This question earns my 2011 trip to the U.S. “best line award.” It was uttered by an American woman who sat next to me yesterday on the Zurich-Florence flight. I don’t know how I kept a straight face. Hehe. But I did…and, after explaining that I’d actually grown up in Florence and was married to an Italian, I gave her a few tips on where to eat well in town and whatnot.

I must say, even though I’m going to miss being with my parents every day (but now, with Skype, that part’s going to be easier!) and watching “Democracy Now!” every morning, it’s really great to be home in Tuscany…

Stefano and the kitties missed me terribly, although my comical guy won’t openly admit how much he missed me. Yesterday, when I asked him how he managed while I was gone, he’d just say things like “oh…fine, fine…I just couldn’t get to sleep at night…” Or, “uhm…well, the cats missed you a lot and were very lonely…” And that’s how I know that he was lonely…

True, my cats couldn’t have given me a warmer welcome. They surrounded me like excited little bees as soon as I stepped inside the door. All five of them. My boy Piccolo was the first to greet me. He looked up at me and told me everything that had happened during my absence, complaining that I’d been away too long, that I’d left him alone with all those cheeky, disobedient females, blablabla. True, this was my own interpretation of what basically sounded like “meowmeow raaaaauuuu meow owwww raaauuuuuu owwwwww!!!!!!” (his meowingrauuuuing went on and on…but anyway, you get the picture)…

Who says that cats don’t have emotions? Who says they don’t love us? That is such a load of CRAP, let me tell you. My cats showered me with attention and affection yesterday. Pinga, for example, slept ALL night draped on my side, stretched out from my shoulder to my waist, effectively pinning me to the bed (= an attempt perhaps to prevent me from running off for another couple of weeks? 😉 ). Every time I woke up and had to cough or turn over in bed, I first had to peel her off of me, hold her up in the air while I moved, then plant her back down on me. A bit bothersome, yes…but sooo cute…

With the exception of Peekaboo, who, I have to admit, is our most aloof kitty (though I can tell she’s glad, in her own particular way, to have me back, too…), all my kitties took turns getting into my lap yesterday evening, purring like mad and rubbing ecstatically against me/my forehead. Oh, in case you were wondering, no, this show of affection was NOT about food… 🙂

Oh boy, am I sleepy this morning!!! I didn’t sleep too well last night, and I didn’t sleep at all the night before, flying over the Atlantic…I did watch two movies, though. The first was a silly comedy with Kate Hudson called “Something borrowed.” The usual “bridegroom sleeps with bride’s best friend while bride sleeps with another guy before wedding that then gets called off” type of movie. C’mon! We can do better than that…surely! Then I watched Jim Carrey’s “Mr Popper’s penguins,” which had some very amusing scenes in it. I even laughed out loud…in the plane, yes…I have no shame…hehe. 

Ok, time to do some laundry, check Paula’s blog (and other MM blogs), go through some of my 500 new messages (!), then have a nap…Tomorrow I’m going back to work, so yeah, I need to rest today…

UPDATE: I forgot to mention earlier that I requested NOT to go through one of those full X-ray body-scanners at Logan airport in Boston. I’m too tired right now to write more on this issue, but the point is, if you have a medical condition or just don’t want to be submitted to extra “rays,” you can ask to be patted down. The woman officer who checked me out was incredibly nice and efficient. She explained what she was going to do before she did it and waited for my consent. No problem, of course. I’m all in favor of security, of course…I just don’t want the rays, if that can be avoided. And it can…