Little news but plugging along.

This past month has been full of news (stories) but lacking in events.  We have carried on putting the books into the library.  I believe most of them have been placed now.  The next step of course is to catalog them all.  Right now, it's a mess. The only thing that is really separated is the foreign language books and those written by Ivan Muscovich, The Grarbuchuk family, and Martin Gardner.  

The big wood has been placed on the top of the library shelves where they rest very nicely.  The chest room is a disaster yet, but I have begun to place items in the kumuki room.  

I have been attending driving school twice a week, and have really not had time to do much unpacking as I need to translate words I don't know and read in a language that is now the fifth one that I have studied. You'd think by now it would get easier, but as it turns out; for me at least; The more languages I learn, the more my head gets muddled.  I have inadvertently taught our help a lot of Spanish, a bit of German, and a smattering of Cantonese.  But, I progress each day.  Persistence.

We did have a visitor here earlier in the month.  David Weeks, creator of the cubebot came for a visit.  We gave him a tour and overwhelmed him with the amount of items and work that needs to be done yet.  He very kindly gifted us 2 cubebots and signed one for us as well.  They joked about making a special version for the World Puzzle Museum with two different colored feet.  (For those of you who don't know me personally,  I usually wear two different colored shoes.)

This last week we met with a man from the local museum system and the mayor of Panicale to discuss the possibility to open parts of the museum on an appointment only basis for families.  This is still a long way off.  The problem of course remains the ability to play with puzzles.  To get them to understand our philosophy, we took them on a tour of the castle and showed them George's workshop.  Sabrina, our local cultural representative even made a puzzle.  Until I have everything put away, we wait on making any decisions on this.  

Peter Knoppers came out for a week to visit and puzzle.  He was instrumental in helping George to get Laurel and Hardy up and running.  I love the little things.  They just fly through the builds.  We had a lovely dinner in Mosolino, and took a few days to be a tourist.  Perugia, Assisi, and Castiglione del Lago were on the docket this time.  

I started to put together some crystal puzzles again.  I found a couple of boxes that I had prepared before leaving for Italy.  I took them all out of their individual boxes and put them into a much larger box to bring along on the ship with us.  Sadly, the packers packed those boxes and when I found them, it was like Christmas. I truly have no idea what I'm getting when I open a package.  Good fun it is. 

Ah, and more importantly than all of that, the guys got the ground floor of the hotel somewhat put together so I can put puzzles into the room! 

They even made us our first meal in the new kitchen.  Well, on the grill that is in there, but still.  It was nice to eat there. 

Next week we head North for a bit of puzzling, a bit of visiting, and a whole lot of toys! Until next time, Buon fine settimana e buon puzzle a tutti.