Wow - It Really is Breath Taking Here

One from Patch and Alan this evening ...

Today it was necessary to drag Alan out of his dumgeon (spelling mistake intended!). Dad decided that fresh air was in order - so off the boys went on an adventure - with camera in hand. The two headed up Campo Dei Fiori - the local national park beside Varese. For those in the know this is above Sacro Monte, the small village nestled on the side of the cliff.




Here is Alan in about four foot of snow - the day or two before we go and buy snow boots, proper coats, hats and gloves! This is six days since the last snow fall. The view is due west; the mountain/peak/hill to the left is hiding the sun.

This is a small village - still to be identified - to the north of Campo dei Fiori - suspected to be 'Castello Cabiagliano'.

And beautifully caputured in the setting sun is Sacro Monte itself... isn't it stunning.

Another Stitch - or three - in Life's Rich Tapestry

I grew up with LOTS of sayings which usually began with "as my mother/sister/grandmother would have said...". One of my favourites sayings has always been "another stitch in life's rich tapestry" which I believe is attributable to my Aunty Betty. On occasion I have wished for a slightly less brightly coloured and complicated pattern in the tapestry of my life!

This week Caitlin added a few more stitches to her own life tapestry and to her tummy. She'll be bringing home an Italian appendectomy scar. What started out on Tuesday as a dose of the cold the family were all sharing turned into appendicitis by Thursday evening. Antibiotics from the doctor seemed to settle everything down and after another visit to the doctor on Saturday morning (not an emergency visit - they just work weird hours here) she seemed to be well on the mend. The doc said she could return to school but to go to the hospital if the pain got any worse ...

So, Monday morning 8am off to school (no breakfast)...

Monday morning 9.30 I get a phone call to say Caitlin is in pain. I rush up to school and collect her.

"Hospital?"
"Mmm."

We made a quick stop home for directions to the hospital and to pack a bag on the off chance things would not go well. And then we got to experience A and E in Italy... Because Caitlin wasn't rolling around in agony they didn't seem too concerned with her - more concerned about who and how the account was to be paid... Still - after 7 hours, blood tests, poking, prodding, watching the italian world go by, getting lost, and doing it all in Italian - a surgeon decided it might be best to just take the appendix out. By 5pm we were on our way to a local private hospital set in a beautiful villa, surrounded by snow. 'La Quiete' - quite a picture.

A meeting at 7pm with the head of surgery resulted in a theatre booking for 1pm Tuesday afternoon... drips, intravenous antibiotics and still no food. Turned out Caitlin actually had peritonitis - and a high threshold of pain.

Two more days in hospital and finally Thursday morning she got to eat real food - dry bread - tasted like nectar of the gods to her! Then a visit from the Professor Thursday afternoon and we got to go home about 4.30pm. Happy, happy, happy dance - well - slow shuffle really.

We are now safely home, ensconced in our own beds once more and looking forward to finally getting the christmas tree up for 2008. We're a long way from Christmas '07 and the tapestry is much richer and more vibrant for the experience.

Cheers all!

Snow, Snow, Snow!

The locals try to tell us that it rarely snows in Varese - maybe four days a year. BUT! It has snowed twice this week.

Patch came and wakened me about 6.30 on Monday morning to tell me we were living in a 'winter wonderland'. Indeed it was! Of course I had to run around like an idiot in silk nightie and sheepskin boots, waking the kids to come and look... After dressing warmly they made the most of it all.

- at this point I retired to the diginity (and safety) of the lounge - just in time!

Alan made a great snowman and he lasted several days - after Caitlin headed to school, I arrived home to find the snowman somewhat anatomically altered - definitely a snowMAN.

Varese set out to outdo itself on Friday and after a clear start to the morning it began to snow about 8.30am. And it snowed and it snowed and it snowed! The place looked gorgeous and out came the camera - again!

Soon it became far too difficult to drive - the road was too slippery to negotiate and so we settled in for a long day at home. Luckily enough Caitlin was not at school (touch of appendicitis! - all clearing nicely now). Finally about 2pm the falling snow flurries turned to gentle rain and the snow on the roads became slushy enough for the tyres to get a grip. We now proudly possess ice scrapers for the windscreens and chains for the tyres and sometime - very soon - we'll be getting lessons on how to put them on the car...

Supporting Patch in Movember

Hi All,

During Movember (the month formerly known as November) I, Patch, am growing a Mo. That's right I'm bringing the Mo back because I'm passionate about tackling men's health issues and being proactive in the fight against men's depression and prostate cancer. To donate to my Mo you can either:

Click this link https://www.movember.com/nz/donate/donate-details.php?action=sponsorlink&rego=2154336&country=nz and donate online using your credit card, or

Write a cheque payable to 'Movember Donations Account', referencing my Registration Number 2154336 and mailing it to:
Movember
PO Box 12 708
Wellington 6144

Remember, all donations over $10 are tax deductible and you'll get a receipt.

The money raised by Movember is used to raise awareness of men's health issues and donated to the Cancer Society of New Zealand and the Mental Health Foundation of New Zealand. These two charities will use the money raised to fund research and increase support networks for those affected with prostate cancer and experiencing depression.

Did you know:Depression affects 1 in 10 men....Most people who experience depression make a full recovery. The first step is seeking help. Last year in New Zealand 2,700 men were diagnosed with prostate cancer and more than 600 died of prostate cancer - (that's nearly two each day).

Photos of the team here in Italy will be forthcoming at the end of the month giving evidence that we did the hard yards here where the mighty manly Mo's aren't big in the fashion stakes!

Thanks for your support everyone.

Patch

Birthday Weeks

Patch and I have been having our birthday weeks just recently. As our birthdays are exactly a week apart we long ago decided to make the most of the intervening and following period.

My week started on Sunday with a trip to the (english speaking) All Saints Church in Milano for Remebrance Day services. This required an early start, paniced adjustments to jacket buttons and hairdos, and a couple of muesli bars grabbed on the run. The service was LOOOOOONNNNNGGGGG and mostly sung. Instead of a sermon there was an address delivered by the second in command of the Brit contingent from the local NATO base. His name is Rupert - this appealed to me immensely - a rupert called Rupert! Most suitably named.

An aside - I love those names that match or are appropriate to peoples work - in Marton the local undertaker was named Death. A couple of days ago I read in a magazine about a woman called Sally Styles who is the registrar for the Hairdressing Council in England; Sally Styles the hairdresser!

From the service we drove out to the War graves at Treno where wreaths were laid by the Consul Generals of New Zealand, Britain, and India, also from South Africa. It was very moving to walk through the graave stones and read the names. Many were only in their early twenties. Sometimes whole crews were buried together when an aircraft had crashed. Most of those marked in the cemetry were prisoners of war. A very sombre and emotional visit.

We returned to the city for drinks and nibbles at the British Consul but by 3pm starvation was setting in and we made for the nearest restaurant. Hunger aleviated we next called to visit some American friends in the northern suburbs. We have hardly seen them since leaving the hotel where we all spent our first few months. One quick coffee turned into three hours and a couple of wines. Great time!

A final half hour drive home saw us arrive in time to open birthday cards, have a feed of smoked salmon and a celebratory glass of bubbles before birthday phone and skype calls. Lovely, lovely way to finish the day.



Piccie of my birthday presents still to arrive... Patch (and John and Les - thanks for the birthday money!!!) have bought me two of these candelabra. They are silverplated and 75cm tall, holding five candles. They will look stunning on the dining table - especially for Christmas.












The other purchase is a four poster wrought iron bedstead - hopefully it will arrive later this week. I've wanted one of these for years and years and this is the loveliest one I've seen - crisis measuring after ordering it to check that it would in fact fit in the room height... thanks to a sloping roof I'm okay.




One of the other Kiwi girls is having her birthday today - it must be the season! Happy birthday to all the scorpios out there.

What we have been up to...

Simple post - and about time for another one I hear you say!

Well - we have been busy. Caitlin has this week off school for half term. The week leading up to it was full of tests, and a testing time it was too. Another new experience. She ahs been to three parties ove rthe last two weeks and is getting well into the social scene although finding the students very immature compared to what she is used to.

Alan and I have begun our Italian lessons. We go three mornings a week for about 10 weeks. It's an intensive 'Italiano per Stranieri' (Italian for foreigners/strangers/Aliens/immigrants) course. The lady running the course is lovely, with gorgeously Manchester accented English. The others in the course come from Germany, Holland, Russia, France and China; what a mix. All have a reasonable amount of English so that is the default language in the class.

Alan is getting in touch with a local rugby club and hoping to join them for the season in order to work on his fitness and as an opportunity to meet people his age. The social life here for him is slim and far from satisfying, although he is making friends.

Barry was quite sick for about three weeks but has finally come right with the aid of antibiotics. Work is a little stressful and getting more so, but different from home. He is getting into Karate here with a group about 20 mins down the autostrada. They have swapped his Kempo grading for the equivalent in Karate but he is finding it a little challenging as some things are the same and some quite different. Still, this is helping him to take a mental and physical break from the work stuff.

I've just finished working with a seminar group doing the same Master of Education programme I did back in 04/05. It was a fabulous opportunity and helped to restimulate the synapses. Also great to get a chance to give a little back to teh community from which I have got so much.

Sometime ago we meet a kiwi woman from Milano. She's been living here for about 18 years and has a 15yo son and 13yo daughter. They came to stay for a weekend a month ago and this weekend Natalie and Jess are coming to stay again. Caitlin and I will pick them up from Milan tomorrow and they train back on Sunday. Go the expats!

Going to be up to watch the All Blacks together 9am (our time - exactly 12 hours out from NZ time) Saturday morning. Think of us as you all watch the game... we're watching at the same time. Spooky really. Go BLACK!

Weather is turning much colder now, perhaps because the clocks changed last weekend. Today we really only made it to 10deg. The view of the lake is improving as autumn takes its toll on the trees. Caitlin said the trees are coated in honey wholegrain mustard leaves. It's a perfect description!

Mondiale - Seeing the World in Varese

(Alternatively titled) - How to Meet the Natives
(Alternative alternate title) - Why we Need to Change the Flag

Over the last week Varese has hosted the World Road Cycling Championships. There have been hordes of people from all over the world visiting here to support their teams. Couldn't find anything out here about a New Zealand team so eventually researched and found the bikeNZ website. They had a list of the cyclists competing in Varese. The challenge was then on - we had to be the best support team they could have - Didn't we????

Thursday saw the Men's time trials passing along the road just above us. We parked ourselves in the open gateway of a (Canadian) friend's house and drapped her fence with New Zealand and Canadian flags. And along came the locals...

"Ahhh" smiling and nodding at the flag. "Where were we from?"
Nuova Zelanda, we cheerfully respond.
"Ohhh!" knowing nod.
Many smiles and more nodding.
"We live across the road from you."
Yes, that's right, we agree.
"Ahhh" more smiling and nodding.

We had some funny conversations in 'Itanglish' - a mangled version of Italian and English - when we discovered that our house had been visited by robbers and we had had the police in. Nothing of the sort had happened but we now know who the looney in the street is! Apparently she told the neighbours some great tale about what had occured whilst they were on holiday over the previous two weeks.

Also met a lovely young Italian mum with her 9 month old baby, Archimede. Most Italians think she and her husband are crazy - they gave their child an unusual name - you don't do that in Italy. This explains why every second bloke you meet is called Massimiliano or Guiseppe or Marco.

On Saturday and Sunday we went up into the city and set up camp beside the track cheering first the women and then the men on the road races. The women complete 8 laps of a 17 km track and the men 15 laps. We waved our huge Kiwi flag and screamed ourselves hoarse. And we had a ball! Most people who stopped to chat thought we were Australians. They vaguely recognised the flag or had a relative in Aussie or had visited Aussie or... and had no idea what or where NZ was. The similarity of the flags required constant explanation. We need a new flag! Sometimes they would suddenly exclaim - "All Blacks!" and then we knew they'd got it. At least the Canadians and the Welsh we met knew a bit more.

Mid men's race on the Sunday we suddenly heard someone calling out "Kiwis!" and there across the road were the NZ women's cycling team. They recognised us from the previous day and wanted to say hello and thanks for the support. What a buzz!

So we may not have been the largest support crew, Or the most colourful, Or have the longest flag pole, Or the weirdest costumes ... But we had fun and our team appreciated it. I guess that is why I stood in one spot for seven hours - to meet the world AND to get a little touch of home.