This young man is Gioelle (Joel). He is sitting on my lap eating a French fry. You can also see Ilaria with her son Nico on the right. Aren't these boys just precious!

Today again there is no sun. The skies are very overcast. We have had breakfast. Zio has already had his morning shot and medicines. The medicine for the shot comes in a glass vial and you must break the top off. Then load the medicine in the syringe. I have alot of trouble doing this. I cannot imagine when Zio must do this alone. In the morning his hands shake much. Right now he is in the bathroom getting washed and dressed. I am sitting here in my gown posting. Soon he comes out and then I do my morning chores. I make both beds and wash the breakfast dishes. It is our deal that he cooks and I wash. He tells me when he comes to see me in November 2010 (I told you he is making plans totally unaware of the situation) then he will still cook and I will still wash the dishes. LOL

Then I must go fold my clothes that Gina, his housekeeper who comes weekly, washed yesterday. Here in Italy the washing machines are front loaded and appear to be the size of our dishwashers. But the difference is you can only load about one third of what you could put in a washer at home. There are no dryers at least in most homes. Things are hung up to dry on drying racks or laid over the radiator vents. I have already folded a few things and I thought I better come post soon.

Today Zio will be using the computer to go to a naval site in the US. He had me go to www.atlanticfleetsales.com last night for him. He loves naval and aieral photographs.

At 2 Ilaira will pick me up to transport me to Pisa to where Lucia works (which is 1 block from the Leaning Tower in the tourist section). Then I will go with Lucia to Prato to her favorite scrapbooking store. I am really not sure how far away is Prato, except that it is close to Florence.

Tomorrow's game plans are that Stefano and Lucia will come to Marina di Pisa and collect Zio and myself. They are taking us out to lunch at McDonalds. Can you believe I fly half way around the world and here I am going to eat at McDonald's? LOL I even avoided it all costs on my last trip. But Zio wants an American hamburger, so we go.

Already wondering about the flight home. I see that many American airlines are now asking international travelers to arrive 3 hours early. This is because of the failed bombing of that Delta flight from The Netherlands to Detroit. I followed it on the Italian news and finally came to the computer to CNN to get a better understanding of the attempt.

I leave here from Marina di Pisa in the early hours (3:30 a.m.) to travel to Florence with Stefano and Lucia. I must arrive 2 hrs before my flight (Florence to Paris). My plane departs Florence at 7:20, so boarding will be around 7. Florence is the tiniest airport I have ever seen. It makes Little Rock look huge. LOL.... even the parking lot is smaller than one of them in Little Rock! Amazes me. I just wish I could of gotten a cheap ticket to Pisa, but they all sold out. It was a choice of Florence, which is close by, Rome which is 4 hours away, or Milan which is up in the mountains and thankfully I avoided it: Milan got much snow and ice and I think it would of been a week stuck there. Yikes!

Okay I must go off to do my morning chores. See you later.
Arlene