**connectivity issues in a couple countries has left many posts in draft form for days/weeks and messed up our dates on postings. Please forgive the mishmash.**

Saturday, June 30, 2018

Italian Postcards from Molly


"In Florence I got a purse so did my sister but this is about me I said how about a bow and she said ok. "
🤣


All about the gelato
💕

Tuscan Take-always

In cooking with a limited kitchen and regional/local foods- these are the things I've picked up and hope to carry the habits home:

Picorino cheese (younger, not long aged) is amazing

I've been making small batches of fresh salad dressing each night with the basics: olive oil, balsamic, garlic, oregano and sage. I used to do this quite often after I realized the grotesque amount of sugar was added to most of my favorite salad dressings - but then in the never ending pinch for time, I found some store-bought dressings that were delicious and had a reasonable amount of sugar (as in, a couple grams per serving, not 2-3 times the daily suggest intake) and just keep those staples around. I digress, oil and vinegar and a quick whip is really so quick and delicious/ I really should reinstate the practice.

Apertivo! And really, coursing out a meal is truly lovely. Challenging for timing bit who doesn't love a challenge? And it's totally worth it if it can all work out. Nothing a little planning ahead can't solve.

Digestiv/ post meal small liquor. Yes, please. I love me some sherry and this general practice allows me to not feel like a blue haired old woman sipping from a cordial glass. As I do. (Owning it)

I'm pretty sure I'll be wishing to be back here soon. It all so relaxing and soothing and all things real and honest and good. People are kind and gentle, with an overflowing love that manages to escape being so overly enthusiastic that it feels forced.



—found this in my drafts. Never quite finished but going to go ahead and post—

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Italian Postcards from Jackson

A collection of postcards from Jackson

Pointies for Jackson

Date night

Thursday night at Mirabelle with an amazing view

Afternoon at the Forum and Colosseum

Jackson, mom and dad got to spend some time on our own on Thursday afternoon, exploring some Roman Ruins

The Forum

We really liked this very social bird. He was not scared at all.

Owl Top

"Uh oh. Owl Top"
Lilly lost her owl top near the Circus Maximus and we heard a lot about it. Very sad.

Colosseum and View of St Peters

Tiny Little Colosseum Pick Pocket

Thursday morning tour of Roma!

Friday, June 29, 2018

Pompeii and Erculean

Pompeii and Erculean

Today we got up and got going, meeting our driver by 8:30 to head south to Napoli/"Naples" so we could visit the ruins of the two different archeological areas that are ruins from the Mount Vesuvius eruption in 79AD.

We had an awesome driver, Andrea who spent the day with us. He has an 11-year old son named Marcello who loves Curious George. He was wonderfully understanding of any of our kids' antics.

Our guide at each of the sites was Delores and she was delightful. She did a great job of making the tour "for the kids" and pulled everyone into the information. She was lovely and incredibly knowledgeable about the history, the geography and archeological aspects of the two very different sites.

Pompeii, the much larger but much less complete ruins, was almost immediately destroyed covered in 30" of ashes after Vesuvius blew its top. Discovered originally on the mid-1800's, it was initially just ransacked for gold and treasure. Only much later was it realized that there was significance in the ruins that should be researched and preserved. In fact, it was during the discovery of the cavities within the layers of ash that modern archeology was "born." I forget the guys name right now- Giuseppe, I think... he had he idea of pouring plaster into the cavities and waiting until they hardened to remove the debris around them- thus discovering that they were the imprints of human bodies who's final pose was perfectly preserved in compacted volcanic ash for almost 2000 years.

Meanwhile- the next morning a fancy resort town right on the water line (which is now considerably inland after centuries of volcanic eruptions slowly grew the coastline out into the water) realized that a huge wall of lava and mud was heading towards them. Many tried to escape by heading to the boat docks where they were found huddled together. This town was immaculately preserved in the volcanic rock, it was actually encapsulated so well that a town was built right in top of it, with a beautiful view of Capri and the Mediterranean Sea. During the digging of a well in the mid 1800's, the theater was discovered- which actually triggered the discovery of Pompeii.

Most of Erculean/Hearculeano's excavations have taken place under ground rather than being "open air" excavations. We explored the open air area as well as a few of the underground tunnels (the few that are open to the public).

Both the kids really loved the exploring and the adults were amazed with the impressive architecture and engineering of the town. As well as the detective work of the Archiologists to determine the use of various sites, the patterns of life for the people of the towns two millennia past.

Pics to follow


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Erculean

By Jackson

25 million years ago, the dinosaurs went extinct. A little over a million years after that, the ice age happened. Much later than that, technology was invented- and know it's everywhere. Haha!

Ok.

I liked seeing the plasters of the people by what was the water.

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