Sfumato

If you've read my other posts, you've seen the "hidden picture" claiming to have 12 frogs.  Welllll...one of the coolest people in the world wanted to prove that he found all 12 frogs, and here they are:

This morning Christer came in to the kitchen while I was still super sleepy faced and only a sip or two into my coffee and was going on and on about his super run this morning.  He went on and on about his 40 minute run past 2 of the churches we can see from the house, alongside a river, through a small town with a bakery, and back in time for breakfast and work.  Ok.  That's it.  It's time for me to step it up a notch.  After breakfast I got my running gear ready and wanted to use my Nike+ so I could actually start tracking my runs (Nike+ is this super cool device that tracks your distance, calories, and speed).  Welp, I made it all the way to Italy with every essential running device EXCEPT the sensor for the Nike+.  Epic fail.  But I guess if that and a hairbrush are the only things I forgot then I did okay.  So long story (kinda) short, I couldn't use the Nike+, but running is getting serious starting with today's almost 5 mile run across the street.  These pictures were taken along the way, so I apologize if some are a little blurry.

Maybe I should preface these pictures with this:  Running in Italy is amazing.  I know part of it is that all of my surroundings are new and unchartered, but seriously.  Who gets to run on roads with views of the Dolomites, ancient Italian homes, vineyards, rivers, and churches.  In ITALY!  Running is good for clearing your mind, and every time I run I'm just so completely in awe of my surroundings and where I am.  Until a giant German Shepherd comes barking/growling and running towards the fence, jumping to try to get to me.  Wake up call!

This is the OTHER church you can see from our house.  It's across the street past where the recycling bins are.  I know that doesn't give you any visual, but one church is on the same side of the road as us (the one I went to on my walk the other day), and this one is across the street.  I've got to say, this was the most unimpressive church I've seen so far in Italy, and it was still pretty impressive.  I can't tell for sure, but this one and the church from the other day seem to have a new building structure with the old steeple and old monument out front.  I'm not sure if they've rebuilt the churches and kept the same steeples or if the churches have just been maintained better.  Right across the street from this church was a cafe, which I will definitely be stopping in from time to time, since it's so close.

How cute is this picture??  We've got the ladder leaning against the tree for fruit picking, the corn in the front,  chickens roaming around in the hay, cows eating, and the Caneva castle in the background.  Too much, I tell ya. 

I know you probably get tired of seeing the same old scenery pictures, but sometimes it's still just unbelievable to me even.

Today we just hung around the house and cleaned and played with Jameson.  Christer picked up the car from the shop and stopped to get a haircut on his way home from work.  No more yellow Panda...sad day.  On his way home he stopped and got us gelato from the 2nd best gelato place in Italy.  SCORE!  Christer's already super awesome, but that scored him some major brownie points.  Needless to say, he was late getting home and Christine and I went ahead and ate without him.  First off.  Pumpkin ravioli = sheer amazingness.  So delicious.  We also had salads to go with our pumpkin ravioli...remember the lettuce Ida brought over from the garden yesterday?  We had salads for dinner yesterday, I had a salad for lunch, and then we were eating the last of it for dinner today.  I had just finished saying "these salads are really good...I really like the lettuce" when Christine looks at her plate and says "Oh. My. Gosh."  I pause, mid bite, and we both just stare at her plate.  Crawling around on her lettuce was this bright green inch-worm looking caterpillar.  It was literally standing on its back legs reaching up off the lettuce towards us as if it were saying "Please! Don't eat me!"  Oh. My. Gosh.  Everyone knows how much I hate caterpillars so it's a good thing this dude was on Christine's plate and not mine.  I could have taken another "hidden picture" of this thing on the lettuce, that's how green it was.  AND, we washed the lettuce multiple times, AND he sat in the bowl in the freezing cold refrigerator all day and night.  Guess what little buddy?  Your resilience hasn't paid off, and you are destined for the bio-bin along with all the other lettuce. Ciao! Ciao!

Remember the other day when I said the mountains get this hazy smokey fog on them that looks really cool?  It's called "sfumare," which is derived from the word for "smoke" and means to vanish or fade, which is what the mountains do.  I was able to get a good picture today as well:

Kathy and Jessica get here tomorrow morning so we probably won't do much but hang out at the house again.  All of us girls are spending the weekend in Venice and Christer's having a boys weekend at home, so I should have lots and lots and lots of pictures to post.

Today my favorite thing about Italy is:  COFFEE!  The coffee here is so good I just don't think I can go back to my Folgers & Mister Coffee maker anymore.  I've been royally spoiled.