Long time, no blog!

I know. I know.  Blogging has gone by the wayside for quite some time.  I never even finished up our fall in Italy.  Here is the condensed version.

We arrived back on Whidbey Island on November 17 and immediately dove into our U.S. lives.  The house and Mocha Kitty were both fine. 

We did suffer some damage to our front path as a result of a heavy rainstorm in October.  It is compressed gravel and so much water flowed down it that there were deep channels cut into the ground and a big pile of gravel at the bottom of the path.  Apparently about 5 inches of rain fell in one day.  We thought the  fall was wet in Italy but it seems it was not much different back here.

Thanksgiving was spent at my parents' ski cabin with Mom and Dad, my sister, brother and their families and my cousin John.  It was a very relaxed day but we noticed that the nieces and nephews are almost all adult size.  They no longer go downstairs and watch videos  Instead they sit in the living area and chat with the adults. Well, actually they seem to listen to the adults and text their friends.  It makes for a very crowded living area.

In early December Dom and I made a trip to Florida.  We went to Tallahassee first on business and then to Orlando for the annual Performance Racing Industry trade show.  Dom's brother Frank and his wife Ang met us there.  We all went out to Kennedy Space Center one day which fulfilled a life long dream of mine.

I was not into Christmas this year. Decorating seemed like and awful lot of work but I did put out all the decorations. The tripod for the high powered binoculars was wrapped in white lights and hung with multi-colored balls in lieu of a tree. The Lenox nativity set was arranged and most of the rest of the odds and ends were placed around the house. No outdoor lights but I did put my string of white lights on the deck on a timer so they came on every evening.

My father and I arranged our annual trip to the Space Needle for lunch followed by an afternoon at the Seattle Children's Theater.  Before setting off I took this picture of the nieces and nephews, my parents, sister and sister-in-law.  Peter Pan was the play and I was worried about what the young teen boys would think but they all declared it one of their favorites.  A grand time was had by all.

Christmas Eve was spent at my parents' houseboat for our family tradition of Papa Chuck's salmon chowder, salad, bread and cookies.  Brother Charlie and his family as well as a few friends joined us.  Afterwards Dom and I headed up to the ski cabin where Mom, Dad, Dom and I spent a quiet Christmas Day.

On New Year's Eve Dom and I joined neighbors Dick and Helen Francisco for a fabulous dinner at the Captain Whidbey Inn.  We really enjoyed the evening even if we did not party until midnight.

Since then we have been working steadily on business issues and house projects.  Dom is still busy with his race car.  It is coming along but slowly.  I have several upholstery projects started but far from finished.  The weather here has been quite mild so I have also been trying to get the yard in order.  A few leaves have been moved and the pots are all cleaned up but there is still loads to do.

We have been skiing a number of times although the conditions have not been good.  Nonetheless it has been a lot of fun mostly because we are usually with friends and the cameradery is great.  More snow was falling last night so I am looking forward to next weekend on the slopes.

That is about all for now.  We are heading back to Italy about April 1 so more Italian fare will be forthcoming.  In the meantime I will try to blog a little more often...