Catching up

It has been busy here and there, but it is mostly very mundane! I’m going to show a few photos and tell you a bit about what we’ve been doing. I finally finished my medical things. Navigating the system is hard for us stranieri. We don’t ever really understand it. But I did it and all is ok and I’m happy. Our two cats will be 16 in August. That’s a pretty old age for cats. So far they seem OK. We can’t decide if Simba is getting deaf. Rocky, pictured below, loves the terrazzo but he doesn’t go far unless we are out there with him. He seems to love the heat(!) which is inexplicable given that thick coat of fur! 😳

On Sunday we were invited to Pranzo at our friend Doug’s beautiful home. Sunday lunch is a tradition here. The best day to get together to eat with friends. Below you’ll see his amazing view. We sat on this terrace and enjoyed that view. It was hot but not in the shade. The beautiful table is next, and finally his coup de resistance- a grand salad Niçoise. Everything he served was cool. Perfect on a warm day.

We saw our friend Vera for a chiacchierata. That means chat in Italian, it is so much easier in English. I still have a hard time pronouncing it! She invited us for a family dinner this Sunday. They will make pizza in the big wood oven.

Today we had a treat. We went to Arezzo to meet our good friends Susan and Gary who live in Florence now. Arezzo is a city in Tuscany about 50 minutes from us driving. It’s about the same from Florence by train. We met up at Osteria 54 for lunch. It had a small menu but plenty of good things to choose from. It was so great to catch up with them. They were our first friends when we moved here. They lived in Umbertide then. They helped us out a lot and we got to be great friends. It’s not that often you meet completely simpatico people. We traveled together and discovered a billion great restaurants together. We all love good food. We had a great time today catching up. We miss one another a lot. We have a trip planned together for October but I’m sure we will see them sooner than then. Picture below is of my appetizer. A cold tomato tartar with burrata cheese in top. Perfect on this hot day.

Otherwise we have been doing some trip planning. The October trip is to Lecce in Puglia. We also have an anniversary coming up so have reserved in a Ligurian seaside town, Sestri Levanti. We were there once before and liked it a lot. And finally our big get-away trip to Austria for a month in the summer to beat the heat. We will have an apartment in the mountains and we will do a couple short excursions from there so I was busy making reservations for those as well. These are all happy things to look forward to. That’s not always the case nowadays. We need some things to distract us from events in our world right now. That’s about it. Enjoy June…happy strawberry moon which is amazing right now! 🌕

10 thoughts on “Catching up

  1. Nancy Hampton Post author

    Hi Matt, he was prettier when he was younger, but then we all are! We have his brother Simba as well.

  2. Carlo

    Hi Nancy! Sounds like some great travels coming up! We enjoyed Lecce—reminiscent of Noto and the Baroque towns of southeastern Sicily. We returned recently from almost a month in South America—Peru, Chile, and Easter Island—a trip of a lifetime. And, we have fond memories of the Austrian Alps, too (though we mostly went to ski in the winter). Hope you have a great time on all the upcoming trips. We’re off to Santa Fe for my birthday in August then, early next year, a cruise to Tahiti and maybe to New Zealand. Buon viaggio!

  3. Matthew Daub

    Hi Nancy – Your little Rocky is quite the looker! I am now down to one cat (from four). Interesting, Enzo has gotten much more affectionate with me since his sister, Giulietta’s, passing. Wishing you and Luther and the boys all good things!
    Matteo

  4. Nancy Hampton Post author

    I Royane, Yep, we get the regular news here. Not fun to watch. Life goes on here in Italy anyway.

  5. royanemosley45

    OH Gawd , tv is on. wonder if you get the who real news there. horrible, anyway, pal, just so loved this posting from you…need to hear what you are doing and must now check on cindy. baci baci

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