The market

Last night the power must have gone out 8 times while I tried to upload the blog. The electricity here is sparse and uneven, the upside to that is that Italians have come up with and maintained all sorts of power saving habits and devices. In fact, today I'll probably purchase a drying rack to put into our basement for laundry. (Update 9/2 Did buy two drying racks and I'm using them CONSTANTLY, unfortunately I'm still backlogged on laundry). I'm really hoping that it will help with the laundry issue, we must have 12 loads backlogged right now.

I went to the market with my friend Courtney this morning. When you shop for clothing in the markets here it's entertaining to say the least. We have both decided that skirts and tanks are the proper shopping attire. To try an item on you can either 1. try it on in public, this happens even with swim suits/bras/etc. (usually over other clothing, not always) 2. hop in a van for this with other people, door open 3. hope they have a little stand set up with curtains for us silly Americans. Courtney and I lucked out and found the makeshift dressing rooms... thank goodness. I was able to score some really cute things, including, but not limited to, the quintessential little Italian red dress that I didn't know I needed till I saw it. Now I just need a huge hat and some serious heels to go with it.

This was the first full weekend in our new home, and it was about as perfect as a weekend could get. We had friends over each night. The first set was made up of new friends in the JAG corp, the other set being our new Italian neighbors. The office is great here. It doesn't ease my missing our original AF friends, but it's a pleasant surprise to find that yes, there are nice people everywhere. Our neighbors, Danielle and Ricardo, are some of the most open, generous, welcoming people I have ever met. They repeatedly let us butcher the Italian language, and, at our request, corrected us patiently as we stumbled through. As a fantastic perk they also can cook like nobodies business. This especially put me to shame as trying to cook on this little half size stove is making cooking even more of a challenge than it usually is. Danielle is a retired teacher, Ricardo still teaches guitar and piano several times per week. They are foreigners as well, from an hour south of here. It was explained to us that much like the U.S. each area is known for different characteristics and an hour away is a world away in customs and dialect. Get down near the bottom of the boot and it may as well be a different country.
Chris is on a work trip today, but the girls and I kept ourselves busy. This afternoon we had an office get together for the spouses. Kids got to play outside with each other in the water while adults ate and chatted. These people really know how to entertain (L.H.-you'd be right at home here, I on the other hand.....something to aspire to!). After the great afternoon we ran to drop off people on base (TLF and other newbies too!) and ran by the BX. While we were there the afternoon turned from bright, sunny and clear to this magnificent lighting/thunder storm that rolled in over the mountains and seems to be hanging around all evening. I tried to grab some pics of the lighting, but as you can see instead I only got pictures of the light up that occurs around the lighting. It's after 8 pm here, and fairly dark. You can see by the fact that the pictures are bright exactly how much lighting we're getting. Luckily-we have candles, I have wine, and we all love the rain.

More catch up

R.I.P. Piglet. Sadly, it appears to be true. Lizzie's piglet, whom she has cuddled since her tiny, tiny tater days, has been missing for almost two weeks now. In our truly obnoxious persistent way we have tried anything and everything to find him. Liz is, understandably, devastated. She's never spent even a day without him. We still have a smidgen of hope that he will turn up, but that hope is fading fast as each day adds up.
We had a Brady Bunch episode moment a few days ago when Liz and her play date friends started screaming in the basement. I ran down to find the German washing machine spewing suds ALL OVER our basement. (I shoulda' taken a picture of THAT). I had just been bragging to Chris that I had the condenser dryer and German washer down pat......
More Space A travel info-http://www.amc.af.mil/amctravel/index.asp
It's funny how sounds can define a place. At MAFB I always woke up to the sounds of revelry, or students with their cadence as they jogged. Here I wake up to chickens in the distance, church bells ringing, and the occasional dog bark. It is so quiet here that I catch myself being still for a moment just to listen to the silence. Most of the day all the windows are wide open (suits me fine!). This includes the french doors that are screened up stairs and down. It reminds me of really comfortable camping every day all day. The only down side of that is that it is just warm enough, with just enough of a cool breeze, to inspire a lay down on the comfy couch with a book. Not exactly what I need to be doing as I'm surrounded by mountains of boxes. Unfortunately the dogs (Sophie-plus two we are babysitting) and the cats agree, definitely spells trouble (and a lot of relaxing afternoons).
I'm posting almost every conceivable picture of our house possible. I'll apologize now if it's too much! There will be more when we've unpacked too.
Our neighbors brought us a gorgeous lemon cake today. It tastes as good as it smells and looks. They are really great people, funny and outgoing. They're coming over for dinner on Sunday, and I can't wait.
Ok-for someone who has not a lot going on but unpacking (the box dust must be scrambling my brain!) I am having a hard time figuring out what to write. So, we miss everyone there. More pic's and updates soon.

A quick catch up.

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We've been happily busy getting our things unpacked and settled into our house. Here's a quick update of pre-move:
Liz had a great soccer camp-loved it and did very well.
We took a quick drive up to Lake Barcis for the afternoon, it's only about 20 minutes away. To get there you go through several tunnels under the mountains, one nearly a mile long. The area is at least 15 degrees cooler with ice cold clear water. We had a great time hanging out in the cool temperatures with new friends. We also saw our first topless sunbathers, kudos to the girls for taking it all in stride.
We found a giant praying mantis on our screen at the TLF. Liz and Emma are clamoring to keep one as a pet now.