Easter to Abruzzo

March was a dreary month here in Italy with cool temperatures hanging on and nearly two straight weeks of rain around Easter. Needless to say, the Easter egg hunting was a wash. Luke did, however, receive two large chocolate eggs from neighbors. The Easter Bunny doesn't include Italy on his basket-giving tour, so in lieu of baskets, one large confection is typically awarded in honor of the season. Easter is probably the largest religious and family holiday of the year here, with children out of school from Good Friday through the following Wednesday and nearly all nonessential businesses closed on Easter Sunday and Monday. We celebrated with a traditional ham dinner with our friends Karl and Laura. It was a nice, quiet holiday, but we missed the services in our churches back home and sharing in a big dinner with our families. Plan on it for next year!

The weather finally improved the last weekend of the month, and we took advantange of the sunny skies for a little trip to the Abruzzo region, due east of Lazio (home of Rome). Abruzzo boasts one of the only national parks in Italy, a densely forested area of the Appennine Mountains. Few foreigners visit Abruzzo, but it is beautiful, austere, and topographically diverse enough to suit both beach and mountain lovers. After crossing over the Appennines, Abruzzo meets the Adriatic Sea, with sparkling turquoise and blue waters. We saw these shores on our driving trip back from Puglia last February and hope to visit the beaches again in summer before we leave Italy.

On the recommendation of our friends the Sowders, we made Agristurismo Le Prata near Scanno our destination for the weekend. Another couple from Ben's work had the same idea and also ended up there for the weekend, making for a nice surprise. This farm B&B is known for its good food and warm hospitality, and it did not disappoint on either account. We had fresh milk and honey, homemade jams and cakes, their own pecorino cheese and fresh sausage and lamb from their farm. The husband-and-wife owners made sure we had everything we need and were very kind to Luke, showing him the animals and letting him play with their own grandkids who came for a Saturday visit. The farm had 700 sheep, 20 cows, chickens, and 20 horses, the latter of which free graze in the mountainsand are used for logging. One mare had come to the farmstead with her colt, only 15 days old ight there in the yard for us to see. Luke (and everyone else) was mesmerized watching the leggy baby eat and explore.

With no phone, tvs, or even radios, it was a quiet stay spent walking the countryside or going into the old hill town of Scanno to see the church and the perfect views of snow-capped mountains in every direction. Scanno was a very quiet town as well, easy to see in a couple hours. We picked up panini in town and then headed for a picnic to the town's Lake. Luke loved the free space to run around and get into mischief like dumping out a bag of chips on the ground.

Though curvy and scary at times, the drive to Scanno was as pretty as the destination. We came through snowy passes with 4-5 feet of snow still stacked pristine and white along the road and blanketing the mountains. Driving in on a Friday, every little town seemed to be a ghost town, but as we left on Sunday, people had ventured out for skiing, sledding, and snowboarding. I thought it would be too late in the season to see the snow, but it was still crisp and lovely. We had a nice visit and hope to return someday to enjoy another quiet holiday, maybe in autumn for hiking through the beech trees.

March Dispatch

Can't believe it's already March with spring just around the corner! Ever delinquent in updating the blog, I’ll try to give you all a report on all the things we’ve been up to lately.

Ben is still working as a submarine planner here and continues to work on his Master’s in Engineering Management through Old Dominion University back in Norfolk. It’s hard to make time for the study when you work all day and just want to relax and play with Luke at night, but he’s plugging along and will finish just the same. His remaining time is usually filled with job searches, checking out different cities and towns we’re thinking of moving back to, and of late, photography (enjoy some of his handiwork here) and all things enological….he’s always reading up on light and shutter speed or how to plant and grow grapes. Maybe vintner will be added to his resume some day! I think he can already claim photographer, in my humble opinion.

I, too, have joined Ben in the pursuit of planning our move back home: the where, when, and how all swirling around in my head most nights as I try to go to sleep. Big changes are in store for us, and we just want it to go as smoothly as possible. I worked most of the day yesterday at Occupational Medicine on Ben’s base, still collecting data for our research project. I gave a brief to the work injury committee and suspect there will be a real push to get this project moving along since many of the key players will move from this duty station during the summer. Nothing like an imminent move to motivate the process!

Luke is the one we should really be focused on in this update. He’s blowing our minds nearly everyday with the new things he has learned to do. He’s a nearly fully independent eater now (if he has his way at least), preferring any food he can manage himself to the runny purees of former days. Today he figured out how to drink a fruit smoothie through a straw! He happily slurped down five different fruits with no protests. A success all around, especially when we discovered the straw was fun to bite and chew on as well. Still cutting his little choppers very slowly, but the top four are visible and with two on the bottom, he makes light work of some foods. His top choice right now, though, is definitely TOAST! This could mean actual toast, a waffle or pancake, even a cheese quesadilla. All can be made in the toaster, and he “oohs” with delight when he hears the toaster oven timer sound his dinner bell. It’s a touch Pavlovian, but at least we know he likes it!

He’s identifying his books by title and likes to “read” through them even on his own. Hugs are now awarded generously to his favorite playmates, Winnie the Pooh, Elmo, and Ellie Phant, a soft blue-gray….well, you guessed it….elephant. He’s a dancing machine, seemingly loving all genres of music, but assigning self-determined dance styles to each. The side to side shuffle is for country and bluegrass music, head-shaking and hand-jiving for guitar rock and some R&B, all out bouncing for fast rock and roll, and we even saw an unbelievable little bootie pump for some rap. This kid is catching on fast!

Of course, it’s not all perfect little moments. He pulled a lamp off a table and tried to grab a pile of dog poop and eat a rock all in one day recently. But even these exploits have a certain charm….in retrospect naturally. Luke is a gift and a joy. I think the thing we are most excited about when we think of coming back home and is that we can so much more easily share him and his ever-expanding repertoire with our family and friends. We’re counting down the days!

Our Visit with Melissa

We were very lucky to have one of my best friends, Melissa, visit us last week. It was great to catch up with her and show her around our little corner of Italy. We stuck pretty close to home, enjoying the local archaelogical sites and of course, the Italian markets, cafes, and ristoranti! No shortage of good food in our area so long as you like classic Italian fare. I think Melissa found it all delicious, especially the gelato. With her business sense, she was suggesting Ben and I start a gelateria when we move back home...so long as we live nearby!

Luke loved playing with Melissa and she was a natural with him, thanks to plenty of experience with her own adorable boys. It was good to have another mom in the house to help Ben and I out with Luke. Luke loved her headband, as you can see above!

We visited the Cuma Archaeological Park, the Flavian Amphitheater, and the Catacombs of San Gennaro, patron saint of Naples. This was our first visit to the catacombs, too, so it was a treat to see such an amazing historical site and the remaining early Christian art. Remarkable to think of the early Christrians worshipping in secret underground churches and building complex systems to bury and protect the bones of the believers. No photography was allowed inside, but the funerary art was typical of early Christian, almost Byzantine-style portraits with all hands outstretched in prayer. Very beautiful in style and color.

Our special dinner out was at Abraxas, our favorite ristorante, where we had wonderful bean soups, the 8-course antipasti, perfectly cooked meats, and the best panna cotta I've had anywhere. Ben was a prince walking around the parking lot with a fussy Luke between each course. There's no such thing as a regular dinner out with a busy one-year old! He was pretty good, though, and we enjoyed our big night out.

It was great reminiscing about old time with Melissa, and we talked about the 10 year high school reunion on the horizon this fall. Can't believe we've been out of school so long or that Melissa and I have been friends for nearly 20 years! Here's to another 20 and then some!