Sitting in the (mostly) warm living room. It is funny that energy costs in Italy are four times the costs of other European countries and yet they have NO insulation in their buildings. We too have no insulation and live in a four hundred year (or thereabouts) building made of stone. Even though we have very good windows it remains drafty.

I see it has been exactly a year since my first post. A lot has happened in that year. It kind of amazes me that we could pull off our dream with no serious hitches. Last December I was writing about our up-coming house hunting trip. Today I am in my house in Italy! It was an incredible year. I have to be SO thankful to have found wonderful new friends in Susan and Gary who really helped us immeasurably. I look forward to many adventures with them. We also have found other friends John and Libby who live in Montone and helped us get our Permessi. I thank them as well. Hopefully next year we will be able to get to know them better.

This next year we hope to start traveling some. We think our first trip will be to Barcelona. We can grab a quick and inexpensive trip on Ryan air from the nearby Perugia airport. They fly once a week on Thursday and return once a week on Sunday. That seems to be about right. Other places on our bucket list are Turkey, Croatia and Greece. All three are on the Adriatic so not far away.

I also hope to take some classes in Italian from a school in Citta di Castello. Luther has arranged to practice his conversation with Vera who also cleans our house. He knows all the grammar but just needs practice speaking and understanding.

Tonight there is to be the big celebration Capodanno. Their way of celebrating the New Year. They have set up a bandstand on the Piazza. From what I am told the Umbertidese party until the wee hours. We shall see what they are made of because it is VERY cold here. And the winds are whistling down the narrow streets and through the Piazza. I cannot imagine partying in that cold, or playing instruments. But they have cleaned up after the small market today, readying for the show! We shall see how much noise we get in our new house from a party on the Piazza.

We are going over to Patrick’s Enotecca across the river. We are joining Susan, Gary and Susan’s sister and husband in some wine drinking and light dining. I am not sure I’ll last to midnight as I have a pretty nasty cold but I am up for trying.

Happy New Year!!!

Today is December 30. Almost to the New Year. And what a year 2014 was for us as you all know! And this morning we awoke to a light dusting of snow. So pretty and so nice to be in our own house.

We have done a few errands this week. We found a store called Leroy Merlin which is like a Home Depot. It has a lot of stuff we needed. I got some plastic bins to help organize stuff and some plug adapters. Luther said electrical stuff here is haphazard and I’d say that’s an understatement. Everytime I go to plug something in I need an adapter. They have grounded plugs and ungrounded plugs and the reverse for outlets and I never have what I need!

We also paid a visit to Deruta of ceramics fame. I bought some salt and pepper shakers and a utensil holder for my counter.

We got our stuffa (pellet stove) working. Yay! Keeps the room nice and warm and is pretty festive next to the tree don’t you think?

We also got our grill!!! We ordered a standard Weber grill which I am intimately familiar with. Now I can start cooking but first I need to find charcoal. Baby steps. Luther put the grill together while I was working on lunch for our first guests.

We invited Susan and Gary and Joseph and Paul (all American lunch!) and I decided to buck tradition and make a green pozole since I had shipped some of the needed ingredients. It was a bit different because I had to substitute some stuff but it came out pretty good. Anyway my guests seemed to like it. I think when I cook, if possible I’ll make things that we can’t get here. It is nice to have some variety. We really enjoyed entertaining in our new home!