Merry Christmas, Darlings

It's that time, again, and already. Though I have not been in touch with anyone consistently, please do know that I am thinking about you. I bought my ticket home for a 5 day visit in June that seems almost not worth mentioning, and am hoping hoping hoping for some stateside visitors to come to see me.

Halfway into my first week home from work - the school is closed for 3 weeks so I have a generous break. Winter has been good to us so far with only one snowfall that required a plowing of the drive. I hope it continues this way and though we were fortunate to not get hit with the storms the rest of Europe is suffering through, we have some very cold temps. Lovin' the fireplaces, I must say, and I look forward to opening the Winter Pimms that recent visitor from London, Agnes, brought with her.

Christmas eve will be celebrated at friends Harriet and Robbie' house, with Katherine, Julia and a total of 6 kids including Ray. I am making gyoza! Christmas day is planned in Lugo with a lunch reservation at a restaurant (my mother-in-law is breaking tradition as it was her idea). Then we head to the Marche to see the Hoddell's who are here for a few days from their new residence in Kenya. All good.

Monzuno is as beautiful this time of year as she is in the summer. The views and sunrises are spectacular and in our little microclimate here, we can see the heavy clouds below us and often we are ten degrees warmer then at the bottom of the mountain. A nice surprise as we expected to be freezing more than the town residents!

Wishing you the best for Christmas and a great New Year. Memories of past celebrations, and the making of new ones, keeping me sane while I miss my family and friends.

Hitting close to home, again...

A message from a best friend from high school, Jim Shargo. Sisters, I think you remember Beth and certainly you heard about Lori O. passing away this summer. We all have so much to be grateful for.



just heard from marybeth h that beth c passed away suddenly, sometime over the thanksgiving weekend...no cause of death is known at this time (not a heart attack or stroke, and supposedly she was not ill)...marybeth gleaned the info from several of our former classmates facebook pages so the details are kinda sketchy...beth left behind two young sons...wot the fuk, this kinda shit just should't happen...it's times like this that bring home the realization that life is so fucking fragile and that at any given moment everything you take for granted could be taken away without warning or reason...i just want you to know that despite all the years, the miles, the good times and all the bullshit we shared i treasure the memories of our misspent youth and value the friendship we had...love, jim