Moving Day

What woman doesn't want a perfectly organized moving day? She has imagined it going just a certain way since the pack-out of her belongings on the other end. The "arrival." The "planned placement" of everything. You know what I mean; the organized look of it all when finished! Ha! Of course it didn't turn out that way. I did have hopes though. There's been this little voice inside my head saying, "It'll be okay. Don't worry." And, in the grand scheme of things, of course it will! Compared to the more serious things in life, on a scale of one to ten, this is not far up there!
As the first nip of fall cuts the air of Naples, I'm so happy to be posting a blog from the living room of our
new home! It's starting to "feel" like home and even a little bit "cozy." It's somewhat hard to believe that it's already been 11 days since our moving day . . .  and yet, here it is. 
Initially, it was to be on Thursday, the 30th, but the schedule kept changing, almost daily. The Express Baggage shipment was due to be delivered on a separate day, which would've been much easier, but as it turned out, both Express and Household Goods were delivered on Friday, October 1st! We had appliances (Refrigerator, microwave, freezer, 3 wardrobe units, etc.) delivered the day before. These are on loan from the Navy while we live out on the economy.)
At last . . . we cast our eyes upon "the goods." And for the most part things are in pretty good shape.
There have been some "heart" broken belongings, some of them beyond repair and some will just need a little TLC, but I suppose this was bound to happen in one of our moves. We have been blessed throughout our career with very good pack-outs all around.

We are almost halfway through putting things away now and the adventure continues. Tomorrow I will tell you about the "invasion of the flies."

Ciao, Bella!  Mimi

Internet, Telephone, Hooray!!





A view of the vineyard

 

This must be quick, yet even so, I wanted to make one brief post to let everyone in on some good news. We received a phone call this morning asking if we would be home for the next 30 minutes. Fortunately, the rain had postponed plans to harvest grapes on our landlord's vineyard today, so we were home working on our house. The telephone/Internet guy happened to be in our area, and would be doing a favor by stopping by to get us all hooked up, as long as we were available on very short notice!

Our landlord showing "Padre Filippo" his veneyard

To make a bit of a long story short, here I am writing to you on my own Internet connection with a telephone that actually works in our Italian home, as well! Life is good!

It's been almost 3 months since turning off utilities in our North Carolina home, so I am actually feeling a bit euphoric preparing to post through "my own connection" today. Whoo Hoo!

All this to also say . . . a rather lengthy post is being scratched out as we speak.

Ciao, Bella! Mimi

Be Patient With Me

Just leaving a quick little note on my blog here. We drove into the base (30 min) very early this morning (0630) to do our Divine Liturgy, and then did a quick swing by the commissary to buy some food and check email. I'm not sure how long it will be before I can post regularly again, but I will do my best to figure out a way to keep in touch.

Gotta run.  Lunch today with our new landlord.  More about that later . . .

Ciao, Bella!  Mimi

Going Pewter

GOING GRAY? Maybe you’re not, but I sure am! For the past, oh I don't even know how many years, I've been coloring my hair once-a-month because it grows so darn fast, and then when the silver roots start to show, the contrast is not too dissimilar to that of a skunk in all of her glory! I've been watching as both my brother's hair turns gray, thinking that it looks nice, distinguished even, and envying them somewhat, wishing, at times, that I didn't have to spend the money or take the time to deal with this whole "hair thing" and just chuck it all and go natural! Maybe the color will be platinum. Or pewter! Maybe I will look like Jay Leno. It won't look like my natural birth color anymore, but it will be my natural color now, and it will be easy, honest and truly me!

I read once that, "If we change the way we think about gray, about the fading, the aging, and think about it as a viable color choice, it changes our way of thinking about gray hair."

So, when we got our orders to come to Italy, I took the plunge.  The first thing I did was cut off my hair into a very short hair cut. The next step was to put blond highlights in so that when the gray hairs started to show it wouldn't be such a "skunk stripe" and I'd be able to deal with that for awhile. The third step is where I am now . . .
It's a good thing too!  From what I've been told, and what we're now experiencing, this water over here is the worst water - ever! Basically it's volcano water! From Mt. Vesuvius. Very high in mineral deposits which wreak havoc on your hair. Even Papa's super short hair is brittle and unmanageable.  Imagine what it's doing to my colored hair. It feels like a Brillo pad.
My mom gave me a pair of these really cool scissors called queeving (sp) sheers. They have big chunks missing evenly between the blades as you cut, so only part of the hair is removed, but the other part stays just as it is. The effect (hopefully), is a similar haircut with shorter pieces toward the root and spikier hair sticking out toward the top.  Well, I figure after 13 years as a manicurist (in another life), and watching stylists cut hair, for a little while anyway, I'm going to cut my own hair! So far so good! I've cut my hair twice, and it doesn't look too bad yet!

I'm surviving my transitioning process so far, but my true test is coming up!!  Dun-dun-dun! The "Balls" - The Chaplain Corps Ball, The Navy Ball, The Marine Corps Ball, etc.  And of course I have to go . . . yukky mid-transitioning hair and all! It's all I can do to not make an appointment and get a "little touch up" for those pretty pictures we'll be taking at the balls! And Papa being the Command Chaplain and everything too!! Oh well! I'll just have to do my best and use lots of gel.

I'm just at the stage now, I'm noticing, where people are taking an extra long gaze at the roots of my hair to figure out why on earth would she be letting her hair "look like that?" "Can't she find a hair stylist!!! No doubt . . . I would be wondering that myself.  It's all I can do to not say something every time I see that look. Ugh!  Torture!
But, only 6 or so more months to go, and it will all be over.  I can cut it short enough to get down to all that gray!



Transitioning . . .



 "Just as we don't say “yellow” for blond hair, we don't have to say gray. Giving your gray a new name is more than semantics. It implies an attitude about gray, an acceptance of its natural beauty. Its pure, yes, color. It's time for the way we perceive gray to change. When people compliment my “gray” hair, I say “Thank you, but it’s really pewter with ice highlights.” Try it."

I like the sound of this, don't you?

Ciao, Bella!  Mimi

Sunday Satisfaction

Week three and we already have a new family attending, as well as an inquirer! Sunday Divine Liturgy was so much more fulfilling having people there to participate with us. The couple that came was just so happy and truly blessed that God had answered their prayers to have a place where they, as Orthodox Christians, could feel involved as part of the military community, instead of muddling along in an Italian speaking Orthodox church, barely understanding what's being said and only going a few times a year, most likely, because of it, they said.  Their 16 year old son is in the high school band and was away this weekend, but his parents said he would be glad to be an altar server in the future with Papa.  That is such an answer to prayer for Papa, as well, because having to keep the sensor going, to prep the water and the zeon for communion, then not being able to process the incense makes it extremely challenging for one person to do - especially in the tiny, cramped little space we're using.  In sharing with them a bit after the service, one of the most touching moments was the realization that God had not only answered their prayers to provide them with a priest, but that God had answered our prayers as well because He knew that we needed people in order to celebrate the Divine Liturgy.  It was a bit of an emotional moment for all of us - and a genuine blessing! An interesting irony in all of this is that this couple actually knows Fr. Nicholas, and have been blessed by his ministry in the past, when he was a visiting priest at a mission church in Virginia where they were attending back in the mid '90's.

After church we went out for a light breakfast and then went back to our room and picked up Sherman, another small load of some clothes and miscellaneous stuff,  and then took car ride out to the new house.  As I mentioned yesterday, we are trying to take a little there each day, so that we'll be done by Thursday.



Sherman on the rooftop



It was fun to show Sherman his new home for the first time!  He "met" two cats (from a distance, of course), and the cats laid their eyes on him as well.  I wish I had the camera in my hand so that I could've captured our neighbor's cat frozen in her perfect Halloween pose for at least 1 or 2 minutes!  Sherman was sitting like a gentleman next to me, however, eyes locked on the target but behaving like he was being told to and sitting still - not exactly relaxed, however!  We let him loose in the house and he sniffed his way through every nook and cranny!  It was an adventure to rival even Blues Clues . . . in Sherman's world anyway - I'm sure of it.  He was busy for a very long time.  Lots of new and interesting things to see and smell for the Sherminator.



Little breezy today



The old Roman road leading up to our house

While Sherman went exploring, Papa and Mimi planned where all the furniture needs to go.  When the movers bring everything we need to tell them exactly where to set it down and unwrap it. Then the movers have to take all the wrapping materials away with them that day! Ugg! 



Can you believe this is two lanes?



So . . . onto the next stop! 
There's a beautiful facility owned by the Navy called Carney Park. A sprawling, peaceful, multifaceted recreation area inside an extinct volcano.  I'll write more details about it later, but for today what we were looking for was the little dog park, inside Carney Park - hoping no other dogs would be there!  Sure enough, not a single dog was there and Sherman was able to run and catch the ball for the first time since we left North Carolina. 



Very ancient looking



Now, we are sitting on the couch watching "In Harms Way" and Sherman is dead the world!  He's so tired that he's hard to even get him to move of the couch in our pet apartment. On the way back in the car, he actually slept as we cruised down the hwy in our sporty little Alpha Romeo (albeit '2001 - it's not like it's new or anything), going 120 km per hour. (not that fast really, 75 mph . . . it just seems like it over here). But Sherman was racked out!

All-in-all, it was a very nice day!

Now . . . Mom! This is mostly for you:

I took a few more pictures today of the outside and inside of the house and the road leading up to our house . . . stuff like that.  You (all) keep asking for more pictures, so I'm just going to post some extra pictures for fun after this post.  So, enjoy!!

Ciao, Bella!  Mimi



1st Floor Bathroom



View from the roof terrace



Roof Terrrace




Kitchen sink and cupboards




Roof terrace, nieghbors glass panes dividing our terrace from theirs and roof stairwell




Rooftop terrace stairwell




Livingroom Entrance





Garage

 


I backed up a took another picture to give you a better idea of the size





The back door of the kitchen



The livingroom with marble stairs and a view into the kitchen

Little front yard

Side terrace of the little front yard

Carney Park

Dog Park

Doesn't Sherman look happy?

I think these trees look like we're in Africa or something

All done playing

IKEA in Italy!

We've had an interesting past few days; signing up for our utilites and appliances, making sure everything is delivered on time, finding out that it will be 1 to 3 months before we have a telephone and ADSL in our home, etc. But it's hard to top the trip we had to the IKEA store this afternoon! There were literally thousands of people there. I'm not exaggerating!
We slept in a little, since it was Saturday, and then after breakfast drove out to our new house to see if our electricity was on yet, and to take a few boxes there from the room with us as well. Yay! The electricity is on.  We were able to open the garage door with the garage door opener and Papa practiced backing down the very steep driveway and pulling into our giant garage. We turned lights on inside the garage for the first time too, which was nice, since we could then maneuver around so much better in what didn't seem so much like a dungeon any longer. We met our neighbor, Tim (a doctor) for the first time, all 4 kids had to come over and say "hello" of course, and it seemed like all the cats in the neighborhood showed up for a community paw-parade. (Boy do they have a surprise coming when Sherman arrives!) The family next door has two cats, but they've been warned and we're going to be especially careful until their cats learn about Sherman.
On the way back from our house adventure, we decided to drive to IKEA (pronounced "ee-kay-ah" here in Italy . . . or so I've heard). There are a few things we need for the house and we thought we could take a "quick" look around and get an idea of what they might have to offer over here. Once we finally arrived, we couldn't believe our eyes. There were hundreds and hundreds of cars in the parking lot.  It looked like the Christmas Season at the mall back home.  We both wondered if there might be a sale going on or something, but we never did find out how it could possibly be so crowded. It may be that it was the weekend and this was one of the only IKEA stores in the area - I don't know. We entered the regular line to find a parking place and went into the store. Oh my goodness!  There were thousands - literally thousands of people in the store! We were bumper to bumper people in IKEA!  It was amazing!  Eventually we found our way out of the store, but it was no simple task. IKEA stores are designed to keep you going in circles anyway, but it seems they never want you to leave this store. We finally had to stop and ask someone how to get out! Fortunately he spoke a little English, since our Italian is sorely lacking at this point. We felt like mice in a maze with no way out.
We found some items that are perfect for our home, but here's the question: Should we go back?
Not on the weekend, that is for sure!

Ciao, Bella!  Mimi

Moving Day Is Coming

I’ve heard the expression more than a few times already, “Vedi Napoli e poi morire?” Hopefully implying, see Napoli and die happy!! Even though Naples is not one of the “go to” places of Italian tourism these days, it is surrounded by some real contenders for the catalog: Pompeii, Vesuvius, Sorrento, the Amalfi Coast, Ravello, the Greek Ruins of Paestum, Capri, Ischia, and other famous Italian spots, all as stunning as the crystal clear view from the terrace of our new home. Standing together in a little bit of shock that day at the breathtaking view, we could all but see the windows of the buildings resting on the island of Capri as the sunlight sparkled off her coastline! Dazzling! On a clear day like that, we could even see Ischia and the entire Bay of Naples.


"I think no other birds so happy as we.”

People in Naples seem to live loud and live large! Coming from Japan a few years ago, where life, in general is somewhat subdued, the grandiose hand-gestures and loud voices of the Neapolitan people can seem overheated, maybe even angry sometimes to the hesitant, untrained eye and ear, but we are finding them to be loving, friendly and fun. I heard a perfect description of the people of Naples just the other day: They are just "highly uninhibited, highly animated and highly caffeinated!” Ha! Cute, don’t you think?




Papa, Perla & Luigi signing the contract

 Well, today was a big day! We signed our paperwork at the housing office and scheduled our move-in day! We are going to become residents of Naples! At least for a few years!


NEXT THURSDAY, September 29th!!! HOORAY!!! A little over a month from when we left North Carolina.


Our appliances and transformers, etc. from the base; Our House-Hold Goods; Our Express Baggage Shipment; The Electricity will be on; And all of it will be delivered on this day!




Septembre

 Can you imagine it? WOW!! What a day that's going to be!  All the trucks the people to unload it all will be there throughout the day.  I can only imagine the chaos ~ can't you ?


Our new landlord has given us a key to the house, even though there won’t be any electricity yet. That way we can start taking belongings from our apartment on the base over to the new house before we have to check out nextThursday morning. The goal then is to have all the initial moving done by Wednesday (the day before we move in) with very little to do but check out on Wednesday night. Not so much craziness that way! Sherman's crate alone fills up most of our car.  It's going to take many trips ~ once or twice a day ~ just to get the things in our apartment out there.


If all goes really well, we may even have Internet hooked up to the house by then too. We shall see. The power takes up to five working days to get turned on ~ from today, and then we can put a work order in for Internet, etc.






So . . . it all begins! Finally!




Ciao,  Bella!  Mimi

Foolish Fears

The little cares that fretted me,

I lost them yesterday,

Among the fields above the sea,

Among the winds at play,

Among the lowing of the herds,


The rustling of the trees,

Among the singing of the birds,


The humming of the bees.

The foolish fears of what might pass,

I cast them all away

Among the clover-scented grass,

Among the new-mown hay,

Among the rustling of the corn,

Where drowsy poppies nod,

Where ill thoughts die and good are born --

Out in the fields with God!

~ Elizabeth Barrett Browning

The Weekend



Blessed Sacrament Chapel



Today:



Our Second Divine Liturgy



A peek at the rest of the chapel

Fr. Philip had  another good opportunity to "practice" the abridged version of the Liturgy we use in the military in this new and somewhat strange setting, with the comfort and safety of just me participating.  It's a bit of a daunting task without a Deacon, Cantors,or a Reader, and all the literature and sheet music that goes along with them. But since this Liturgy is written for use in military field operations, and therefore shorter and a bit less complex to fit within the Sunday morning chapel schedule, we manage to get through it fairly well.




The one downside, so far, is that the only time slot for us to have our little Orthodox service is at 8:00 in the morning.  Which means, of course, that Papa and I are at the chapel quite a bit earlier than that. But the concern is really for those who will attend this service in the future, and if this time slot is going to be too early for them.  Hopefully not. Some Orthodox folks have already begun to surface and expressed their desire to attend. Our first new family should be with us next week!




After service



Some interesting side effects . . . the incense wafts throughout the building into the two other auditoriums where other church services go on, not only sparking interest as to what we are doing in our little corner of the building, but is most certainly affecting them with a clandestine blessing.  The Blessed Sacrament Chapel, itself, (which is a dedicated Roman Catholic space where the Sacrament is on display continually) is already starting to smell like an orthodox church all the time.

This is our pet apartment (2nd floor/right)

Yesterday:





Can you find Papa?



Papa and I looked out our window to a fine Saturday morning and thought, "This is going to be the perfect day for a football game." A clear, warm day with the sun shinning brightly in the direction of the field. By the time we arrived, the game had just begun and our friends we'd known in Japan years ago were waving us upward to the seats they'd saved for us. Their son was playing, so excitement was buzzing all around, and drove the volume of conversation to a surprisingly loud and exuberant level. Fun times on Saturday, as we joined many new friends and watched the first high school football game we've seen in many years.  

"Here we go, Naples, Here we go!" . . . "Get in there . . . Keep your head down . . . Keep go'in!"  Yeah!  Touch Down Naples!!

(Over the loud speaker) "Nine seconds left in the third quarter and Naples sscooores!!!!"



Sitting with friends



75 cents for cookies

50 cents for bottled water

$1.50 for a hot dog -- a good portion of the base, it seems, turned out to "root, root, root, for the home team!"  The Naples Wildcats won the game 39 to 0! 

Here we go, Naples, here we go!



Making the extra point

Ciao, Bella! Mimi



Awake Is The New Sleep

"What's that sound?!" say's Papa, in his groggy morning voice.  Of course, I'd been hearing it already, being the very light sleeper that I am.  At first, all I heard was this screaming noise; a high-pitched, irritating whiny sound!  As the fog of sleepiness cleared from my brain, I realized this irritating reverberation was the hair dryer from the apartment in the room directly above us ~ UGG!  The time . . . 0515!!!  Ok! That's a military base for ya!

Am I glad we're moving off-base! 

So, I'm thinking this will stop in the next little while, and then Sherman and I will be able to go back to sleep. (It woke him up too!)  Oh, no!  The drying of hair obviously was continuing on, and did so for the next, count them, 45 minutes!! Until 0600 . . .  at which time Papa's alarm was due to go off anyway ~ in just 15 more minutes. Hence, he got up, and I was awake! Oh, by-the-way, Papa slept through most of it. 

What a gift!!

Ciao, Bella! Mimi

Life Is About To Get Better

This morning was our pre-contract signing. Papa and I gathered around a table in the housing office with our new landlord, Luigi, and our housing officer/interpreter. We went over each detail of the contract and each aspect of what will be expected of him and of us over the next three years (mostly him). Normally, at this point, we would've set up a final inspection of the house, but this had already been done in June so we are good to go, as you might say, and ready to move in. We have our final signing of the contract next Tuesday morning.


After that appointment, we will set up the move . . . which is a story in itself.

We had an email waiting for us just yesterday informing us that our household goods and express baggage shipment have both arrived. So now everything is here! Hurray! One step closer to moving into our Italian home.

I know one "boy" who will be so happy to see that day come. Sherman won't have to lay on the hard, bare, cold, tile floor anymore. We did purchase a special over-sized cushy pillow for him to lounge on, but he truly misses his own stuff! He will be so happy to see "his" rugs unfolded and "babies" unpacked! He'll be especially thrilled when our sectional sofa is put in place. Even though we don't like him to lay all over it, and do set aside one special "covered" section just for him, he seems to gravitate to the other sections of the sofa when we aren't looking. Silly Sherman! We may just overlook this for a short while and roller up the doggy hairs for the time being. It's been a tough few months for the Shermanator! Long airplane rides and hours and hours in his crate with strangers watching him; in his crate every 4th day when the cleaning crew from housekeeping come to change towels and clean our room/pet apartment, and no real place to run and fetch a ball with his favorite buddy, Johnny (We have to be careful not to say his name out loud when Sherman can hear us because he then looks around for him, sadly unable to find him. The same goes for Abbie, my mom and dad's dog), and things like that. Life is about to get better for The Sherman though.

Life is about to get better for all of us!

Ciao, Bella ~ Mimi