Sunday, January 04, 2009

Buon Anno Nuovo

Happy New Year! I know, I know. I'm a little late with my greeting. My parents came in bleary-eyed and jet-lagged on December 30, just in time to hot-tail it to Ascoli, get a little sleep, and start the celebrations.

I cooked up a cenone at home that could have rivaled most restaurants' special dinner parties, then we bundled up and walked to the Piazza Arringo to wait for the stroke of midnight. The mayor does the countdown each year, but he got a little long-winded, as he tends to do when giving speeches, so the church bells were tolling the hour before he could quite bring himself to wrap it up and proclaim the "official" call of midnight. Champagne corks were flying and fireworks were bursting while he was still droning along.

Giorgio and Francesca, still in a party mood after Santo Stefano, joined us. They toted along the fixings for the polenta fest, including the big wooden board needed for serving the dig-in-with-your-fork feast, just on the off-chance that we hadn't consumed enough food on New Year's Eve (which is technically known as San Silvestro, in case you're keeping track of the holidays and feast days around here). Except for an earth-shaking, ear-aching firecracker that scared the bejeebers out of us and caused a little damage to the historic Caffe Meletti, we all had a great time amidst the (mostly) controlled chaos and general merriment in the piazzas.

We've been scampering about the area showing them some of our favorite haunts, hence my lack of blogging. We'll be heading out tomorrow for a few days of touring before sadly dropping them off at the airport. I'll be back on the ol' blog somewhere around Thursday or Friday. Until then, I hope your New Year is bright, happy, and filled with life's simple pleasures.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Valerie, sorry to hear that you'll be hunting for new digs again. I get the feeling that there are not as many rental options there as in the US. I'll be thinking of you and hope the search is a short one. Glad you and your friends had a great New Year's visit.

Mary Hitt
Pittsburgh, PA
maryhitt@windstream.net

Beatriz Macias said...

Happy new year to you too. I just got back from the airport, and I am trying to make up for all the time that I took off from blogging. Have a great year.

S.R. Piccoli said...

Happy New Year to you too, Valerie! Better late than never ...
Rob

P.S. I would be very grateful if you would consider voting for me (Best European Blog): http://2008.weblogawards.org/polls/best-european-blog/"

Valerie said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Valerie said...

Mary - We were offered a house-sitting gig just after we received the news. We'll be moving south. Stay tuned!

Beatriz - Don't you love getting home a trip? It always makes me want to cozy in and stay put for a while.

Hi Rob! Thanks. I'll head over and throw a vote your way right now!

Anonymous said...

Oh, Valerie! I see some interesting blog entries coming along with the new house. I'll "stay tuned".
Mary