A quiet Sunday

Maybe a little too quiet. My daughter left Friday to move back to Denver. She's a senior at the University of Colorado and starts classes tomorrow.

It has always been our habit to spend at least a part of our Sundays together and this Sunday feels a little empty somehow. Besides being my daughter, she is one of my best friends, a helpful, kind, delightful person and always there for me. Best of all, she keeps me young at heart.

I took her to Italy with me in June and I did things I never would have done if she hadn't been there to make me do them ... including renting a tiny, manual Fiat and driving it all over Tuscany, even on the autostrada which I highly recommend if you're looking for a heart-stopping experience. I hadn't driven a stick in 20 years so she was very understanding when she had to push it out of the parking lot because I was having a little trouble finding reverse. Figured out how to get the Italian GPS lady to speak English and stop screaming "gelati, gelati" at us (which turned out to be girare or "turn"). We thought she wanted us to stop for a gelato, which we were happy to do but it was getting difficult to consume all that gelato and still fit into the Fiat. Talked me into splurging on that Gucci purse I've always wanted and didn't get too embarrassed in Dolce and Gabanna when I bought some totally inappropriate (for someone over 50) lingere. Insisted I drive into Florence and PARK there. If you've ever been to Florence you'll understand the sheer lunacy of that endeavor. I only avoided the disaster of doing the same thing in Rome because an Italian friend advised her that it wasn't such a good idea to drive into Rome. Planned a day trip to the Ligurian sea ... just when we needed a "nature" day. She was never afraid to go anywhere or do anything that seemed like it might be an adventure. I don't think that trip would have been quite the same without her.

At any rate, it is very quiet here today. I think I might have to drive down to Denver one of these weekends very soon.

Julie and Julia was wonderful. Go see it. Funny, upbeat, inspirational. Just the kind of movie we need these days.

Still on target for two new releases at the end of the month.

This week yet another package arrived from France. Thank you, merci, my dear French friend Evelyne. It is lovely and now on my "stitching" table beside my "stitching" chair ... holding my favorite project of the moment. Lovely birthday gifts from lovely friends. La vie est belle. I have corrected the blog reference. I must have been in "le p'tit monde de la blonde". In this country we have the same concept but we call them "blonde moments". Not being blonde, I should have never made this kind of mistake :-)

Off to clean up the studio. Since I can't play with my daughter today, I might as well get some work done. Later, when the house is too clean and too quiet :-( I will probably work on my "Heart Song" ... which seems appropriate ... a good project to lift my mood.

See you soon, ci vediamo a presto, à tout à l'heure, gauw tot ziens,

Cynthia