On the way out...

Just to give us a kick in the pants on the way out the door, a construction crew started grading the empty lot next door yesterday. The good news: we'll be missing the first 5 weeks of construction noise. The bad news: we'll be returning to a construction site. Oh well, it's good thing we only agreed to 6-month lease renewal last time, which expires in March. We may be moving to a new place soon.

A Bit of "Malaise"

We're just dealing with some last-minute glitches here, including a laptop that freaked out and had to be re-formatted (no important data was lost, thankfully).

Ran across a NY Times article about the "malaise" in Italy these days; I can't vouch for it in its entirety, but it does ring true, based on our limited experience.
Link: In a Funk, Italy Sings an Aria of Disappointment

Here I am with a pair of great-aunts and my cousin Isabella (I didn't really like having my picture taken, can you tell?)

Preparations.

There's a few days left until our departure, just wrapping up some work projects and setting our affairs to function in our absence. There's little apprehension this time: it's our fifth trip since 2001, and we've logged about 6-months time in Italy. Our Italian is still not very good, but we know it will serve us in most circumstances that we are likely to encounter.

We're also clear about what we really need to bring, and what we can easily pick up there. There'll be no bicycle case on this trip (too cold this time of year) or painting gear; just clothes, cameras, a laptop, and few small items for family members.

There have been a series of wildcat strikes in Italy in recent days -- truckers, airport workers -- but the news today is that the situation is being resolved.