Out With The Old In With the New

Sadly as most of us have figured out by now House Elves were figments of J. J. Rowling's fevered imagination - though of course our belief in them probably gave her enough disposable income to actually hire an army of house elves.  Myself,  I waited and waited for one to appear and even suggested that the Hounds from Hell start earning their keep.  Nicky's reaction was to snap at the vacuum in an attempt to scare it back into the laundry room.  Finally I had to call a cleaning lady to sandblast the apartment and make it spic and span.

And I decided at the same time that maybe a little house cleaning on the blog is in order - but that I can do myself.   With a change of abode comes a few changes in how things are done here.  The celebrations for the 150th anniversary of a United Italy have come to an end - though hopefully not the national pride and enthusiasm it engendered - so that banner has disappeared from the sidebar.  Its been replaced by another event being celebrated this year - the 200th anniversary of the War of 1812.  It is being celebrated on both sides of the border as a defining event in the histories of Canada and the United States of America.

I have also made a change to the way I date posts.  After the move to Italy in July of 2007 I went bilingual - Italian/English - and in deference to the rich influence of the church calendar on life there included Saints' Days from the Italian calendario.  Lord knows there was a saint - sometimes two or three - for every day of the year but I would dare say that each Saint  had his day - and a few even were mentioned each year.  However I felt to continue in this vein now that I am back in Canada would be a mite pretentious and anyone who knows me knows I am not pret...  okay I am but....   All to say that the date will now be in English and the events recorded will be momentous (?) occasions in the history of that particular day.

And I really must get around to cleaning up the sidebars - I really wonder if anyone does actually read sidebars or not?  Perhaps that would be a good survey to post in.... a sidebar????

So now things are a bit neater and a touch tidier on the blog - now all I have to do is find someone to iron the 22 shirts that are hanging in the laundry room.  Any offers?

04 Janaury - 1847 Samuel Colt sold his first revolvers to the government of the United States.

Missing in Action But Still Around

Things have been a little crazy around here the past week or so. As a result I haven't been either able or in some cases up to doing a regular post - even those easy ones like Mercoledi Musicale. This time it isn't the infamous "blogger's block" just life.

First there was the trip to London - just too much going on to do much other than take pictures, go to the theatre, museums and concerts, eat and meet up with a wonderful fellow blogger and his partner.

Second there was the kids' birthday - okay that didn't take up that much time just an extra biscuit on "the day" but Nora was under the weather - oh look something unspeakable on the sidewalk let's eat it and see what it will do to our digestive system! Now that could set me off on a rant about the bloody people here who don't pick up after their dogs but that is for another day.


Third the visit to the Corsini Library and its wonders.

Fourth, and probably the biggest - I'm back to working full time at the Embassy for a few months. I won't go into the details - at times they were just too Machiavellian for words - but every morning I am now arising at 0630 and merrily trudging my way into the office. Hey its will pay for the upcoming trips!

So all and all its been a bit of a dog's breakfast - sorry Nora. I am honestly working on something about those first three items, the fourth we will leave to God and her Angels to inscribe in the Book of Life. In the meantime I'm off to boot camp with the kids - this week we'll learn how I should respond to the command "Down"!

28 febbraio - San Romano di Condat