More Than Just a Crooked Tower

Just a 90-minute flight gets us to Pisa, gateway to Tuscany. We spent an afternoon here last week, before heading south to Siena. This is definitely the time to visit this area - you can count the number of tourists on two hands, prices are extremely reasonable, and you don't have to wait to enter any of the main sights or museums. And, seemingly as always, we had the luck of the weather gods yet again. The forecast was for 3 days of rain. What did we get? Three days of sun and marvelous clouds, as you'll see from every stop on this trip. What did we have for lunch? What else - pizza in Pisa!

Better Watch Out, Noah!

They say that all records are meant to be broken and, if I were Noah (of the Ark fame), right about now I might be starting to get a bit nervous. It started raining here in central Belgium on the evening of the 5th and has not stopped since. Oh sure, there have been pauses, but by and large it's been 7 straight days of the wet stuff - I'm guessing we've had something like 18 or 20 inches total. And today it's just more of the same. The cats are getting fed up, threatening to do nothing but sleep all day if this weather doesn't improve so they can go out. Oops - too late.

Another Painful Farewell

This time it was Feline Friend of the Family Lily, who at 18+ years finally came to the end of her 9 lives with us. She made it about a year longer than her sister Abby and, in human years, had to be pushing 90. Never the world's friendliest cat, she still was a beloved part of the family, howling and all.
One of our very favorite family moments came all those years ago in Maryland, when kitten Lily and her sister spent about 30 minutes thoroughly destroying a roll of toilet paper in a hallway, all recorded on video for posterity. But her time had clearly come and so we had to sadly say goodbye yesterday. Now she can howl to her heart's content, knowing that her sister, who must be nearby, is so deaf that she won't mind a bit. Goodbye, Lily - we sure do miss you already.

Color Us Happy!

I've been waiting exactly one lifetime for this moment. It's true: the last time the Giants won the World Series was the year I was born. And, to be as honest as only a lifetime fan could be, back in April if you had asked, I absolutely, positively would not have said that this was our year. But I guess Venus must have been in the house of Mars, or something like that.
But to be totally honest, I won't miss the alarm clock going off nearly every night for the past two weeks at times ranging from 12:30 to 2:15 AM. You wake up at 1, then head back to bed at 4:30 for all of an hour more sleep. It's like self-inflicted jet lag, for about 14 straight days.
Lack of sleep? A pain in the butt. The Giants as the World champs? Priceless!