Life on the Vine

Earlier this month marked the one year anniversary of our move to Italy.  We did a staggered arrival into our new host country with me and Smokey arriving first.  A couple days later I drove to Milan to pick up Henry at the international airport's cargo area.  Tom wrapped things up back home and arrived about a month later with Colt in early July.  After about two months in two different hotels we moved into our rented home and started the process of unpacking and setting up house here in beautiful northern Italy. I've been thinking about doing this blog for a couple weeks now and initially intended to post it on my one year anniversary but I couldn't figure out exactly how I wanted to organize this post.  Because I don't want this milestone to get too far away from me I'm just going to list some of my favorite things about our life here in Italy.  So, in no particular order, here you go. Of course one of our most favorite things...going on adventures...

Back in November I did a post highlighting the ten different wineries we had visited so far here in Italy.  I said at the time that it was 10 wineries in four months but looking more closely at my list it was actually five months.  So...setting the record straight.  Click here if you'd like to revisit that post.  It's been another five months so I thought it was a good time to do another wine-focused blog post.  Ten must be my lucky number because it's another ten wineries.  The past five months have been a veritable alphabet soup of wines.  The wine regions we've visited include Colli Berici, Colli Euganei, Franciacorta, Prosecco, Valpolicella, Emilia-Romagna, and right here in our own backyard.  The wines I've tasted include takes on Pinot Grigio, Moscato, Cabernet, Merlot, Chardonnay, Prosecco, Valpolicella, Amarone, Recioto, Yellow Muscat, Brut, Pinot Nero, Lambrusco, and Spumante. Closing out 2017 were two great wineries recommended by...

Buon Natale!  Stockings are unstuffed.  Presents are unwrapped.  The boys are chewing on their new bones and our bellies are full from a Christmas breakfast.  There is still frost on the ground outside and we've got a fire going in the living room fireplace.  Church bells have rung, carrying their song through the chilly air.  Tom's wearing one of his Christmas presents...a new shirt from my mom.  I'm wearing some alpine slippers I picked up at the Bolzano Christmas Market on Saturday.  The Christmas tree lights are on and our bookshelves are framed with the Christmas cards we have received.  My coffee cup is full of Irish coffee and we're listening to Burl Ives Christmas album.  I want to sit here and enjoy the ambiance and music so I thought it might be a nice time to share some photos and reflect on our first Christmas in Italy. It's hard to believe we have been living in Italy for six months.  We're already halfway through our...