A weekend at Casa 'Dacks!

That's Sue and Steve's house in the Adirondacks, near Amsterdam, New York. Really nice lake communities up there, blue collar for the most part, with very simple cabins (or "camps" as they call them), flat-bottomed pontoon boats and lots of hiking and fishing and all kinds of country things. Spent the weekend reading on the porch and the boat, swimming in the lake, eating amazing food (alaskan wild salmon--I'm not a salmon lover but alaskan wild salmon is like eating an entirely different fish) and enjoying my friends. It was nice to be out of the city in such a low-key, beautiful place.

Had a THIRD date with guy #3 from CL. Molto bene!
Ciao--
Paola

Just so no one feels left out...

...I feel compelled to state for the record that my third date of the weekend triad topped them all--good conversation, sparks, laughter. Met a very nice guy with an off-the-wall sensibility and core sweetness--all this has done much to improve my view of the world and of men, in particular. (Not that I had anything against men.)
And THAT is all I'll say.
Ciao amici!
Paola

A moment of sunshine in my apartment

I love my apartment dearly but it gets very, VERY little light. And anyone who has read any of my ramblings on Roma knows that I LOVE light. (I'm a Leo. Astrology is crap but in that respect, the Leo/sunlight connection holds true for me. I am a summer girl through and through.) In any case, my bedroom is the only spot in my pad that gets bonafide light, from about 1 PM to 3 PM. It's a luxury, it's brief, so I decided to photograph it.
P.S. My bicycle resides in my bedroom (despite the fact that my building has a bicycle storage room) because seeing it motivates me to ride it; if I had to schlep it out of the basement, I'd be less inclined to go. How SELFy of me!
Ciao--
Paola

College reunion

Well, sort of. I spent the afternoon and evening with my friends Billy and Rosalind and their three wonderful kids--they live a block from the beach so that means swimming and sunning and all kinds of good summer stuff. And Billy made pizza--dough and all--in honor of my Italian sojourn--it was fantastic, especially the white pizza. As good as Roman, definitely.

If I'd grown up in Huntington Bay, well, I just might never haveleft Long Island! What's stronger in me--the city girl or the beach girl? I'm not sure. I couldn't live without either one for longer than a year, I don't think.

Had my second date of the weekend this morning--coffee at Cafe con leche. It was really nice--just so great to meet someone interesting and have intelligent conversation. My faith in men (and dating) is being restored. I guess I just have to cancel the online dating membership and stick to the messy democracy of free Craig's List, where the good ones pop up from the riff raff like jewels. Tomorrow evening? Date number 3!
Ciao--
Paola

P.S. I'm starting to feel as if "Paola" is my hot, dating alter ego....

First date of the triad

I met someone this afternoon and we took a wilting walk/cooling bench-sit in Riverside Park for a few hours. Nice date. Nice to meet a smart, interesting, diehard NYer.

Okay, never mind all that (since I can't really share details anyway--I must protect my reputation, after all)! I HAD to post the cutest photos of my nephew Jordan, at his camp. He is growing into such a handsome young man, I can't believe it! I feel like these should be on the cover of the Saturday Evening Post or something.

Back to dating. I have TWO more dates this weekend, plus a visit out to the beach at Huntington Bay to visit my friends Billy and Ros. When will I work on the book?! Starting to be a problem. It's hard to be disciplined in summer--for me at least. I want to be at camp, too!
Ciao!
Paola

70-odd responses!

That's what I got when I put a brief personal ad up on Craig's List last night. My theory is, there are so many oddballs and kids and teenagers on the site wasting time and prowling for each other that the good responses--say, 2-4 out of 70, pop right up to the top. The way I think my ad pops up among the internet morass of random-ness that is Craig's List. The winning combination for a profiles is: thoughtful, but not trying too hard, with a dash of earthiness, sexiness and smarts. Now I get to choose. Heh, heh, heh!
Ciao--
Paola
The photo, above, may be the one that did the trick--it's the one I posted. I cropped it myself!

The easiest babysitting job ever

Decided last minute to help my sister out and babysit for my nephew Caleb tonight, since the regular sitter was sick. We went out for Ben & Jerry's, lay in bed and read and played Connect Four--which I actually won. (I'm usually terrible at strategy/spatial relations games.)
What could be nicer?
Ciao--
Paola
P.S. The photo above is of my older nephew, Jordan, who is away at camp right now. They post current photos on the website every day. My how times have changed from the once a week phone call that you had to walk across camp to make in the office.