trying again

We will head off to Bozeman tomorrow morning, hoping that this time we really do go. So far so good. Bags packed, laundry done, fridge cleaned out, garden trimmed and watered ~ it has been remarkably mild here for the past few days. This pattern is supposed to hold so we may not have a crispy dead garden when we return ~ papers stopped, library books returned. What have I missed? Have my reading materials at hand: Russ Baker's "Family of Secrets" (about the Bush dynasty), Denise Mina's "Resolution" (mystery set mainly in Glasgow), and "Game Change" (Obama election) by John Heilemann and Mark Halperin. I can read right, left or Scottish. Taking two DVD's courtesy of the Flix®: Precious and The Projectionist. Cait always has a few good ones, too. Besides the humans and the dogs, much to entertain me. After five days with Cait and Mike we head to Spokane, then Portland to visit friends, then home.

We celebrated two birthdays in the Villa Splendido this week. On Monday it was Mr. C's. I invited him out to dinner but he was still too germy, with much coughing and hucking. I decided it was not a good idea to take him out in public. So we dined at home and had a bottle of Cava to mark the occasion. Then on Thursday, Dorothy celebrated her first birthday. She hasn't aged a bit. She performed perfectly the day before when we drove up to Chico, zipping past those big bully semis that clog up I-99.


I like Chico. This is a shot of the recently renovated central park. It's a typical college town with lots of restaurants, shops that cater to the 15,000 students, wide, tree-lined streets with bike paths, bike racks on cars and in front of stores. It was hot and still but not unpleasant. The magnolias and crape myrtle's were in bloom. And, like my own town without the full press of students, quiet and peaceful. I could actually find a parking space and didn't have to be on alert for oblivious bike riders, always a problem here at the beginning of term. I dropped off the oil cloth and Beth and I went to the Sierra Nevada Brewing Company for lunch in the Taproom, the brewery's restaurant.



Good lunch, good to get caught up.

My neighbor is heading to Italy next week. Rome and Florence. Only 8 days to do it all. I went over my notes and gave her some tidbits about Florence, but she has only 3 days there. What can you see in 3 days? Not much. And this is her first trip. I gave the usual list - Uffizi, gelato, coffee, Duomo, Fiesole, Pitti Palace, gelato, a couple of restaurants. That'll be about it. Oh, and don't forget the gelato.