Notices by Gail Parenti (gparenti@mstdn.social)

The past 3 months have been so traumatic it has been hard for me to get back into the gentle rhythm of our life in #Umbria. But I am getting there. It has been chilly and rainy, so the garden - which has been untouched for the 2 years since the earthquake - will have to wait a little while longer. The barn has been cleared of excess junk, and we will have it super organized in another week or so. We are rarely here in March, so I am enjoying the plum trees coming into bloom. #Bloomscrolling

@GottaLaff Some lawyers need to start going to jail.

Our much-loved iPod finally gave up the ghost, which sent me scurrying to find any old CDs that managed to survive hurricanes, moves, and earthquakes. I was so happy to find our first Zucchero CD that introduced us to this gem. When we first moved here, we befriended the local purveyor of CDs who loaded us up with Italian music we needed to know, including Zucchero. Thanks, Franco!
https://youtu.be/CMZwr5oLOao?si=j4LZQ17vHGKAn7c6

I've missed my window. #Umbria

It's a beautiful day in Middle Georgia. I made my last trek to the nursing home 35 minutes away, and got Mama settled into her new digs in the assisted living facility about 5 minutes from her house. Woohoo!

After spending six weeks sitting in a room in the nursing home, being able to sit out on the porch in a rocking chair with my mom watching the squirrels play on a 70 degree afternoon is just about heaven.

Mama's handyman friend and honorary son brought Buddy over to visit Mama today. #Caturday

My niece sent me a link for a video for cats to watch and Buddy loves them! Instead of tearing around everywhere getting into everything, he sat and watched long enough to get out of my hair (literally - he thinks my ponytail is a fine toy) for a little while. He still takes plenty of play breaks, but he wasn't up raising hell all night. Since Mama has been gone, he sits and sleeps in her wheelchair, and this picture of him at the table lifted Mama's spirits! #CatsOfMastodon

Damn, damn, damn. Mama fell again and fractured her wrist (non-displaced, but still). I'm happy it wasn't worse, but feeling pretty sorry for myself because I was looking forward to a more normal post-holiday long visit this year after the chaos of last year's fall-related problems. Damn, damn, damn.

Oh my lord, Miss Peggy fell again tonight and is back in the ER with concerns of a possible hip fracture. 😭

And just got word that she fractured her pelvis and hip socket. She fractured her pelvis 14 months ago, and though it was difficult for 3 months, she had been doing very well. She knows this will be the end of her living independently, in all likelihood.

This morning brings the welcome news that Miss Peggy won't require surgery for her fractured pelvis/hip. Christmas will probably find her being checked into skilled nursing for rehab, but much better than surgery.

The ortho says that Miss Peggy will have to stay off of her leg for 4-6 weeks, then rehab. That was unexpected! The good news is that her preferred skilled nursing facility has already confirmed that they have a bed ready for her. The place is about a quarter mile from the house I grew up in, where my niece lives now, and a sister is about a mile away. Couldn't have worked out better. She seems to be in pretty good spirits, all things considered. 😊

I had my first encounter of the MAGA kind last night on our cruise and I am really dreading being back in the US. We were talking to a couple we met on another repositioning cruise a couple of years ago and were very surprised that they voted for Trump a second time. When she said that Kamala slept her way to her position I thought I was going to have a stroke. I usually don’t say “Oh fuck you” to old ladies, but I couldn’t help myself. I’m ready to just turn around and go back to Italy.

I’m still seething about this. We didn’t call out this bullshit enough when it was happening. Not saying that it would have made a difference, but I hate that this line of attack from Trump had traction, enough so that a privileged white lady felt it appropriate to recite it to me as a reason to not vote for Kamala. Remember when Trump said during the debate that “she put out” and the media said nothing? He knew exactly what he was doing and I’m going to be pissed off about it for a long time.

I met a recently widowed woman on our cruise in rare moment of forced peopling. She told me that she “didn’t want to be a nurse or a purse” and now I can’t stop thinking about that.

We'll have our oil in about an hour. #Umbria Bruschetta for lunch!

And another olive harvest is in the books. Not a record year, but still very good. We had about 27 cases (roughly 20k each). We'll have our oil tomorrow night! I'm so glad for our area that we had such spectacular weather this weekend for the harvest. #Umbria

#FotoMontag Poreč, #Croatia. We had to make a pilgrimage to the town formerly known as Parentium. Natch. #TravelPhoto #Wanderlust

My Joyful Meadow is now 6 months old. I could not know when I started trying to use my grandmother's old embroidery thread that I had stumbled onto an obsession. Today I finally finished the olive tree. #Embroidery #IMadeThis