Happy Holidays!

 This is a sort of year end round-up.  We've had many visitors since the last update.  Rick and Mary Anne spent one short night in the castle on their way around Europe.  

A nice couple from Australia arrived and spent 3 nights or so with us.  

We've played Babbo Natale, and have entertained many of the residents of Panicale.

My youngest daughter and her lifelong school friend have come over for a holiday.  

Oh, and did I mention hamster socks?

Time has just slipped away from me.  Keeping up with the blog has not been a priority this month.  

Work progresses in Italian time on our home.  We did manage to get MOST of the kitchen put in place but seem to be stalled when it comes to the plumbing.  

Our plumber is so backed up we don't know when he will be coming to finish the Master Bathroom and Kitchen.  When he does, I've been told the rest of the work can be completed quickly.  (Italian quick that is.)

We are currently in Rome for a short holiday with the Bug before she returns home.  She and I were last here 10 years ago and we opted to revisit a few places we didn't enjoy as much when her father was in the picture.  The Colosseum was as ancient as ever.  

Give Trevi Fountain a miss.  Trust me.  Now that they charge to see it, the crowds are much worse than before if you can believe that.  

George's workshop move in has begun.  The benches have all been epoxied a beautiful blue (and red) and the laser cutters and 3D printers are installed.  

Our delivery room is being repurposed as a double office.  We've given up on ever having Antonio put in the door code entry and since I too need an office (I'm tired of running up and down the stairs to get paperwork from the 1st to the 3rd floor) so this room is now it.  

We managed to find yet another missing Berrocal Piece.

I continue to unbox puzzles.  The third floor of the Palace is completed and are filled to the brim with puzzles and Lego.  The second floor guest rooms are almost finished now.  Once these are done, it's on to the great wall of China.  

I wish you all a very Happy, Healthy, and Prosperous New Year.  

November has ended

I had fully planned to post about visitors, new puzzles, and our adventures, but time caught up with me again.  This sounds like a simple excuse, but trust me.  It's real.

First we had to take a trip up to Grardara near San Marino to arrange for a puzzle exhibition.  Sadly, George caught the whooping cough and we had to hand our hotel reservations over to a very happy Antonio and Elena.  They had a nice weekend while we spent it in bed. All is good though.  I've mostly gotten over it and George lucked out and his only lasted a month. 

Bruce and Sybil Whitehill arrived for a visit. They are hosting the AGPI convention in The World Puzzle Center this October and of course they had to come for a visit to check out our facilities.  We had a few wanders around the town, a dinner or two.  

I have put together a nice puzzling scavenger hunt around the town and we enjoyed walking through it together.  I also brought them on a tour of Castiglione del Lago.  Sadly the puzzle shop was closed this time.  

Between these guests and our next set, we had a ring at the doorbell one afternoon.  I appears that word is spreading about our little venture. This time it was an Italian family from over near the coast that had seen us on TV.  They came in and asked for a tour.  It was gladly given. There have been three of these impromptu visits this month alone.  

Once they left town, I got to work on adding a few more pieces to our Lego Christmas Display but didn't get too far before George's brothers arrived for a visit.  We loved having them and their wives and of course had to have a dinner at Gallo and Mosolino both.  Linda has cousins that live an hour away so they came over for a dinner and spent the night with us as well.  It was a real full house.  A few games of Eurorails were played, a lot of good meals were cooked, and much laughter was heard in the castle.  These three together is so much fun.  

We enjoyed a day trip to Orvieto.  I sat with Brother Gene and discussed life in general while observing the people walking by while George took the rest of his family to see the Orvieto Underground. After a bite to eat I took the ladies for a wander around town to do a bit of shopping.  

The day they left, we did as well.  We are now sitting at Oskars' place picking up a few more puzzles that have been donated to the WPC.  I suppose we could have had them shipped down to us, but it is so much more fun to travel and see friends. This also allows George and I much needed time with just the two of us.  We love having guests, but even when we don't have company, we have staff and workmen and random visitors from off the street.  There is no time alone. 

José and I spent a few hours walking around the Mall of the Netherlands.  I wanted to get a few Lego Christmas characters and to get my silly passport stamped.  Mission accomplished.  

While there, we wandered to a toy store or two and managed to find a few more puzzles I didn't have! We wandered back to the house with our packages and to spend a few more hours talking.

George and Oskar worked on some puzzle designs.  And as normal lately when George offered up the most recent puzzle he's been working on, Oskar handed him a similar version that he had already completed.

Our stay there was short.  We awoke the next morning and headed out to pick up the Van der Poel collection.  It was gifted to the museum after William's passing on the condition that it remain available for puzzlers as is our norm.  The collection was partially packed up when we arrived which was a big help.  George and I spent just short of 3 hours packing and loading the van.  We are very grateful for the collection and wish to thank both Hans and Peter for their generous gift.  

The van is now riding heavy.  We managed to return to Italy on 3 December as we had guests arriving on the 5th.  What a rushed trip.  This is turning into our M.O. 

Prague and home again.

This has been a month.  As have all of them I guess.  Does the definition of a month change?  Depending on your perspective; yes.  So what made this month more special than any other month?  Why it's friends, travel, and puzzles of course.

I had initially thought not to write about this, but a single sentence from Oskar has caused me to change my mind.  (That and a good spreadsheet.)  We were talking one night and he said what I was going to do would be a lie.  He's right.  So here goes...

DCD, Prague, and more

I've been going to DCD since 2013 and have no plans to stop.  It has always been a highlight of the puzzling year.  This year was no exception.  George and I took off for the Netherlands and as is our norm, stopped in Como and Baden Baden on the way to Oskar's.  Sadly, this time we took the van as we had a few things to pick up.  This just makes for a slightly uncomfortable ride for George and an aching clutch knee for me.  

Well, you read about that in the last set of ramblings so I won't do it again.  On to Prague.  

We drove 9 hours across Germany to Prague on Monday following DCD.  Our purpose?  To see that darned clock!  No.  Yes.  Sort of.  We were there to pick up yet another puzzle collection.  I had picked up 1/2 of it in days prior and went back to get the rest.  The van was packed to the gills!  

Literally.  I did manage to pack in some pepitas and a case of Pilsner Urquell for George.  Every square inch of that van was packed.  My seat was permanently locked in place and I had to squeeze out sideways from behind the steering wheel. On the return trip George was more comfortable as he had legroom.  This trip was a quick in and out.  

After picking up the puzzles, I went for a wander around the town.  There I finally saw the astronomical clock.  It's been on my list of must do things since I was in elementary school.  As an adult, I marveled at the ingenuity of the original clock makers, but honestly, it's a clock.  Beautiful, but a clock.  

I would have been remiss if I hadn't walked across the Charles Bridge and took a few photos of the beautiful buildings of the city.

Later I wandered around the town, visited a few lego shops, bought a few puzzles, saw the sunflower door (over-rated) and found a beautiful peacock set of windows.  

That evening we had dinner with a friend.  Sadly, George took a dark beer instead of the Pils and I had wine.  Excellent meat though!  We discussed puzzles of course, but over the night, I let slip that my MPhil is in History (It was supposed to be a PhD but I had this kid named Katherine and I opted to take the lower degree rather than do the re-writes-she was premature by 3 months and at the time it seemed more important to take care of her), namely the 30 years war, and more specifically the move away from isolationism.  (Sadly, American's don't seem to learn from History-but this isn't a political post.) Anyway, I asked where the window was.  Next thing we knew, we had a private tour booked for the next morning.  

We met our guide at around noon (I let George have a long over due lie-in) and off we went.  He gave us some wonderful information on the building up of the city that I did not know, then we left to go see the window.  

Now, I'm not bragging, but even the tour guide said I knew more about this aspect of Czech history than he did.  He even learned a thing or two about the country during that period of time.  I'm glad we used him though, had it not been for him, I would have never found the window that overshadowed 4 years of my life.  

No one was thrown out that day.  The arch to the right is the entrance to some public bathrooms.  Only fitting as one of the tales is that the ministers were flung out the windows and survived by landing in a pile of dung.

Once the tour was over George and I headed into town to go to a puzzle shop I have known about for most of my adult life and it did not disappoint.  But first, we stopped to have an authentic Czech sushi lunch.  

At the puzzle shop I did my usual "If I don't have it I will buy it" routine, and darn, this time it was a win for the shop.  We walked away with 6 bags!  Where was I going to put those in the van?  (I unbaggged everything and slid puzzles into any corner I could find.) I highly recommend the HRAS - the world of board games and puzzles for anyone going to Prague.  The shop while on the small side, holds so many wonderful puzzles and games, and the owner was just the nicest man.  Once he realized who we were, he became very enthusiastic and kept pointing out things to George.  It was well worth the visit. 

From there, we headed back to Italy.  8 hours later and we were at our hotel for the night.  We opted to have dinner in the hotel that night and I have to say a few things. First, Venison should never be cooked well.  Second, Chocolate has no right to be paired with pasta.  Third, the best wine in the world is in Italy.  George ordered a tartare and it was amazing.  

The next morning we drove back home.  Parked the van and our lovely Antonio and Elena were waiting for us.  We gave hugs all around and then unloaded.  

The drive and all of the excitement took it out of me and I was miserable sick. George went to Dahlia's concert the next evening alone.  I slept. Alfonso came to visit us from France and we gave him a tour of the place. It has changed a lot since the last time he was here.  He really enjoyed the IPP room and would have spent all day there if there wasn't so much more to show.  

We had a few non puzzling friends over for dinners.  Life goes on.  

This year we were asked to dress for halloween and in typical Roxanne fashion we went all out. The dungeon was decorated, candy was purchased, as was Prosecco and the puzzles were placed on the tables.  We ran out of candy 1/2 hour in and I had to raid all of the guest bedrooms and the extra stash.  The Prosecco we bought plenty of.  

A good time was had by all and as is normal, after we wandered into the square for dinner and a chat with a few locals.  After a laugh over a cappuccino we were refereed to as the count and countessa (the usual titles for the past castle nobility).  I corrected him and said I was the discount.  The name has stuck.  This morning I walked past the bar and the owner greeted me with a hearty laugh and a "buon giorno Sconto!"  I just love living here.

There has been much work done in the palace.  The kitchen cabinets are mostly up, the hood range is in and the pizza oven is mostly finished.  

The upper floor has had the shelving brackets installed, and the laundry room is 90% done.  The dead cat room has had a gutter installed and the main entrance to the castle has had drains put in place.  The dead cat room walls have been plastered over, the keys have been put in place to ensure it doesn't fall over.  The list goes on and on.  I am really beginning to be able to see the light at the end of the tunnel.  We were hoping to be in by Thanksgiving.  I realized last month this would be impossible.  The goal of Christmas this year is also out the window as the master bedroom and bath are still a construction zone with unfinished walls, lose wires, and concrete floors.  But I can see the end.  I really can.  The palace is starting to feel warm and homey.  It is no longer just a dull shell of a building.  

From now until Christmas we have no free time.  No trips planned, just guests and of course Babbo Natale  e il suo elfo.