Keeping up with the "too busy to blog" theme, it is Thursday morning and I finally have a moment to sit down at my computer for pleasure not work. Sheesh, this working mom stuff certainly takes away from your free time.
So this morning, I wake up, look out the kitchen window and what do I see! SNOW, ok, on the mountains behind me, but, only a few days ago the weather was MILD, almost, dare I say, spring like. Sam and I were out walking on Sunday, we walked from Rapallo to Chiavari and along the trail, the primroses were blooming and down in the valley below us, you could see the yellow blooms of the Mimosa trees that usually open in March. Freaky actually. Well yesterday Mother Nature finally decided to change the path she was on and slammed Europe with a blast of frigid air and bit of snow too. In fact, London got snow yesterday as well the Swiss Alpine ski areas. Finalmente. Maybe I can plan weekend of skiing. So far, there has been so little snow that though the ski resorts are open, most trails are closed.
When this storm arrived yesterday, it hit hard. Sam and I walked down to the cube bar on the passagiata, faithful readers, that means you dad, know this place a the one with the great view of the sea with seats and tables you cannot use till lunchtime, and we had a coffee. Was I ready for the blast of cold air? Duh, I had on a cotton shirt with a raincoat, sure I stayed dry but goodness was it cold. Before yesterday, I haven't any use for my wool or cashmere, even in New York. Guess what I will be wearing today. So we walk into the bar and it was packed! Why, people came in for coffee but stayed for the view. The sky was black, seas were HUGE and the waves were crashing over the sea wall. When Sam and I left we took this photo with my phone, Isn't technology great! The weather was horrible all day, when I went to pick up the kids from school at 1, the skies opened up and hail rained down on us. I saw cars driving around that had snow on the hoods! Incredible.
Between the day I spent in Pisa Tuesday, see the photo, gray skies with just a hint of the change in the weather, and yesterday, Winter has arrived. Yes, I was in Pisa this week, not for the Leaning Tower but a bit of shopping. Sam had a meeting and well I tagged along....
Enough about the weather. Here is the update.
Tuesday the girls had a little recital at school. The English Teacher, the one who is really English, not Italian, who does not really teach but supplement one hour a week, don't get me started, that topic is a whole other post, as part of her lesson plan, which by the way ended on Tuesday, the kids won't see her anymore, had each class stage a play. Ok. Anna's class put on "Alice in Wonderland", Anna was Alice, Sarah's class did "The Taming of the Shrew", Sarah was the shrew. Can I say, the kids were wonderful. All really put in a great effort and all of us parents were very surprised at how well some of those cute little kids, can speak english. Ok, some accents were stronger than others, but overall, they all should be very proud of themselves. Would it be naughty of me to mention, Anna got the biggest round of applause? What did she say about it? She complained no one could hear her last line, which was to introduce and thank her classmate who narrated. Only Anna.
Update on turtles who now officially have been named, Splash and Splaffy. Very original, no? After some comparison shopping yesterday, Sam and I discovered that a proper tank humane enough to hold these little creature would set us back 100 euro. So, of course, Sam did not want to shell out that money and was about to lose his temper a second time over these terrapins I said, look these kids are swimming is Christmas money, they wanted the turtles, they promised to take care of them, let them pay for it. We proposed this during lunch and without hesitation, Sarah and Anna happily agreed. I took Anna to the store with her money and let her go wild. Came home, and Sam and the girls set up the tank, washed the rocks and filled the new aquarium with water. This evening Splash and Splaffy with be swimming in their new digs set up behind the couch in the living room, as Anna said, they need something pretty to look at, where else could we put them but the best spot in the house! Augh! At least there is a cover on the tank to keep Gucci away. Yesterday she was pretty interested in playing with our recent editions to our family.
Later!
Krista
