I arrived in Italy with Corey several weeks ago and we had a grand adventure- it is time to start the recording of it- quick arrival in Rome-straight to Cortona – onward to Venice and ending in Florence.

The motivo for this 10 day adventure was Corey’s application to the Questura, for the Carta di Soggiorno, an Italian green card of sorts that that will enable him to live and work in Italy and the Carta will never expire – no need to go thru the whole laborious process every 2 years to renew the Permesso di Soggiorno, a procedure that gets more ridiculous and complicated with each passing year (having done this now for 12 years).

Arrival at Casa San Marco, Cortona, good son- schlepping Mom’s endless suitcases.

After being aggravated by the Questura for years, I have finally readjusted my attitude and have fun here. It has become a regular family outing. And always an adventure.

Holding my breath that the signora gives a stamp of approval and mails all the documents I have spent months (actually years) collecting.

Done. It’s it the mail off to the powers that be. Corey will need to return for his appointment with the Questura in 2 months to get approval. But so far, so good.

Corey does not subscribe to the jet theory, however this horizontal position is where I found him at odd hours of the day, most of the 10 days he was here.

One of our activities was throwing a birthday party for my adoptive Italian son, Francesco, who turned 23 on January 11th.

I baked a cake but had no birthday candles, so my pal Ivan, who is a creative genius in the kitchen and in about a million other things, found what was available to create a work of art on this chocolate cake, starting with one tea light candle.

He found some vintage flowers that were adorning one of my many Madonna statues, and went collecting. That spurred me on to grab some some of my vintage saint figurines that are all over the house, we chose San Francesco, the only logical choice for Francesco’s birthday. A true maestro, un artista~ The decor The surprise. I think Francesco is pleased. A wonderful party.

Next stop, next day – Micheline’s for dinner. She hurried us over to the television where a French news program was about to air the press conference regarding the recent scandal of  Francois Hollande. Apparently he is having an yet another affair and was found out – really juicy news. Micheline wanted us to watch it with her, to see how he was going to get out this gracefully on TV. When asked by the press about his liaison, he simply said,

No comment. Or some such thing.

I tour the amazing grounds surrounding Micheline’s place with Corey. Corey holds is own, speaking French well, with Micheline, and completely has her captivated. The living room. Fantastic home. Silla and Didu’

A wonderful evening.

Tomorrow- Venezia.