I’m telling the truth when I say I’m leaving Italy with some “pasta babies” located on the thighs, hips, love handles and even one cling­ing around my mid-section. I’m relying on the heat and walking in Morocco to abort all the “pasta babies”. I first started growing my pasta babies during our month visit in [...]

We helped Christine make this video today. We made it so she could send some much needed lovin’ to her boy­friend Mike. Christine is study­ing oen­o­logy (wine!) in the Mediterranean part of Europe, and is cur­rently in Piacenza, Italy, where we are vis­it­ing her. Mike is doing a masters in econ in Toulouse, France, and [...]

Wow! Who knew turning 30 would be such a blast. I just want to say thanks to every­one for the kind wishes (espe­cially Laura for arran­ging so many neat sur­prises). We had another party last night here at Christine’s place in Piacenza. It was a funeral theme, and all of Christine’s inter­na­tional school friends came [...]

I know I can speak for Laura as well when I say that we found it dif­fi­cult to leave Lanciano. As I write this, we’re speed­ing north in a cozy train com­part­ment toward Piacenza, Italy to see our friend Christine. Laura is napping on the seats across from me, lines of sun­light and shadow moving [...]

Laura and I have been having a won­der­ful time here in Lanciano, thanks entirely to our hosts, the D’Alessandro family. The family runs the Canadian College of Italy here in Lanciano, and life around town with them is non-stop. I call the old part of town the D’Alessandro Campus, as guests, stu­dents and staff are [...]