Forward Motion

Last post from 38

This is the beginning of a Shifting Sands scarf that I started a week or two ago.  I had a sudden urge to both make something to wrap around my neck and also to use some of my Sundara yarn.  This is the sport weight merino in the color Hummingbird Green and since I had 2 skeins of it, I thought I could go nuts on a scarf.

Except I've only knit, what, 5 1/2 inches here and I'm already sick of the pattern.  I could get all Zen with the pattern and just calmly keep going for another 4 feet or so, but it's not even showing up all that well with the dark green.  And the end is curling so much that I don't think even blocking and/or fringe will undo it.

We're driving 5 hours to the Edelweiss Lodge in Garmisch, Germany tomorrow for my birthday mini-vacation and why is it always before a road trip I suddenly have nothing good to knit?  I'm ready for the heels of my Wollmeise socks and that means math which maybe doesn't go so well with traveling.  And then this scarf that is not meant to be.  I guess the trip will be a good time to rip it out and maybe turn it into a Just Enough Ruffles scarf.

I have some tentative good news that I can't really share because of, you know, military stuff.  But let's just say DH's to do list got a little longer since he may have more time to work on it.  Not a whole lot more time, but even a little is good.  And the next time I blog, I'll be 39.  Egads, how did I get to THAT age??  Probably when I started saying stuff like "egads". 

Descent into Decadence

I cannot even tell you how many times in the last 2 days I have made a noise that sounds something like "Ohmmmaaaaawwhooaaaammmmm!!!!" and then grabbed my new best friend here, Liz, and made her try whatever was making me sound like that.  That may sound dirty, but we are talking wine and chocolate here.

Yesterday, Liz and I took the kids downtown for the chocolate festival.  We weren't sure if going Friday afternoon, the first hour it was open, would be a good thing.  But it was perfect.  Few crowds, lots of attention from the vendors, frequent free samples, and we left before the rain began.  I spent a ridiculous amount of Euro on chocolate.  I would show you it, but much of it is for gifts of people who occasionally read here.  Besides, you'd just want to taste it and I don't have the technology for that.

Today Liz and I went to the craft bazaar on post.  There were some very lovely Italian items like ceramics and furniture and jewelry, but I only bought wine and cheese and a little more chocolate.  The cheese is from Holland and I had no idea that cheese could taste THAT good.  It makes even the good cheese from the grocery store taste like styrofoam.  There were many oher things that I really wanted but my wallet was already empty and crying in agony.

After all the cheese, chocolate, and alcohol (and chocolate alcohol too, for that matter), I am going to be at the mercy of Jillian Michaels this week.  She's going to be able to tell, even from inside that DVD, that I need major punishment.

Next week - birthday trip to Germany!!
 

Happy Ending

From looking at the calendar, I knew this week was going to be crazy.  I have to go on post for one reason or another every single day.  Yesterday was Tuesday and it began with a trip to our town's weekly market.  It's not very big, maybe 12 tents of produce, fish, cheese, and things like clothes and shoes and curtains.  I've been buying nearly all of our produce there, mostly fruit.  Because the kids needed to get going on their schoolwork and it was chilly, I left them at home and went alone.

I came home and we finished our schoolwork, did laundry, had lunch, etc. and got ready to leave for post around 2 p.m.  One of the kids noticed the driveway gate was open, but all of us figured the other kid had already opened it for me minutes before.  As soon as we got to post, I realized I had forgotten my cell phone.  Grrrrrr...I hate it when I do that!  I pay all this money for a fancy phone and what good does it do me sitting on my desk at home?

The kids were going to the Youth Center to hang out and I figured they could call DH if they needed something.  I had an appointment to go out to the gas and water company with an Italian speaking housing representative at 2:30, so I had to get that done.  (Finally, we have our utilities all transferred to our name now.)  I returned from that to post around 4 and DH & I had to attend a pre-deployment briefing at 6. 

Not having my phone was driving me nuts.  DH's phone has been very unreliable, but we had not wanted to spend any money to replace it since he's leaving so soon.  Much as I hated to use the gas, I decide to drive home and get the phone.  When I came home, Josie, the dog, didn't come to the door all excited to see me.  This happened one other time and I found her hiding under Grace's bed, scared or stuck or just having Chihuahua issues.

I searched the house, looking under and around and everywhere, trying to figure out where she could be hiding.  I started worrying that maybe we had left her outside when we went to post and someone had stolen her.  I called the kids and asked them if they remembered if the dog had been in the house when we left.  Both of them said they couldn't remember, but hey, Mom, remember how the gate was open.

I had that horrid moment of certainty when I knew what went wrong.  I almost never go anywhere by myself; the kids are always with me.  Alex usually has the task of opening and closing the driveway gate.  I just suddenly knew when I had come home from the market that morning, I had never closed the gate behind me.  Josie had probably gone outside mid-morning and we never noticed that she failed to scratch at the door to come back in.  She'd been gone all day.

It was awful, but there wasn't much I could do.  I called her and called her, but I figured she'd trotted far away by then.  As the city bus came roaring by our house at top speed, I didn't even want to think about what might have happened to her.  And I had to get back to post for the meeting.  I took a few minutes to make signs with her photo on them that said in Italian:  "The dog is missing.  She is small and brown and black.  She has a pink collar." and my phone number.  I put one on the front gate and one on the driveway gate and left for post again, scanning the streets for her as I drove.

Pre-deployment briefing meetings are hardly enjoyable, being as boring as they are depressing.  The kids knew by now what had happened and were distraught.  We came home around 8 and DH drove around more looking for her.  She has tags, but unfortunately, they still have DH's Georgia cell phone number on them.  Grace was in tears at bedtime, as Josie usually snuggles up with her all night.  I hoped that someone had found Josie and she was at least warm and safe.  It was all very bad.

At about 9:15, the stupid dogs next door started up their barking.  There are several people who live in those apartments and any time any of them arrive home, the dogs bark.  DH couldn't help but go outside and look to see what the racket was about and imagine my astonishment to hear him say, "JOSIE????"

A young Italian man was coming down the street to our house with Josie on a makeshift leash.  I don't think he was expecting a crying blond woman to come running over to hug him and babble "Grazie!  Grazie!" over and over.  I was so relieved and overcome that I didn't think to ask him where or when he found her.  I think he saw my signs or maybe had seen her in our yard to know where she lived.  He was so incredibly nice and I had to force him to take the 20 Euro that I gave him.

There was much happiness and tears and amazement that Josie was home.  It could have turned out so horribly.  As much as I complain about the dog, she is a wonderful little pet and I love her.  She was clearly very tired and hungry.  We gave her some leftover beef stew as a treat and she gladly curled up with Grace and went to sleep.  I'm not sure if she got into some garbage, if the man fed her something, or if just from stress, but she has been puking and having stomach problems all day today. 

 
Needless to say, I will never forget to close that gate again.

Italian Ice

I'm so cold.  It's been getting down to 38 degrees or so at night and the house is like an icebox.  We can't figure out how to turn the radiators on, either.   By poking at the remote control for the AC units, we found we could switch from a "snowflake" setting to a "sunshine" setting and get some warm air to come out.  That makes it just warm enough upstairs to sleep, although getting out from under the covers in the morning is unpleasant.  Well, more unpleasant than usual.  I still have to get past my inital thought every morning of "How did I end up here?"

We pretty much have spent the day wearing multiple layers and huddling under blankets, accomplishing nothing more than an A-Team DVD marathon and many games of Scramble.  After contacting housing yesterday, who contacted our landlord, someone is supposed to come out sometime (this is how Italians work and let me tell you, it is making me all kinds of crazy) to fix it or maybe just help us turn it on.

There is now less than a month before my husband leaves for a year.  I hate having that clock ticking in the back of my brain at all times.  I'm putting a lot of mental energy into not thinking about it, but of course that means I'm probably going to have some sort of spectacular breakdown in the post office when I can't get an envelope open or something.  I'm very much looking forward to our mini-vacation up to Germany for 4 days at the end of the month. 

Sadly, we are going up on the ONE weekend this fall that the Wollmeise store will not be open.  It's only a 5-6 hour trip from here and I think I may zip up there the first weekend in November.  I really want some Wollmeise lace and worsted.  I had a friend visit me last weekend and I pulled out a bunch of my yarn to show her and I realized that having it in the basement was not working for me.  It's too dark there and I can't easily get to it.  So I hauled most of the sock yarn into the garage/office where I can now fondle and admire it endlessly. 

I'm also getting a weird urge to take up weaving.  I need another hobby like I need more plugs in the outlet by my desk (it looks like a safety awareness ad of how to overload a circuit).  But all I would need is the loom thingy, right?  I've got tons of yarn.  I'm smitten by photos of woven projects I've seen.  At first I thought, how many woven rectangle items could I possibly use, but now who cares?  They're gorgeous.  This is possibly an indication of my need for a distraction, much as how I suddenly decided to strip and refinish our bedroom furniture when DH was in Iraq.

Now, if only my fingers would warm up enough to knit.

Judging from Venice, no wonder Columbus got lost

In an effort to make the most of this prison sentence 3 years we are living in Europe, we went to Venice on Monday.  I think some people imagine that being stationed here means we are always zipping off on some fabulous, cultural jaunt.  Not exactly.  DH is almost always working.  He went to Germany again last week and has to go back next week, and oh yeah, then he'll be gone for a year very soon.  The kids do need to get school done most days.  There's the dog that we can't leave alone for more than about 8 hours.  Dropping her off somewhere to be watched or bringing her undisciplined butt with us adds a extra level of difficulty that makes the whole thing not worth it.

But Monday was an American holiday and we really hated that we have been here 3 months without visiting what was our favorite city during our first tour.  And hey, didn't Columbus hang out in Venice? So we drove to the train station and parked (9 Euro, and I'm sure there were cheaper/free places to park, but we didn't realize how much it would be till the end of the day.)  I stepped up and bought our train tickets (34 Euro) in fluent Italian, causing my husband to look at me like, "Wow, that was awesome."

- Don't get too impressed with my Italian.  Yesterday I gave my neighbor a pomegranate from our tree.  They've been giving me gorgeous bunches of leafy lettuce pulled right from the ground and I wanted to try and give something to them.  I successfully asked if they would like a pomegranate and explained that they were almost ripe.  Then I said that they were too heavy for the hotel.  l'albero = tree.  l'albergo = hotel.

Although it had been cool but sunny in Vicenza, when we stepped out of the train station in Venice, the clouds were low and gray and it was chilly.  Still, it's always a sight to walk out of the train station and find the Grand Canal before you.

We set off walking to St. Mark's Square by way of the Rialto Bridge.  There are signs painted on the buildings along the way, but it's still like walking through a crazy maze.  We picked a good day, crowd-wise.  I can remember going to Venice during Carnivale and spending hours shuffling our way through the streets, unable to escape the press of people.  

Here's a tip for visiting Venice.  If you see something in a store you might want, don't hesitate.  Go in and look/buy it.  You'll never find that store again.  I had written down the address of a yarn store in Venice, thinking maybe I could stumble across it or use my iPhone to find it.  Hah!  No way.  The streets are poorly marked, the numbering system is not in any way numerical, and the narrow walkways with tall buildings looming make it impossible to orient yourself.  Venice's motto should be - "You'll Never Get Lost the Same Way Twice."

About half an hour of walking later we were starting to think about eating lunch.  As the mist turned into drizzle and the drizzle turned into actual rain drops, we decided the time was right.  After checking out several pizzerias that didn't appeal, we saw a restaurant that had a Menu Turistico posted in the window, 3 courses for 14 Euro each.

The first course - lasagna for DH & Grace, seafood pasta for Alex & I - was amazing.  Real Italian pasta makes the Olive Garden fare taste like glue.  We were eagerly looking forward to our next courses of baked chicken or fried squid, with french fries for our 3 course (real gourmets we are).  What a disappointment.  The chicken was boring and greasy.  The squid wasn't bad, but really had no flavor beyond the breading and oil that fried it.  The fries were good at least.  The portions were rather small as well.

We had 2 liter bottles of water and 2 cappucinos and that brought our total to 71 Euro.  That's expected for a really good dinner, but I hated paying that much for a below average lunch.  I know Venice is overpriced because of the tourists, but c'mon.  Anyway, minutes later, we were in St. Mark's Square.

The skies had cleared and other than the nasty pigeons everywhere, it was beautiful.  Notice my new Noro stole that I haven't gotten around to blogging yet.  I ended up using it for warmth quite a bit, especially when we went up to the top of the bell tower:

 
(I forgot to take a photo of the outside of the bell tower, so don't think this is mine.)

The line to ride the elevator to the top was only about 10 minutes and for 8 Euro each, we looked out and saw:

We looked down and saw:

It was so cold and windy up there!  That lacy stole was the only thing keeping me warm and it didn't do a bad job.  Yay for wool!

On our walk back to the train station, we had a terrible time finding the way.  There don't seem to be as many signs directing you out of Venice and our feet were tired from making so many wrong turns by the time we crossed the last bridge.  The Regionale trains make stops along the way but are about half the price of the Eurostar direct trains.  Even still, the train going home was exceptionally pokey.

8 hours after leaving our house that morning, we made it back to our car and eventually figured out how to pay and get out of the lot. 

Now, can you tell the other reason why we aren't always traveling the continent?  It's freaking expensive here!  The dollar is rather pitiful against the Euro right now.  Not including the "Italia" sweatshirt we bought Grace to keep her warm or the few souvenirs, the total for the day was:

    - Parking, 9 

    - Train tickets, 34

    - Lunch, 71

    - Bell tower admittance, 32

    - Snack, 12

158 Euro.  That's about $240.  Not the kind of thing we can do every weekend.  We definitely need to research more economic ways to take these kind of trips.  Finding cheaper restaurants, certainly.  Driving instead of taking the train, although gas is not only expensive but also rationed.  What would help the most is if the dollar would gain some strength!

No matter the cost, it was a nice day together and I'm glad we went.  For all it's flaws and pigeons, Venice is unique and breathtaking.

Purple and Green

Sorry, no photos of the haircut yet.  I'm still startling myself when I look in the mirror.  Yesterday looking through some photos from summer, I really noticed how long it was then and how much he cut off.  It's not that it looks bad or that I hate it, but I am definitely not used to it yet. 

How about my eggplant?

The stem, of course, is the removable lid.  I love eggplant.  On my pizza, in my pasta, or just grilled and slapped on a bun.  I have no idea what I will put in this or where it will be displayed, but I adore it.

I started these socks back in February, a time that seems as ancient as the Babylonian Empire to me. 

 

Yarn - Bugga! (nylon, cashmere, merino)by Sanguine Gryphon, colorway, Night Moth 

Pattern - Toe up. The pattern is improvised from a stitch in one of my Japanese books, Knitting Patterns Book 300, stitch #275.  The only change I made was to increase the size of the pattern repeat.

Needles - 2.5 mm

 
The first photo of both socks is more accurate for the color, but this one shows the stitch pattern a bit better.  It's a nice foresty green and I thought a bold pattern would work well with it.  Giant Night Moth is one of the less creepy Bugga! names, at least.  You really can't have an insect phobia and buy this yarn. 

Bugga! (That's the last gratuitous exclamation point I type.  I know it's part of the name, but please.) sock yarn suddenly because one of those super popular, hard to get, stalked for yarns.  I bought some before the height of the craze just because I liked the colors.  It's nice to work with, but a bit thicker than some yarns.  Apparently there's a skinnier version of Bugga out now which I'd like to try, but I'm not up for the virtual elbow throwing required to get it. 

This wasn't a hard stitch pattern and if I worked on them regularly, I could just zip along without needing to read off the chart.  Put them away for more than a few days, however, and it felt like I had never seen it before.  The socks feel cozy and delicious on my feet, so I'm happy with them.  Now if we could just get some weather below 70 degrees so I could enjoy wearing them.

Mixed Results

Good grief.  It's been a couple of days now since anyone had a fever or felt too horribly bad and I've been meaning to write a post each day.  So even though it's 11:18 at night and I should be in bed, I figure I should get a few paragraphs in.  About 5 days ago, Alex finally took his turn with this sickness and I was starting to wonder if we were EVER going to have everyone healthy at the same time.  He's better now except for an annoying cough.  I've still got a few itches and I must say, I'd really rather have 3 days of fever and pain than 3 weeks of feeling like a dog with fleas.  It's got to go away for good sometime, right?  Right?

I did two things out in the Italian world this week.  First, my friend Liz and I went to Nove, which is where all the ceramics factories are.  I went there 16 years ago, but I was so newly wed that I'd never even lived anywhere but a barracks room and had no idea what sorts of things I wanted.  Over time, I've broken the big platter, the two mosaic trivets, and sadly nearly everything else I bought back then. 

This time, I was overwhelmed by all the possibilities and only brought home a new trivet, a spoon rest with pomegranates on it, salt and pepper shakers, and a gift for someone.  Now that I know where it is and it's only 15 minutes from where Liz lives, I can go back and see more places.  I'd really like one of the gorgeous lamp bases I saw and a new platter and probably lots more stuff.  We also wandered into a store with paintings for sale and I fell in love with some small pictures of monks and their monastery.  The man who was there didn't know what anything cost and said his wife knew but she wasn't there.  I want those monks.

The other thing I did today was get my hair cut in an Italian salon.  Three Americans had recommended this place to me and I haven't had my hair cut since April, so I cautiously made an appointment.  I could have gone to the PX salon, but I not heard many positive reviews.  The Italian salon had people who spoke English and Paolo was the one who cut my hair.  Paolo was very serious about his job and I don't think we had too much of a language barrier, but I get the feeling he had an idea of how he was going to cut my hair before I even spoke.

Still, my hair is WAY shorter than I had expected.  I told him that I did not want any part of it shorter than my chin and I think he figured that meant he should cut it to my chin in the front.  He did a gorgeous job with the layers, which when you've got super straight hair is a major challenge.  There's no curl to hide mistakes and I've had too many bad cuts where my layers looked more like chopped off chunks.  I think once I get used to the 3-4 inches that are missing, I will probably like it.  I can still get it into a ponytail so I can live with it.  And in a month when it's grown out some, it will be perfect.  It was expensive too.  48.50 Euro, which is over $70, plus I tipped him.  He did do a good job and it looks great (although short), but thankfully I only get my hair cut two or three times a year.

I was going to show you pictures of my Bugga! socks I finally finished, but it's 11:37 and I haven't even showered yet.

Oh, and I bought one more thing at Nove that really needs a picture to be appreciated.  It's a big eggplant cookie jar like thing.  Liz and I saw it and I said, "I have got to have that eggplant." and she agreed saying, "You cannot leave here without it.  I won't let you."  It's just that awesome.