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.

SWSX Showing

 This year Jenny and Brian have entered their documentary short in the SXSW film festival in Austin Texas.  The dates are from 8-16 March.  If you are interested and in the area, tickets are on sale now.  I am sure it will be an amazing piece of work.  

Brian and Jenny were very focused and professional when doing their filming.  I have watched a few of their other productions and have been very impressed by their good work.  I can only expect more of the same when they have released this one.  

Some local news articles.

After the New York Times article, a few local papers and a TV station had articles about us.  I link them here where available, but sadly, one I have been unable to find.  I only have a pdf of it.  

From the Corriere dell'Umbria: https://corrieredellumbria.it/notizie/2023/trasimeno/attualita/castello_puzzle_museo_america_miller_cubo_rubik.html?fbclid=IwAR3cBDxJNhpZkFKkIP0NLTkYa4ulx7bC-D918dqxHWbSaEDoP271gHEbTZQ

The second was in Il Messaggario: https://sfoglia.ilmessaggero.it/sfogliatore/mono page 17. 

And finally, we were on Rei News: https://www.rainews.it/tgr/umbria/video/2024/01/tgr-umbria-web-tomassini---museo-del-puzzlemxf-71d7dc57-283f-4e80-b4ca-12c3822edd7b.html?fbclid=IwAR1RziHh725sVJ2oCSvIAJmzTXEF-ntFxD0EMrUFZL7Jf_QBKL5CscOt1dc

And a funny photo from a friend. Turns out we are one of the top emailed articles of the week.

For anyone who cares to visit, it will be a very long time yet.  At least a year.  Our final truck came in today and now the fun of unpacking begins.  This time around, it is a lot more work.  Our movers were super careful.  Everything is individually wrapped in cling wrap, then it is wrapped in bubble wrap, and each layer of box has another layer of bubble wrap around it.  When we got the shipment from The UK, each box took around 1/2 an hour to open.  This time, it's at least 2 hours and usually more.  But so far, no damage!

All of the pallets are in the buildings, the boxes are being shifted, cabinets are being put into place.  On any given day we have between 4 and 6 people working for us just trying to get this place in order.  The work on the connecting doors is to begin soon, as is the work on our bedroom suite and the kitchen.  We are ready to get on with this, but as with everything in Italy, it takes time.  

On a different note, I was on Facebook today and noticed that my feed is becoming Italian.  More and more of what I read is in that language.  This in turn is helping me with my driving license study as that is in Italian only.   I noticed yesterday that I am having to translate fewer words and am beginning to understand verb conjugations easier.  If only I could work out those pronouns!

Until next update, Buon Anno a tutti!