I’m throwing myself a little ‘welcome back’ festivus for logging into here and actually writing some words in an entry. Almost four weeks have flickered by and fatigue stole my ability to stay awake in the evenings, along with some motivation to keep at these posts. Firstly of course, the Albino Hulk and Little Miss Stubborn have pounced all over my free time, and with both of them graciously sharing each other’s germs and hence illnesses, momma hasn’t had a full nights sleep for about four weeks now. I feel like I have two newborn infants because I’m waking up at night to tend to the kids at different hours of the night, leaving me comatose and babbling nonsense when the alarm goes off. Couple that with me packing a full schedule of outings and plenty of pilgrimages to Little Miss Stubborn’s school during the day, I settle myself onto the couch slightly delinquent of energy in the evening. I’ve also been busy with the tours and even though I haven’t processed those as fast as I want and need to, they have been a (fun!) work in progress. I need to dig deep and hit my ‘motivation’ button-there is something draining for me about February. Each year in this month, I go through this drained cycle where it’s like my personal fiscal year runs from March to February. Now, being in the last month of my fiscal year, I am spent, drained, but ready to get moving in March and recharge.
Then again……. my fatigue could also be because I have been watching the amount of sugar passing the threshold of my lips,. This drop in sugar-goodness can also be causing commotion and confusion in the ribbons of my arteries and veins which are used to a certain level of heightened activity, sourced and fueled by chocolate. Chocolate, chocolate, Milk chocolate. How I love you (….and Jason Collett, the fella who sings the song borrowed for this entry’s title). I’m addicted to chocolate and Italy has some ridiculously good stuff to offer. Due to my (foolish) new year’s resolution of watching my sugar I have decreased my consumption; so far, so good. For Lent though, I kicked it up a notch to no sweets whatsoever for forty days. I figure if Jesus C. gave up food, water, and apparently everything else for his time in the desert, I can try the ‘no sweets’ campaign, but HOW I wish he only spent a few days (or a weekend) in the desert. My friend Lisa also sacrificed her sweet tooth for forty days and so together and one day at a time, we fight the will to rip apart a chocolate wrapper and crunch on its cocoa goodness. Regardless, my hips feel better, so I trudge on dazed, confused, but slightly (and I mean only slightly) slimmer.
February was an interesting month for the Milanese because the clouds in the heavens above Milan carried fluffy whiteness that got dumped all over the city. This of course proved to be shocking for citizens all over. Due to Milan’s pollution, there was a cold blue halo hanging over the city thanks to the cold front from Siberia that was on tour across all of Europe and Milan got front-row seats to the show. Temperatures hovered just below zero and snow freshened the cobbled streets, leaving me even more enamored with the city we now call home. Snow has fallen in this city many times but the last time Milan went through such a temperate shock to its civil system was twenty seven years ago. As a result, streets were salted more than branzino and only lasagna has more layers than what italians were wearing for warmth. One morning when thermometers reflected a frightening reading of -17 degrees, I decided to take Little Miss Stubborn to school on the bus rather than walk. One bus rolled by that I could not get on, followed by another bus a few minutes later that my stroller could actually fit on. Along our way, we got held up by the first bus which had broken down. Everyone unloaded off that bus and piled onto mine. We began to pull away….only to have our overloaded bus now take a turn in needing repairs. It took a bit of work to shove through the masses on the bus and position myself near a door to get out. In the end, I decided to walk to school in the brisk cold rather than wait for a replacement bus. For a second, it felt like Canada.
The cold snap put a damper on carnevale celebrations for a little while too. In Parco Sempione (the city’s main park), an annual display of rides, food vendors, and games for kids lay deserted as it was simply too cold to go out. Dave and I walked through the park one Saturday afternoon and expected people to be around, but the normally spewing water-fountain in front of the castello was now gurgling short towers of water and frozen mounds of ice and was a sign to how full the park would be. Luckily, the cold snap didn’t last that long and within a few weeks, italians were breathing a sigh of relief and everything began to function normally again (during the cold snap, my friend Nina who was a day away from being induced in her pregnancy, got stuck in the tiny elevator in her building with her mom. The freezing temperatures prevented even her elevator from working normally. After she got out I felt it was ok to laugh at the situation). Yesterday, the temperature reached a very balmy 18 degrees in the sun. A beautiful day it was but this did not change a thing in terms of how the very young and the elderly were dressed. Cold front or not, they were wrapped up in hats, scarves, and gloves. They seem to dress for the month, not the day, and given that its only February, the layering is still very present. Watching the little italian kids trying to run around despite their suffocating clothing under the warm sun is enough to make you sweat yourself out of sympathy or start a campaign to free these children from the paranoia of their grandparents who take care of them during the day. For the sake of these cute little pasta-grazing munchkins (and my motivation levels), it’s a good thing March is just a few days away.
The snow is beginning to come down...
These Roman artifacts were not meant to be snowed on.
As a snow ball fight ensues behind her, my little lady enjoys her time in the snow too.
My little man, in his element.
Abandoned in the cold.
The lady sure looks a little cold (and slightly out of place) at the kids carnevale park.
Bumper boats, frozen over.
A little gurgling spray in the frozen fountain.
