Icicle timepiece schematics. Hymnist riding stupendous mango steers impressive eagle. Noticeable! Diverting the attention, metropolitan and state researchers assemble uranium. Elegant hummingbirds. Northern tsar angles. Dictionary puzzle? Zinnia, zloty, escalator, anvil. Dunes continuously deflect sand. Nice. Debatable clues. Under espresso focus. Regarding mysterious fivefold verse: check illustrated drawing enriching nonintersecting tessellations versus nanowatt lettuce. Xmas animals drink akvavit normally. With satire llamas offer the especially echoing reverberation tsunami in string or eternally hip symphonic earworm. Revealed!
Sunday, December 14, 2014
Friday, December 12, 2014
Christmas Lights!
❄●●❄☃❄●❄☃❄☃●☃●☃●❄●-●☃☃●●❄☃●●●☃●●●-☃●❄❄☃☃-●❄●☃❄❄☃●❄❄-☃❄❄❄☃☃●❄❄❄-☃❄❄●☃●☃☃-●❄●●☃●-●●☃❄❄●-☃☃❄●●☃●●●☃-●❄☃●☃☃❄❄-●❄☃❄❄☃●❄-☃●❄❄☃☃-●❄●●☃●●●☃❄-❄●☃❄●❄☃☃-❄●●❄-☃❄●❄☃❄☃❄-❄❄☃❄-☃●❄☃●☃☃❄-●●☃❄❄☃●☃-❄❄❄❄☃●-●●☃❄❄●☃●☃☃-●❄●❄☃❄●❄☃❄●☃-●❄●❄☃●-❄●☃❄❄☃-●❄☃●●❄☃☃-●☃❄❄❄❄☃❄☃☃-●❄●❄☃●●●-☃❄●❄❄☃●●-●☃❄●❄☃❄❄❄☃☃☃-☃☃☃☃☃☃
More Christmas Cards Codes
RLIYIDLEPAOC SHEET UZPSLEZ NOTINAC SULEC OT THORE CPRIESH, TUB NI ETH RPIIST FO CPICTRY DSORWOSRSC SHOTE MNEEESTL ERA TON WLYSAA IBSUOVO.
Wednesday, December 10, 2014
Driving on the right side of the road
Last week I went to England for a "business" trip: hanging out at local wool shops to promote the knitting workshop in Todi that is coming up in May. Rough job, but someone had to do it.
It was very interesting driving in England. I was actually driving a Fiat 500, but one that was rather newer than my sweet thing back in Todi (and by comparison, yes, it IS enormous). One thing I found extremely odd, though, was the practice in deciding speed limits.
In our area here in Italy, typical country road speed limits are 50 km/hr...yes, that's 30 miles an hour, folks. As you go through towns, the limit can easily drop to 30. And traffic? Not nonexistent, but certainly sparse. The roads are often ridge roads, meaning pretty good visibility...occasional blind curves, but you do feel as though you've got a good idea of what's coming around the bend. Do people obey the speed limits? Not hugely, but the backroad speeds really aren't ridiculous. Of course, HUGE potholes do help enforce the speed limits to a fairly significant degree, and they do have cameras (which mostly don't work, but enough do that you try to avoid getting a love letter from the police).
I was visiting rural(ish) England, which means countryside, villages, and some larger towns. The roads tended to be very windy and narrow, and surrounded by either trees or hedgerows, meaning NO visibility...AND the requirement to pull to the side if a car came the other direction. People tend to drive larger vehicles (Range Rovers), adding to the experience. And the best part? You've heard narrow, curvy, and no visibility? Add into that last mix a speed limit of (I'm NOT KIDDING) 60 miles an hour. Hair-raising, for sure. But then there was that one road...limited access...no sidewalk...divided...with a speed limit of 40 miles an hour. Very strange.
I made it back to the Perugia airport, and happily putt-putt-putted all the way home.
Love,
Alexandra
It was very interesting driving in England. I was actually driving a Fiat 500, but one that was rather newer than my sweet thing back in Todi (and by comparison, yes, it IS enormous). One thing I found extremely odd, though, was the practice in deciding speed limits.
In our area here in Italy, typical country road speed limits are 50 km/hr...yes, that's 30 miles an hour, folks. As you go through towns, the limit can easily drop to 30. And traffic? Not nonexistent, but certainly sparse. The roads are often ridge roads, meaning pretty good visibility...occasional blind curves, but you do feel as though you've got a good idea of what's coming around the bend. Do people obey the speed limits? Not hugely, but the backroad speeds really aren't ridiculous. Of course, HUGE potholes do help enforce the speed limits to a fairly significant degree, and they do have cameras (which mostly don't work, but enough do that you try to avoid getting a love letter from the police).
I was visiting rural(ish) England, which means countryside, villages, and some larger towns. The roads tended to be very windy and narrow, and surrounded by either trees or hedgerows, meaning NO visibility...AND the requirement to pull to the side if a car came the other direction. People tend to drive larger vehicles (Range Rovers), adding to the experience. And the best part? You've heard narrow, curvy, and no visibility? Add into that last mix a speed limit of (I'm NOT KIDDING) 60 miles an hour. Hair-raising, for sure. But then there was that one road...limited access...no sidewalk...divided...with a speed limit of 40 miles an hour. Very strange.
I made it back to the Perugia airport, and happily putt-putt-putted all the way home.
Love,
Alexandra
Monday, December 8, 2014
Christmas Cards
Or maybe I should say Christmas puzzle cards.
♦9 ♠A ♠5 ♠K ♦4 ♥Q ♣9 ♦A♣7 ♣4 ♠A ♠4 ♦K ♦10 ♦4 ♦A
♠4 ♥7 ♣8 ♠7 ♥K ♣5 ♣A ♣6
♠Q ♣K ♦8 ♣9 ♠3 ♦Q ♣3 ♠8
♦6 ♦8 ♥2 ♣J ♣4 ♣10 ♥3 ♥10
♥5 ♣Q ♥6 ♥8 ♥A ♣6 ♦2 ♥4
♠K ♥3 ♥K ♥J ♠2 ♣10 ♠6 ♠J
♠9 ♣A ♦7 ♦J ♦Q ♣2 ♠Q ♦9
♥7 ♠7 ♠10 ♣J ♦3 ♥6 ♥10 ♦J
♣K ♥9 ♦6 ♣8 ♣3 ♥9 ♥Q ♣7
♠10 ♠8 ♥8 ♦7 ♥4 ♦K ♠2 ♣Q
♥A ♠3 ♣2 ♦5 ♥2 ♦2 ♠9 ♦5
♦3 ♥J ♣5 ♦10 ♠J ♥5 ♠5 ♠6
Sunday, December 7, 2014
Christmas Puzzle Countdown
74 - 85 - 6 - 1 - 90 - 53 - 16 - 16 - 91 - 58 - 9 - 8 - 44 - 46 - 85 - 99
53 - 90 - 49 - 19 - 39 - 8 - 92 - 16 - 1 - 18 - 15 - 19 - 53 - 110 - 19 - 7 - 8 - 74 - 42 - 75 - 6 - 39 - 15 - 1 - 68 - 50 - 8 - 74
53 - 19 - 102 - 74 - 39 - 8 - 92 - 90 - 49 - 19 - 23 - 68 - 39 - 1 - 18 - 110 - 8 - 116 - 49 - 64 - 53 - 9 - 26 - 75 - 7 - 43 - 71 - 99
90 - 53 - 16 - 8 - 10 - 53 - 50 - 8 - 73 - 14 - 7 - 6 - 72 - 8 - 86 - 8 - 23 - 53 - 6 - 99
I seem to be having a little trouble with the order.
Tuesday, December 2, 2014
Staples
Last Sunday, the boys accompanied me for my second time working the annual food drive. This occurs every year at the end of November with the goal of replenishing the food bank before the cold really sets in. Volunteers stand outside all the local grocery stores wearing little yellow plastic vests that identify us as such, and then we hand out flyers explaining the drive, along with cheap plastic bags (like we use in the US for vegetables) for people to use to separate their contributions from their personal purchases.
So far, so good, right? Sounds pretty standard.
Here's what I found interesting, though: the list was HIGHLY specific. Whereas in the US, we would have a list that includes things like "canned goods", "baby supplies", "rice and other grains", and so on, the Italian list had the following...ONLY:
Olive oil
Tuna (generally available packed only in olive oil, by the way)
Beans (which are generally canned, not dry)
Tomatoes, pieces or sauce (in other words, canned)
Baby food
Pasta
Biscotti (which means any kind of cookie, but NOT generally what Americans call biscotti)
As we received the items, we sorted them. We DID have a "miscellaneous" box, which included things like sugar and flour.
I found it fascinating that olive oil was specified rather than any general cooking oil. And other canned veg? Well, the truth is, other canned veg is really not easy to find, with the exception of corn. But corn is not really used here in my experience other than as a topping on salad or pizza. And cookies? Sounds strange, until you realize that that is the breakfast of champions over here.
No dry goods requested. No non-food items.
Comparison between last year and this year: last year a HUGE amount of sugar and flour. Some oil. Lots of tomato.
This year? A preponderance of tuna and oil, which are both more expensive items. Sign of a slight uptick in economic optimism? Let's hope so!
Love,
Alexandra
So far, so good, right? Sounds pretty standard.
Here's what I found interesting, though: the list was HIGHLY specific. Whereas in the US, we would have a list that includes things like "canned goods", "baby supplies", "rice and other grains", and so on, the Italian list had the following...ONLY:
Olive oil
Tuna (generally available packed only in olive oil, by the way)
Beans (which are generally canned, not dry)
Tomatoes, pieces or sauce (in other words, canned)
Baby food
Pasta
Biscotti (which means any kind of cookie, but NOT generally what Americans call biscotti)
As we received the items, we sorted them. We DID have a "miscellaneous" box, which included things like sugar and flour.
I found it fascinating that olive oil was specified rather than any general cooking oil. And other canned veg? Well, the truth is, other canned veg is really not easy to find, with the exception of corn. But corn is not really used here in my experience other than as a topping on salad or pizza. And cookies? Sounds strange, until you realize that that is the breakfast of champions over here.
No dry goods requested. No non-food items.
Comparison between last year and this year: last year a HUGE amount of sugar and flour. Some oil. Lots of tomato.
This year? A preponderance of tuna and oil, which are both more expensive items. Sign of a slight uptick in economic optimism? Let's hope so!
Love,
Alexandra
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