TedX Sofia

At the end of April I took off a few days of classes and George and I headed to Sofia to give a TedX talk.  I'd like to say that we visited the city, but we didn't have time.  Sadly, the day after we returned I had my final exam in my A2 Italian course. I passed.  On to B1!

But Sofia.  It was very nice.  We listened to many good talks, and met some wonderful people.  We will be having many guests coming from Bulgaria in the near future.  Surprisingly, one was a magician from Italy so I was able to practice a bit while there. We might need to keep in contact with him.  If nothing else to see his next show.  

On the first night we had coctails and drinks at the British ambassadors residence.  

On Saturday we were the headline group.  Or maybe the one everyone could ignore if they wanted a longer sleep.  I jest, it was a well received talk.  TedX has very kindly put it online and you can view it here. 

I want to make a (non-political) comment.  We drove the Tesla over.  A few comments about this.  It was a piece of cake!  The car of course tells us where to charge.  Now many say it's insane to sit so long and charge (30 minutes maximum).  But as I've said before, it is enough time to grab a bite to eat and to go to the bathroom.  Well, George and I hit on a formula that really works for us.  We drive with a fridge in the car (loaded with his beer).  We plug in the car and have our lunch while enjoying a movie.  Netflix in the car!  I'd have never dreamt of this 20 years ago.  Oh, and as to the cost? It was less than €250 for the round trip!  You can't do that in an ICE machine.  And no, we never had problems finding a charger.

When we returned home, we discovered almost no work done in our absence.  This of course was rectified when I got back!  But more on that in the next post.  

And for all you prudes out there, there is no nudity in this video.  ;)

Another month gone by.

Well, February is over and March has begun. The weather is changing and I've been able to turn off the heat in the castle.   As usual, I had the best of intentions to post a blog before now, but once again life got in the way.  

This attending the university has really helped my Italian progress, but it is a real killer on my free time. I drive an hour plus there each morning and the same trip back home in the afternoon.  Classes are four hours per day and when I get home, I usually study for another four hours after lunch.  I wouldn't recommend this intensive course for anyone.  There is really no time to digest the information learned much yet put it into practice.  If I were to tell you I've been worn thin, I wouldn't be lying.  I've lost all sense of civility and have become grumpy.  Poor George is putting up with me because he knows I need to pass the CEFR by next October.   He is relying on me yet again for this.  The good news is, the government seems to have changed the laws so once I get my citizenship his is a walk in the park.  No language exam for him.  

The pressure I feel is immense.  So much so, I've sent out a few emails to folks that are probably on the rude side.  If you read this, you will know who I am talking about. I wish to offer my sincere apologies.  I am really at the end of the tether.  

In other news, George had his 80th birthday celebration.  We invited many of the new friends we have made since coming to Italy.  It was well received.  Needless to say, I made too much food as usual.  But then I had a brilliant idea!  Everyone got a tin and was able to bring home dinner for the next day as well.  This helped us not waste so much.  Next time though, I make half the food.  2 days of preparing is a bit much for a birthday party.  But all had fun so it was worth it!

Saturday the 8th of March was Women's Day. Our young Daniel gave me a lovely cake and bouquet of flowers.  He's so thoughtful.  

We had our friends Rudolf and Vasi over for dinner and those lovely men brought me some fresh eggs and vegetables from their garden.  A wonderful fresh gift!  

George had a cancerous growth removed and I had the first cataracts surgery done.  He can hear, and I can see!  Between us, we should be able to drive. 

George continues to unbox books but has slowed down this week to get ready for our trip to Sophia.  Work continues in the hotel and it looks like it will be done by mid April!  Fingers crossed!

A very calm January

 Why write when there is nothing to write about?  I wouldn't want to bore anyone with drivel.  

That said, here comes the drivel.  We've had a dull month to say the least.  Well, it's been needed really.  Our youngest stayed until the 9th of January.  A nice trip for her and some good mom and bug time for the both of us.  Although, she did spend more time running around Italy than she did at home with us. 

We managed to finish the laundry room.  It is looking spiffy now.  Everything has its proper place.  I love order and this is the epitome of it. 

The kitchen is almost complete.  But where is the missing pot filler? It seems to have gone missing somewhere between the factory and my wall.  I do hope they found where it fell off the truck, because it has never been delivered here.  I have 1001 complaints about what they didn't do, or what was done incorrectly, but if we ever want to move in, I have to just keep my mouth shut and fix it once we move in.  Yes, that means paying to have the job done twice, but I am beginning to think that is why so many people have jobs here. 

The master bathroom sauna has been encased, but other than that we wait.  We originally ordered a toilet/bidet combo, but after a visit to Oskar last October, decided perhaps we want the extra bidet anyway.  We prefer those with the water coming from the bottom to the lazy Italian ones that we have in the castle.  Sadly, it is impossible to get now.  I am guessing we will settle for whatever they give us because we have had enough waiting.  This project started on 1 March 2024.  I am not at all happy that we are coming up on one years worth of work.

The other bedrooms on the second and third floors have been all shelved and work will begin soon on the hallways.  The third floor bedrooms have all been puzzleated and all is on full display there.  I will have signage up soon.  

The dead cat room is now cleared out and the crates have been opened.  The sawstop is in the center of the room and Antonio will soon begin to design the layout of the shelves.  I'm only allowed to make sure all is neat and tidy.

The garage's have both been sandblasted.  We opted to leave the bricks and the original rock exposed.  It has a certain rustic charm to it.  New doors have gone in and I'm hoping that the big garage gets the electric run soon.  I'm tired of parking outside and tourist season will soon be upon us.  It will be near impossible to charge the car when that happens.

We had an interesting visit from Italian FAI about wanting to add the castle to their spring walkabout.  Sadly, we all agreed that this is not a good year for it as we are still a work in progress.  We will be added to their list in the next year.  

Oh yes, We managed to have the Singmaster library and puzzle collection finally arrive.  George found a couple of podcasts here and here that are an interesting read.  I'm going by what he said and am now assuming that we have a collection of over 18,000 books in the WPC.  

George unpacks books daily, but somehow doesn't get very far.  He's in nerd heaven.  I can't tell you how many times I've found him reading a book instead of unpacking them.

There were some amazing twisty puzzles in the boxes, including my 2 holy grail puzzles of a crystal Mickey Meffert's ball, and an original Meffert's space massager.  

Elena has gotten into my head as well, and is unboxing puzzles at a rapid rate now.  We only have the great wall of china, a lock bathroom, and a downstairs bedroom to finish.  A few touches on the workshop area, and we might actually be able to say we are close to finishing this building stage of the project.  

George continues to design puzzles and other things and is enjoying his newly finished printer room.  This week he has made me a set of wine barrels to hold our boxed wine.  And before you say yuck! Boxed wine!  Move to Italy.  Why pay the same price for a bottle of the same brand of wine when I can get a 5 liter box for that stays fresh longer because it is vacuum sealed?  But yes, I hate the look of the boxes so his genius self made these for me.  Gold for red, silver for white. 

I have bitten the bullet and have started at the Università per Stranieri in Perugia.  My classes are 18 hours over 5 days followed by another 4 hours of study each afternoon.  I've discovered I will be eligible for citizenship in October 2026 as long as I can use the language at a B1 level.  I tested into B1 for speaking, listening and reading, but my writing is severely lacking.  Back to school for a year or so for me.  Which of course means fewer blog updates.

George will begin classes in March if I can get his happy butt out of bed in the mornings.  He's not a 7:00 riser. 

We managed to acquire our departed friend Harold Razier's collection (sans Berrocal's) and hope to see it in the coming months.  It has left his home and is now headed to the warehouse in Miami where it will board ship and for god only knows what reason will be shipped to Northern Europe before arriving here.  We have some very well traveled puzzles.

Speaking of, we have added yet another piece to the collection: Prix Vasari (Opus 329).  This is yet another I have bid on many times and lost.  I'm happy to have finally found it.  Now we are waiting for the mineral oil to warm up so it works.  

In other news, George and I are officially married for the third time. The first of course was in Boca in 2018.  Then we decided to get married on a ship in 2019 as we really didn't have a 'wedding'.  And finally, this past week, we were married in Italy.  Funny thing that.  We weren't actually in attendance.  They took our previous two marriages and decided that that was enough and issued us a completed license.  I just love Italy.  

George and I have been invited to Sophia to give a Ted talk on our WPC adventure.  If you are there in March, please feel free to come see us. 

And finally, my beautiful lover turned 80 on the 30th.  What a wonderful journey he has had.  I wish him many many more years filled with love and laughter.