Okay we have a pig and she'll be ready this december. Ben brought her home one day and said. "Hey, I bought a pig!" I keep bringing her lots of skimmed or soured milk in hopes we might get a prosciutto out of her. I can dream, right . . . . Anyway I know my posting has been non- existant. Most of the reason I blog is for our extended family and Gravanga folk and Ben has started a private family blog so I have been less motivated to post. I don't really know how I feel about the blog thing. I might be theming this blog a bit more towards homesteading or self-sufficiency or something. . . . . something. We'll see. I am enjoying quietude away from the computer in an event while edifying my soul with vampire romance novels.

The big news is we have moved out to the sticks and are renting an old farmhouse. It is really beautiful and near the famous Fort Valley of Virginia. I really love being near the national forrest and the girls have been spending all their time swimming in passage creek and hunting frogs. I love summer.

Fun with chalk, fun with watercolors. Nobody really attempted to paint the flowers and Julia made glorious mess but we really let loose with the watercolors. Angelica has been at the pool learning to swim and Zita has started an Irish dancing summer class and between toads, the lizard, the giant spiders, and the chipmunk there has been no shortage of animals.

I finished reading " The End of the Affair" by Graham Green and really recommend it highly. I used to find Graham Green to dark, but maybe I have just changed because I loved this book. . . . .

Ben had a little trip to the Big Apple and we missed him very much but loved hearing about all the cool people at MoCCA and all the cool people in New York. I had no idea getting there from here was SO easy.

crying baby. . . bye.

Angelica has a new pet lizard and man, what an amazing and easy pet!! No pet food to buy if you have a willing six year old around who loves to catch flies. They are cold blooded with slow metabloisms so there is really hardly any poop to speak of. I find him really fun to watch. We moved him near the futon today onto the window sill where he gets more light. This is becoming my new favorite spot to nurse, surrounded by my house plants, the lizard, the sunshine, and of course the books.


The pics are from Aunt Josepha's graduation this past weekend which was a whirlwind of activity. Julia really latched onto my Dad and is was really fun to watch her with him. She reminds me so much of Josepha when she was a baby.

Lastly I found a Charlotte-Mason based homeschool curriculum for Catholics, which we are going to be using this fall. ( as much as we waldorfy unschooling gyspy vagabonds can do a "curriculum"--I don't think we are going to be super strict but it will provide some vastly needed structure for mom-hehe) I am mostly posting this to share with Sarah but everyone else is welcome to explore) It gives us a good booklist to work from. The best part is it is free but for purchasting the books. Its www.materamabilis.org

Ciao a tutti in Gravagna!! Noi stiamo bene e pensiamo sempre da Gragvagna. Adesso forse sonno tante fiori la e hai portata fuori la madonno per il rosario a San Bartolomeo. Per adesso noi non possiamo viaggare a Gravagna perche Ben ha tanto lavoro da finire con questo libro fino a Luglio. Si cè tempo e habbiamo bastansa per i biglietti vorrei volare la in Augosto o Settembre ma per adesso non cè un programma fiso. Pero, fra due or tre settimane arrivanno i miei genitori a Gravagna e dopo in Junio mio fratello e sua moglie. Anche venga la Josepha per tre settimane. Io sono goloso!!!!!

L'altro giorno ha chiamato, Enrico perche voleva l'indirizzo da gravagna per mandare i foti dei i bambini. La Maria ha parto un bella bambina la settimana dopo Pasqua. Lei e chiamata Eveyln Marie. Maria sta bene e la bambina e bravissima. Anch loro mancanno la Gravagna a chiedanno come stanno tutti.

Per adesso sai che sonno tutti in mie pensiere. Carla, Teresa, Fede, Daniela, Giuseppe, Berto, Lina, Luisa, Mafalda!!!!! Baci!

Scusa, il mio bruto Italiano!

Recession meals

Well the warm weather has been wonderful and the girls and I have been down at the river almost daily. This past weekend we went to George Washington National Forrest to dip in Passage creek and it was paradisical. The dogwoods and redbuds are in full bloom and the water was perfect. It is one of the only places I know of where the water is prisine and unpolluted. (other than Gravagna of course --the land of unspoiled beauty.)

I also stared a detox this week as I really went over the top this Easter with the food and candy and haven't done a true cleanse in couple of years. I am already feeling much better and have lots more energy and am trying to do mostly raw fruit and veggies and legumes, nuts and grains.

I also saw that there was a chef's challenge on NPR for a 10 buck HEALTHY meal for recession era budgets. Here is our ten buck meal from tonight.

Black beans, soaked and cooked in water with cumin and two cloves of garlic thrown in.

I threw them in the fridge and then chopped up cilantro, one red pepper, and threw it into the cold beans along with a splash of lemon juice (lime would have been better) and a splash of oilve oil.

We ate these with brown rice and shredded sharp cheddar, and chopped lettuce on preheated corn tortillas.