First, let me apologize for not having written in such a long time. The week I spent with Stefano on Cape Cod went by so incredibly quickly…And then, poof!, we were back in Florence (on Sunday, late afternoon) and were both hit by jet lag…big-time, this time! 

The best thing about coming home was seeing the cats again. What a joy! They were all over me, except for my eldest, Puzzola (13 years old, more or less). When we arrived, she went to her usual corner in the kitchen (being the eldest, she has the privilege of eating “alone”; the others have their own separate but not-so-private eating areas in an area of our dining room…) but ran away whenever I tried to approach her. It broke my heart, let me tell ya, especially when I saw Stefano petting her. She just didn’t seem to recognize me. Luckily, it didn’t last very long. After dinner, Puzzola jumped onto the table (not that we let our cats onto the dining room table, of course! Uhm…) and rushed right over to me, as she always does…And that was THAT! 🙂 

Coming home to heaps of laundry, an empty fridge, 1300 unread emails and so on…But it’s not all bad. I have already planned a get-together with my girlfriends…as soon as one of them gets over the flu (yikes!), that is. And even going back to work (yesterday) wasn’t too “traumatic” (in spite of the jet lag, I mean): all of my students were absolutely overjoyed and welcomed me back with hugs and kisses…I just hope none of them have the flu!!! Don’t you just hate it when people kiss you, then have a terrible coughing fit? Yeah. Exactly. 🙁 

Anyway, things are a bit of a blur right now (I need a few more naps!), and I have quite a lot of work to do. Plus, Prezzemolo has had a recurrence of his feline viral rhinopneumonitis. As with humans, the herpes virus is “reactivated” in cats during periods of stress. 

And I’m sure that Prezzemolo was very much affected first by my “disappearance” a month and a half ago, then by Stefano’s departure almost two weeks ago. Prezzemolo hasn’t yet fallen in love with our fabulous cat and house sitter (a good friend who adores our cats), and that, I think, was the main source of his di-stress. 

Our friend told me he’d begun sneezing on Saturday. And his nasal discharge…yuuuuuck! I immediately began giving him some immune boosters, including fish oil (for cats), hoping to avert disaster, but when I heard him coughing yesterday morning, I decided not to wait on the antibiotic. So he’s now on a 12-hour antibiotic. Bummer. Poor dear. But really, he seems fine…very active, voracious appetite…the terror of the house…chasing the others and so on…

Speaking of Prezzemolo…It’s only day 3 in Florence, but I’ve come to realize that we’ll never be able to have friends over, ever again. 😉 Prezzemolo, as his name suggests (in Italian, the saying goes that if you are like prezzemolo, = parsley, you pop up everywhere, all the time…), is, well, everywhere…all the time. No matter what you’re doing, even if it’s the most BORING thing (from a cat’s point of view, of course), he has to be right by your side to check it out…On the kitchen counter, in the kitchen sink, on the dining room table, on the stove…you name the place, he’s there. So curious! All this is very cute right now, but I imagine it will be a bit less cute when I have to bake something…and when friends come over for dinner. Nothing like a nosy cat sticking his wet nose into your dinner plate…hmmm…  😉

Anyway, all is well, more or less. But I miss my parents and the Cape. Eh.

Speaking of the Cape, here are a few of the photos I took with my fab new camera during my stay, including one of me standing in the snow (I love taking quirky photos…This one shows my very distorted reflection in one of the Xmas ornaments I put on my parents’ trees …). I wasn’t able to download any photos onto my Mom’s computer, so I have quite a few that I would like to publish in the next few days…Hope you like ’em!

Take care, everyone!!! 🙂