Just a Warning

As you see from a couple posts below, I'm starting to get away from the usual Italy is great stuff and voice a few opinions I have on other subjects. Don't get me wrong I'm not unhappy. I love living in Italy and I love the US, I'm proud of my family history which goes back to the very beginning of the US - we're even talking Mayflower people. I just think I need to start being move of a voice in the forest talking about some of the things that are going wrong in both places. Not that it will make much difference.

General Petraeus

Here's what Admiral William Fallon had to say about him:

"Fallon told Petraeus that he considered him to be "an ass-kissing little chickens**t" and added, "I hate people like that," the sources say. That remark reportedly came after Petraeus began the meeting by making remarks that Fallon interpreted as trying to ingratiate himself with a superior."

Quoted from an article in www.antiwar.com

And people wonder if Petraeus is giving an accurate report on the success of the surge - not.

Who is Fallon - Petraeus' superior, chief of the Central Command (CENTCOM).

Fall & Politics

Seems like Fall has arrived. The kids are back in school, the air temperature has become cooler. I have this sense that I have to start preparing for Winter, even if the first snows are still two months or so away. My garden is going downhill fast, it wasn't a great success this year, partly because it was somewhat neglected and partly because the weather here just wasn't that hot and we had a lot of rain.

While in the hospital I finished reading "The Sack of Rome" by Alexander Stille. This is a must read for anyone who wants to understand the sorry state of Italian politics. From this reading you will learn how vastly corrupt Italian politics has been and is. You will learn that money has controlled everything and Italy's richest man also one of the World's richest has used money to gain tremendous control over people and politics. You will learn how through graft and corruption Berlusconi gained control of the vast majority of information reaching Italians. You will see how his career from the start has been intermixed with the Mafia and that the main reasons he entered politics was to keep himself out of jail and to seize power for his own financial benefit after he lost his friends when the Christian Democratic party fell out power. Finally you will understand why the only times there has been any sense of actual governing in Italy during recent times has been when the center left was in power One can only hope that books like this might open peoples eyes and perhaps create some changes.

In the last chapter Stille points out how similar things have happened in the US and how the news media which is controlled by a very few people has influenced the thinking and the voting of Americans.

Italian Hospitals

Well I've been out for a while having a bit of surgery. Before you start worrying about me, it all went very well and I think the out come will prove to be positive. It was one week ago yesterday and I'm almost back to normal.

I went to the hospital in Padova because they have a top rated center and use the DaVinci robot aided laproscopy. Really the state of the art. I'd say that the Italians take a bit of an older view of surgery otherwise. They want you in the day before and want you to stay 5 days after. The doctors are great, the nurses too and the whole staff seemed to be doing a fine job. The food was iffy but hey who expects really good food in a hospital. It was actually ok sometimes even good just a little bland. If I had to complain it would be about the of level maintenance, but then I was told that they are starting a big remodel of the area I was in next month, even putting bathrooms in the rooms. For me it was down the hall. And then there is of course the 4 to a room concept. I'd advise anyone to pack along some ear plugs and an eye shield, makes a big difference.

Having 3 other beds in a room does give one a good chance to view a certain aspect of Italian life and values. I'm not making comparisons just observations. What I observed was a lot of care and affection, a willingness to help others and a true sense of sympathy for their pain. I guess I came away with a bit of a renewed faith in the goodness of the human spirit.

Val Pusteria

HERE are a few more pictures. This is a beautiful area of Italy, more German in character than Italian. We took a few days off and stayed in a small apartment. On Monday we took the famous 40k bike ride from San Cando to Lienz. It's a great ride, mostly all downhill. I also posted on Youtube a little video of our son Giovanni riding his bike. It's a chuckle. Click on the picture of him on his bike to see it.

Poster Pictures of Italy

If you see any pictures on our site that you would like printed poster size I can print them for you at a reasonable cost. They are fun to hang up even printed on plain paper. But we can also print on glossy paper or maybe even canvas. You can also send us your favorites for printing. Our printer is an HP 1050C + which can print up to 36" wide by almost any length.

Civetta Alleghe

Our friends Steve Kathy and Christopher came to visit for a few days. We took them to see one of the areas we ski in. It was a beautiful day and I've posted some nice pictures. HERE

Il Centro Minerario Di Valle Imperina

About 30 minutes from Belluno near Agordo that for some 300 years was a copper mining area. In fact until the 1960's it was the major if not nearly the only source of employment in the area. What a life those people lived. We should never complain about the harshness of our lives now.

Go HERE to see more pictures. We also had a great hike which ended at an old home being restored as a weekend retreat. The main area of the mining operation is being partially restored as a museum and park.

Old Friends

Did I tell you that after more than 30 years I met up with an old friend, Paul Holland. He and Joe Scott were my closest friends from the 3rd grade through high school. I've kept in touch with Joe over the years and at one point Paul and I made a couple trips to Baja by private plane, we are both pilots, but that it turns out was over 30 years ago.

I decided to look him up last Winter and as I said in a previous post we managed to meet in Venice. Here is a picture. He still has hair. Not fair, that's his wife behind him my kids and Luisa behind me.

Loving Italy

Well not always, but this last Sunday was a day to remember. There is a group here in Belluno that organizes concerts of various types of music, usually in or in the garden of one of the local villas. Sundays was outside a villa on the opposite side of Belluno from where we live. It's up hill from the city and from the garden outside one has a fantastic view of all the city and surrounding valley. We could even see our home. The weather was perfect, the setting beautiful. And the music very enjoyable, it was European jazz from the 30's performed by a young group featuring an excellent guitarist. Actually he was amazing. For a taste of their music you can check out their web site http://www.almaswing.it/ And the cost 5 euro can't be beat. So it was one of those I love Italy moments.

Otherwise, what's been going on. I haven't written much lately. Seems we are always busy and the day ends being too tired to sit down in front of the computer for anything other than a bit of reading. The Summer has past all too quickly. We haven't had much of a vacation. But then this is were much of the family here comes to vacation themselves. Maybe we are already on vacation. Luisa would not agree.

Our time has been taken up working, visits to the hospital for various tests for my upcoming surgery, and lunches and dinners with family and friends. Our big project was to make a connection between the two apartments that we occupy. The hole was cut by professionals and I took on the tasks of painting, and some finish woodwork. The biggest job was the clean up of the dust from jack hammering out the wall. It was everywhere in spite of our efforts to isolate it with plastic sheets. Then came the job of moving the furniture. We moved our bedroom into the room that was once in a while used for guests and converted our old bedroom into a room for Julia and a sometime guest room. In the process I learned the real reason why Italians rarely move. Their furniture is just too dammed heavy. To move one dresser with it's marble top and mirror down a floor of stairs is a major task involving the dismantling of the dresser, taking off the mirror, removing the marble top, taking out the drawers and then taking all the pieces one at a time down the stairs and then reassembling them. Do this for a couple of them and then take our four modern ones up the stairs and one does not want to do it again for a long time.

We have also taken some nice hikes in the fairly local regions. In my next post I will put up some pictures.

In the News

Well sort of anyway. HERE is a story written about us and our Bell Tower project.

Otherwise what's new. We have had some contact with friends from the US lately. Steve and Kathy Tanaka made a tour of France and Italy and stayed with us for 3 days, that was great. Steve got me into Geocaching, and kind of treasure hunt using GPS technology. I think it will be a fun thing to do with the kids.

Then a few months ago I decided to find a friend, Paul Holland, that I hadn't seen for it turns out 30 years. Thanks to the internet it wasn't that hard to find him took all of maybe 15 minutes. He and his extended family are currently on a cruise which started in Venice so we were able to meet him in Venice for a few hours and a pizza dinner. Wow eating in Venice has to be one of the biggest rip offs in Italy. But at least the pizza was good and it was great to see Paul again. He brought at our request 3 dozen corn tortillas and some other things which made the visit even better.

Julia ballet

At the end of the year they have a little test to graduate to the next level. HERE are some pictures.

Lago di Caldonazzo

About an hour from Belluno almost to Trento there
is this nice lake. It has camping and nice beaches.
PICTURES We took our bikes and road around
some then started off on a bike trail that runs
along a river for some 40k. We only did a bit of
it. But in all we including Giovanni who is only 5
did about 22k for the day.

BBQ with friends

In mid June some friends, mostly parents from Julia's school invited us for a BBQ HERE are more photos. Those Italians can get a bit wild especially the three woment siting in the sun.

Camping Bibione

Here a few pictures, our camp was one of the more primitive, we left home in a hurry.

Italian Beaches

We took a short break and did some camping at Bibione Pineda, the beach is long and clean, the water warm, and clean but murky. The location is on the Adriatic about 30 miles or so north of Venice. I've never been a fan of this type of beach as there is no surf and not a lot to do. But I am starting to like them. They are good for the kids as they can play in the water without getting buried in the waves and the warm water makes it comfortable for them. The camp areas are full of pine trees, the one we stayed in has a nice restaurant, clean restrooms that have toilets with actual seats and hot showers. There is a big grocery store and most every night they some sort of entertainment. One of the nicest things is the long boardwalk that connects the city of Bibione with all the camps and resort hotels. It makes a great bike ride.

The week was a full one as we left on Tuesday morning after spending 3 hours packing up all the camping stuff arrived in the early after noon and put up our tent in the wrong place, we mistook a weird looking 3 for a 5, but it worked out and we had a better spot because of it even if we had to leave a day early as the site was reserved by someone else last February. We went to Pradipozzo Saturday. Unpacked the camping stuff and took off for Milan on Sunday with Julia for her orthodontist appointment on Monday. Then on Monday it was back to Pradi, a long drive as there was an hour delay in traffic. Spent another night there and then today back to Belluno. Overall though it was nice, we had some fun at the beach, some good family time both at the beach and in Pradi, and discovered a cheap Chinese restaurant in Milan where the food is good and the portions generous enough.

Now there is the mess to clean up. I have to admit that I'm a bit burned out on camping. The actual camping is fine, it's more the time it takes to pack up, unpack, setup, repack to leave (another 3 hours) and then the unpacking and cleanup at home. We are thinking about buying a travel trailer.

4th of July & Italian Healthcare

We pretty much missed it in fact it was totally ignored here. Were we are we only know of one other American a young mom married to an Italian. So it was hard to get into the spirit. I was hoping we could take the kids to Aviano the big US air force base not far from here as they put on an airshow and some good ol American activities. But I was disappointed to find out that only people with a DOD id card and their guests were allowed in. Seems totally unfair. Someone who happens to work in the kitchen can bring in any person of any nationality, but a US citizen with a US passport represents a danger to the US military. What happeded here.

I've also been absent a bit lately as I found out I have one of those diseases everyone fears, but the good news is that it's at a maybe, hopefully, probably totally curable stage. I'll be having some surgery the first week of September. It's been a couple of weeks of a lot of ups and downs. Living in Italy healthcare is very accessable, but it seems that it also helps to have friends and relatives who work in the system. I thank God for my extended Italian family.

Bob Dylan

We went to a concert last night, billed as a tribute to Bob Dylan. It was fun and entertaining. Basically it's a yearly thing where local groups play for charity. The theater was full, the music too load. Lots of grey hairs in the audience and on the stage as well as young musicians. As one can imagine the quality varied from really good to wish they would stop now. There is a local guitar player who could have given Jimmy Hendrix a run for his money and some of the singers were very good. Overall enjoyable, but the Bob Dylan aspect was a bit disappointing, maybe I expected some imitators, rather than interpretations of his music.

We also finally had a bbq yesterday, invited some friends and their 3 kids. It's been raining every afternoon for the last two weeks. So we scheduled it for mid day and everything turned out fine. One thing I don't quite understand is that when one invites at least some Italians say at noon, they tend to stay the whole day and then even make excuses about why they have to leave at 7:30. I'm not complaining, it just takes some getting use to. In the US people would normally come for a meal, visit a couple hours after and go home.

Weekend In Milan

Luisa's parents took Julia and her cousin Sara to Rome on Saturday, so we took her to Milan on Friday evening as they were leaving from there. Saturday we had the afternoon off from kids. Luisa's sister took care of Giovanni and he had his first ever sleep over at her house with his cousin Guido. And we went to the Renzo Piano exhibit. Wow that was great, he must really be an inspiring person to work with. That evening we had our first dinner alone together in months - Japanese food, good.Sunday we took the two boys to a castle near lake Maggiore, the castle is great as one can go up to the highest levels, they also have one of the world's largest collections of antiques dolls. I got a kick out of the mechanical one that is an old lady picking up her skirt and peeing, they have some of the mechanical dolls on video, showing them in action.In the afternoon we went to the museum of transportation. It's really amazing, and free. It's the private collection of one man and has everything, from trains, to ski lifts, to subways. It's a bit like being in someones giant garage, though it's all outside and pretty well organized.This is I think a bit amazing, at least for the catholics. Julia and Sara walked into St. Peters with their grandparents for the mass and were picked out of the crowd to deliver the host to the cardinal giving the mass. Can you believe it? Even more amazing is that Julia also had an unusual experience there the first time we took her when she was a baby. She started to cry during the mass, pretty loudly. An old nun who was near us came up and lightly caressed her forehead. After that she was silent.Now we are back at work in Belluno, seems like it's going to rain all Summer

Good News

We won a competition for the design of a bell tower at one of the large churches in Belluno. I'll post some 3d renderings on our design blog. www.helpudesign.blogspot.com It's a big help for us to have this project as it's a kind of welcoming into the community. Hopefully it may lead to us getting other projects in the area.

We had a nice visit this weekend from a friend and client Phil Deane. He lives in Oceanside, California and is touring Italy mostly in the Southern half. So it was great that he made the effort to come up here in a busy schedule of touring.