her old German Shepherd "Lara" that just passed away a few weeks ago......

Some of the hunters in the area put poison along the roads to keep the fox and big animals from killing their rabbits and small game that they like to hunt....I guess that their big guns aren't a big enough edge...they have to poison the bigger animals to keep them from getting their game...anyway Lara must have eaten the poison from the road...and she died about 3 weeks ago.....Grace has been very sad....and is now so happy to have a new puppy in her house....

Grill Masters and Rosemary

Okay...the Grill Masters have arrived....The bottom picture is of Piddle and Paolo mastering the grill....they were waiting for Piddle to arrive and take over the barbeque...they think that the Americans have mastered the barbeque....so Piddle is giving our Friend Paolo lessons on the barbeque....Paolo claims to be a city boy...he is our Roman......

The top picture is a little twist that they taught us on the barbeque....they use a piece of the rosemary bush to brush olive oil (olio) on the meat....oh my god...what a great taste....they thought "we" had mastered the barbeque..whatever....that is Piddle brushing the rosemary on the meat......

Leyla and Grace (our friends)

These are pictures of Leyla and her mom Grace...on our day (Fiesta De La Donna) I'll never get tired of saying that......

We are sitting on the terrace enjoying the most spendid day imaginable.....oh I wish I would have taken a picture of the view from there....they have the absolute best view from their terrace of the rolling hills...their house sits on top of the hill close to Frontignano....and looks out over the entire hillside.....beautiful weather today!

"Fiesta De La Donna"

Yes, you read that correctly......in Italy they celebrate this holiday once a year on a Sunday in March....Fiesta De La Donna (Fiesta of the Lady) celebrates and honors all the women in Italy....not sure where it came from but doesn't that tell you something.....I am meant to visit Italy.....let me tell you a story of how I have come full circle....

As some of you may or may not know...my mom named me LaDonna.....never did we know this was an Italian name....but you may not know that my mom stole my name from her sister Mae...Mae was always going to name her daughter LaDonna (not sure why or where she got the name) but when Mae thought she was not going to be able to have kids...and my mom just happened to have me before Mae had a daugher (Apri)l...mom stole her name (not sure with or without permission)...and she named me LaDonna...of course later on Mae did have a daughter...but didn't take her name back...so you can see right from the start I didn't have a chance...I was stolen.....anyway...you know ...well you probably don't...but my mom's family is from Austria/Hungary region...actually Budapest I think but they say Austria...even though Budapest is in Hungary right? and my great grandmother spoke German.....so we have a long history...and Austria is a neighbor to Italy.....my name is Italian...and I come back (for whatever reason.....not sure what drew us here.....) to Italy all these years later....and lo and behold...they have a national holiday honoring me....did you know that mom? ....so I have been walking around all day saying "Fiesta de 'Me' ".....I'm so funny of course....

But Leyla and her family...invited us over today to celebrate Fiesta De La Donna....and boy did we have a fiest....

I'm going to share some pictures of our celebration.....

Oh, I almost forgot to finish telling you about the Fiesta tradition....so on this day every year it is tradition to get the women in your life a mimosa tree or the yellow flower from the tree....Paolo gave all of us the mimosa flower (it is yellow)...and mom, you love yellow flowers...see how it is all making sense now and connecting?

So anyway....it is also a tradition to have a yellow mimosa cake on this day.....so Piddle bought the cake last night at the mercato that you see us holding in the picture....in the picture are Leyla, her mother Grace, and myself......

The other picture is from the little topper of the cake that reads "Vive Le Donne" which I think loosely translates to "celebrate the women"....loosely I think.....

What a great day..we have been celebrating all day.....and don't think that we won't be celebrating this day every year now when we return to the states.....Thanks Italy!!!!

Anchovies Anyone?

Well, here we are having lunch in our favorite pizzeria...called Le Delizie.....( Lay-Day-Lee-Zee-Ay)

And Piddle is having a piece of pizza with anchovies, mushroom and brussel sprouts......yum yum! you defnitely need to click on the photo to enlarge it so that you can see the anchovies...

They actually use anchovies a lot in Italy...not sure why...but when Leyla was teaching me how to make Parmegiano di Melanzani (Eggplant Parmesan)....we put anchovies in our red sauce...it actually dissolves them and gives the sauce a more salty taste....actually very good...my, how we are stepping outside our comfort zone....

This place is our favorite place because they are open from 6:30 in the morning until 8pm at night...and don't even close...no not at all.....most places close up between 1pm and like...4pm or 6pm or 8pm...whatever they feel like...and you never know when they will open back up because no one posts any hours on their door......but we can never find anything open....especially to eat...

'Le Delizie'...has a great buffet for lunch.....the other day...they tried to get Piddle to try Tripe..I'm not sure that is how you spell it but it is the stomach or lining or intestine..again not sure....but he chickened out....not that I blame him....I'll pass on that....so much for stepping out of our comfort zone...well we have stepped out...not jumped out....
Anyway back to our favorite place...they also have a great lady in there name Veronica who is from Australia and speaks excellent English....hooray! (I'll take a picture of her soon and post) She helps us a great deal...telling us where to go for what...warns us where not to go...is a great resource for us...and we love her......she has the best accent...you're going to love talking to her.....
Le Delizie also has the best cappucino I can find........awesome....we were eating supper in there the other night...yes, we go there practically daily...at some point in the day....and the owner gave us a complementary biscotti and a shot of "divine" wine...we were instructed to dip the biscotti in this heavenly wine and eat in this manner.....he was right...it was heavenly.....we'll have to go back and get some of this wine...unbelievable.....again, our favorite place......

Ferrari.....? ......Lamborgini....?... Fiat?.......

Okay, so we are in Italy and have finally found a car to buy.....

Is it a Ferrari?..........A Lamborgini.....perhaps?......maybe a Fiat...you see those everywhere.....

Oh no, we are in Italy...and bought a freakin' (drum roll please).........

A FORD FREAKIN' FIESTA............

Okay, well you knew that we wouldn't have bought a Ferrari...but a Ford...come on.....a Fiat...maybe.....But a Ford ....in Italy??????

But it was priced right....only 2 doors though and a hatchback....we traded down from our two previous rentals which were at least 4 doors....but comfort is not the most important attribute here in Italy....what is? You ask.....

Well definitely...Good gas mileage......since gas is about $4.64 per gallon...so yeah...I think we can live with a Ford Fiesta...we think it gets about 40 to 50 miles per gallon.....and the other best attribute that Italians look for is the "smallness"...because they have very very very skinny streets and the parking is almost non-existent...they park anywhere they can find...they don't need designated parking....and the little cars can fit into any small space.......
I read something the other day in some book that says the best way to parallel park in Italy...is to pull in until you hit the car in front of you....then back up until you hit the car behind you....then pull back up until you hit the car in front of you.....now cut your wheel ever so slightly and back up just a bit more.....there...now you have perfectly executed a parallel parking job.....and they weren't kidding.....there are hardly any vehicles that don't have scrapes and dents all over them....we were lucky to find one that didn't have a scratch or dent one....so we jumped on it.....also when there are fender benders...it doesn't even phase the driver...they just keep on going....big trucks and cars are always bumping their way through these small streets...and whatever they can't clear...gets a dent...and never do they stop.....

There aren't really any "laws of the road" here...well, there may actually be some laws somewhere...but no one pays any attention to them...they do whatever they want...go as fast as they want...drive in whatever or whoevers lane they want..park anywhere they want...stop on any street...no matter how many cars are behind them or how many cars they are blocking in...in a parking lot....I don't think there is actually anyone to make them obey any kind of traffic laws....well we haven't seen any yet...and the Italians definitely act like they can do whatever they want....haven't seen not one police car have any one pulled over yet....AMAZING!!!!!!

So WE GOT A CAR.......no stopping us now.....we are mobile!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Out with the Old...In with the New

Okay...so you all have heard about our ongoing saga with our "wheels".......this is our third car since we have arrived......
The white one on the right is the rental car which we have just returned.....

We finally found a car to buy....hooray!!!!!!! The gray one is our new one that we will keep for the remainder of the year!!!!!