Georgie's Theatrical Debut

I couldn't sleep last night because I was so excited about Georgie's performance on opening night of her school play. I was bursting inside with pride for her accomplishment and so excited to see it again on Friday and Saturday.

Whereas Isaac is into classic rock and playing the guitar, Georgie is into musicals and theater. She loves Phantom, Wicked, Les Mis, etc. and was so excited to try out for the play.

The play is "Winnie the Pooh" and the cast is from the elementary school. The majority of the main characters are in the 3rd grade: Georgie is Rabbit, with the second-most lines (48 - Pooh has 68). Pooh is Georgie's best friend from Altus and Aviano classmate, Samantha Jones. Tigger is another boy from her class. Owl and Christopher Robin are fellow 3rd graders. Eeyore and Kanga are older girls, and Piglet and Roo are adorable younger kids. Plus there is a supporting cast of various narrators and other animals.

Georgie front and center while the gang is trapped in a hole, one of the major plot points. She is so expressive and dramatic, perfect for a grade school play where the default is often flat and monotone.

The final act, where the confusion is cleared up and Rabbit pins the blame on Owl. All of the kids did really well and there were no major mistakes. Georgie's platinum curls escaped from her rabbit ear hat during the show, and with her make up and costume she looked stunning. One of my friends from work commented on how lovely she was.

This is her friend Sage congratulating her afterwards. You can see on Georgie's face just how happy she is and how much she loves theater.

Lana and Destiny, her American friends from Italian school, came with their mom and sister.

Tigger did a great job, but I thought he was a girl at first because of the make up! What a champ to wear make up at that age. Samantha was excellent as Pooh and really carried the show well.

Owl was likewise excellent and is the most poised and professional of all the actors. There is great comedic interplay between her and Georgie.

Georgie was very confident and looked out at the audience very well. In true Merback fashion, I had to give her one piece of constructive criticism because, also in true Merback fashion, she delivered her lines a little too quickly. I remember my parents telling me to "slow down" many times when practicing for a talk or performance.

Kudos to Ashley for making the costume and Georgie for sticking it out through all of the practices. I can't wait to see it again. Unfortunately there was a fire in the school cafeteria today, so the performances for tonight and tomorrow are cancelled! We are all heartbroken. Hopefully they will reschedule for next week. Congratulations to Georgie, our resident thespian!

May Day in Tuscany

We had a three-day weekend in conjunction with May Day, the European Labor Day, so we planned a trip to Tuscany. Or so we thought. We arrived at our hotel near Montepulciano to find out that we had booked the wrong dates. Three hotels and four hours later, we found a more expensive but still highly desirable Agriturismo outside of Lucignano. I kept my cool pretty well, but still we all needed to blow off some steam before dinner.

The building on the left is where we stayed. Ashley took this on her morning run.

There was a kid about Isaac's age tearing around the compound on his bike. The kids were shy at first, but after some prodding from Ashley, Isaac started playing ball with him. I refereed their soccer match amongst the olive trees, which Isaac won 10-8. One of the rare Italian kids we have met who wasn't amazing at calcio.

I entertained Georgie and Juliet by playing the "trust exercise" game.

I like the dramatic effect of Juliet closing her eyes.

Georgie putting her trust in her dad's back.

The lighting was perfect so Ashley took a few shots. Georgie still hates taking pictures.

Sweet mother of Mary that little girl is gorgeous.

My girls in Tuscany.

Just to ensure that we don't get any delusions about what Juliet is like the other half of the time...

Or the other other half of the time. The mom & pop that own the Agriturismo fed us one of the best meals we have had in Italy. The tagliatelle al ragu was divine, but the roast tacchino reminded me just how good animal flesh can taste. My rule is that I eat veg at home, but will cross the line for the sake of a cultural experience or social propriety.

Buon appetito!

The next morning we were up and off to Pienza, a medieval town designed by Pope Pius (some number), which also has a great view of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Val d'Orcia. Gratuitous photo taking of Tuscan countryside to follow:

 That's quite enough of that.

There was an exhibition of a local artist who had passed away recently at the Duomo annex building. Ashley loved his work, which was mostly of people and landscapes in that region of Tuscany.

I took the kids off Ashley's hands briefly so that she could indulge in some shopping for the local specialities, namely pecorino cheese and olive oil. She also bought bread and other fixin's and we had ourselves a lovely picnic under some Cypress trees in front of an old church next to the wall that overlooks the Val d'Orcia. And did I mention that I didn't even have to take time off for this trip?

Check out that backdrop.

 The church.

Next stop was the town of Montalcino, famous for Brunello red wine which is made there and only there.

 Solo in Italia.

If it weren't for the safety issue I would be all about Vespas.

Too dang cute.

Nothing says primavera in Italia like wisteria and Tuscan bell towers.

This is in the center of Montalcino, but the entry to climb it was closed.

We took a tour of a local vineyard and learned all about the wine-making process, from growing the grapes to the finished product. These are the vats where the wine is fermented. Once that process is finished, it is moved into oak barrels to age in the cellar, the door of which is under the hanging bicycle.

The vineyard we visited.

Next stop was a smaller town called Bagno Vignoni, famous because in the center of town there is an ancient Roman hot spring pool. It sounds too good to be true, and it is. No swimming allowed.

This is the path we walked from the parking lot into the center of town. In the distance is Castiglione d'Orcia, which we admired from afar but did not visit.

The hot springs. Rumor is it is full of leaches, but we didn't see any. The restaurant to the right is part of a complex that also has a bar, gelato shop, and spa.

Under that curved pavilion on the right they were setting up for a big party, I think it was a wedding reception. Not a bad spot.

Next up was a wild goose chase trying to find an olive oil company in Montichiello, back near Pienza. We found the place, but they were completely sold out of olive oil. 2014 was a horrible year for olives because it was too cold and wet. But we did see some more amazing views.

Our final stop on this Tuscan marathon day was Castiglion Fiorentino, which is not a tourist attraction but it is where our famici, the Crandalls and McDowells, were staying that weekend. They had a huge festival with an international food court, a carnival, and a market. We ate Spanish, Greek, Sicilian, Argentinian, Mexican, and other foods that I can't remember but Ashley sure can.

I have never paid to do these bungee trampolines, but Georgie was so excited about it that she bought a ticket with her own money.

Isaac followed suit. I am telling him to do a flip and he is yelling "No!" back at me.

The next morning we decided to finally hit up Montepulciano, the most popular town in this area, to see what all the fuss was about.

A very cool old well in the main piazza. Ashley really wanted a family picture at this well, but as you will see, she was to be disappointed.

One of the many huge wine cellars in the town where they make Nobile di Montepulciano.

The old palace which is now the town hall.

So I asked this girl to take our picture at the well. I showed her exactly how I wanted the shot framed.  What does she do? Cuts off the lions on the top and gives us a good view of the steps and bricks in front. Well done, Ms. Ansel Adams, well done.

After Montepulciano we packed up and headed home. It was a quick three-day trip to Tuscany but we had a wonderful time and ate some great food. We have at least one more Tuscany trip before we leave. Until Thanksgiving, Toscana.

Georgie is 9

Georgie turned 9 today. The mouse on our computer is acting funny so I don't currently have pictures to add.  But I didn't want to go to bed without documenting some love and thoughts on my newly 9 year old girl.  The first thing I want to say about Georgie is that she surprises me.  She's silly and sometimes loud and obnoxious, often in her own world and unaware of what's going on around her.  She's often quiet and pensive.  In those pensive moments, I've come to realize, deep thoughts are happening. And sometimes they come out in brave, unique, mature and insightful comments.  I recently read that kids who day dream and have a lot of inner talk have more self knowledge then those that don't. And this rings true for Georgie. During the time that Georgie was feeling frustrated and ostracized socially in Italian school we had some friends over to play.  She was strangely controlling and bossy. After they left I mentioned to her what I observed and told her that her friend had mentioned the same thing to me.  She began to cry, ringing her hands and yelling. She said that it was because she wanted to be heard.  She wanted someone to listen to her, to notice her and to feel like she was important. "Wow," I thought, "For an 8 year old, that's a pretty astute self observation."  I kept thinking how good it must feel to be able to understand and articulate what she was feeling.  Most 8 year olds don't have this luxury.  This trait will go a long way in serving her throughout her life.  To end on a happier note, she's in American school now and SOARING!  She is so happy. And she has also learned to be independent.  I met her PE teacher the o the play ground last week and she payed Georgie a sweet compliment. She shared with me how much she enjoyed observing Georgie.  She explained that she is a leader in her class already, after just a couple of months in school.  That she does what she wants to do even if that means doing it alone.  She's not afraid to be different.  I have a feeling that some of that comes from having to be alone much of the time in 2.5 years in Italian school. Hard=growth.  

Yesterday Georgie asked me if I had any pet peeves.  Hers were, firstly, when her dad and I ask her not to do a certain thing and then we turn around and do it.  i.e. dont  eat off other people's plates without asking, don't use your fingers when you eat and don't say bad words (joeys bad, not mine;) Ouch!  She was honest, well then so can I be!  I told her that it drives me crazy when she and Isaac eat like the food is going to fly away if they don't get to it fast enough.  Sting!  I also said I can't relax when they eat food that is bad for them. Unless it's gelato;)  There. All finished;). We laughed throughout the conversation which was nice.  We could take each others venting, hopefully something that sticks in the teenage years.  When We were done picking at each other she said "you know what else disprove me crazy today?  My friend likes this boy and we're having a school dance on Friday.  My other friend said she should ask him to go to the dance with her (3rd grade?  Crazy but that's beside the point) And she said she would never ask a boy, that's a boys job to always ask girls..."  Crickets. I wondered where she was going with this.  "Isn't that crazy mom?!!!  Why wouldn't she just ask him?  If you like a boy why does it matter who asks?"  This kind of blew me away because I'm still a tiny bit stuck in this mindset that boys ask girls. But I loved witnessing her blank slate 3rd grade brain turn wheels about this subject.   I have NEvER said anything to this effect and I was sure she must have picked this up from some other friend, adult or TV show.  I asked without asking.,.prodded for possible outside influences but it appears this is totally her.  Interesting...mom please don't get concerned that we'd let her go with a boy to a 3rd grade dance. Not happening;). And she's not even interested.  

Georgie has recently developed a LOVE for theatre.  It all started with The Phantom Of The Opera, which morphed into Wicked and continues with Into The Woods and on and on and on.  She tried out, very excitedly, for Winnie the Pooh, the newest school play and was given the role of Rabbit.  She loves to tell everyone that it has the "second most lines in the play". She is thriving in this and it is giving her so much identity.  She loves it!  

I'm off to bed now.  I will write more later with birthday details. I didn't want to go to bed without a little mediation on my girl, on this special day when we're so extra glad that she was born!  

Love you Gi!