Dust ... Yes It Is Everywhere

No new volcano news today ... thank goodness, but tons of stranded travellers are here waiting to get out. Marco Polo Airport is supposed to re-open today but the haze here is terrible. We shall see. I thought of going down to Venice today for lunch but stayed home as I expect the crowds are pretty thick ... and unhappy.
We went to Venice a week or so ago and it was amazing. I was in the middle of reading a book called "The City of Falling Angels" by John Berendt (of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil fame) which is about the burning of the famous opera house in Venice called "The Fenice". So, as we were wandering around Venice looking at things like:

while trying to decide if we should ride in the orange crushed velvet with pompoms and fringe pimped out gondola

or the more taditional but also more subdued type:

My husband, who never thinks of these things, says "Hey! Let's go look at that building you are reading about." And so we did. I wish now that I had finished the book first and so I will have to go back because they have rebuilt it and when you stand in the street, 6 feet from the building next to it, you see why, at the beginning of the book, the fear was that all of Venice would burn. It was incredible there!
In other news, I recieved a shipment of wool yarn from Stone Hedge Mills. It is gorgeous and I will try to take pictures and get them up. They did a fabulous job and I have already started a shawl in the black/silver. What will I do now that I have no fleeces of my own to send them ... yikes!

I can see the trees

Through the window ... blossoms fly

Following the wind.

Geek Needed ...

I know I have an Italian IP address now ... and that I live here and all ... but I really need to find a way to make Google and Yahoo  and every other thing on my computer stay in English. Really. My Italian is bad at best and while I am trying to improve it this is not helping ... it's like that version of Word that used to guess what you wanted to write while you were typing and then didn't want to admit it was wrong. I need less help that way.
But Italy is every bit as amazing as I thought it would be. A few weeks ago I toured the castle town of Valvasone. They have been renovating the castle for twelve years and today they were able to allow people in to see the "Gaming Room".  Here is what it looked like in the town while I was there:

And then we toured the two Churches there which are famous for their frescos:

And then we had an amazing lunch ... for about 2 1/2 hours. LOL

The internet here is hellish ... but if I can, I will write again tomorrow about my trip to Venice. I will say that I am finding some amazing inspiration for new yarn colours and can hardly wait for my things to get here. In about 2 weeks I should be able to get back up and running ... I'll keep you posted.

I hear the door lock ...

Then the rattling of paper

The scratching of lead.

My Life is Like …

a bad Country and Western song of late. My dog was  bit on the foot, I have a cold, the dog was left in Amsterdam for 4 days, and until the day before yesterday our house hunting was going no where. But, we now have a house to rent and JennietheDog’s foot is getting better (thanks to some high powered antibiotics and two drainage holes), my cold is in it’s final stages and I had a decent nights sleep at last.
Enough whining. Italy is beautiful and the people here are amazingly welcoming. They love dog’s so JennietheDog is spoiled rotten by the maids here and we even found some sheep for her to stare longingly at the other day. It has rained/fog/misted everyday but one since we arrived. The other day however was beautiful and I was able to get a picture of the mountains at last.

Our house in the middle of the village of Aviano so I will be able to walk to the open market, the pastry shop, the library(for Italian lessons), the butcher, the poulterer, and the cheese and milk shop.  It should make my life very easy I think.
I will try to take more pictures when the weather improves.

Resting on the clouds

This morning’s moon slips away

I head off to work.

Moving On

Well I am almost a month post surgery and so far none of my household goods are Italy bound (that will occur the week of March 11) and I have managed 36 stitches in the Continental style of knitting.  My surgeon says with luck I may be able to drink a glass of water with my right arm by the end of March … it’s the little things you miss …LOL! I seem to be spending most of my time dreaming up new colourways for the shop and new stranded knitting projects to work on once I am legal to knit again. So far I have a lace scarf in mind in a thistle pattern, a pair of Nordic mittens, and the ubiquitous socks that all have to come along with me in my luggage. We fly out on the 16th of March which means if all goes well my first full day in Italy will also be my birthday!!

JennietheDog  has been busily defending the homestead from a vicious onslaught of tumbleweeds … wonder what she will try to herd when we get to our new home?

The wrens all bathe here

In the dust around my gate

So many footprints.

Well Italy is looming on the horizon as is my arm surgery. One I am looking forward to and the other ... not so much. We will probably start the shipping our household out in mid February so now comes the time of deciding which knittting projects are "Have to Have's" and which can be mailed and which I can wait upon. I suspect the return to knitting to be slow but I think it will actually help in my recovery.
We have started the Italian House Hunting Project ... and they seem pretty good. Some even have kitchens in them already. What you say? Yes , it is not uncommon to rent a house that has nothing but the walls in it. No sinks, no counters, no nothing. So, we will look for something wioth some land for JennietheDog to run on and maybe I will get a few chickens. I few people we know have actually bought homes there ... and I cannot rule that out. I just hope we have a "view".

This is my view now. So I think the bar is a bit high. LOL

JennietheDog is missing her sheep ... and when most of the chickens go I imagine that will be traumatic as well. She did a brilliant job defending them today from a large and hungry hawk.

If anyone needs any of the yarn in my etsy shop please let me know ASAP as it will be Italy bound in another week. I have a few colours of the wool/silk blend not listed ... if you want to know what they are please ask. More to come I am sure.

On cat's paws ... the fog

Gray and floating, softly creeps

Curling 'round my feet

And Then There Were None …

Ahhh … moving. The sheep left today and the chickens are going next week and we will be without livestock for the first time since we moved here. It seems quite barren and very quiet. JennietheDog seems lost without her sheep … she didn’t even perk up when I took her on a walk.
The move to Italy is still in limbo, date wise, and so in the interim I am having shoulder surgery. Major rebuilding they think although they will not know till they get in there and look around … not exactly what I wanted to hear. Nor that I will be unable to knit for several weeks.

Odd thing ... blog writer in Windows7 seems to publish my posts now ... maybe because there were no pictures yet ... not sure. This is a gratuitous lamb photo ... I miss the little guys.

The sound of the wind

In the forest behind me

A raven flies off.

How to Panic Effectively ...or

How I live my life from day to day.
I dislike change … and not just a little. And yet, I have managed to live a life that is constantly full of change, most of which is totally out of my control. I think I might have issues. A few days ago I found out that we were probably moving … again … overseas …. again. This is no small task although I could do it in my sleep … what makes this daunting is that I have to accomplish this in 8 weeks. I have to liquidate my livestock now that I have a flock of award winning sheep and sell my vehicles and separate out my household goods into storage, to be packed, and to be sent off to the kids. I have to figure out what JennietheDog needs to do to get there ok and introduce her to “the kennel”. I have a business that I need to figure out how to make work from there and a new venture that I will be learning from long distance.
The up-side you may ask? Well that is the part where I will be living at the foot of the Italian Alps. So I guess you can expect lots of pictures of Italy and lots of recipes for northern Italian food. Not so shabby huh? LOL

Traveling along

Down this road … even here I

Cannot see the moon