July-August 2007

Hi Everyone. Silver here (I'm the Weimaraner that really runs the show around this house -- but I'm smart enough to let Mommy and Daddy think they are the ones in charge).

Since Mommy has been lazy about updating her blog, I decided to take matters into my own paws because there are some noteworthy things to mention about the past two months. To be fair to Mommy, she has been very busy at 'work' (I know this is their secret word for 'park' when they don't want me to go with them! so rude...) and she was also sick for a while... but we'll get to that.

First of all, we'll go all the way back to mid-July when Mommy had her birthday. She kept complaining about turning 29 and how this was the last year of her youth or something. Humans. Who understands them? Anyway, they went away to a place called The Mountains for a long weeked, and they actually had the nerve to leave me at home! Can you believe it? Well, I say they left me at home, but they didn't really. They took me to visit my Grandmommy and Granddaddy, and that's always fun because I get to spend time with them and be spoiled, and I also get to play with my other friends named Charlie, Rasta, and Millie (there's also another animal there called a "cat" named Caoilin but she swats my nose a lot. It's almost like she doesn't like me or something, but that can't be possible. I hear she does this a lot though, so I don't take it personally). I love spending time at their house because they have a huge yard and a swimming pool, even though I don't swim. But the best part is when Mommy and Daddy come to pick me up and they tell me all about their trip! Apparently while they were in The Mountains they stayed at a little log cabin called the Carolina Wren which was beautiful and very quiet. They also went to the Biltmore Estate and saw beautiful pieces of architecture, important pieces of art, and relaxing gardens. The food was pretty good too, so they say. Their favorite restaurant was actually at the Biltmore Village and it was called The Corner Kitchen. However, they didn't really have any bad meals there. They always talk about food when I'm around. It's not fair. They also drove up the Blue Ridge Parkway for a while to enjoy the scenery. The Smokies aren't particuarly tall mountains, but they are very beautiful.

Just two weeks after they got home from their "vacation" (I don't know how they can possibly have a vacation without me; I can't imagine that would be any fun for them at all), all of a sudden, with no warning to me at all, they traded me at some shopping mall and off I went home with Grandmommy and Granddaddy again before I even realized what was going on!!! That was sneaky! I thought I was smart but they really pulled the wool over my eyes on that one.

Anyway, a few days later, I was returned to Mommy and Daddy, but it wasn't at my house. It was at a different house which had lots of strange smells, and also a lot of similar smells. I wasn't sure what to make of it all. After it became clear that we would not be leaving this place, I discovered that they had moved homes while I was with Grandmommy and Granddaddy. They weren't able to move directly from our old house into our new one, so they had to stay with a friend for a day or two, and they didn't want me to feel concerned about our lack of a house, so they sent me off for a while instead. I can understand their worry, but really, if they had just explained it to me, I would've been fine! But, what's done is done, and we're in this new place which is beautiful and it also has a nice fenced yard for me to play in. There are also a lot of cats in the neighborhood that I can look at! That's fun!

The only thing I don't like is the floor. It's so slippery. Mommy and Daddy call it "hardwood" and they seem to love it, but they don't go sliding around all over the place! it's also a lot closer to where they 'work' so I get more time with them at lunch. That's very nice!

In mid-August, my Granddaddy and my aunt Alix had a birthday party! I met her new boyfriend, Ian, and of course I saw all of my friends at Grandmommy and Granddaddy's house. That was a lot of fun. I missed Champ though. He wasn't around. That's too bad, because I like Champ!

A few weeks after we moved to the new place, Daddy's best friend from Italy, Valeria, came to visit for three weeks. She's working on finishing her PhD so it's sort of a working vacation for her. Unfortunately, I don't have any pics of her yet because she bought a very fancy camera here and she's been the one taking all the pictures! But once I have copies of them, I'll post them up, I promise! Valeria is a lot of fun; she's so nice to me. We all have a good time together and she gives me lots of attention (which is no less than I deserve, of couse, but it's nice when humans recognize how special I am).

A few days after Valeria arrived, Mommy woke up on Friday night -- technically it was Saturday morning -- around 4:30am with a lot of pain in her lower back and side. So these strange men came and they took my Mommy off in a weird-looking truck with lots of lights. First, I was put into my crate, but just before she left I was let out of it because Valeria said she could look after me. But what happened to my Mommy really scared me. And then Daddy left too in his car! I was inconsolable. Valeria tried to calm me down but I was so nervous; I just knew something really bad had happened to my Mommy. I was worried I might never see her again. Fortunately, that was not the case! Mommy and Daddy came home around 10:30am, and I was so happy to see them! However, it was clear that there was something very wrong with Mommy. She was on a lot of drugs! She went straight to bed and I stayed with her for the next three days. Usually when she's sick, I avoid her like the plague (except when it comes to sharing the sofa, because I like sitting on the sofa and if she happens to be there, well there's not a lot I can do about that). But this time I knew that she was really needing me to be there for her, so I stayed very close to her all weekend. I don't really understand what was wrong; they kept talking about a "kidney stone" but I don't know what that means. All I know for sure is that Daddy carefully watches Mommy's fluid intake, and if she doesn't drink enough water, he tells her to drink more in the same tone of voice he uses if I do something naughty -- which, of course, is very rare. Anyway, Mommy is back to normal now and we've been able to do fun things together with Valeria.

So, there you have it. The past two months in a nutshell. Oh, one more thing, even though this is technically September, I have to tell you good people about my experience yesterday. I went to have my annual exam at the vet, Dr. Jon, who is very nice, but those people violate me in all kinds of weird ways. Oooh, I don't like going there! Mommy says it's for my own good, but I'm not convinced.

Hugs and licks

xxx

Silver

ITALIA 2007!!!!

(note: I have posted a few pictures here but if you want to see them all, please click on "my website" tab on the right)

Well, it's been a while since I've posted. I know y'all have all missed them terribly, but the fact is that the winter was relatively quiet. Apart from attending Ellie's wedding in January

and going to Wilmington for Edo's birthday at the beginning of April,

we didn't do a whole lot of noteworthy things.

But that all changed on May 21st, when we flew the coop from Raleigh to Venice (by way of New York JFK, London Heathrow, and Milan Malpensa). We arrived in Venice at 11pm on May 22nd, and stayed with a friend of Edo named Sara. She's a very lovely girl and we all had a good time together. The weather was hot and humid, but not "North Carolina in August" humid, so when the breeze blew off the canals, we were able to really enjoy ourselves. In Venice we ate fantastic seafood, gelato, and pizza (of course!). We walked around the canals, through St. Mark's Square, and into churches with highly important pieces of art.

I tried to get into the routine of speaking and listening in Italian but, being lazy, I did tend to speak in English whenever possible. Sara speaks English quite well so it was easy to communicate.

She works as a restorator -- Venice is definitely the place to be for a restorator -- and she's currently working on a church that she allowed us the privilege of entering to see the restoration "in action". That was a cool experience... usually those kinds of things are way off-limits for we mere mortals.

On Friday afternoon we headed off to Bologna, or more specifically, Castel San Pietro Terme, a spa town approximately 10 minutes by train from Bologna. We met up with Edo's friend from school, Enrico, his wife Nicoletta, and their 18 month old boy, Davide. Or, based on their own admission of the hierarchy in that household, Davide, Nicoletta, and Enrico! Nicoletta is a wonderful cook and she made us a lovely dinner; then the five of us went for a stroll (Davide quite literally went for a stroll, in a stroller) to relax and encourage Davide to go to sleep.

They live in a beautiful town. Nicoletta and I had the opportunity to talk girl-to-girl (one thing I missed with Sara, unfortunately) and we got along really well. Enrico is also a really nice guy; it was clear when I met him why he and Edo are such good friends. They are very similar in personality and character, and even physically they resemble each other a bit. Sadly, we were only able to stay there for one night because Saturday we had to head "home" to Ivrea, near Torino (Turin) from whence Edo's family comes.

In Ivrea, I met Edo's mom and his oldest brother, Enrico. We stayed there until Tuesday afternoon. It was a nice time; his family is lovely, but they don't speak much English (his Mom speaks none at all; his brother reads it well but doesn't speak so much) so it was Italian pretty much 24/7, except when Edo and I were alone. We didn't stay at the house with his Mom and Enrico, but we did stay with his Uncle and Aunt who live a few minutes up the road. Everyone was very friendly and kind, and his mom, who has been a hairstylist pretty much all her life, even gave me a free haircut :)

Ivrea is an incredibly picturesque town; possibly one of the most beautiful cities I've ever seen in Italy and indeed in all my travels throughout the world. It sits at the base of the Alps, and there is a river flowing very rapidly through the center.

According to Edo, several Olympian rowers come from that area, which is not surprising considering their practice waters! The city itself is home to approximately 25,000 residents, so it's a rather small town, but still has all the cool shops that Raleigh/Durham is missing :( and an atmosphere that makes it seem busier than it is by virtue of the number of people in the streets and piazzas. One thing that I'll always miss about Europe compared to America is the piazza. People are always out and about, and it's nice.

We did run into Edo's friend Lisa who lives in Ivrea; it was totally random, but I was glad to be able to meet her. It was a brief introduction, but I know her through emails.

On Tuesday we made it to Torino, the big city in the Piedmont. It's a bit like Milan, but cooler (sorry all you Milanese out there -- it's nothing personal). It's a city of about 1 million people and it too is bustling and interesting.

There is a very active cultural and artistic life which includes the following: a building with a piercing, neon lights spelling out famous quotes from Italian authors speckled throughout the city, the National Museum of Cinema which was AWESOME -- we saw the history of cinema from shadow puppetry to MGM and such items as a contract signed by Jimmy Stewart and costumes from "Lawrence of Arabia" -- plus signs throughout the city describing important writers living in Torino (and then killing themselves... I don't get it.. I guess they're tortured souls or something. Artists!)

We did manage to see some of Edo's friends from the university while we were there. That is one of the ugliest buildings I've ever seen. But everyone was friendly there and they were really happy to see Edo! We also had dinner with two of Edo's friends from school who still live in Torino, Marina and Paolo (and their new baby, Alice). It was a wonderful meal and they both speak English really well so it was really easy for me to understand the conversation!



On Friday afternoon we headed back to Milano to spend a couple of days there visiting friends before our flight home on Sunday morning. Before we left, however, we were able to arrange a meeting with Edo's middle brother, Gualtiero, and his girlfriend Giulia.






We basically crossed each other in Torino for all of one hour, so we sat at a cafe near the train station and hung out for a while. It was nice to meet them finally. They seem like very nice people.





When we arrived in Milan, we met up with Federica and Andrea, Edo's friends







and with my old friend, Luca. We went to a bar to have "aperitivo" which is a sort of pre-dinner drink and snack, but you can get as much food as you want so essentially you can make an entire meal out of an 8-euro drink if you want to, but we decided to hold out for the sushi restaurant Luca recommended. We drank sake and ate gyoza, edamame, and sushi, and by the end of the night I was pretty drunk ;) Luca invited us to Switzerland for a dinner the next day, but we decided that since it was our last day in Italy and our flight was very early on Sunday morning, we'd be better off staying in Milano with Federica and Andrea. Luca was kind enough to find us a hotel close to the airport though, so we didn't have to sleep in the airport the night before!

Sunday morning we came back home after almost two weeks of fantastic food, way too much wine, and seeing lots of people that we love and miss back here in the US. It's good to be home, but Europe will always be with me.

The one thing I would do differently the next time around is, instead of going all over the North of Italy to see all our friends, I would like to rent a villa in Sardinia or Elba and we can all converge there for a couple of weeks! Also, my dear friend Cat was in Italy at the time (in the South, though) and we weren't able to meet up :( So next trip might be back to England to visit her, or maybe we'll arrange a time to go and stay with her family in Roma!