Not Memorial Day in Italy

Its Monday. Brandon is getting ready for school and Katrina will be going to work. Its Memorial Day in the United States, but just a regular day here in Italy. I thought it would feel weird or I would feel cheated out of our usual holiday celebrations, but I don't. While I miss the friends we would be hanging out with and I have thought about what the day really signifies, I am happy to be in Italy. One thought that just popped into my head. We are in Italy...part of Europe as a whole...where so many of our military men and women gave their lives for freedom.

Italian phrase: Katrina ama il formaggio fresco - Katrina loves fresh cheese.

Its going to be another hot day. We have been told that this is unusually hot weather for this time of year. The forecast is: mostly sunny and pleasant, high of 32c = 94 degrees.

I went grocery shopping to stock our empty cabinets and fridge. I still shop for a few items almost every day because so many things are fresh and do not keep very long - fruit, bread, veggies, etc.



We had a conference for Brandon at school this morning. It was student led, which means he presented his work and what he has been learning so far. He's doing pretty well overall. He has a few areas in which he is a little behind, but it is not his fault. They are all things that are taught differently or earlier here than in the US. He did a great job presenting his work and we are very proud of him.

I spent most of the afternoon doing laundry, dusting and planning our upcoming Venice trip. Wow, there is a lot to do and see in Venice. I'm glad we will be there for three days.

I made Orecchiette con asaragi e Mandorie for dinner. We also had breadsticks and red wine to compliment the meal.

This evening we watched a couple of episodes of Rick Steve's Europe on DVD. He has two episodes about Venice and the surrounding islands. We're trying to learn all we can before we head there on Saturday.

We finally turned the AC off around 9pm this evening. It's been running since yesterday morning. Its still fairly warm outside, so we'll see how warm the house gets.