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.