It's Friday!

The good news today is that the week is almost over. I'm glad that the weekend is approaching. I'll have to work tomorrow but on Sunday we're going to visit a friend and his family who live in a (VERY) small  place near Crema. He is not just a friend, G. is one of my best friend. We've know each other for more than 10 years and he is really special. He lives in an area where there is literally nothing but he is not a city man and he is quite happy there. They live all together: G, his brother & parents and still do things that my grandma used to do, like home made pasta and lasagna, like going to the church every Sunday (this is R., G's mum), like speaking dialect. I love them. There's always a warm atmosphere at their house, an ancient taste of typical Italian family. I can't wait to see them all.

It's a sunny day here, a bit chilly but a beautiful day indeed. Today I'll have lunch with someone I haven't seen in ages and I'm eager to catch up with her. I'm glad I'll meet L. as without M. (who moved to Australia a few weeks ago), I feel a bit sad at work. I also need to take a break from Orlando, to be honest. Yesterday he drove me crazy. It was very windy and he wanted to stay in the garden all the time and wanted me to stay outside with him! So today he'll stay wit grandma as mum needs a day off!

I wish you a lovely weekend, my friends.

Ps. I can't put it down! Thanks, Andy :-) 

And thank you to Silvia for this. Jerusalem is a great cookbook. My homemade hummus was pretty good!

I haven't updated the blog

for a long time and I haven't replied to your comments. Sorry about that. It's been crazy with very little time for myself. 

Things are doing well and I feel less stressed than a few weeks ago. I am off today and tomorrow (thank God!) which is great because next week and the first week of December are going to be hectic. Next week I'll be stuck in meetings and workshops while the first week of December I'll be on biz trip for 4 days. 

I'm so glad I am at home today. I worked this morning and then I spent time with Orlando in the garden. He ran and played and had fun without doing stupid things except for eating a small branch. Obviously he prefers running free in the garden instead of going out for walks on leash. However, he has to be supervised all the time even though he has improved a lot. No more stones, just branches and leaves (sometimes). Unluckily there's a cat who poops in the garden and Orlando... well, you can imagine what he does. Bleah.

December is approaching and I still haven't given serious thoughts on Christmas, Christmas presents and New Year's eve. To be honest, I treated myself, namely I bought some gifts... for me ;-) I guess we'll spend Christmas day here and invite over my small family while we'll spend boxing day with G's family. New Year's eve has never been special to us but THIS YEAR is special because of Orlandino and we want to stay at home with the him.

Anyway, we'll see. We don't have plans yet.

Since Orlando is with us, I am happier and more "balanced", if you can see what I mean. Of course there are drawbacks but the trade off is worth it. We sleep less but we do have him :-)

On a different tone, I'm reading a very interesting book which I highly recommend: The Biology of Belief by Bruce Lipton. I promise I'll write a post about it. 

Readings

I'm reading Jo Nesbo (Harry Hole series). I get easily bored with series though so I doubt that I'll read all the books, however it doesn't make sense that book #1 is out in English along with #3, 4 and so forth and #2 hasn't been translated yet! It's annoying, isn't it?

Anyway, the first book is pretty good. It's not a masterpiece and it depends if you like crime novels, but Nesbo is a good writer so I'd recommend it.

Just received and/or downloaded the following:

1. The Innocents
2. Fall of giants
3. What Buddha Thought

What are you reading?

A World of Strangers

I didn't sleep well. To be honest, I didn't sleep. I woke up far too early and couldn't get back to sleep. I'm accustomed to it. I've been through too much stress lately and this has taken a toll on me. I hate being sleep deprived but this is what I usually get after months of stress. See? I'm not over my big boy's loss. Not that I wake up thinking of him but there's something that just don't add up in my life and it haunted me at night. Increasingly, since he died, I've felt a mix of tiredness and vitality. It's like I'm telling to world -and to myself- that, despite I haven't slept, I am full of energies which, of course, it's not true. I have to work so, sleep deprived or not, there are things to do. But at the end of the day, I feel exhausted. I sleep when I'm abroad though which is telling of what haunts me in my house. His loss, I think. Or perhaps -once again- the stress we've all been through in last months. I don't know. 

On the bright side, I've been reading quite a lot. I haven't finished the trilogy I mentioned, it wasn't worth it, to be candid. I read Amy and Isabel by Elisabeth Strout, an American writer I've come to love because she encapsulates entire worlds in tiny tiny microcosms (Olive Kitteridge is also a must to read). I've just started A World of Strangers by Nadine Gordimer. 

Isn't the world we live in a world of strangers? No one really gets what one feels unless moved by strong empathy or by deep love. And even if this case, we fail to grasp all the nuances of someone else's life. 

Blog Prolific and Other Short Random/Stupid Thoughts

* Too bad I delated all my old posts. I want them back! 

* There are far too many titles in my kindle but I keep adding books. I haven't read this one yet and I haven't finished 1Q84. The latter is too long and complex, I need time & relax (read = not now!).

* Do you know Filippa Lagerback? I really like her style. Moreover, the template of her blog is the coolest ever. 

* Sometimes my contradictions are overwhelming but now that I'm getting familiar with them, life it's better.