Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween from the Spider Witch, the Mobster, the friendly Kitty Cat, the BumbleBee (no stinger-- she is too sweet!) and the little boy with the pumpkin colored hair!

I'm sure everyone has some great memories of Trick or Treating. In Auburn we were allowed to walk wherever we wanted and the word was always out where the best treats were!! Homemade popcorn balls were quite a treat in those days! In Parkersburg, our kids went all over the development and came home with enough candy to last until Valentine's Day!

Have a great time, everyone!

Photo Time

Just a few links for you!

First, you can find Joe and Gretchen's photos from Italy here.

And you can find pix from my marathon in Indianapolis on October 18 here. It would appear from this set of photos that Matt comes by his usual pose for photos quite naturally.

Love to you all.

Dining in Italy

As you all know, we celebrated Joe’s 55th Birthday at the Villa in style. Pictures cannot capture it all, but we did sing to him (in Italian) with the help of our chef, Luciano. Please join in, you know the tune :

Buon compleanno a te
Buon compleanno a te
Buon compleanno a Giuseppe
Buon compleanno a te


Marge volunteered to be the chief cook at the villa and came up with some fantastic dishes, despite being challenged by the labels on the spices (all in Italian) and some unusual utensils. We loved it all. This is a fritatta that was incredible!

We didn’t get photos of all the food, but believe me, it was fantastic.

Back from Italy!

The Great Italy Trip of '08 is now complete (with the exception of the Deans, who will continue their Italian wanderings for another few weeks.) It was a wonderful, amazing and unforgettable trip for all! I am sure we'll all post thoughts, recaps and Shutterfly links over the days to come, but for now here is a quick shot Dan took outside our villa, and another of the wonderful, narrow cobblestone streets of Lucca where we spent many an hour over the past week. I'm still pretty jetlagged but wanted to say hello to all - it was a wonderful, wonderful trip!