lessons learned & gratitude

It's been two weeks since we got the call to pick up our little guy. Oh, how much our life has changed in that time. For starters, my TV viewing has drastically declined, while my baby viewing has increased exponentially. I'd also like to think that as a fledgling father of uncertain duration, I have added a few new abilities to my meager skill set. Those of you much more versed in the child raising process might not even give a second thought to some of my recently accrued knowledge, but I find it valuable for the time being.

Lesson #1: Wake a sleeping baby only at your peril, especially from a deep sleep. This ranks up there on a badness scale of actually believing your wife when you ask what is wrong and she says, "nothing."

Lesson #2: A baby can take a simple thing, such as milk and turn it into a monstrously disgusting tidal wave of green sludge that explodes from the diaper to cling to every little fold of baby skin. If you smell something funny, hand the baby off.

Lesson #3: The baby sleeps when you are awake and wants to be awake when you want to sleep. I had heard this for a long time, but it is one of those cases where the reality of it is a lot harder than the theory.

Lesson #4: I have a wife? I know that there is another person that lives in our house and helps to take care of the baby, but our interaction doesn't go to much beyond that. How do you find that balance between, baby, husband/wife, work, personal time? Or are husband/wife and personal time a thing of the past at this point?

Lesson #5: The amount of projectile vomiting is proportional to the number of burp clothes and items of clean clothing available to the baby. If one burp cloth is within reach and everything else is in the laundry, then the baby will produce enough regurgitated formula to cover approximately half of a football field. Truly one of science's many mysteries.

My other thoughts right now run towards gratitude and humility. We have seen an amazing outpouring of love from so many people it is truly amazing. From people at church feeding us for more than a week, to people at work donating money to help as well as food and gift cards. I've never been the recipient of service like this, and it has been surreal. We are surrounded by ministering angels.

The whole process is somewhat frustrating for me in that I have no control whatsoever over the situation and I struggle with that. I do however take great comfort and strength from all the prayers offered on our (and more importantly the little guy's) behalf. Thank you and I would hope that you would continue to keep us in your prayers.

and then there were three.......and no sleep

Yesterday was quite the day. I was minding my own business, working diligently in my office, when my phone rang. I'm making this sound quite ominous aren't I? It was foster care calling and they said that they had a four week old boy coming into care either that night or the following day and wanted to know if we would be willing to take him. After extracting my heart from my throat I said I'd call my wife and call them right back. This was actually our second call, from foster care. About a month ago we got a call asking us to take in two children and neither of us felt good about it, so we said no. As we talked on the phone yesterday, we both felt pretty good about everything, we said a little prayer over the phone, still felt good, so we decided to take the plunge. I called back, said yes, we'd love to take the little grunt in, what was the plan? The plan was they were still out looking for him and that they would let us know as soon as they could whether it would be the same day or the next for pick-up (sounds like a pizza delivery). At about 4pm, I got the call saying the baby was in and that they closed at 5pm so we needed to get going to pick him up. Both Lisa and I ran home, pulled out the car seat that we had purchased about two months ago and Lisa drove to the drop-off (again, sounds so un-baby like) while I fiddled around in the back seat trying to become smarter than the car seat (more difficult than you might think...maybe not for those of you who know me well). The pick-up was the best part, it was like curb side to go. I called when we were about ten minutes away and said we'd be there right at 5pm. The caseworker said she would come downstairs with the baby and meet us as we drove up. We drove up to the curb, she walked out with a tiny little baby

Here's the captain

and a couple of garbage bags of formula, clothes and diapers, and we were off, both of us wondering how that had just happened. To make a long story short, we spent the rest of the evening (and most of the night) staring at this strange little being that has entered into our home at least for a few weeks.

Is this for real?!?!

Very strange. But also very good. We'll call him the captain, since he is already in charge of everything and running our lives. I think that we'd gladly keep him forever, but we'll see what happens. Life is good, if a little more tiring than it was a day ago.

Lisa has a new target for her camera, Captain beware.

Shallow Chris

While we were out and about in the bubble for the celebration of the coming together of two families through wedded bliss this last Christmas, I went and watched Avatar in 3D with my dad, brother, brother-in-law and nephews. We thought it was great. What an amazing science fiction adventure on another planet with great effects and technology to make it all work. I liked it so much that when we got back to Rochacha, I took Lisa. She even liked it. Recently, I have seen several posts and reviews slamming the show for it's anti-American rhetoric. It mostly had to do with portraying the awful soldiers who embodied the death and destruction of their home planet earth as American Marines. I was a little confused and felt a little dumb maybe, because to be honest with you, that thought never crossed my mind. It is quite possible that I'm a little simple in that I don't think too deeply, especially when entertainment is involved. If there are hidden agendas and messages, they are lost on me, because as my wife could tell you, if you don't club me over the head with what you want me to know, it just won't sink in.

Is this how I come across???

This also made me think of The Golden Compass that came out about a year or so ago and how it caused an uproar among the conservative Christian groups because the author of the books upon which the movie is based is a professed atheist and wants nothing more than to spread his vile message of we are all alone-ism, there is no god belief (according to those groups). I have two thoughts about this, the first being, I read the books and really liked them. I never got any whiff of anti-God feelings in the books at all. The basic story line is good vs. evil, with the evil appearing mostly in the form or the Magisterium, or church. That means he hates god and wants us all to feel the same way? Does that mean that books like The Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons are awful and fuel for the atheist bandwagon because the tend to put the Catholic church in a bad light? I don't think so. Again, this could be another case of Chris being too shallow to pick up on those subtle clues that don't just jump right out and announce themselves with banners and neon lights. So the second thought I had was, OK, if he has an agenda to spread his message of science over religion....who cares? I spent two years working to bring religion to people and don't I believe that others are free to act according to their beliefs and even try and convert others to their beliefs? If you don't want to watch it/read it, don't. When people didn't want to listen to me in Italy, they didn't. Fairly simple.

Since I am confessing my simpleness and some of the things that I have enjoyed entertainment wise, I guess I should lay it out there that I have read a series of books involving dark evil magic, full of witches and wizards and even children. I think the most atrocious thing though is that the children even performed magic. I know. Horrendous. But even worse......I liked them. Maybe there's a support group for that. Has anyone heard of HPA? Harry Potter Anonymous?

The point of all of this silliness is that I think you find what you looking for. If you are looking to be offended, you will be. If you are looking for the bad, you'll find it. That is all.

the famcation...

The happy new couple

We took a big break over Christmas to travel and be with family. It was fun, but we are in desperate need of a vacation from our vacation. We flew into the middle of the bubble and spent three days running around like crazy getting ready for Katie's wedding.

Temple Square

We did get the chance to visit with family and try and get to know our new brother-in-law, Jameson amidst the madness of pre-wedding hoopla and craziness. Anyway, they got married. Most importantly, centerpieces were made, food and flowers came together and there was dancing. Yeah.

The whole gang

After the wedding, our traveling adventure took us to the great state of Wyoming. It was good to be back in the homeland, where it's so incredibly cold in the winter that it makes your boogers (or dried nasal mucus according to wikipedia) freeze the instant you step outside. We went up with the entire Faerber family to Louis Lake and stayed in the cabins for a few days over Christmas.

Penelope, crazy sledder

It got even colder when we got up to 9000 feet, but we had lots of fun in the form of eating, sledding, eating, snow-mobiling, eating, reading, talking, snow-shoeing, eating, cutting down 30 foot Christmas trees and eating. We had fun.

Dutch oven turkey and stuffing in sub-zero weather

il Giorno di Ringraziamento

We had a great turkey day. As always, Lisa did a fabulous job of documenting the occasion. We had family come (it's great to have family within driving distance) and got to enjoy a good weekend of eating and relaxing. I think that is almost the perfect combination, food and relaxation. While everyone was taking it easy, I got to sneak away and fish in the rain on Irondequoit Creek, it was great. Here and here are some of the great recipes we tried this round of bird eating. Hope you all had a good one.

La pazienza è la virtù dei forti

Now that we have done everything we can for foster care, it's out of our hands. I find myself struggling with this. There is nothing for me to do, so it has become a game of waiting. I sat staring at my cell phone today for a good 20 minutes, willing it to ring. It didn't work. I am in dire need of patience. Let me know if you find any.

avanti . . . sempre avanti

It seems that in spite of my best efforts, life continues to go forward. We have been fairly busy with work and church and getting ready for certification the last few weeks. We finally had our last home study done on the best day of all, this last Friday the 13th. Good thing neither of us suffer from triskaidekaphobia. Here is the nursery.



We had our annual service auction in the branch on Saturday. Food was eaten, fun was had. In that food and fun debauchery, we also managed to provide enough food for at least 15 families this coming Thanksgiving. I managed to score a photo shoot from a friend, Scott Kipphut (check out his Facebook site), and donated a five course Italian feast to be cooked by yours truly. The great part is that I would have cooked it anyway, and now I get to do it with friends.

Lisa has quite a bit going on with the stake young women. With super Saturdays, young women in excellence and other things, I sometimes get to see her, if I go to young women's activities. Life goes on. It is good. Even though it seems as if our life tends towards the non-stop cool and not-so-cool action, we have fun. What can I say. As fall fades slowly and gradually into winter, here are my words of wisdom for the day. Don't eat yellow snow.

The Happening

Don't let the title fool you, the trees have not staged a full-scale revolt in the Rochester area by releasing harmful toxins into the air and overriding man's natural survival instinct. Sorry for the spoiler. The trees actually have been changing, however in a more benign fashion.

A little over a week ago, Lisa and I voyaged through the beautiful, bucolic setting of western New York and eastern Pennsylvania on our way to the big city. The leaves were pretty, like this one, except that there were lots of them.


While we were in the city, we were able to engage in two of our favorite activities. Lisa got to shop and I got to eat. We are quite the team. We also met up for the day with Paige Hobby, Kimball's wife, who was visiting her family in western Canada (I'm a little vague on exactly where, so I'll say Calgary) and some cousins in NYC. We laughed a lot. Made fun of Kimball a lot, and wished that he was there to hear us making fun of him.

I'm the big bald one in the middle.

I've reached the tipping point of more hair on my face than on my head. I wonder if there's a support group for that? I like this group's motto, "If you can see skin, you're in!" I digress. I think we walked about 30 miles in one day, and it was on Dan speed (that was Kimball's cousin's husband, who was gracious enough to act as tour guide all over the city, wearing his hardcore Vibram shoes, that propelled him at slightly less than race car speed down the sidewalks) but that was good, because it helped burn off the 10,000 calories that I consumed during the day. Fun times were had by all, as we cruised through central park, Washington Square Park and too many stores to name. Thanks Paige for traveling more than 10,000 miles to see us. Wow. I used 10,000 twice (now three times) in a couple of lines. One was hyperbole, the other was me being a dork to look up how far it was from Sydney to Calgary to NYC. I make my wife proud.

In other news, Wyoming is 4-3. I think they'll knock off either Utah, BYU, or TCU. Here's to hoping it's BYU. That is all.

A Packer Conference Weekend

Lisa and I had been looking forward to this past weekend for quite a while. I used to love conference weekend just for conference, but now I love it because it also means a weekend off from our typical Sunday duties. It's like a vacation from church, but without missing church. We should have conference more often. That's what I say.

On Saturday we were driving around in the pastoral (that one is for you Kimball) Finger Lakes area of western New York enjoying the brilliant blue sky and the beginning of changing leaves. The very definition of relaxation. It wasn't until we got home that Lisa put the weekend (at least up until that point) in perspective.

You see, we had gone dancing the night before at a country western bar with some friends, because we knew one of the members of the band and wanted to go and support. On Saturday as we traveled along the scenic Seneca Lake, one of my motives was to visit a few of the many wineries on the lake. This one is our favorite. We've gone there the last couple of years to get some of the best grape juice (and yes I do mean grape juice and not "grape juice") that I've ever had. While on this scenic tour, we also got some pumpkins, homemade candies, cheese curds, fabric for some quilting projects and some wine.

After our adventurous day, Lisa made the comment that I had treated her to a first-rate conference weekend so far. On Friday we went dancing at a bar and Saturday we spent part of the day at wineries and bought some wine. What a great way to prepare for spiritual feasting. When put that way, I think it paints a not so flattering picture of me and what I put my wife through, although to be honest she was a willing participant. Truth be told, if given the chance to redeem myself, I'd probably do it all over again.

And just so you don't think too many bad thoughts about me, I did buy the wine solely for cooking.

I promise.

My Life

We bought a crib. It is already set up. We have no idea if/when we will ever obtain some type of offspring to put in said crib. My hopes however, are high.

It was a good weekend of sunny-ness and being outside and BBQing. We served in the temple Saturday morning and then served as chef and chef-ess at some friends' laid-back reception. We cook a mean hamburger and hotdog. Sunday was equally as beautiful. Leaves starting to change. Bright blue sky. Church meetings at the Hill Cumorah. Then even more BBQ goodness. White hots. Yum.

Naps were taken, relaxation occurred. Life is good.

What I did this summer

Lisa has been giving me grief for not writing anything for a couple of months, and my excuse has been that it's summer, I'm busy doing things that I will then be able to write about for the rest of the year. So, to back that up, and in honor of kids everywhere returning to school and reporting on what they did for the summer, here goes.

We worked over the kitchen, see Lisa's post here, because I'm too lazy to write one myself. We refinished cabinets, fixed some walls, moved appliances, painted, put up wallpaper, refinished light fixtures, put in a new light fixture and replaced old blinds. It ended up looking good, and was more work than I thought it would be.

We went to Cape Cod, but you already knew that, because that is the one thing that I did post about. It was fun.

We went camping with 20 teenage girls in the Adirondacks and called it Young Women's High Adventure/Drama. I have learned that if you put that many teenage girls together for a long enough time period, drama is a natural consequence. It's kind of like when you mix two hydrogens with one oxygen, you get water. Maybe I could write an equation representing this phenomena and patent it. Again, because I'm too lazy, here is Lisa's version of the events, with lots of nice pictures. It was a fun time, I got to fish and be outside in the mountains (hills) of the Adirondacks. The day we went on our long hike (10 miles) our big group splintered into three smaller groups of slow, medium and fast paced. Lisa stuck with the slow group, not because she is slow, but to encourage and push them on. I went with fast group, which consisted of three girls who were all runners. They wanted to run. The whole way. Up the the mountain. I made it to the top with them, but I could hardly walk the next day, and it took me a good week to be back to normal. What happened to the days of playing basketball for five hours and getting up the next day and doing it again?!

We made a quick trip to Utah for my grandma's memorial service. It was good to be able to see lots of family, especially on my dad's side, that I hadn't seen in 15 years, and some for even longer. It was a nice, simple service. I also got to meet and try and intimidate Katie's boyfriend Jameson. I know what you're thinking. Very intimidating. It looks like he will be a permanent addition to the family, so I was mostly nice. We had a lot of fun with my whole family together, which doesn't happen too often as we are all spread out pretty good. I also discovered on this trip why red eye flights are cheaper. They're awful. We left SLC at 1am going to Atlanta. Airlines already pack you in like sardines, and I'm not the smallest sardine in the can, so trying to catch a few minutes sleep was no small accomplishment. We finally got back to Rochester about noon and promptly crashed for the next six hours. Red eye flights = yuck. Again, look at Lisa's post.

We started the mandatory training courses (30 hours) to become foster/adoptive parents in New York State. It has been an interesting journey, leading up to the point of even starting this process, and then in the classes as well. The classes have generated lots of good fodder for many discussions in the Packer home as we work through wanting children, not being able to have any right now, and how we are going about trying to rectify that. We should be certified by the end of this month, so there are possible big changes coming to our home.

I've read lots of books this summer, gone on walks with my wife, tied flies for the upcoming fall fishing season, gone to baseball games, and spent a lot of time at work and at church, or church related functions. We've had a lot of BBQ, planted some new flowers and tried to get the grass to grow better under the maple trees. I'm open to suggestions on that last one.

It has been a satisfying summer, although I must admit that I can't believe that it is already gone. But that's OK, because the greatest season is now upon us. College Football Season (also known by many as fall). Besides football, I'm also excited for fall leaves/scenery/food. It's going to be a really busy fall for us, with a plethora of church activities awaiting, but we are looking forward to a trip to NYC the third weekend of October, and then maybe some family visiting for Thanksgiving, before we head back to the land of promise for the holidays. Lest there be any confusion as to where the land of promise is (although I'm not sure how anyone could mix this up), it's Wyoming.

Cape Cod

We were able to take off a few days and forget life and have an actual vacation. We camped on Cape Cod, at Paine's Campground. Nice. Quiet. Peaceful. Loved it. We were able to do lots of sightseeing, relaxing, and soaking in the beauty of the area. We rode our bikes around, went to the beach,

Cahoon Hollow Beach

Chris & Lisa on the beach at Cahoon Hollow

Lisa walking along the beach at Cahoon Hollow

and made tinfoil dinners the first day. Then on the fourth, we saw an old light house,

Lisa at the Cape Cod Light

whales, interesting people, walked in the Provincetown Bay and found shells, ate incredible fish and chips and watched fireworks from the beach.

Chris in the bay at Provincetown

Looking out over the bay at Provincetown

Fireworks from the beach - life is tough

On the fifth, we mostly just relaxed and laid on the beach, played in the water, saw some seals, caught fish out of the ocean, and watched a picture perfect sunset. The only bad part of the whole trip was that unfortunately, we had to come home.

Chris fishing in the bay at Wellfleet

Sunset from the bay at Wellfleet

We now have to get back to the normal flow of life. We met with the home finding service for foster care/adoption in Monroe County last week, and we start with our mandatory classes this week. We have ten weeks of classes and lots of paperwork before we can be certified, so we will see what happens. It is exciting to think of having a child in our home by the end of this year. Maybe that is pushing it a little bit, but we'll have faith. Life is good.

Sunset through the grass at Wellfleet

Update

It has been a fairly busy month for me. Between the usual suspects, work, church and the house, there hasn't been too much free time. The idea of having a refinished kitchen is great. The actual doing part that comes with that however is not quite as great. Some of the highlights beyond the fun times in the kitchen have been a weekend spent on the SUNY Brockport campus with several hundred youth age 16-18 for priest/laurel conference and starting some landscaping in the backyard. I never went to youth activities as a youth. I was never really interested, plus I always had something else going on. That lack of youth activity involvement has more than been made up for in the last couple of years with Lisa serving as the Stake Young Women's President.

Work has also been rather intense for me as late. In trying to be more economically minded, there have been many new projects added to what I was already managing. That means a lot more work. That is a good thing, but if anyone ever figures out where to pick up extra time, I could definitely use some. That has been my life lately. All in all, pretty good.

Good Samaritan II

I think that I have been redeemed for the Bloody Mary incident last week. Lisa went to a baptism this morning at 10:00 and I was going to meet up with some friends to go and watch a movie. As I was getting ready to go, the door bell rang, I answered and saw a older gentleman and a young man dressed up. They introduced themselves as Jehovah's Witnesses and asked if they could read me a scripture. I said sure, thinking back on the many conversations I'd had with people on my mission and the fact that it didn't hurt me to talk for a few minutes on a beautiful, sunny day. They read their scripture to me, out of the gospel of Matthew, and asked me a few questions. They also said that they had an article in a magazine that helped to explain what the scripture meant, and asked if they could leave me a copy. I said sure, but then said, only if I could give them something in return. I ran back into the house and grabbed two pamphlets about the Hill Cumorah Pageant. I said that I was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Later-Day Saints, and that we had a pageant in July, had they ever heard of it and would they like to come? They quickly thanked me and left. Way to go Chris.

Good Samaritan?

I ran to a local grocery store late tonight to get a few things that we needed for dinner tomorrow. I had just come from the adult session of Stake Conference in which we had heard about letting our light shine, and I was feeling inspired and uplifted from the meetings. As I was checking out, there was an older, run-down looking gentleman in front of me buying some groceries as well. The cashier told him that his food stamp card had insufficient funds, and so after waiting a few moments, he said that he'd just leave everything behind. Without thinking, I said that I'd pay for his groceries as well as mine. He tried to object and say that it was too much, but it really wasn't that much and I said that I was happy to do it. He graciously accepted, I paid, and we went on our separate ways. As I left, I was feeling quite good about myself. I was letting my light shine, I was helping my fellow man. I got to my car, got in, and put my groceries in the seat next to me. In my delight with myself, I checked the receipt to see what great goods I had purchased for this down-on-his-luck gentleman and saw that I had just paid for several bottles of a Bloody Mary mix. Way to go Chris.

Communication

Lisa and I have different styles of communication. I'm just starting to realize this after more than five years of marriage. I know, slow. I will now ably demonstrate the extremities of my slowness. In college I took a course titled "Interpersonal Communication" or something similar to that which fulfilled an unavoidably important requirement, moving me one step closer to the mythical land of graduation. In the course, we studied and learned all about different ways in which we communicate, such as verbal and non-verbal cues. We practiced doing speeches to refine our presenting and apparently eliminate the sound, um, from out repertoire. I got an A+ in the class. Possibly my only such grade in all of collegedom. That high scholastic achievement however, does not necessarily indicate that I am a great communicator. Anzi*, it means that I am a great talker, and there are many people in my life, willing to testify to the fact that I like to tell stories and hear the sound of my own voice (If you don't believe me, just check out the length of this post. I'm talking as I'm typing.). What I don't remember learning in my A+ class education is that part of communication called listening. I'm sure that there was talk of listening, and it's role in communication. Probably even several classes on it. I guess I just didn't ever listen.

So I think they should have an entirely different course about listening. Not only would this help to facilitate the general increase of communication skills of UW Alumni, but it would also be an extra class that the University could require and force people to take, meaning more $$$. Had I taken such a wonderful course, then I would be much better prepared to face the rigors of daily life and actually listen to the people around me, instead of simply hearing the words coming out of their mouths. I don't mean to imply that I have absolutely zero skills in listening, I can occasionally muster up my powers of hearing beyond the spoken word to accomplish what is commonly known as "reading between the lines". As Lisa can attest to, it doesn't happen often.

This leads me back to the original intention of this blog post. I need to listen better. I will go out on a limb and say that a lot of couples are like Lisa and I, we occasionally argue. I know, hard to believe, but it is true. We disagree about things, and then when we talk (sometimes more loudly than others) about them, I think that I am right, at least that is how I feel. I tend to think that if I could just explain to Lisa so that she understood how I felt, and why I did something the way I did, then enlightenment would be reached, the argument would dissolve and the bliss often referred to as wedded would once again descend and cover up my imperfections. If she just understood, all would be well (I once made the mistake of telling my dear sweet wife that she needed to be more understanding. That did not go over well. If anyone out there is ever tempted to say something similar to your wife. Don't.). I need to listen. What I want others to do for me (try and understand my thinking) I typically don't think to reciprocate until it is too late. I know. Not really a mind blowing conclusion that I've reached. Other people want understanding too, just like me. I think this is the root cause of 80% of the arguments that I get into (which tend to be with Lisa, no one else is around me enough, also 42.7% of all statistics are made up). The other 20% of the arguments occur because I stop listening and start trying to fix. That is also a mistake, and a whole discussion in and of itself. I'll save it for another time. So the moral of the story is to take a course on listening in college. If you have already graduated from college or have never attended college and don't plan on it, I don't know what to tell you. Good luck.

*teaching you Italian one word at a time

Gettysburg

When I was in high school I read Michael Shaara's The Killer Angels, about the battle of Gettysburg, and have been amazed with the stories of the men who fought. Men such as General Lee, Longstreet, Armistead, Hancock, and Chamberlain. When Lisa's parents came to visit a couple of weeks ago, we went down to Gettysburg and spent a few days walking the battlefield and enjoying the coming of spring to that part of Pennsylvania. It was a unique opportunity to visit and walk the same ground that had been the site of such devastating destruction the first days of July in 1863. We also spent some time in the Finger Lakes, doing some hiking and enjoy the reasonably decent weather for early April.

We stayed at this great B&B on Seneca Lake on the way down to Gettysburg. The Fox and the Grapes was a beautiful old house that we had all to ourselves while we were there.

While in the Finger Lakes, we took a quick hike to Taughannock Falls, a beautiful falls of 215 ft. No picture of the falls, just Lisa, Steve and Vera walking along the trail.

Outside the Gettysburg Museum.

Lisa overlooking the field through which General Pickett and his men charged the center of the Union line.

Little Round Top

This is close to the area where the 20th Maine made it's stand at the far left flank of the Union Army and held.

The hole in the barn is from a canon ball.

We found this covered bridge just outside of the city.

Shameless Self-Promotion

I just started another blog to record and catalogue most of the recipes that I like. You can find it here, or look for the link on the side of this blog, Ricette Mie. I know, original. I'd appreciate your thoughts, or if you have your own favorites you'd like to add, let me know and I'll post them. I love food, so why not write about it and share the wonderfulness with everyone? Buon Appetito.

Venezia

The last stop on our fun filled tour of the beautiful country of Italy was Venezia.

By the Piazza San Marco with all of the gondole

We spent a few hours on a very packed train to get there, and then hauled our luggage onto a vaporetto and then dragged them through the streets to our little B&B, the Ca' Riccio. After we changed, we grabbed another boat and went out to visit the islands of Murano and Burano,which are known for their glass and lace work.

The islands are in the background

It was great to walk around and see all of the little shops. We continued our streak of shopping success, managing to pick up a couple of hand made vases, some linens, and a little blessing dress.

Lisa in the back "alleys" of Venice

That night we got a good dinner recommendation and had a fabulous meal of gnocchi and tagliatelle all'aragosta. After dinner we walked around the Grand Canal and the shops by the Rialto Bridge.

Lisa at the Rialto Bridge

There is so much to see and do in Venice that it was hard to try and cram it all in, in only a few days. We went through a few markets, walked through la Piazza San Marco,

Here we are in the Piazza San Marco

saw the Doge's Palace, walked over many bridges, but most notably il Ponte dei Sospiri. I think the highlight of that day was our ride in a gondola through the back streets and down the Grand Canal. It was amazing to see all of the old buildings that have had to vacate the ground floor due to the water levels. Our gondoliere was great to point out the different styles of architecture and interesting facts about the buildings as well. A gondola ride in Venice, what a great way to end our trip.

Our gondola ride

We started our long trip home from Venice, and from when we checked out of Ca' Riccio, we spent about the next 48 hours traveling. We took a vaporetto to Lido, then a bus/ferry to Pellestrina, and finally another vaporetto to Chioggia. There we were met by Nadia and her daughter Elena and spent the afternoon with them. It was great to see Elena, who was 7 months pregnant at the time, and her husband Cristian. All too soon it was time to depart and they drove us to the train station in Padova where we said goodbye and then waited for our overnight train to Rome. The next morning from Rome we caught our flight home to Rochester via JFK in New York City. Now all we can talk about it wanting to go back. Anyone wants to pay, we'll be tour guides!

Looking out at the Venetian Lagoon

Verona

After a fabulous week in Monza/Milano/Como, we said goodbye to Nadia and Emanuele and took a train to Verona. We were met at the station by Mr. Gaspari, who was to be our host (along with his wife) while we were in Verona. His daughter had moved to Rochester for a post-doc position at the University the previous year and he had come with her for a month to help her settle in. She just happened to move into an apartment a couple of blocks from us, and our bishop had asked us to check in on them. We got to know them fairly well and when he invited he said that if we were ever traveling to Verona, let him know and could stay with them. We thought, yeah great, one of those things you never think is really going to happen. Well, we did go to Verona, we let him know and he really was thrilled to host us and take us around for a couple of days. Anyhow. He took us to their little apartment and got us settled on a small fold out couch in their living room. They had a nice little meal of rucola, parmigiano reggiano and bresaola. Yummy.

After dinner, we piled into their tiny car and drove out to a tiny town, Borghetto, and just enjoyed the evening walking around, taking pictures and shopping. Lisa got a little bag and we bought some gelato.

Lisa at Borghetto

It was a very nice evening, and got rather funny on the way home. We weren't too far from Verona, but it was dark, and the Gaspari couple was a little older and he had a slight problem seeing in the dark. He was getting mad at the other cars that were driving around us and talking about how awful the other drivers were, and it was really him. He was driving so slow and really couldn't see where he was going. It was sad, but also kind of funny. He left his brights on to help him see and all of the other cars kept honking at him to get him to turn them off, and that just made him madder and yell about the lack of respect from other drivers. Again, kind of sad but also funny. He was a nice old man to be so good to us, I hope we didn't wear him out too much. We finally got home after several hours of driving around and taking wrong turns and trying to figure out where we were. About 1:40 am, the TV suddenly came to life for seemingly no apparent reason and it was REALLY loud. Random.

Lisa and Signore Gaspari looking at the hills north of Verona.

The next day, we walked around the entire city with our gracious host acting as a tour guide. It was really amazing, he gave us a running narrative about everything we were seeing, from how the city was constructed, when, why, and by who. There is quite the incredible history to the city. Part of Verona's fame comes from Billy the writer and his story of star-crossed lovers.

Lisa with Juliet's Balcony in the background.

We made a stop by Juliet's house and saw her balcony and her statue. Her statue was kind of interesting in that her breasts are very well polished because it is supposed to be good luck to rub them. Can't say that it has worked.

Juliet, in all her glory.

After our fabulous tour, we headed back to nap and get ready for a great night out. One of the big attractions to Verona is the Arena di Verona, and we were visiting right in the peak of opera season.

View of the Arena di Verona from outside.

The Gaspari family had gotten us tickets to that night's performance of Il Nabucco by Verdi. Wow. How do you describe sitting in a 2000 year old stadium, watching an opera written by one of the most famous composers ever? You don't. All I can say is it was a once in a lifetime opportunity. I think that the most incredible part for me, was the performance of Va' Pensiero. It was one of my favorite moments of the entire trip, and an incredible finish to our stay in Verona.

Lisa and our wonderful hosts, the Gaspari family.

Looking at the crowd in the Arena di Verona.

Lisa overlooking the center of Verona.