still sitting at home planning, planning, planning

hullo there dear friends and relations

this here is carol, the hat lady, of hat people in talent, oregon.

many of you are already in the know about "whassup" with me!!??

for one thing, i do not capitalize when i write, unless i am being extremely business like.

that is not the purpose of this blog.

what is the purpose is to share with you all my excitement and wonder

at my upcoming travels in italy and greece with melda.

it has only been 42 years since my mom and i went to some of these places!!

 i am incredibly thrilled, honored, and astounded to be going there again

as companion of my friend, melda, who lives in eugene. we have been friends for about 30 years, so we know we will get along fine!! jim will stay in oregon and take care of the

hat biz and keep things flowing at the studio.

one thing that is amazing me at the moment, is that somehow i am quickly picking up the modern greek i learned back when i went in 1967. thanks to pano who helped and is helping me now, and i guess just the fact that languages seem to stick in my head. i can read it a bit too. 

i keep thinking italian is only a short step from spanish, so i am not worried, but melda

is working on that one more than i, at the moment.

i have about 7 books stacked by my bed which i am reading here and there, trying to cram in a bit more familiarity of history in relation to places we will visit. when my mom and i were there, i dug into it a bit, but did not really understand the big picture of our world as i do now.

42 years of living and learning makes a big diff in how one views the world, and one's place in it.

our previous trip gave me a lot of appreciation for that part of the world, and now the book i got at least 10 years ago, about the venetian empire, is starting to come alive with a real sense of place!  (THE VENETIAN EMPIRE, by jan morris). also that great book i read last year, which gave me a real feeling for renaissance life in venice  (IN THE COMPANY OF THE COURTESAN, by sarah dunant).

i am almost so excited i can barely sleep!  we will fly out of portland for rome on march 30, and will fly back to portland on april 28. it is now about 6 pm, sunday the 15th of march, and it is time for me to drag jim away from the computer and go out for our walk!! this is one of my big preps to get ready for our trip--get fit!!

mo' next time!