So the gorgeous medieval apartment right in the center of Florence is booked for 15 days in late October/early November. I think the first week I will be alone and then Joi will come for the second, and then Joi's beau Eric is coming and the three of us are probably going to Venice for a couple of days, and now these family friends, these father-son turfgrass professors who live in a villa in Palermo and have one on the beach, too, have offered to put us up when/if we go to Sicily... The son, Mauro, came to NYC a few years ago and my mother, sister and I spent a few days taking him everywhere he wanted to go; I even accompanied him to my least favorite place Macys and helped him pick out Polo shirts, so that boy owes me!

I also just got an Italian grammar book in the mail as well as a set of language CDs, since even though I studied Italian literature in college and graduate school--read Italian texts, listened to lectures in Italian, wrote papers in Italian--I've barely looked at that language in 9 years and now I'm convinced I've forgotten every word.

I would also like to see my family in Calabria but I don't think that is happening. I do fly in and out of Rome so I will hang out a day there. Or possibly just stay forever.