Rock-jumpers in Cinque Terre in May"Adventures in Marriage on Different Continents"
Just kidding.
Where to start? I haven't written since September or something, though thankfully I have seen most of my family and friends. How about with my typical day?
I set my alarm for 5 and snooze til 6...or 6:30. No joke. I'm not going to bed early enough. But then I stumble out of bed and go for a bike ride with Stella. That was Nathan's ingenious suggestion--I couldn't seem to tire her out enough on my own two feet, so I ride and she runs. She still returns with more energy than either of us knows what to do with, but it's better. It's a little dusky (dawny?) at 5:30 but the sun is well up by 6:15. Our road is long, flat, and straight, and yet if you saw me on it that early in the morning you'd think I was drunk. It's pretty darn hard to keep your balance on your bike when your inner ear would rather still be sleeping! Stella doesn't need a leash for the bike ride--I have yet to see a car before 7am on our street. Every one of our neighbors has at least 1 dog, kept outside, but thankfully most of them are still asleep at that time. If they aren't, they zoom out to their front gates (98% of properties are fenced here) and bark and bark and bark even though they see us go by at least twice every day. From them, Stella is learning to be a very aggressive barker and I don't know what to do about it. So we ride and run on down our little country road, past the houses, in between the cornfields, beside the stream, over the bridge, and all over again. Stella has told me that the way out is for sniffing and bathrooming and the way home is for racing. She's recently discovered the joy of hopping down off the road into the cornfield and tearing down the rows. The corn is a couple feet high now so it's perfect Stella-size.
Then somehow I end up at work by 8. Amanda and I have coffee and cereal as we prep the folders for the day. Our earliest appointments are at 9 but somehow we have an inordinate number of no-shows for that slot...
I have my own office, full of Play with Your Food posters (fruits & veggies with faces) and stuffed animals, including the ones Nathan got me at Ft Benning, here, and Germany, and with a nice big window. Then I visit with pregnant ladies, young moms, newborns and kids all day. Not a bad job! I'm still learning some of the ins & outs of the paperwork and bureaucratic procedures, but it's not too bad.
At lunch I go home and take care of...guess who...Stella! That dog rules my life, but she's introduced such a significant amount of discipline that it's worth it.
After work I go home and walk/run Stella. That dog is whipping me into shape. I'll be running marathons with Nathan in no time...
Springtime in Italy is often the most beautiful season I've ever seen. First the cherry trees bloom, then the red poppies and the roses, then the magnolias. The corn slips up out of the brown, manurey fields to cover them with green. The irrigation ditches fill with the thunderstorm leftovers and the frogs rejoice loudly. On the Veneto plain you can look in one direction and see a black sky, and look to the other to see a golden sun setting behind jagged purple mountains.
The golden orb... the golden orb...(psych--Cold Comfort Farm reference!)
Around 6-7 pm all the Italians come out fare una passeggiata and our road is really popular for it. They stroll or roll along on bikes with their babies, boyfriends, grandparents, and kids and usually say "Buona sera!" or "Che bello cagnelino/cucciolo/piccolino!!" (little doggie/puppy/little bitty). The other evening I saw a man in full racing biking gear and his son, who was probably 7 or 8, in full matching bike racing gear tearing along beside him on a little bitty bike--game faces on! Or race faces, as it were. Italians love their biking gear with a passion.
I'll write something about Nathan next time.
Just kidding.
Where to start? I haven't written since September or something, though thankfully I have seen most of my family and friends. How about with my typical day?
I set my alarm for 5 and snooze til 6...or 6:30. No joke. I'm not going to bed early enough. But then I stumble out of bed and go for a bike ride with Stella. That was Nathan's ingenious suggestion--I couldn't seem to tire her out enough on my own two feet, so I ride and she runs. She still returns with more energy than either of us knows what to do with, but it's better. It's a little dusky (dawny?) at 5:30 but the sun is well up by 6:15. Our road is long, flat, and straight, and yet if you saw me on it that early in the morning you'd think I was drunk. It's pretty darn hard to keep your balance on your bike when your inner ear would rather still be sleeping! Stella doesn't need a leash for the bike ride--I have yet to see a car before 7am on our street. Every one of our neighbors has at least 1 dog, kept outside, but thankfully most of them are still asleep at that time. If they aren't, they zoom out to their front gates (98% of properties are fenced here) and bark and bark and bark even though they see us go by at least twice every day. From them, Stella is learning to be a very aggressive barker and I don't know what to do about it. So we ride and run on down our little country road, past the houses, in between the cornfields, beside the stream, over the bridge, and all over again. Stella has told me that the way out is for sniffing and bathrooming and the way home is for racing. She's recently discovered the joy of hopping down off the road into the cornfield and tearing down the rows. The corn is a couple feet high now so it's perfect Stella-size.
Then somehow I end up at work by 8. Amanda and I have coffee and cereal as we prep the folders for the day. Our earliest appointments are at 9 but somehow we have an inordinate number of no-shows for that slot...
I have my own office, full of Play with Your Food posters (fruits & veggies with faces) and stuffed animals, including the ones Nathan got me at Ft Benning, here, and Germany, and with a nice big window. Then I visit with pregnant ladies, young moms, newborns and kids all day. Not a bad job! I'm still learning some of the ins & outs of the paperwork and bureaucratic procedures, but it's not too bad.
At lunch I go home and take care of...guess who...Stella! That dog rules my life, but she's introduced such a significant amount of discipline that it's worth it.
After work I go home and walk/run Stella. That dog is whipping me into shape. I'll be running marathons with Nathan in no time...
Springtime in Italy is often the most beautiful season I've ever seen. First the cherry trees bloom, then the red poppies and the roses, then the magnolias. The corn slips up out of the brown, manurey fields to cover them with green. The irrigation ditches fill with the thunderstorm leftovers and the frogs rejoice loudly. On the Veneto plain you can look in one direction and see a black sky, and look to the other to see a golden sun setting behind jagged purple mountains.
The golden orb... the golden orb...(psych--Cold Comfort Farm reference!)
Around 6-7 pm all the Italians come out fare una passeggiata and our road is really popular for it. They stroll or roll along on bikes with their babies, boyfriends, grandparents, and kids and usually say "Buona sera!" or "Che bello cagnelino/cucciolo/piccolino!!" (little doggie/puppy/little bitty). The other evening I saw a man in full racing biking gear and his son, who was probably 7 or 8, in full matching bike racing gear tearing along beside him on a little bitty bike--game faces on! Or race faces, as it were. Italians love their biking gear with a passion.
I'll write something about Nathan next time.
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