The early blooming trees are out! I think they must be cherry trees. Pale pink blossoms. Very delicate.

It has not been the most interesting week but some progress was made as well as some non-progress but not for lack of trying.

First, we got our zanzariere installed on all of our windows so we are ready for the warm breezes. Boys, enjoying the view though the screened door.

Second, Signore Tizziano delivered our guest bedroom furniture. I decided to go with a color to liven up the room. Now I am having second thoughts. Oh well.

OK so that was the progress. The two steps back was trying to find out about the Lifestyle class we are supposed to take. The problems all started way back in November when the Questura called us to come sign a form. At that time it was already past the date for our assigned class. We think we were supposed to sign that form when we put our papers in and got fingerprinted but they forgot to do it. Thus, we were too late. So, unable to get anyone on the phone to ask because the phone number on the form is wrong (!) we decided to pay a visit to the office in charge which is in Perugia. We did this. They didn’t know what to do and told us to come back.

The good news is that we were meeting friends in Perugia for lunch so we combined the trips. So at least we had some fun. The weather was spectacular. We met old friends Linda and Ron along with two of their friends who are living in Florence for a year. These friends don’t want to go back but their house in the US has not sold yet. They are also not sure they want to buy in Italy. Now would be the time to do it though! The Euro has dropped around 30% since we came. This is both good and bad news for us. The good news is that our dollars go a lot farther for everyday expenses now. The bad news is that since we bought our house last spring we were at the peak strength for the Euro and it has lost that value, at least in dollars, making our house investment lose in value. All complicated. Luckily most of our assets are in dollars. But if any of you want to buy here, now would be the time!!