EY's Rants and Raves

A House marathon on USA and a full day of interesting games in the NFL. Not a bad way to spend the day, even if I did housework all day. This Tuesday, House will be back to normal. Ahhhh.

And only half of what you see. A phrase that's been around forever and is just as applicable in "our modern world" than years and years ago. Yet, my master's degree-having Mother believes anything you send her in an email. The more it appeals to a conservative bent, the more stridently she believes it. I've sent her the About.com Urban Legends link numerous times. No help there. I think I could put together an email that says "France is paying illegal aliens from Mexico to come to the US, create huge organic farms that will feed a new generation of super-strong gay children who will take over the world, kill Santa, start sacrificing Christians and destroy the US military" and she'd believe it. Sigh.

And the things she believes are so easy to research--even to the barely computer literate. Today I got an email about how Target is a French-owned company that hates our military. A quick trip to target.com reveals that Target, is in fact, based in Minneapolis, MN. I suppose the fact that some people pronounce it "tar-zghaay" automatically makes it a French company. One would think that since we now know there were no WMD's in Iraq, we'd apologize to France for their lack of support in invading. They were right, we were horribly, tragically, fatally (for half a million Iraqi's and 2000 American soldiers) wrong.

But my dear mother, who is so convinced that her religiousness is better than mine, would rather take 15 seconds (she has dial up) to send out a hurtful untrue email than spend 3 minutes finding out the truth. I like to think that Jesus would have us think before we say unkind things. Even about "big faceless corporations". That we should consider our words and their impact than blindingly repeat falsehoods.

I responded politely with some helpful links. Maybe she'll read them. I'm sure she'll insist that "she didn't know" the email was full of lies. My point, not that she'll get it, is that she CAN FIND OUT.

I'm not a morning person. I much prefer to ease into my day than be jolted into it. Easing into my day is actually pretty easy when me and the coffeemaker are the only ones awake. For most of my life, I've had quiet and space in the morning. As a child, I was apparently such a horror to deal with that Mom pretty well left me alone until it was time to go to the bus stop. When we were first married, The Boy tried to hold conversations with me in the morning. He got frustrated when he got growls and evil looks. I told him to ask his mother-in-law why she left me alone in the mornings. I laughed out loud when, with an incredulous look, my mother asked him "you mean you try to TALK to her in the mornings? Why?" (I always find it funny when people don't believe what you tell them.)
Twelve years later, I'm not much better. Granted, I have learned to be polite to The Boy in the mornings, he doesn't try to talk to me much and it's rare that he's awake when I am. Still. On the odd times he is, I feel a little invaded. He turns on far more lights than I'm used to. (Of course, I don't turn on a lot of light because he's still in bed asleep and I'm trying to be nice.) He's not really in the way, but he's where I'm accustomed to being alone. More often, I'm in his way since he's between me and the door.

An "invaded morning" twice this week was a bit more than I really appreciated.

For any of my readers who are saying "be glad you don't have kids"....well, I am.

in the NFL....Who really thought the Texans would beat Jacksonville? Anyone? Didn't think so. Granted, Green Bay and Miami was an ugly prospect, no matter how you looked at it. And the final of 34-24 (Green Bay) was probably much nicer than the game.

Raiders finally won a game, beating the AZ Cardinals. Wonder what Denny Green's press conference is going to be like? Not pretty, I'd think.

Philly and Tampa....what's up with Philly losing in the last seconds these days? Woo Hoo to Tampa, I suppose, for getting their second win.

No one at Inside the NFL expected Atlanta, Kansas City, or Minnesota to do as well as they did either. Two of them will be right tomorrow night, as the MNF picks are split: 2 for NYG, 2 for DAL.

Spent most of the day helping the Boy take the Suburban to its new home, then out for some shopping. No Sunday night game (bleah). I guess that's so people can watch the World Series. F'ing baseball. Messing up House, messing up football.

I'll miss you most of all. The Boy sold the Sururban last night. "The Dinosaur", he'd been calling it. We're now a 2 Civic and an untold number of half-running pickups family. I'm a little sad to see Dino go. Such luxury, those heated leather seats. Neither of our Civics have leather, much less heated leather. I'd be glad to buy them if they were available. I could have had leather covers made for my seats, but since my side airbags are in the seat, that wasn't a good option.

I'm sure the Dog won't like not having her room to roam when we go to Christmas at the in-laws' house. The backseat of my Civic won't give her a "bed area" and a "lounge area". I'm sure, however, that she'll live.

I'm glad that we're being more efficient, putting less crap into the air and using less of a limited resource, but there is a part of me that will absolutely miss the comfyness....and the heat.

One of my guilty pleasures over the past few months has been Bravo's Project Runway. I didn't watch the first season, but have watched the next two. This season, I was pulling for Michael. He's had some great pieces and I love his vision. Uli's work is good, but I'm not the beach-y, halter top-y, drapey type. I love Laura's elegant style, but I have a chest and the deep V-necks wouls result in too much exposure for me. I'd also have to be 8 inches taller to be as thin as I'd need to be to wear her clothes. That is assuming that I stayed at my current weight. If I'd lose 60 lbs, I'd just be able to wear her designs. Jeffrey, however, is a total other story. I find his designs unappealing, dramatic just for the point of being dramatic and not usually flattering.

So I was excited about last night's episode....until the fashion show started. My fav's line was bad. His work is always so good, but he took way too much of a chance. The hot pants that won a challenge were great....but there's no need to have 3 pair. Too much flash, too little substance. I knew after his 3rd garment down the runway that he wouldn't win.

Uli's line was typical Uli, but I still liked it. Very flattering to the body, very "resort-wear", great fabrics, great colors as well as prints.

Laura's collection was absolutely elegant. Beautiful, beautiful clothes. But I knew the judges would be bored.

Jeffrey's line was well made (to the point that there was suspicion he cheated), great fabrics, interesting lines and less "punky" than his normal. I still don't find his designs very body flattering. For size 2 models, maybe, but the average woman doedn't need bulk where he tends to add it (hips) and can't wear skin skin tight pants.

Of course, the judges loved it. I've always thought Jeffrey was a jerk and I'm sure winning won't help that. I think it's odd that he, his chick and his son all have the same haircut: a mohawk. None of them wore it "up" in the middle, but still....a mohawk is pretty easy to pick out of a crowd. And a mean thing to do to a 3 year old.

So I look forward to next season....and a better winner next time.

I've been coughing since we got back. Warm (80+) weather, cool weather (65), cold weather(40's) and back again. Sinuses never get completely clear. Bleah. Got another day and a half doc'd in the travel blog. Whew. Been working on it for over an hour. Thought I was a pretty decent typist.

Surprising game from Arizona tonight. Surprising game from Chicago. Have a feeling that Lovie Smith said less at halftime than Brian Urlacher or Olin Kreutz. Not that it's really doing much good. So one wonders.....is the Real Rex Grossman the one who has had such a great passing game? Or the one who has thrown 2 INT's and fumbled twice tonight (yes, 4 turnovers in all)?

Suddenly, this is feeling really familiar....

The wine gig went well. Very well. Good crowd, lots of good questions, I was nervous, but very happy. They asked me if I'd like to help out next year. Sure. "Heck, I can be back next week" was what I really wanted to say.

Saw New Baby at a friend's house. Big Brother has had a dramatic change in his life. Momma's thought with him was "I'll probably only have one, so if I want to spoil him, it's no one else's business". I don't disagree with that, necessarily, but now she has another. And BB has no manners, because he's never had to have any. While I was there, he told Momma to put the baby down because he was tired of her being held, refused to thank me for a gift I brought and told me and Momma to "BE QUIET!" He did eventually change that to "Please BE QUIET!", but you could tell, us having our own conversation was a major cramp to his style. His hair still hasn't been cut yet. I sure hope the other boys in Mother's Day Out don't beat him up over it. Or the boys in kindergarten....

Between the football game, the wine gig, a get-together with dear friends, a family lunch, the weekend was fun. However, it was worthless from a "I have to go to work now" point of view. I do have clean clothes to wear, but the house is a wreck. I'm sure my mother is about ready to kill me since I haven't called her. Of course, I've not been home while she's awake (it's 11:45 pm now) and while I'm sarcastic enough to say "I'm finally home if you want to chat", she won't find it very humourous. Besides, she might actually try to stay awake to talk and I (unlike her) have to go to work tomorrow.

Went to a high school ballgame last night. Forgot how much fun that was. Town we live in is too big for a "small town game" experience. This game was more like the games I grew up with. Admittedly, I didn't see much of the games when I was in school because there was always more interesting teen drama to be had.
It was crisply cold, perfect football weather last night. The small town we were in showed the team lots of love, although the opposing side didn't. Small town lost their homecoming game 40-7. I was surprised at the small number of punts on 4th down and the larger number of 2 point conversion tries. I don't recall that from my town, but maybe we had a better selection of kickers to choose from.

In other news, I have my first "on my own" wine gig. For over a year, I've been helping a local expert with tastings. I got a call this week from someone whose attended a few of those and who was in need of an expert to work a tasting for a church fundraiser. I'm not sure if they were more excited that I said "yes" or I was because they asked. I did get a little help from my expert friend and will do a little more research after I post this. Of course, the best research I can do is to to actually taste the wine. I've had one out of four, which isn't bad. I'll probably do the swirl, taste and spit since the fundraiser is 30 miles away.

I *should* go see a friend and her new little one since I'll be driving right by her house. I've wiled away a bit much time this morning, so that may be a crunch.

about Italy. Yes, yes, I'll get back to the travelblog. Not today. Well, not likely today.

1.) Toilet seats in women's bathrooms that weren't intended to have seats. As in, not made with a seat. I can't imagine that women in Italy are VASTLY different from women in the US, not anatomically, anway. That is, we need toilet seats. Seriously. Glad these are phasing out, but still. Should be against the Geneva Convention.

2.) Hand-held showerheads. Five out of five hotels we stayed in had these. All had the bar you could attach them to, but why? I've never encountered these in the US. There can be only one reason I see for these. Keep thinking...keep thinking. Yeah. Granted, not a bad way to start the day, but in the morning, I'm more interested in shaving my legs (a task NOT facilitated by a handheld) than, umm, anything else you might be thinking of. And what benefit does this have for a GUY? None, so far as I can see. Maybe my male readers will enlighten me....?

3.) Train strikes. Yes, I managed to get around one instead of IN one, but I still don't get them. It's not a "better wages/better conditions/higher pay" thing. It's more of a "hey, let's strike the 27th of next month" kind of thing with no "obvious" goal in mind. Maybe that's my problem. As a hyperactive American, I should learn to slow down and take life as it comes.

Now to things I adored and am very sure we need....

1.) Smart cars. Really. Try this.... www.smart.com Isn't that just the cutest car you've ever seen? And if you can't find a parking place, you can fold it up and put it in your pocket! (Not really, it just seems that way.) They'll be available in the US in 2008. I've loved the Civic, but I will likely be trading in.

2.) Food. I knew that food was a big deal in Italy. It's not like I've never been there before. But that was the "how little can I spend and still be here" tour. And this decidedly wasn't. Food at the AutoGrill on the Autostrada (toll road freeway) was fan-freaking-tastic. Food at our "airport hotel" was incredible. In the US, you'd listen to your stomach growl for another 50 miles or skip dinner if you could make it past either of those places. If you stop at a "highway restaurant", in the US you'll likely eat deep fried crap. Not that DFC can't be delicious, but at truck stops, it rarely is. You certainly don't see fresh arugula. Airport hotel restaurants usually
serve dreck. May look pretty, but likely doesn't taste different from the box it came to the hotel in.

3.) Lunch. These people mean business with their lunch. Nearly everything closes from 12-3 (or 12:30-3:30 or 1-4....you get the picture). What do you do? Why you go to lunch. Not a sandwich from a gas station, not a buffet, not pre-manufactured food made 200 miles away and shipped to your town in a bag, real food. And maybe you bring your dog. And maybe you meet a few friends and get caught up. Have some wine. After all that, you probably still have an hour, so why not run home and do....whatever. Maybe THAT's what the handheld showerheads are for. (Although that explanation still leaves out the male gender.)

4.) Gelato. It's lower in fat than US "ice cream", but tastes so rich, so full of flavor that you'd never guess. Less air, more flavor. And not just "kid" flavors. Flavors like "forest fruits", pistachio, fresh cream, coconut, vanilla shot through with thin thin thin ribbons of chocolate (stracciatella), hazelnut, coffee. You get the point. I was cheated out of gelato twice and for all that I don't try to "keep score", I have to on that one. Have some gelato (REAL gelato) and you'll agree.

Indy shouldn't have won their game....or the one last week. Tennessee played well, but Indy didn't. What exactly are you boys going to do when you face a REAL team? Say in Week 8 when you play Denver or Week 9 when you play New England?
Classy, Donovan. I agree, it's a team win. Easy to take the high road when you win by 14. You better buy a beer (at least) for your O-line and Lito Sheppard.
Da Bears. 40-7. Nice. And a passing game too! It's nice to be a Bears fan.
But it's not so nice to like Miami. Really guys. NE is tough and always a hard game, still....
Arizona coming close to winning games....that's exciting.
Coach Cowher, I agree that Ben needs the rust knocked off. And I can help. Just send him to me for a few days. You don't have to pay me if he's not better when he gets back. Let's see....where can I rent a fully-stocked dungeon? Hmmm. Gotta buy some boots, work on my.....yeah, guess I should quit typing now.
Baltimore at Denver. I don't like Denver. Not at all, not at all, not at all. Hope Baltimore stays undefeated and takes you apart.

Day 1

Got to Italy with a minimum of hassle or fuss. Met up with B just fine and headed out to our first place. Once we were out of Milan, we stopped at an AutoGrill. The best analogy would be a “truck stop”. However, this was no greasy spoon with pasta. There was a panini bar and a cafeteria-style restaurant. I chose bresola (air cured beef) with arugula and parmesan cheese. The arugula was fresh, crisp and peppery; the parm was slightly salty and well, parmesan-y. Picked up a bottle of water and a package of Droste extra dark pastilles (one of my fav chocolates) for the road.

We made it to Cavazzone by mid-afternoon and had a “snack” of proscuitto, salami, coppa, grapes, a wonderful spinach pie, 2 wines then coffee and crème brulee. If this is how we’re eating on the trip, it’s a good thing my Traveler’s have a lot of “give”. After this greeting, we had about an hour to explore before—DINNER! It’s gray and a little rainy, so we both had a nap before dinner.

Dinner. Oh, my goodness. More of that incredible spinach pie, a fonduta with sautéed fresh porcini mushrooms (kinda like a cheese soup), veal tenderloin with an almond and pink peppercorn sauce and more sautéed porcini on the side. I would have been thrilled with just the spinach pie and the sautéed mushrooms, but I did my part to eat some of everything. B picked out wines and they were, of course, incredible. We had panna cotta topped with a few drops of balsamic vinegar for dessert. Before you say “yuck”, this is NOT your ordinary vinegar. It’s nowhere near it. Probably shouldn’t be called “vinegar”. It’s thick, sweet with just a bit of acidity. Incredible stuff.

Slept OK, but woke up a few times. Between the jet lag and the huge dinner, I’m not shocked.

Day 2
Can’t believe I actually ate breakfast. Croissants, jam, proscuitto, coppa, parmesan, emmenthaler, and fontina cheese, fruit and yogurt. I had a croissant, proscuitto, and fontina with a cappuccino.

We went to a small town outside of Verona today. It’s in the Valpolicella region and we went to the estate that Dante bought when he was exiled from Florence. It’s still in his family, all these years later. The estate is beautiful. Our guide, Flavia, showed us around the grounds and winery. They age their wines in cherry wood barrels. Not cheap, I’d imagine. We had a tasting of their wines on the patio of one of the buildings. We were right by two huge barrels and the garden. Great experience.

We had a lunch nearby that pretty well rivaled dinner last night. Whew. More bresola (YUM!) with garlic, red pepper and a light olive oil dressing. Mushroom risotto was next, then beef braised in Valpolicella with polenta. On the side, we had carrots, cauliflower and an interesting cooked green that none of us had had before. When you added a little olive oil to them, they were fantastic. I barely squeezed in a chocolate semifreddo for dessert. B picked out the wines and told the owner (who is the wine guy) “let the wine flow free for my friends, but water for me”. Wow. It certainly did. I almost felt sorry for B and J that they had to drive and couldn’t enjoy this incredible wine.

Wine and food did me in on the way home. I tried to snooze, but was lightly queasy. No incidents in the van or when we got back, but I was a little green around the gills. We stopped in Alpinea and I hoped to get a Sprite. The store we went to had Diet Sprite. I tried a Fanta Limone Gusto. Should have stuck with water. Cavazzone is up on a hill with a lot of zig zag turns on the way up. That didn’t help much.

We read and rested before dinner. It was a little chilly as the sun went down. Dinner was VERY much lighter than lunch. I really just wanted some tea, but ended up having a bowl of onion soup as well with B and J. The Boy was too tired to have anything to eat, but did have a glass of wine with us. I turned in around 10.

Day 3
Parma day! Parma has recently been voted the “Food Capital of the EU” and I can see why. Proscuitto de Parma, PARMesan cheese, etc. Parma is quite lovely as well. We saw a wonderful theatre (Theatre Farnese) that is made completely of wood. The columns outside, the seating, the paneling on the walls, carved statues, decorations around the stage. It was nearly destroyed in WWII by Allied bombers. There were pictures of the damage in an exhibit describing the restoration. Such stupidity, war.

We wandered around town for a bit and I found a knife store. Dad had asked for a good pocketknife made in Italy and I found him a nice one. We found some interesting stores—bakeries, pasta stores, one store that sold only items from Parma. I’m sure the Italians aren’t impressed, but for a foodie like me, it was incredible.

Had lunch at an outdoor café on a small piazza. We each had a caprese salad (fresh mozzarella, tomatoes, basil), The Boy had a calzone and I had mushroom pizza. We split a half bottle of Lambrusco and one of water. The Lambrusco we had is very typical of the area and not what we think of here when we hear that name. Riunite makes a sweet fizzy red called “lambrusco”, but traditionally, Lambrusco isn’t sweet. The “real” version is very good. Don’t know why you’d mess with it.

We walked around the ducal gardens, which are now a beautiful city park. It was recently restored and is a beautiful place to walk, sit, ponder, play.

( To be continued.....)

I'm not sure who that actually was playing Auburn today, but it certainly didn't look like the Arkansas Razorbacks. Running through Auburn's defense, smart decision making, tough defense of their own. Yeah, not the team I last saw. Granted the last AR game I saw was the USC game (Utah State wasn't aired, out of the country for Vandy and Bama). I'd like to be really happy, but AR usually wins one fluke game. Interestingly, Houston Nutt has come under mounting criticism this week. Have to wonder how long this game will pacify some of the louder ones?

In other news, I'm watch shopping. It's very frustrating. The beloved Swiss Army watch died on vacay and I got a very small, black Swatch to replace it for the time being. Now I need I real watch. I've toyed with the idea of not wearing one, but not for long. I've worn a watch every day for 30 years. It's one of the most consistent things about me. I have a great affinity for watches. At one time, I actively collected them and had over 20. My fav was a watch that ran on water. You put it under the faucet every day, reset the time, and off you went. Was a bit of a pain, but quite fun.
I'm down to two candidates, neither are exactly what I want. Citizen has some lovely styles in their Eco-Drive line, but none have actual numbers. I like numbers (Arabic, not Roman) on the face of a watch. I like the idea of the Eco-Drive enough that I'm willing to overlook the number thing (although I'm not thrilled about it). Citizen's site is also mind-numbingly slow, which is a pain. The other candidate is Tag Heuer. The Boy got a Tag a few years ago at a price right in the range I'm looking at. Unfortunately, they've raised prices a bit since then, plus, their women's line is more expensive. Why? I don't know. I'm not looking at watches with diamonds. To me a watch is a watch and jewelry is jewelry. So Tags are out. I CAN pay what one would be, but I just don't want to. Although, after trying on the Tags and a Raymond Weil, the Citizen felt, well, flimsy. Tags don't have numbers, by and large, either, so it's lovely, but not perfect.
Since I shop for *nice* watches rarely, I've found lots of brands, but no idea on whether or not I should go for them. DKNY is a brand I love for clothes. If I'm every extremely rich and thin, I'll buy them all day long. But I don't know anything about the quality of their watches. Do they get them from a reputable watchmaker? Or off the back of a truck for a buck each?
I've looked a bit at Timex, but my inner snob won't have any of it. My upper range is 10 times the price of the average Timex. Seiko's ladies watches are small. VERY small. As in, I would look like I had a string around my wrist. I'm 5' 7" and even at that, about 6" too short for my weight. I need a watch with some heft. Plus, a dainty watch would last about 6 months with me and I'm looking for a watch that will be around until I retire, at least.

Any watch suggestions, Dear Readers? I'm open!

Yes, I know, it sounds like Richard Nixon's "I am not a crook" and at first sounds just as believeable. But I'm not. I don't tell people what they "should" and "should not" drink. I do share my opinions on wines I've had--when asked--but don't criticize other people's choices. I may not agree with your choices, but they're totally yours to make. Just don't expect me to beg for an invite to your place if all you serve is Mad Dog, White Zin or Merlot (no, I haven't seen "Sideways" yet, and fyi, I didn't like Merlot all that much before it became "fashionable" to dislike it).

What I discovered, at a large tasting last night, is that I may well be a "wine groupie". At Very Large Tasting (VLT), a familiar man was pouring wines I particularly like. I couldn't quite place him. Does he come to wine tastings I help with? Is he a local distributor or rep? As I walked away, I realized: he's the winemaker. I'd met him at a wine dinner a few months ago that had been part of The Boy's birthday present. Great guy, fabulous wines. Went back to tell him how much I liked his wines and how much I appreciated him being at VLT. He was very cool about it. I then said (although I shouldn't have) that I'd like to taste HIS favorite. He looked pained. I'm sure it's like asking a parent to meet their "favorite child". I ended up trying his lighter Syrah then and coming back for the REALLY powerful, wonderful one. He apologized for looking scruffy, as he doesn't shave during harvest. I was stunned. Not only had this winemaker come to our small state to pour wine at a packed event, he'd done so during the most important time for a winery. Did I mention that he's a great guy?

So I'm a groupie of his. Not the "hooking up with someone in the band after the show" kind of groupie, but the "if he's coming near and I can find some way to acceptably see him I will and I'll buy his product in between" kind. For the two of you who read this who enjoy wine, it was Mat Garretson of Garrettson wines (www.garretsonwines.com). For the two of you who read this and don't enjoy wine, this is kinda like going to a record store, buying a John Mayer CD and he's the person at the checkout counter.

You don't have to.....read mail, balance your checkbook, unload the dishwasher, wash things by hand that can't go in the dishwasher, pick up behind yourself. Many of the "maintenance bits" of life are done by someone else. But when you get home, all that is yours again. So I'm not any further on having a travel entry or pictures processed for posting in a webgallery. (To be fair, Mr. EY hasn't provided me a gallery on the webserver, so me being ready isn't an issue.)

Two nights of wine tasting--my usual first Wed and Thurs nights--aren't helping. I keep thinking I'm not jet-lagged, but I've been getting really tired really early. I went to bed at 9:30 last night and could go to bed right now (9:46). Normally, I'm bright-eyed at 11 pm. So I suppose, I am still a little travel-weary.....

When I was growing up, I loved baseball. I probably loved baseball more then than I do football now. I knew the starting lineup of the St. Louis Cardinals, most of their batting averages, stolen bases, RBI's, how many games behind/ahead the team was in their division and many other baseball stats (and this was way pre-Internet, so getting the stats wasn't as easy as it is today). Best Friend, on the other hand, hated it. There were a lot of quirks of mine (not that baseball is a quirk, mind you) that she tolerated, but not that one. Despite my efforts to convert her, she was firmly against baseball or anything baseball-related. I was a Cardinals fan and I'm surprised she even tolerated the color red.

Jump 20+ years to today. Baseball's strikes and controversies have completely turned me off. I'm bitter about it the way you are over your first broken heart (which it pretty well was). She's become a HUGE Cards fan. She goes to games, she watches it on TV, she has her guest room decorated in a Cardinal's theme, including painting the team logo on the wall above the bed. So today, I'm about to leave for work and I get a call from her. I'm expecting "how was the trip?" or an update on her always questionable health. Nope, she's calling to tell me that she's going to the Card's playoff game this weekend. And the kicker (for me anyway) is that her hub (who started all this) is staying home with her niece while she and his sister go to the game. Heck, he's all for it and giving her money to go. Apparently, I'm getting a t-shirt out of it, so I can't complain too much.

And a full-length trip report (or two) is forthcoming.....but not today. Today, I'm tired and trying to ease back to reality.

Vacation was clean rooms, no dishes, wonderful meals and proscuitto (I think proscuitto may be the new gelato for me). Today it's nothing in the house because I need to go grocery shopping, dishes to put up, laundry to do, unpacking still to do.

I have only good thoughts for Italy, but a troubled return trip and a lack of patience that I'm still smarting from have me a bit irritated. A friend blogs regularly about grace. I certainly needed some yesterday. I've also re-learned a lesson about myself: I need quiet. Solitude, time away from anyone else and peace. Vacation is rarely a time for that, but I am getting a little today.