Whew!!!!

We are in Italy, in Tuscany, finally, the land of gastronomic dreams.  We came with visions of daily open-air markets, in one town or another, and expectations of vast stretches of green, growing abundance uninterrupted by cities or even the tiniest hint of sprawl;  looking forward to, "a culture of food," as Barbara Kingsolver says is practiced in the daily lives of Italian families, beyond what we, even in beautiful, bountiful Arcata, could ever hope to find  What we have found is somewhere in between the visions promulgated in dozens of travel books and the pure cynical view that everything changes and nothing could possibly be as quaint as one might hope.

Unfortunately, after a dearth of internet cafes in the small towns there are (and really there are plenty), and after learning how to ask where the library is in Italian, the library in the small, but touristy, town of Vinci (you guessed, it the birthplace of Leonardo Da...though his actual birthplace is 3 kilometers away) does not allow the use of USB devices.  Very sorry, molto spaciacente, for this post there are no pictures.

How can I possible tell the story of our travels without pictures?

Well, suffice it to say that yes we have stories, along with hundreds of pictures, many of them (bless Rocky's ever-lovin' heart) of heat pumps (some mini-splits, some simply air-conditioning units) but most of them will have to wait until we can plug in our USB for the accompanying photos...because some of the stories are dramatic.  Did that get your attention for next time?

I will tell you that we are currently operating under wine bliss having spent an hour this afternoon with a real Tuscan wine artisan who, along with his parents, uncle, aunt, wife and kids, makes only 120,000 bottles of wine a year from 15 hectares of grapevines (don't ask me what a hectare is yet).  We toured, he explained, we tasted...yes I said WE.  After 25 years of abstinence Rocky has broken his vows with, I am proud to say, absolutely no ill effects and no indication of a tendency to over do.  After 18 years of marriage we have finally shared a glass of wine with lunch (that's how it's done here in Italy).  Mousey, now Abish, and Quail, now Squeal are very delighted with their adventures, and we plan to keep them that way.

More later...sometime in the next day or two.

Ciao