how to celebrate a birthday in 10 days....

first have an italian lunch mid-week that lasts 7 hours at Rina's house...

have breakfast in bed thanks to your husband and a care package stuffed with bisquick&rice krispy treats!

take a day trip to the beach with a good friend...

with perfect weather in Portofino it doesn't get any better...

celebrate international women's day 3 days later with some ladies, champagne & pineapple...

a surprise dinner with 14 of your best friends...


including a tasting of 10 different kinds of homemade pasta!
365 days till the next one!!

the magic of the brown rock....

the first weekend in march, we had the pleasure of travelling to roquebrun with our neighbors Doeke & Anna who have a delightful cottage overhanging the french riviera. i had heard about this place for sometime, but this was my first oppurtunity to visit. the history of the place includes a stubborn grandmother who fell in love with the little medieval seaside town, and betrayed a promise to sell back the land to her nephew when we was able to afford it. thanks to Doeke's grandmother, his family, and now friends, have enjoyed the magic of roquebrun....

plenty of stone pathways to explore, and trees at the front door...

the knotty roots of the 1,000 year old olive tree inspires some modern artists...

mark awaits his companions casually in a mosaic, with a french loaf of tasty bread

doeke and anna meander through roquebrun proper

view of cypress, olives, lemons, and Monaco in the distance...

a couple of lads await their ladies...

Carnevale di Pecetto

every little town in italia has it's own carnival. in Pecetto's case it is very little, but not with some noise....all of Pecetto's young hooligans were out tagging the town and some random cars in the early hours with shaving cream, mark and I had a birds eye view of the spectacle, as we live on the main drag...via Umberto

no tractor was spared for the procession...

confetti...shaving cream...candy....all good objects to throw at each other....later, things turned sour and the bakery float decided to throw dough into the unexpecting crowd...

after practicing atleast once a week throughout the year, the Pecettesi flag throwers put on a show...until next year!