remember that song about the monster mash (it was a graveyard smash!)?

so you want more details? ok.

federico had cancer on his thyroid so the best doctor in italy cut it out for him with his mum (a nurse) assisting. i went to rome during the surgery to avoid the awkwardness of hanging out with his family for 3 days without speaking the same language. unfortunately, it seems the doctor missed some and now he has to go get his neck cut open again in 2 days, just as the last scar is healed. perhaps i'll go to venice. they say that he'll be fine but it's hard not to worry, hard to stay positive sometimes.

it has been very stressful for everyone here and i haven't quite known what to say on the matter. afterall, this isn't strictly my news to be sharing with the world. but there it is. i haven't meant to be so pooey to you all, my mind has just been a bit... well... pooey itself.

and what of the horrible looming FUTURE monster? why is he always lurking ahead of us all, ready to pounce? and a scary, tentacly fellow he can seem sometimes! i guess i really miss all of you. i was thinking about going to india again straight out of italy. i think i've talked myself out of that... i was thinking about staying in italy, but then i realised that i was a lazy lazy girl who still can't speak the language beyond pleasantries and swears. i'm frustrated here and it's largely my own fault. i think i've talked myself out of that. and i guess i really miss you all.

so as it stands, i should be returning to the westcoast either at the end of april or the beginning of may, depending if it seems possible to stay with federico a bit longer before he begins work and some follow-up treatments.

and i need a house.

and a resume for getting the job that pays for the house and the food for the eating.

ummm... i know i haven't done any of those things in awhile but i seem to remember that that's how it works, right?

helpsies?

trolls, spats and other assorted miscellanea

so many questions! crikey... you'd think that I was secretly INTERESTING or something below this vague and elusive exterior. despite what my last post may have led you to believe, i don't have all that many important secrets up my sleeves. gross abuse of proverbs and aesopian advice: don't live too far in the future or the past, cuz you can't decide what bridges should be crossed or burned until you get to them... or perhaps choose some less dramatic middle ground, hanging with the trolls underneath for a bit? we'll see.

as for my english cravings... i've turned to the desperate resource of reading david copperfield. that's 745 pages of being just about as english as you can get. does anyone else wish that spats were still cool? should we wear them anyway? oo and muffs and toppers! huzzah! should i turn my blog into a serial story? don't tempt me...

you sure know how to make a girl feel loved, y'all.

tower of babble.... all roads lead to roam

i'm sorry for writing so little, and that what i do write says so little.

it's strange and confusing to me that i can't say more, share more, especially awash in this bubbling stream of italian. i never realised how attached i am to english, to speaking, to understanding. i don't know what makes me closed mouthed (fingered?) when i get these rare chances to share my life with you all.

i went to rome for a few days and walked in those places you think exist only on postcards and art text books. it was impressive but left me a bit cold. it wasn't really a good time for travel, as i was preoccupied with other thoughts. i also unfairly made a mental tally of whether india or italy was more fun to wander about in. a silly excercise. can't compare sicillian oranges with mangoes, gelato with jalebis. i looped back through pisa to pick up federico who was in the hospital there for a few days and i know i'm opening a whole can of worms by letting that slip, but i don't know what to say on the matter but i don't know how i can avoid mentioning it and.... well, sorry for being vague and worrisome. as i was saying earlier, it's been hard to write to you all and to edit parts out. rest assured that we are safe and healthy and back home now, relaxing for some time.

we planted a peach tree in the backyard.

the 60th blog post

full moon-eclipse moon-red moon-full moon: federico and i saw our second lunar eclipse together. incidentally, that makes my second lunar eclipse in total.

in the family: two cats live in the house. there is tazio (aka bruto bagarspo sp?), a long haired rag doll with blue crossed-eyes and the unfortunate habit of hitting his head on pretty much everything. cats of this breed crave sociability and will die if left alone. this leads to many morning wake ups with his giant fuzz head trying aggressively to get under the blankets with me. he likes getting strangled and being thrown around in the air. and there is ombre (aka princess, string ninja, little goat, ookpik cat) a little grey cat who looks innocent but sometimes i'm not sure... she likes to do yoga with me and demands about an hour of playing with string everyday, especially fun as i try to make hemp jewellery. federico's mum loves these cats. they are in the family. the only rule: never ever let them outside (even if tazio cries to get at the hot little in-heat kitties who parade outside the door-he's castrated so he wouldn' have much luck anyway). so guess wholeft the goddamn door ajar? yup. ombre streaked back and forth like a fuzzy bullet with a freaked-out puff tail. tazio immediately tried to join the outside cat society of 20 or so members. i nearly had a heart attack. o god. bad natalie.

did i just write that much about cats? o dear. perhaps we should turn for a moment to something more serious. you should go to my link for economist- there's a very interesting article up this month.

i will assume from the lack of blog posts that the weather out in canada is beautiful and life is good.

full moon-eclipse moon-red moon-full moon