These handsome young men are my 2nd cousins. That is Gioelle (English is Joel) in the gray jacket. He is the son of my cousin Fabio and his wife Analia. The little boy in blue is Nico (English is Nick). He is the sone of my cousin Ilaria and her husband Gas (pronounced Gus). Aren't they just precious! Gioelle was taught my name by Stefano and he was walking around the house saying Ar-lay-neh (the Italian pronounciation of Arlene). It was so cute in his little sing song voice. Later someone told him I was his cousin and he was just repeating MY COUSIN (cugina)? LOL These two are so much fun together. They got into the Navity scene playing with the animali (animals). What one had, the other wanted.... and vice versa.
Today I was typing away in an email, when I saw a lady walking down the sidewalk outside the front glass doors. I thought how much she favored my Zia Adriana. Then thought how silly. Zia Adry is several hours away on the Island of Elba. A few minutes later the doorbell rang and went to open it. Imagine my shock when it was my Zia Adry along with her son Maurizo and his wife Genny; her son Paolo and his wife Rita. I was just amazed to see them all. Lucia knew last night that they were all coming this afternoon. She was laughing at my facebook note that it was a very quiet day, knowing all along this was going to happen.
A friend of Maurizio took Zia Adry to the ferry to ride to the mainland. He and the rest of the gang were waiting for her to arrive on the mainland. Then they drove here from the ferry (about 1 and half hours) to surprise us. Later they had to drive to Bologna and Modena which is almost 4 hours north of Pisa.
Rita and Paolo brought me a lovely doll. Rita is a doll collector. Genny and Maurizio brought me 2 cookbooks, one from the Verona region where Genny is from, and one from Tuscany. Now I will need my Italian-English dictionary because the recipes are written in Italian. LOL
Paolo also did me a favor and brought me a biography on Ferrari the carmaker for my
oncologist, Dr. Baltz. Dr. Brad is nuts over Ferrari. So I have a gift to bring to him on my next chemo on January 13th.
Within minutes of this arrival, came Gas, Ilaria and Nico. Soon after Lucia appeared. Maurizio has a good camera that has a time delay on it, so he got a family photo of everyone! Yes I mean everyone: Zio Corrado, Zio Adry, Lucia, Ilaria, Nico, Gas, Maurizio, Genny, Rita, Paolo and me. This will be a very special family photo for me.
We had a lovely visit. Genny brought a special cake from Verona for Zio Corrado. He ate a huge piece of it tonight and declared it good. I am full right now, but plan on trying it later.
While the sun was out, Paolo captured me and we walked to the seaside. This afternoon the sun appeared and I took advantage of it to take photos of the Meditterrean Sea. The sea was calm. There were so many people out walking too! A portion of the road is closed on Sunday, so the street was full of people out walking and enjoying the sun.
While I was away, Lucia, Rita and Genny went to the store to get Zio Corrado his daily newspaper and a hot chocolate or cocoa.
It seemed that everyone disappeared at one time. I enjoyed seeing them all ! What a pleasant surprise. I understand that they had a long trip ahead of them and by now they should be home. Glad I did not have to go up north. The weather is not my friend in the north. Too darn much snow and cold air for me. I will remain at the seaside instead.
All is well tonight. Hope all is well with you too.
Oh by the way, the Christmas dinner photo I loaded was NOT after dinner. I got to looking at the photo (double clicking on it) and saw it was prior to dinner and many of the appetizers are shown. Look too at the lovely plates. I have never seen decorative plates like this in the US. Too bad.
See you tomorrow
Arlene
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