April 22:... More sunny weather. More terraza after class. Did some laundry, and wore the leopard skirt the rest of the day. Fairly uneventful. Finished my sweet wine -- it went off very fast. Did some drawing. Not very good though. Built a card house too.

***

April 23:... Kind of cloudy today. Very uneventful until about 5, though we had gnocchi for lunch. Yum. At 5ish, Gwen and I walked to Todis, intent upon having a picnic. On the way there, we found dozens of porcupine quills scattered all over the sides of the road... along with a big red smear ON the road. No carcass though. Gwen brought about 30 of the quills home with her.

Coming out of the store, we had a disturbing encounter with a black guy with a grocery cart. He said he thought we were from the Netherlands or something... asked us if we would be his friends, asked us if we were married, and for phone numbers... we soon escaped.... I hope we don't run into him again.

The picnic on the terraza with Will was much better. He makes for much more pleasant company. Gwen and he and I stayed until the strawberries were gone and it was getting cold.

***

April 24:... Saturday. I love long weekends. Did my paper today, then took a long nap after pranzo. At 5, Gwen and I wnet out, got gelato, and I looked for that wine I liked at Pizzeria Charlie's. Tried a rosato. Didn't like it. Oggled a green necklace, but didn't ask how ridiculously expensive it was. Returning home, an Italian (?) driving past called out the window of his car (in English) "Hey Sweetie" I still think it was to Gwen and Gwen still thinks it was to me. We refused to agree.

Upon returning, I 'borrowed' some of Julia's yarn to make something... basically an oversized, itchy friendship bracelet. After 2 and 1/2 CDs, It's still not done... not even close. It's also been lightning-and-thundering for hours, even now as I'm going to bed. I think I'll lie in bed and watch...

***

April 25:... No cocoa for breakfast today. Had some later with Gwen for a kind of lunch. I spent most of the day drawing, or working on my yarn monstrosity.

I was lucky -- I got 2 hours of internet time instead of one. No one was signed up for the slot ahead of mine, so when told that there was no one there, I used it. Shouldn't let it go to waste, right? After all, I had to catch up on my journaling. I got two weeks done!

After internet, I took a shower, and spent the remaining half-hour before dinner working on my yarn. I learned that one can sing " 99 bottles of beer on the wall" from 99 to 0 non-stop in 15 minutes. Cool huh? Other than that, finished a few artworks and eventually went to bed.

***

April 26:... One week to Gwen's birthday. Must get her the Istanbul cup and a stuffed animal. I designed a nifty fairy costume in class today, and in the half-hour between class and pranzo, I warmed myself in the remnants of the sun on my bed. Later, I napped, worked on my yarn, went to the grocery store with Gwen (I got some wine) and later opened my wine and had some. Not bad. Not as good as the San Felice, though. After a dinner of sorts, Gwen and I watched Finding Nemo before going to bed.

***

April 27:... A fairly normal day until about 2 or 3 in the afternoon, when I started making clue cards for Gwen's birthday quest. At 4:30, I went out to get her birthday presents. I stopped to pet Moon Unit the cat for a bit, and we drew the attention of some school kids. Well, the cat did. I was just a prop, mostly. Some shopping went well -- I got her Istanbul cup -- and some did not -- the stuffed pigeon was too expensive. (It was cool though.) Also found the store that sells Barberani wines. Yay.

Later, at 6ish, Gwen and I, with others, make the trek from the convent to the stone table on the opposite hill for a birthday picnic for Peter. There was meat and cheese and bread and juice and vino... Gwen and I brought hot dogs. Speaking of dogs... we were joined by two of them, fortunately only one at a time. First an ENORMOUS shaggy white dog. We refused to give it scraps and it went away... only to be soon replaced by a very small black dog. It was so cute! It DID get fed, and stayed a while.

Eventually, when we were all sated and had eaten our happy little guts out, as well as started to get cold, we went back. That was at about 8:15, and we got back just shy of 9. I promptly took a shower and eventually went to bed. PS: I mailed the new postcard today -- the one to Grandma/Grandpa Jones. It should be underway tomorrow. I hope this one is okay.

***

April 28:... City of Heroes comes out today. Dangit. They're wiping the forums too.

Didn't have to do our Italian presentation today -- Dan, Jessica, Sara, Nate, Tara, and Will shared a long one that took a while to set up, and even longer to show, and was quite hilarious. We had about 5 minutes left of class when it was over. I couldn't draw today. That was bad. (My muse came back at about 9:30 though.) Gwen and I had dinner at Pizzeria Charlie's again, and then gelato. Bene. You know, mashed potatoes on pizza are really... interesting.

***

April 29:... Had class at the Duomo today. Talked about the Maitani reliefs and the Signorelli chapel. After that, we were free.

I could neither draw nor nap today, a particularly frustrating combination when the weather is so grayish. Cold but not really. It drizzled on and off like it didn't really have the will to rain.

At lunch, we had a small bidding-goodbye ceremony for sister Angelina, who, in her 80s, is going to live in a nursing home. It was a teary event -- all of us kissed her, and Sarah gave her a bouquet of yellow roses. I was mopey most of the day and decided to go and be away from people and draw some architecture for a while. When it threatened to drizzle, I left, bought another small gift for Gwen, and went home. Very uneventufl day, really. Gwen has spent most of it on her laptop. Can't say I blame her. We had gelato for dinner, and I tried drawing again before going to bed.

***

April 30:... Changing calendars again tomorrow.. After breakfast, Gwen and I did a little emergency grocery shopping, which was chaotic, and I spent most of the day drawing until about 4, when the six sculpture students (including me) took a drive to visit the prof for our sculpture class. I rode in the back/trunk of Skillen's little car along with Sarah -- it smelled like fertilizer back there -- made me a little sick. The guy -- Marino Moretti, was very interesting, and his pottery was even more so, but he makes me nervous, kind of like Loren Baker does. Oh well. After returning, nothing. More drawing. Dull day. May go to Florence tomorrow.