Bleeding Espresso

“Dammi un bacio” means “Give me a kiss” in Italian, and here’s how you ask:

If that doesn’t work, cuddles are good too:

Happy Love Thursday everyone!

P.S. I’m updating this post to add information about Puppy Mill Awareness Day (September 20), which I just read about over at Callista’s Ramblings. Find out what you can do to stop the abuses and horrors that happen at puppy mills all over the world at Puppy Mill Awareness Day and get these people out of business once and for all.

There are plenty of adorable puppies and dogs at reputable animal shelters just waiting to be loved, so please try there first if you are ready for a new member of the family. If you’re in Italy, sadly, you probably don’t have to look farther than the side of the road (which is how a pregnant Stella (on the left in the photos) came into our lives).

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You don’t have to take me on a trip around the world to make me happy; an afternoon in the garden with my P and my pooches will do just fine thankyouverymuch.

You’ve seen the girls playing in the greenery, and well they weren’t the only ones to enjoy the day. P was, for the most part, working, but I was busy snapping photos.

Some of my sexy worker bee, here with some sort of ghost hovering:

Admiring his work:

Taking a rest:

Giving Luna petties:

And then he begged me to stop:

But not before I got one of the two of us (minus some of his head–oops!):

Happy Love Thursday everyone!

I wish you many carefree afternoons with your loved ones.

P.S. I suppose the secret is out by now that I really don’t wear makeup all that often. Hope you’re not offended. Although it’s a bit catty and not at all in the Love Thursday spirit to point you to photos of celebrities without makeup, I’m doing it anyway: Caught without makeup. Enjoy!

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Hope everyone had a lovely weekend!

I sure did. I took off Friday as well and played all weekend long–with P, with the pooches, with the blog (notice the slightly different look? Feedreader peeps come on over!) and with some social networking sites. Ooh and I also read lots of Paulo Coelho. Love him!

Anyway, last week I asked you to ask me some questions, and once again, you’ve come up with some great ones, particularly about my feelings about settling here. I’m working on the answers to those too, but today I’m addressing the question of Jen of a2eatwrite:

What do your DOGS like best about living in Italy?

For those who don’t know Luna and Stella, you might want to check out their memes. Yes, my dogs do memes:

Getting to Know Luna

Stellaaaaaaaaaaaa!

Now the girls have talked it over, and they’ve decided that the best part of living in Italy is definitely hanging out with their Papà in the garden. What’s that? You want photographic evidence?

The girls love the open space in the garden where they can play:

And dig:

And chase things:

And drink from the hose, sort of (they’re afraid of it on its own):

And generally nose around the place:

But sometimes they just like to sit and look pretty:

And finally, after a hard afternoon’s play, it’s time to rest:

And just hang out with Papà.

See lots more photos of my babies in my Luna & Stella Flickr set!

So animal caretakers,
what do your little one(s) like best about where they live?

And how did you enjoy the weekend?

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It’s disturbingly easy for me to fall into a rut and take for granted that what I’m doing is working so long as is it’s not *not* working.

During those times, I like plenty of quiet time to just think.

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been examining my writing career and where I want it to go. I’ve realized that I’ve let some goals slip away while focusing simply on making a living.

Through my quiet time, I’ve been re-energized and re-inspired to pursue things that I had kind of forgotten even existed . . . like completing the novel I started a few years ago, or even the other one I started in November with NaNoWriMo, or goodness didn’t I start yet another nearly 10 years ago?

My personal way of organization has a lot to do with lists. When I’m making them, it means I’m in a good place.

I’m happy to report that lately I’ve been making lists and crossing things off like crazy–and I’ve finally realized that something rather interesting happens when I look at a list with lines through many of the items:

I feel like accomplishing even more.

I know it’s good for me to stop and recharge like this every now and again, to refocus and realign my priorities with my actions, but sometimes I forget. I get caught up in the daily grind and end up rather uninspired, unprepared to push myself and take risks. And I don’t like that.

I much prefer feeling ready to take on the big, bad world.

What do you do when you need to recharge?

P.S. Be sure to check out Judith’s Unraised Doughnuts at Think on It!
for this week’s La Buona Cucina Americana recipe.

P.P.S. Click on the photos to see them larger (advised!) and no, this is not one of Stella’s puppies, but he is a cutie, no?

Buon weekend!

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Many people mistakenly believe that the weather in southern Italy is tropical or nearly so. It really isn’t. We do have seasons, although winter brings more rain than snow and spring can seem awfully short before we are thrust into the heat of summer.

Another southern Italian factoid is that most of the houses here are built with stone and/or tile, i.e., with “natural insulation”; central air and heat are only coming into fashion now, but it’s still quite expensive to run because of electricity costs.

And so most of us are “green” without even really trying.

All of this means that if your house isn’t directly in the sun, it can get pretty darned cold inside and stay that way–even now, in the spring when I often have to take *off* layers of clothes to go out with the dogs.

[This cooling effect works a bit in our favor during the summer, although not as much as it seems to work against us in the colder temps.]

Anyway, I am so very pleased to announce that it has been nearly a week since I’ve had to turn on the space heater near my work area, which means spring truly has arrived!

It also means I’ve had to switch to another method of keeping my seat warm:

All natural, and works for us!

Happy Love Thursday everyone!

P.S. Yes this photo sums up my life rather well–
work, pooches, and laundry in the big blue vasca.

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