Early morning views out my window in northern Italy....

Early morning views from my home in  northern Italy.   To the left of the photo is a vineyard.  It might be visible.   I found the road that goes past the big tree in the middle photo.   It's a beautiful area-- just land and old villas. I like the fog still on the ground in the last photo.   You can also see the vineyard in the last photo.   They are still using the old tree branches in this vineyard.   Most have been modernized with metal pipes to hold the vines upright.  Click on the photos for a larger and clearer view.

"HEEEATTTHCLIFFFF".... or when did our school playground turn into the foggy Scottish moors? .... excuse me... "Heathcliff!!!!"....

My driveway right before I pulled out on to the street.  This should have been my first clue.

This is at 10:00am.  You could barely see children that were several feet away.   Nice to see 3 boys using the swings.  Sometimes, at other schools, boys don't usually use the 'swings'... here?  I have to sometimes tell them to count 20 swings back and forth so that other children can have a turn.   We have 2 swing sets; but, lots of children want to use the swings.   I loved swinging when I was a child too.  I would often lean my head back and I would drag my hair on the ground.  

Yes, we have the spongy surfaces here too.  I just don't know how I survived my childhood.  We had pebbles, dirt, and concrete on our playgrounds.

"Heathcliff!"... "Are you out there?"

Even the school (this is the lunchroom area) is difficult to see. 

We couldn't let them play in the grassy area- we couldn't SEE THEM!

Yesterday, it was foggy.   It used to be foggy a lot in Germany too.   However, today... was foggier than I have EVER seen it!  I could not see anything in front of me.  I was the lead car and the white lines on the road hadn't been painted in what looked like YEARS!  I didn't even know most of the time if I was on my side of the road or about to fall off the road into the deep drainage ditches!  I was only driving 10-15 mph.   I finally had a car behind me and for the first time ever... a car didn't pass me.   They must have FINALLY realized that IT WAS NOT SAFE TO PASS THE OTHER CAR even if you didn't think it was going fast enough.  (I get passed often- even though I am going the residential speed limit.)

The strangest fog that I experienced in Germany-- was frozen FOG!  It was so scary!!  I drove home one night after meeting friends at a restaurant.

What's the weather like today?

Well, I do believe it looks a bit 'foggy!!'    About 3 weeks ago, we had 4 days/nights of fog that was so bad... that I was driving home on this road from physical therapy (at night) and in the opposite direction as to where I usually drive to go to/from work.  My driveway is even with the street-- just to the right of the fence that you see in the photo.  This is the view right outside my front door.   Anyway, it was SO FOGGY that I couldn't even SEE WHERE to turn into my driveway until I got right to my driveway-- and this is with a yellow flashing light at the top of the pole that 'flashes yellow' when the electronic gate is activated for entrance with the remote control!   You can usually see this 'flashing light' for a couple of blocks or so in the distance.   At least, it's not as foggy as it was during those 4 days/nights.  

America has been having horrible cold weather and Europe has been having unusually warm weather for the time of the year.   I had some friends visiting during winter break from where I used to live in Germany and did you know that there wasn't even ANY SNOW on the ground there and hadn't been?   It had only 'lightly snowed' a couple of times!  Winter snow can start in October... but, in this area... it did snow in November and the snows NEVER MELTED until April!!!   And, here it was the end of December and they hadn't had hardly ANY SNOWFALL and there was absolutely NO SNOWFALL on the ground!!  

To see the building/area that can't be seen in the photo-- scroll down to the 'sheep returning story' and you'll see what is missing in the photo- The last photo, with the bus, is of the view out the front door- the same as what is shown in the above photo. 

News bulletin:

It was not FOGGY yesterday!

You might not realize how big that news is... but, I'm telling ya... we have fog so thick.. the phrase 'you could cut it with a knife' was probably invented here to describe the fog conditions. The fog will stay all day... ALL DAY... ALL DAY..

I took a train ride to the nearest city... Nuernberg (spelling probably isn't correct) yesterday... (Veteran's Day for the US Citizens working for the US Government here and elsewhere)

It was so nice to get out and walk about in a city. They were also getting ready for the Christmas Market that will open up soon-- they were setting up the stalls. I'm going to go back and check it out when it is open.

Still no Internet... I have been taking all sorts of photos that I will share when I can. I can't do it at the base library though.. which is where I'm typing this entry to let you know that I am still here.