Archive | December, 2011

sunrise walk

Well, still no internet in our house.  Maybe tomorrow?  Eventually I’d like to turn this blog back into more of a steady conversation instead of the sporadic one-sided posts that I’ve come up with in haste recently.  Until then, here are some more photos… and these are fresh from this morning!

I realized today, as Lena began murmuring in the room next door around 6:30am, that up until this point in my life I have been a big sunset person.  Elliott and I loved sunsets from our little studio on Capitol Hill; we took tons of pictures of the sun setting behind the Capitol Dome in the months after we were married.  We went on long walks at sunset and watched the colors change from the National Mall.

Now, however, two things have happened.  1) Our windows face east, not west, and 2) Lena gets up with the sunrise.   This morning, when she awoke as dawn broke over the hills, Elliott jumped up to get her and brought her to our bed for some snuggles.  At that point we both turned our attention to the windows and the rising sun.  So beautiful coming up from the Mediterranean!  Elliott took a few pictures as it crested the hills.

The aforementioned snuggles that happened as the photographer was hard at work:

A lovely view of Mt Etna from our kitchen window:

After awhile, Elliott said sheepishly, “I kinda feel like… going on a walk.”

[Note: For those who do not know Elliott personally, Elliott pretty much always feels like going on a walk.]

I was definitely game this morning, though.  It was only 7:30 and the morning light was calling us!  We threw on some pretty random clothes (including a hat I knit for Lena when I was 9 months pregnant and totally forgot about until now) and started off down into the valley.

A path winds down the hills.

This is a view of our town from below.  Our house is the yellow one on the farthest right side of the cliff, just on the other side of the castle tower.

Elliott right about then: Remember when you wanted to live in Italy, Becca?  And now there’s our home, built into a 1,000-year-old city wall in a little Sicilian town!  Can you imagine townspeople in medieval garb, watching you as you approach, judging when you were close enough for their arrows?

Wowzers.

We reached the stream (“a river runs through it”… kinda?) in the center of the valley.

Daddy has a couple girls who love going on walks in the early morning.

We turned around to hike back up the hill toward our house.  This is a view of the old city wall from the old stone stairs that lead from the valley to the town.

And now we’re almost back home!  Here’s a view of our house, the hills, and a bit of the Med.

And if I turned 180 degrees, this is the view behind me.  Hello, old Norman castle tower.

And all the way home.  Time for naps and second breakfasts!

3 :: in home sweet home, pretty places, Sicily, travel

sunrise walk

Well, still no internet in our house.  Maybe tomorrow?  Eventually I’d like to turn this blog back into more of a steady conversation instead of the sporadic one-sided posts that I’ve come up with in haste recently.  Until then, here are some more photos… and these are fresh from this morning!

I realized today, as Lena began murmuring in the room next door around 6:30am, that up until this point in my life I have been a big sunset person.  Elliott and I loved sunsets from our little studio on Capitol Hill; we took tons of pictures of the sun setting behind the Capitol Dome in the months after we were married.  We went on long walks at sunset and watched the colors change from the National Mall.

Now, however, two things have happened.  1) Our windows face east, not west, and 2) Lena gets up with the sunrise.   This morning, when she awoke as dawn broke over the hills, Elliott jumped up to get her and brought her to our bed for some snuggles.  At that point we both turned our attention to the windows and the rising sun.  So beautiful coming up from the Mediterranean!  Elliott took a few pictures as it crested the hills.

The aforementioned snuggles that happened as the photographer was hard at work:

A lovely view of Mt Etna from our kitchen window:

After awhile, Elliott said sheepishly, “I kinda feel like… going on a walk.”

[Note: For those who do not know Elliott personally, Elliott pretty much always feels like going on a walk.]

I was definitely game this morning, though.  It was only 7:30 and the morning light was calling us!  We threw on some pretty random clothes (including a hat I knit for Lena when I was 9 months pregnant and totally forgot about until now) and started off down into the valley.

A path winds down the hills.

This is a view of our town from below.  Our house is the yellow one on the farthest right side of the cliff, just on the other side of the castle tower.

Elliott right about then: Remember when you wanted to live in Italy, Becca?  And now there’s our home, built into a 1,000-year-old city wall in a little Sicilian town!  Can you imagine townspeople in medieval garb, watching you as you approach, judging when you were close enough for their arrows?

Wowzers.

We reached the stream (“a river runs through it”… kinda?) in the center of the valley.

Daddy has a couple girls who love going on walks in the early morning.

We turned around to hike back up the hill toward our house.  This is a view of the old city wall from the old stone stairs that lead from the valley to the town.

And now we’re almost back home!  Here’s a view of our house, the hills, and a bit of the Med.

And if I turned 180 degrees, this is the view behind me.  Hello, old Norman castle tower.

And all the way home.  Time for naps and second breakfasts!

3 :: in home sweet home, pretty places, Sicily, travel

making home in Sicily

Elliott shooed me off to the library on base to run some errands, make a blog post, and generally have some alone time.  Ahhh.  So nice to be able to focus on my computer for more than 5 minutes without worrying about where little mobile Lena is off to next!

I’m so glad to finally be able to share some photos of our home in Sicily.  From chaos to… less chaos.  Here we go!

Last Wednesday (less than 24 hours after we’d flown back to Sicily), the movers brought our boxes to our new home.  We took a lunch break in our kitchen halfway through the day.  Thrilled to be moving in at last!

The movers left around 4pm, and they left everything in chaos because they needed to find all “valuable items” (of which we have… like… nothing… but still certain things had been listed).  So they unpacked and/or went through every box for us!  Where to begin?

Here’s what our bedroom looked like:

And Lena’s room:

Ahhh… take a break to look out the huge kitchen window at that beautiful view.

The next morning we tackled the kitchen.  Lena was an eager participant.  We have these open shelves in our new kitchen, meaning everything dangerous must be moved out of baby’s reach.  She’s pulling herself up and swiping stuff off shelves as quick as she can these days.

But oh… how can you resist that cuteness?

Elliott took a few photos of the view from our balcony:

Another morning in front of the kitchen window.  That’s the “gentle giant” Mt Etna smoking in the background.

After a few days, Lena’s room looked better!

Now to tackle all our books.  Eventually I shelved them by category and in alphabetical order.  Whew.

The washing machine is a new source of fascination.

More beautiful views from the balcony.  We’re looking down on a valley and then out towards the Mediterranean.  We can hear cow bells as herds graze in the hills or watch shepherds tending their sheep.

The books are shelved, the cardboard boxes are gone, the tubs are filling up with things to put in the garage… it’s beginning to look a little more like home!

6 :: in home sweet home, Lena, moving in, Sicily

making home in Sicily

Elliott shooed me off to the library on base to run some errands, make a blog post, and generally have some alone time.  Ahhh.  So nice to be able to focus on my computer for more than 5 minutes without worrying about where little mobile Lena is off to next!

I’m so glad to finally be able to share some photos of our home in Sicily.  From chaos to… less chaos.  Here we go!

Last Wednesday (less than 24 hours after we’d flown back to Sicily), the movers brought our boxes to our new home.  We took a lunch break in our kitchen halfway through the day.  Thrilled to be moving in at last!

The movers left around 4pm, and they left everything in chaos because they needed to find all “valuable items” (of which we have… like… nothing… but still certain things had been listed).  So they unpacked and/or went through every box for us!  Where to begin?

Here’s what our bedroom looked like:

And Lena’s room:

Ahhh… take a break to look out the huge kitchen window at that beautiful view.

The next morning we tackled the kitchen.  Lena was an eager participant.  We have these open shelves in our new kitchen, meaning everything dangerous must be moved out of baby’s reach.  She’s pulling herself up and swiping stuff off shelves as quick as she can these days.

But oh… how can you resist that cuteness?

Elliott took a few photos of the view from our balcony:

Another morning in front of the kitchen window.  That’s the “gentle giant” Mt Etna smoking in the background.

After a few days, Lena’s room looked better!

Now to tackle all our books.  Eventually I shelved them by category and in alphabetical order.  Whew.

The washing machine is a new source of fascination.

More beautiful views from the balcony.  We’re looking down on a valley and then out towards the Mediterranean.  We can hear cow bells as herds graze in the hills or watch shepherds tending their sheep.

The books are shelved, the cardboard boxes are gone, the tubs are filling up with things to put in the garage… it’s beginning to look a little more like home!

6 :: in home sweet home, Lena, moving in, Sicily

a few photos from Thanksgiving

Here’s a fun batch to begin with!

Before Lena’s Uncle Jonathan proposed to Lena’s soon-to-be Aunt Erika (!!!), he practiced his proposal for Lena.  She loved it all, including trying on the diamond ring. 

I took some photos of my first completed order for Making Room {Handmade}, a pair of knitted fingerless gloves that my mother-in-law requested for a co-worker.

Lena’s pulling herself up on everything these days.  She loved climbing up onto the hearth this Thanksgiving… under careful supervision!

Meanwhile, Jonathan proposed and Erika accepted!  Their faces hurt from smiling, but they tried to smile a little more for a loooot of photos at the Garber household.  Elliott popped the cork off a bottle of champagne and we toasted to their lives together.  Congrats, you two!

They had to smile for many, many photos that evening.

That Thanksgiving weekend Jess had an inflamed tibia after running a half marathon.  She tried to stay off it… sometimes more successfully than others…

Thanksgiving Day came at last!  The table was set…

… and the guests arrived, all admiring of little Lena.

And we feasted!

The aftermath:

And the parking lot outside the house:

An after-dinner walk to work off some of those calories.  Lena is already an avid frisbee “player,” and her daddy rejoices!

More to come soon!

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1 :: in family, holidays, home sweet home, knitting business, Virginia

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