Saturday, December 12, 2009

December, lovely December

It has been a long time between posts these months. Hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving. We celebrated with Andrea's students and several professors at a nice restaurant that makes the turkey with all the trimmings. I took a ton of photos which Andrea failed to download before clearing my camera disk and I am sorry I have nothing to show of it.

I am exhausted on the house search. We found a lovely place on a mountain that we really like, but we hash over the commute to Bologna and Ray's future schools. But the price, since we expressed interest, has come down almost 30% so it is a tempting choice. However, the offer we made on the house a while back has resurfaced but in the form of a four year rental contract with then possible option to buy (while the owner tries on a new life in Milan with mistress and baby) which initially sounded awful to me, but the offered flexibility has now made me think it is not a bad idea. But I am a little gun-shy of this guy since he backed out an hour before on the signing the original contract ...










Anyway, we are all fine and preparing for Santa. One week left of work at school, the off for three weeks. Wish we were planning to visit the US but instead we will take off for a trip to the Puglia region to celebrate Andrea's 50th. Woohoo! Here are some house photos of the mountain home,with friends Philippa and the girls, in a village called Tra Sasso (translates to "between stoney hills"), and my favorite elf.


(The house is a renovated barn and the brick columns are the original area where the cows were kept - it is now a kitchen with sitting area, and the loft upstairs has original beams. It really is quite unique though it still only has 1.5 baths and the two loft bedrooms would have to be walled in (or curtained, or glassed)- there is another bedroom we would use as Ray's. The views are beautiful and the closest town, Monzuno, is quaint. Oh yes, a photo of Ray with the Monzuno Santa - he was a sad sack who then got teased by the local dudes. That is spiced wine in the copper lined barrel - vin brulè -a yummy treat this time of year.)








1 comment:

Karen Riedel said...

Hi, Christine,

You won't believe this but I have google bookmarked "bologna, italy," and your blog came up. Your place near Monzuno looks amazing. I am researching that area for a novel I am writing, so maybe when I get to the research part, I can pick your brains--and your husband's, too.

If I remember, I gave you some of my plants and my little TV when I left in 2007. I hope they made you happy. Let me know if any of the plants survived. I was back in Bologna February through August, but now I am back in Texas, working in a winery. Love that part, the rest, well, boh.

Are you on Facebook? Let me know.

Karen Riedel