Ask me anything December edition

2023 resolutions? There is always next year

I completely failed at crossing even a single thing off my 2023 Italy exploring to-do list.

I didn’t spend the night on Palmarola but because we didn’t really have anywhere permanent to live for most of this year I got to spend more than a month in Ponza and I swam for hours in the water off Palmarola. I didn’t go to Abruzzo but I had a lovely glass of Emidio Pepe wine on a sultry late August evening on the edge of the Grand Canal. I didn’t make it to Milan or the Dolomites. I did visit three cantinas in the Prosecco hills. I spent a week in Ortigia in October, the one thing that was not on my agenda. I highly recommend it.

What are your travel resolutions/goals/plans for 2024?

Another thing that did not happen this year was buying our house. Delay after delay after delay meant another tedious trip to Mestre last week to sign another extension of our original agreement (made in March!) with the few thousand euro lobbed back and forth each time depending on whose fault the delay is deemed this time. There has been glacial progress. The work to make the actual house match the plans of the house got done. The various Venetian government offices finally approved that work and the new plans. All of that took so long (again, we started all of this in March!) that our bank back in Rome has had to start from the very beginning. All over again. Our Christmas this year will be a little sparse but still with sparkle. Mark hung 3 stars with white lights in the 3 upstairs windows. We have a tiny tree and two pots to cook meals and four plates to serve them on. I have my good silver and Christmas ornaments with me and I bought yards of velvet ribbon and tiny lights on golden wires. The big television we ordered from mainland arrived a few days ago so we can all bundle onto the mattress on the floor to watch Love Actually on Christmas Eve. We have a warm safe place to sleep and more than enough delicious things to eat and most importantly we are all together. That is no small thing and really, all that matters.

Just in case you need a last minute something that doesn’t require shipping or wrapping here is a list I made last year.

I am so grateful for all of you dear readers. I wish you all a sweet joyous end of 2023 and my wish for all of us is that 2024 be a year of peace, good health, and adventure.

I will leave you with this wonderful and heartbreaking tribute: Fairytale of New York.

Buone Feste from Venezia!