(Insert Clever Blog Name Here)

Parco Talon

There is a park near here, on the outskirts of Bologna. It has two names. The official name is "PARCO DELLA CHIUSA" which, unfortunately, "Google Translate" translates as "Park "closed" (try it!)

I found out later, that the word Chiusa can mean "closed" but it can also mean "dam" as in a "river closure" - so its really the "Park of the dam". However, I avoided this park for a long time because the internet always said "Park closed!" when I translated the web page.

The other, unofficial name is "Parco Talon."

It is a nice little park, between the foothills and the Reno River, just outside of the Bolognese suburb of Casalechio.

I took a walk through the park today, on a beuatidful spring-like afternoon, climbing up into the foothills, past several old bombed-ou ruins. Apparently the "Resistance" (I dont know which side) was holed up here during WWII, and there was a major bombing run which destroyed the villas - which have been left to crumble.

When I first got to the park, and took my first picture, the batteries in my camera immediately died. I was able to take a handful of other pictures during my hike by warming up the batteries in my hands, putting them in the camera and taking a single, quick photograph before the batteries would fail again. So I dont have many pics. But here are the ones I did take:

Park Entrance:

Bombed-out villa near the entrance of the park:

 

Another ruined villa

  

Once I left the main area of the park, I climbed several hundred feet of elevation into the hills, along muddy paths:

 

  

Looking out over Casalechio and Bologna

  

This was taken through the doorway of a crumbled villa near the top. I liked the outlines of the no-longer-existing stairs, and the colors:

  

Here are some ENORMOUS land snails I found, during a very overgrown muddy shortcut I took:

  

It was a pleasant 90 minute hike. I am looking forwad to going back with my wife and son, when they come back to Italy in late April.

Lemon Bars

Friday afernoon I started to feel sick, so I rested most of the weekend. Saturday night was the worst. Sunday morning I just couldnt get up for church, so I stayed mostly in bed until around 3PM.

At 3PM, I felt I needed to go out and get my heart going or I would take root to the bed and never leave. I hopped on my bike, and pedalled to the church of the Madonna di San Luca, on the hill overlooking Bologna. It is close to 1000 feet elevation gain via the route i take - after 2.5 hours I came home, drenched from the freezing rain. Im not sure it helped.

Today, Monday, I felt utterly knackered out - but I'm on a tight schedule a work, so I crawled into the office, made it through the day with the help of some diet pepsi, and crawled home.

I was so hungry. I decided to try to do some baking. I had eggs, sugar, flour, lemons, baking soda, butter... recipiematch.com said I could make... lemon bars!

So, I baked lemon bars this evening. My first baking since 7th grade Home-Economis class in 1978. Yay me!

I hadn't realized that lemon bars were essentially Butter/Sugar/Lemonjuice omelettes. I hadn't even realized that there were eggs in lemon bars. I thought the yellow/orange color was from the LEMONS. Who knew? It was liking discovering tha blueberry muffins were largely made of mayonaise, pomegrantes and hummus.

So now I am sitting at the computer, listening to "rock of ages" by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, eating lemon bars, and getting so fat my wife will never love me again. But at least I baked.

Resolutions...

New Years Resolutions for 2009

I have not met a new year with resolutions in a long, long time. This year, maybe I have gone overboard, but I have made a list of resolutions, and all of them seem very reachable. So here they are:

I resolve to find more ways to perform service for others, to make an effort to ask others if there is anything I can do, and to try and do more anticipating of opportunities to help others.

I resolve to join a gym (already done!) and work out after work a mimimum average of twice a week (which would be over 100 trips in 2009)

I resolve to take the certification test to become a "Microsoft Certified Professional" before the end of February (only 5 weeks for this one)

I resolve to give my wife at least 4 completely free weekends this year, where she can go off somewhere on her own (while I keep Mac) (This is a minimum)

I resolve to go on at least three camping trips - and at least one of those will be just Mac and me.

I resolve to learn to cook at least three different complete meals - and (gulp) try to cook at least one night a week (details to be arranged)

I resolve to lose (at least) 25 lbs this year.

I resolve to try and arrange at least two "date nights" a month with my wife. I would like to have one once a week if possible, but will try to arrange at least one every two weeks.

I resolve to try to keep my things at home tidy

I resolve to break the habit of biting my finger nails.

I resolve to try and organize some Family Home Evenings regularly.

I resolve to go to the temple at least three times (It requires a five hour drive to Switzerland)

I resolve to try and limit my intake of caffeine

I resolve to be more social at work.

And lastly, I resolve to try and be more independent emotionally, and not go pestering my wife whenever I feel insecure over a lack of communciation - to trust her love for me, and to trust her to communicate anything that needs communicating

So those are my resolutions for this year.

There and Back Again...

...No, not by Bilbo Baggins - although New Zealand -is- Middle Earth.

Ive sustained another long pause in blogging, and have too much stuff to recount in detail....But I need to post something to break the ice, and get blogging again, for the new year.

Im back from New Zealand. It was an awesome three weeks, with Gail, Macallum and Kieran. We played in the sun, played on the farm, drove around to awesome places, spent time together just talking, Celebrated Christmas, a Birthday, and the New Year - and generally enjoying us all being together for the first time since Mac was just a few weeks old, and Kieran visited us for a day or two back in Feb or March 2006.

Things I very much enjoyed, and memories made:

Our family drive too Gore Bay
Our family walk up to the rocks of Castle Hill, and climbing around
Our family trip to New Brighton Beach, swimming in the waves (and receiving my first -serious- southern hemisphere sunburn)
Late-night walking with Gail, to the beach near our holiday bungalow
Taking Macallum to the tiny "zoo" at the holiday park, watching his reactions to the unusual birds and giant pigs
Our family drive to Lake Tekapo
Mustering the sheep (mostly escorting them down the road) and watching Mac running after the lambs
Christmas shopping with Gail while Kieran watched Mac
Going to the movies with Gail and Mark wile Kieran watched Mac
Walking with Gail and Mac up past the "sign of the Kiwi"
Driving with Kieran and actually getting to know him a little more
Playing on the Flying-Fox, and goading Gail into taking a go at it
Driving to the Rakaia Gorge with Gail, Mac, and Sophie, and taking Mac on a Jet-boat ride through the gorge
Hearing Mac's language progress by leaps and bounds, while hanging out with his big brother Kieran
Driving to Birdlings Flat with Gail and Mac
Seeing my wife in her natural environs, happy with friends, family, and a familiar culture
Celebrating New Years with Gail, at a concert in Cathedral Square

On the way back, I had a 9 hour layover in Sydney, Australia, and I was able to leave the airport and spend 4-5 hours walking around that beautiful city in the crazy summer heat, along Darling Harbor and to the famous Opera House.

Gail and Mac have remained behind, in summer, to take care of a few things over the next 2 months or so. I already miss them!

Im now back in Italy, in the heart of winter, with below-freezing temperatures, oppressive foggy darkness... BUT I managed to take a train to Florence on Saturday - what an amazing city, even on a cloudy day. The Duomo is mind-boggling.

I paid to climb the dome to the very top - close to 500 steep steps, just over twice the height of the leaning-tower of Pisa (375 feet vs 186 feet)
The climb follows tiny labrynthian tunnels that spiral in tight columns, and then circle the inside of the upper dome, giving amazing views of the stunning 15th century frescoes, before exiting at the very top, allowing you to stand and overlook the city.

The dome is the largest masonry dome in the world. It is incredible.

All of my New Zealand pictures are still in New Zealand, on my laptop, but I will try and post some photos from Florence, soon.

I have made a series of New Years resolutions! (But I will save them for another post!)

Countdown...

I haven't been posting, because Gail is in New Zealand, and calling me every day - and Ive been able to talk about anything interesting that's happened during those calls - and since she is the only one who reads my blog, I just havent had any motivation to post anything -it would all just sound like a rerun...

So I am forcing myself to post anyway.

The countdown has started - I leave for New Zealand myself in just 3 days! Then I get to see my family again :) The flight will be via Frankfurt, Germany, to Singapore, Malaysia to Sydney, Australia, to Christchurch, New Zealand - where I will have 3 weeks in the (hopefully) Summer sun. My first Christmas and Birthday in Summer!

I have managed to survive these past 4 weeks remarkably well (Only two accidental cooking fires)

It has been cold here - Ive had to chip the ice off the windshield of our diesel Renault before driving to work most days this past week. I know it will be a shock to arrive in late spring/early summer down there. The Renault currently only has one workign headlight. It is too much of a pain to ask for it to be fixed.

Ive been using some of my free time studying for a particular Microsoft Certification test ("Developng Windows-based Applications in C#.Net using Visual Studio.Net" ), that I intend to take while I am in New Zealand. If I pass, I will be officially certified as a "Microsoft Certified Professional". The test is cheaper in NZ (about 60 US$) compared to about 100$ here in Italy.

It is the first of several certifications I am aiming for, but being the first actual certification of any kind, it will mean something to me nonetheless.

I need to beef up my resume, in case I need to look for work in New Zealand.

Back to cleaning...

Cheese bowling

  Yesterday, I went bicycling for lunch, along the river again, this time south, into Bologna.

I saw the strangest thing - two old men taking turns flinging a disc of some kind, wound up with a rope or wire, unravelling it as they threw it to obtain a high rate of spin, to cause it to roll it as far as it would along a long grassy field next to the river. They attained distances well over 100 meters. I wish I had brought my camera.

I asked my co-workers about this strange disc-bowling contest, and they informed me that it was an ancient sport called "Ruzzola", and more interestingly, that the "disc" is traditionally a cheese-wheel.

I did some web searches, and sure enough, I found plenty of "Ruzzola" information. The following links are in italian, but google translate works well:

http://www.ruzzola.it/gioco_ruzzola.htm
http://www.figest.it/ruzzola.php

Since I dont have any pictures myself, here are some internet pics of Ruzzola players in action:

 

 

 

Blessed are the Cheese bowlers.

Election time!

Election time!

It was interesting experiencing the US presidential election from Italy - the results were coming in late late at night, and I didnt see the final result until 5:30 AM. Gail and I watched Obama's acceptance speech at 6AM (I had to get her out of the bath.) We were both pleased at the outcome. McCain's concession speech was pretty good, it reminded me of McCain of 2000, when I was hoping he'd win the GOP nomination.

At work, it felt good to be an American for a change. My co-worker sitting next to me, Riccardo, at one point I found humming the star spangled banner quietly to himself. That is astonishing to me. There seems to be a great sense of hope over here in Italy - even though Berlesconi, the current leader of Italy, considers himself "George Bush's best friend"

Mt Adone (x2)

I was worried this would happen...

I go a few days without posting, then suddenly the pressure is on to include more content in any new post to attone for all the days with no posting.

Then we go somewhere interesting and take pictures - and so I can't post until Ive looked at the pictures and sorted out which to upload... And before long, a few weeks have gone by...

This quick post will cover two trips up Mt Adone, to get me somewhat up to date.

Mt Adone is a small mountain overlooking a valley about half an hour south of Bologna. During WWII, in the in late 1943 and 1944, the Nazis occupied the summit, which gave them a high-ground advantage over allied troops in the valley below. Later, the US Infantry stormed the mountain and reclaimed the summit.

Last December I climbed to the top, and thought it would be fun to come back and bring Gail and Mac, so this is what we did a few weekends ago.

Here are some photos with brief descriptions.

 

Macallum walking up with us. He stopped for every bug and leaf, as usual.

  

Thats' his own walking stick. He is carrying a pet jaguar in his left hand.

He actually made it quite far up the steep track - much farther than I expected.

Eventually though, he needed to ride in the backpack on my back.

 

We saw many beautiful fall colors. These leaves stood out.

  

The trail wound over sandstone structures, and through some forest.

 

Some small flowers poking through the leaves.

 Gail took a million photos as usual.

 

We saw these awesome rock formations near the summit.

The sky was strange all day - looking like a storm was coming for awhile, then it would clear up and the sun would peek through.

We only saw a few sprinkles of rain.

   

More of the strange rock formations. There was a steep cliff on the other side.

 

Looking down from near the summit.

 

Gail at the cliff edge, looking down (Taking more pictures)

  

Gail in the same spot, after Mac and I walked around the edge to the summit.

Gail took this one of me and Mac.

 

The english portion of an informational sign - describing the WWII history of the site.

 

A very visible red tree we saw on the way back down.

 

We had a picnic on the way back down - and we were visited by this little guy.

All in all it was a great hike. Gail got much better photographs than I did, but I am happy with some of the ones I took.

Last Saturday, I decided to go back again, this time with my metal detector, which my parents had shipped to me here.

I knew the site was part of the "Gothic Line" of WWII battles, and I wanted to see if I could find anything.

 

The Saturday that I went was much hazier.

Here is a look down on the town of Brento, as I climbed again.

 

I decided to go off trail, and I scrambled around on some exposed sandstone faces.

I started to find all sorts of copper and steel fragments of exploded munitions and shrapnel.

 

Here is a small sample of what I turned up.

The two bullets are WWII aircraft bullets - probably shot from allied aircraft at the Nazi positions.

I will try to have them identified later. They were about 6-7 inches deep in the sandstone.

The coin was a 200 Lira coin from 1979 - not that old.

While I was scrambling around, I found some fossil deposts - the first I've ever actually found.

 

Most of the fossils (clam and oyster shells) were in tiny fragments - this was the best I could find.

  

It's not much - but it is the first unequivocal fossil I've ever found. I may go back to specifically look for more at some point.

   

As I was climbing back down, I went off trail again through the forest - I found several networks of trenches, and hideouts -

These were obviously used by soldiers in 1943-44. I dont know who dug them - the nazis or the allies.

They were just a bit creepy yet fascinating.

                                                          

I spent about 4 hours poking around, then headed home as the sun started to get low.

Red Dragonfly

A red dragonfly in the fields near the airport.

He took off 7 or 8 times, making a pass through some weeds each time, then landing in this same spot, where I was patiently waiting for him.

I had to sneak closer during each of his flights, so I wouldnt spook him with movement.

And here is Macallum watching a plane land.

Frogs and Leaves

No pictures today.

I just wanted to record that we all went for a nice walk together around Calderara last night. I caught two frogs for Macallum to look at under the yellow streetlights - a big ol' daddy frog, and later, a little baby frog. Macallum calls them "Ribbits". He proceeded to jump around like the baby frog when I showed it to him. He was upset when I put him back into the bushes. Lizards, frogs and rabbits seem to be the main wildlife here.

It was nice to walk around through the parks. Macallum hopped and ran for most of the way, and greeted most everyone we passed with a loud "CIAO!", as he does. He picked up two huge oak leaves larger than frisbees, and, one in each hand, showed us his semaphore skills as we walked home. We joked that either the wind would lift him up by the leaves, or a stray airplane would land in front of him, following his directions.

Gail was stylishly dressed with running shoes, black knee socks, a black skirt that did not reach the socks, a pink tshirt and blue hoodie. She tried to stay in the shadows, but she was still seen by a few Italians.

It was a nice night.