June 30, 2016

We are about to leave our Florentine home of 13 years behind us as we set off for a new adventure.
First, a month in Sicily. Not touring. Just staying put in one place….a small town, not a beach town (which in July is a very crowded place to be)….but a beautiful town. Baroque is the word that first comes to mind when people speak of Scicli.
We have not been there before but we have found an apartment for the month of July so that we can try to transition from life in an italian city to a more quiet and traditional way of italian life before we sample USA life again.   It is, for sure, a bittersweet moment for us.
After having retirement loom ahead of us for a number of years, it was finally time. For sure, it was the right time to retire, although the future plan is not so sure.  We’ll have to make it up as we go along….something we have done many times before.

Retiring from teaching at the International School of Florence was a sweet/sad experience for Russ….as the photos of the year-end faculty party show,

ISF Faculty Party, Florence Italy, 2016

the school community is like one big family. As you can easily imagine,

Russ Retiring from ISF

all of these yearly parties feature really good food and wine, lots of laughter, and some inevitable shows of emotion when final goodbyes are said.

I suppose it was actually helpful to have an enormous task ahead of us…….we had to focus on the future, i.e., moving out of a place where we have lived for 13 years……because we channeled all that emotion into positive memories as we packed up and got things ready for shipment.

Packing Up

We arrived here with 5 suitcases, an easel and a cat carrier which housed our beloved Niomi, the little red abyssinian/somali who settled into italian life far sooner than we did.  We used to joke that in the beginning she was the only thing that kept us aware of the giant move we had just made.  We are leaving with 19 boxes and 6 suitcases……..a bit more baggage for sure but all of it made much, much

Packing Station with View

lighter by the beautiful and meaningful  life experiences we have had here.  Even the packing up was made a bit sweeter by leaving the door to the garden wide open.

One Last Chore

And on that note, the beauty of living in a city like Florence…..so vibrant, alive with history and art and beauty……..while still being able to get outside alone with one’s thoughts while cutting the grass, Russ finished his last chore and we set out for the train station……..

Next stop Sicily.