Around Christmas

A big branch fell off of a very tall pine tree in our little forest so
I decided to recycle it as our Christmass tree.

Giovanni getting ready for a night time ski race. There was lots of
ice and several kids fell. He didn't. It is amazing to see the
effort/money put into these little racers by their parents.

Living In Italy

Italy is not paradise on earth as depicted in many books and by some who post on Facebook and other sites and have their own reasons for doing so. Many people who promote Italy as such have some financial or maybe personal reason for doing so in spite of the reality of living here. The reality is that Italy can be a wonderful place to live under the right circumstances; mainly one needs to have an income as in any other place and one needs to live in a decent area. It also helps to have a family support network and friends.

So what are some of the things I like about living here. Well, I like the school system and it's small class sizes. There are 18 in Julia's middle school class as opposed to around 48 in the classes my brother teaches in So. Cal. I love the medical system which has been very good to me and costs me essentially nothing. I like that fact that things and people here are very accessible. We can walk to most everything we really need and big markets, are just a few minutes away by car. Friends seem easier to connect with, I'm not sure why, partly it's the physical closeness and I suppose partly a different attitude. I like the fact that people are more concentrated as in living in mid rise apartments so that the country side is left open and green. And I love the vistas, the open spaces, the access to sports and the closeness to the rest of Europe. More to come.

What's New

There must be something new. Not really, I haven't been posting lately, not that I've been too busy, probably just too lazy. We had a nice Christmas but I was a bit disappointed that we didn't go anywhere. There were too many other things going on, some work, relatives in residence, Julia had an accident and broke her big toe - nothing serious but she couldn't go anywhere least of all skiing. Then there were the ski lessons for Giovanni in his new ski club. All in all just normal life.

I've been thinking about life in Italy compared to the US again lately and need to write some thoughts about it soon. I note that a lot of expats who fallow the expats in Italy web site seem to think that Italy is quite a mess. I would only agree to some extent. For us the life here is pretty darn good.

By the way I've changed my email address and in the next few days will close down the old one. So anyone legitimate who wants the new one write me at the old one and I will send it to you.