Countdown

Five weeks and we're gone, out of this part of the world and heading to Italy for an extended break from the bizarre antics of at least half the population of the United States, and to study Italian for two months in one of the most comfortable places in the world, Siena. I know what you're thinking that we're running away from the fear and stupidity fostered by our present administration but actually we're trying to get away from their efforts to dull our souls.

Eight weeks living in an apartment in Siena, where we will find peace of mind, renewal of our spirits and plunge ever deeper into that remarkable, beautiful thing that many have come to call Italy but for us has become paradise.

And then it's off to Sicily, driving the boot down, over the Straits of Messina, and a week in Scopello, west of Palermo, before we head back across the straits then up across Calabria and Basilicata to the Tampone family in Puglia for a night or two and then to northern Italy, where we will stay in an agriturismo just south of Lake Garda and a bit west of Verona (ya know, "Romeo, Romeo wherefore art thou?") for a week before spending our last couple of nights on the shores of little Lake Orta just a bit west and north of Milan's airport where we will catch a Delta flight for JFK. Whew. Take a breath, Steve.

So did you notice I don't say take a flight for home? Home is where the heart is. Ours is in Italy.

Stay tuned.