Dowd adventures in Bologna

giovedì 2 luglio 2015

School holidays

Well the boys made it through their first year in an Italioan school, and they did a great job. Getting 9 and 10 's for sport, art and religion, much like l did at school, not brilliant in maths but a pass, better than me, and quite rerasonable with 6, 7's in Italian subjects. They were happy to finish, and now begins the 3.5 month holiday, with some homework.
So we started with a trip to Greece, flying into Athens for a night and day, which was perfect to see the Parthenon, and archelogical museum etc, they enjoyed this, the weather was lovely. The next evening we flew to Rhodes and stayed at the Armathus Hotel, which was perfect for us, the boys participated in all events during the day, beginning with bocce at 10.15, beach volleyball at 11, then darts, table tennis, cocktail challenge! with water polo at 3 and then soccer at 5. It was a typical resort hotel, with the biggest selction of foods at breakfast and dinner which the boys and l loved, Jayne not as much. We had great weather, the service in Greece was some of the best l have had ever!! and everyone was very helpful and happy. We flew back to Bologna well fed, brown and happy.
The next day l flew to NYC to work with 8 for 5 days, it was an eventful week with Beth the CEO leaving, Andrew the NZ starting, and an upgrade on the user interface beginning, as well a change back to the SMI office soon. Not much time to do anything, though l got to the Frick collection as a breather, and picked up two paintball guns and equipment we ordered for the boys.
Stayed in the number 1 UN hotel, which had great views of the major buildings of NY and the river and the UN, as well as a hotel called POD 39, which has hotels around the world, very clean, modern and fun, worth staying at if you are in NY.
Returned to Bologna after finding out the Fennesseys would not be coming with us to Umbria, as too much work with all the changes at 8, very sad, especially for all the boys, and that Guisseppi had a medical issue and we have had to move our trip sailing around Sicily to September, which is good actually as the boys are coming now, and the weather will be better than late June.
The boys went to a 2 week tennis camp towards Modena in the hills, quite a famous camp, most Italians who play tennis have been to it as kids. It has about 10 clay courts, a hotel to stay in and other activities to do. Hunter did very well winning 3 out of the 4 championships in the second week, and Ewan doing also well, but has not got the killer instinct that Hunter has, though l know Ewan plays tennis very well, hits it extremly well, but Hunter just studies the game very well and uses his pace around the court.
So they enjoyed that, loved playing around at night sneaking into others rooms and playing about, all tired. They complained that there was not enough food and the extra activities where a bit boring and few. I think the 2 weeks was perfect, and gave Janye and l a week without them, and Jayne another week without any of us!
So we have just had a week in Bologna with the weather heating up, thank god we joined the tennis club with a pool. Hunter had specialists and doctors look at his shoulder that he said was sore, and they all said he has some issue and should not play any sport that involves throwing or hitting, luckily we found a sport doctor who said he was fine and if it got sore to stop, and then gave us the permit for him to play on the tennis camp, and he had no issues except a sore wrist in the last 2 days. Bloody doctors here l feel get their licence from cafes! And the specialists from the gutter!, all over rated and over panicked.
So on Saturday we leave to Umbria for 2 weeks, and though the Fennesseys cant make it we have got a few friends dropping by for a few days through out the time, as we have a 14 bed villa! We are taking Katerina with us who we organized to help with all 5 boys, which are 2 now, and felt we could not cancel her as she had changed things to come, but she will help the boys get through most of their homework, only their reading to do themselves. We have Francesca and Dario, Dodo coming for 3 days, Dina and his family for a weekend, two friends of the boys for 3 days each, so they will have some company, and no one for too long.
We are staying near Citta di Castello which is where Alberto Burri has two wonderful museum's dedicated to his work, also Spoletto is near by, Assisi, Gubbio, Arezzo. The villa has a pool, gym with window looking into the pool, and a large enterainment area, along with the 14 beds. We are taking badminton , cricket, soccer, frisbee and many board games, so we should be right.
So until next time, after Umbria we come back to Bologna, and then a big drive with Megan Hollick up north through Europe towards Copenhagen, so farewell.

venerdì 15 maggio 2015

New York and London

Well how did l forget these trips, we all flew to NYC for easter, the others had never been there, so it was quite exciting. We stayed the first two days in NY, and Jayne and the boys did the circle line boat trip around Manhattan, and visited some museums and Times Square etc. The boys seemed most excited by some of the characters they saw and met on the streets, and the milk shakes at Starbucks. I did some work with 8 in the office, and so caught up with them at the end of the day. Then we had a car take us to the Fennesseys house in Greenwich, Connecticut. We (the boys) had a great time kicking the footy, playing cricket and jumping on the trampoline. It was great to sit around and eat and drink with them, especially after a few hard days working in NY !! We then went back to NYC on Monday afternoon for three nights at the Palace Hotel, which was a treat, thankfully we got a great deal. More shopping and street walking, finally flying back to Bologna.
A week later Jayne and l went to London without the boys for 4 days, staying in an apartment in Notting Hill, which was a great location, and good to stay in another area, We caught up with Mike and Kate Frayne for lunch at Spring restaurant, l went to several great shows, a Goya's exhibition, Diebenkorn, and some aother shows at Serpentime galleries. It was a great trip, with Jayne walking the streets window shopping, and me visiting galleries, l also caught up with Steve Thomson for lunch which is always fun and a good laugh.
While we were there so were the Fennesseys who had to renew their visas, so we caught up with them a few times, with James and l having a few beers one afternoon and watching some soccer with his kids. Like NY it was fun and we had lots of laughs, as well as talking about how huge 8 is going to be. Sue is working very hard on it, as is James with SMI, and so its all very exciting, l love every chance l can get to visit NY and spend time with Kana on the design.

Tim and Jo Edwards visit, and lots of short holidays

Sorry its been awhile, late March we had Tim and Jo Edwards come through Bologna to visit while travelling to Cinque Terra, Rome , Venice and London. It was great to have them stay with us, and get back to having a caffe with Tim, something we did many times in Melbourne. The boys also enjoyed it, as Tim told them about their son Nick and Melbourne Grammar , where they will go soon.
Its always interesting to have friends from Aust come, as it reminds you of home, and you also realize the difference of life, and how we have grow to adopt the life of Italy, and l guess will find it strange when we return one day.
Jayne had her birthday on the day they left, so sadly after l mucked up the dates they missed out on her party here, which was a terrific night, with about 40 people coming along, lots of drinking and dancing, always good to see the Italians taking on some of the Australian habits.
Since then, life has been difficult, with Hunter not being the easiest child to be with, he has now quit soccer, sadly, but we sort of understand as the kids at the club are not friendly and really dont make you feel welcome, and the coaches dont seem to do anything about that culture. Soon he will start tennis, which Ewan has been doing, and doing very well, he plays a solid game, serving and hitting back consistently, and sometimes with incredible pace. He plays with kids much bigger than him, and always steps up to the challenge, but with his usual laid back attitude.
Hunter just had a visit to a specialist, as he has for 6 months complained about his shoulder and hips, it seems he has some issue re developement of bones, and so is highly flexible, so throwing a ball is not good at them moment, and possibly later on he may need an operation, it may have been set off by kicking the soccer ball, and skiing, when he fell over on his shoulder.
Jayne is singing away all the time, and enjoying it immensely, the teachers daughter Katerina, is becoming a babysitter for us, allowing Jayne and l to go to Asolo last weekend, and may be coming with us to Umbria in July. A few weeks ago we went to London for a few days and had another girl, Janna and American look after the boys, so its been good to have sometime to ourselves and get away from the boys, which l think is good for them as well.
Ewan is enjoying school alot, and has made some good friends, though he does not really catch up with them in the weekend, Hunter has not as many friends, but is well liked at the school, though he does not enjoy it as much.
This weekend is open day, and the boys will be aiding in showing off what they have learnt to prospective parents, Hunter is in science, dissecting a plant, and Ewan is playing the piano and some other things.
The boys are becoming very annoying with their apparent love with technology, and all we hear is that they need an iphone 5+ or 6, a laptop. And the play station has now been put away, and their itouchs have also been put away, and only brought out for certain times on the weekend. What of course makes it hard, is that every kid at the school seems to have an iPhone etc.
A couple of weekends ago we visited Le Marche for a long weekend, near the town Saverno, the boys loved it, as it was in the hillside and there was a dog to play with, we had a grewat time visiting the towns around the area.

giovedì 12 marzo 2015

Snippet of thoughts

We just had our very good friends, Leslie and Guiseppe come over for dinner, and cook it for us. Guiseppe lives in Siracusa, Sicily, and Leslie lives here in Bologna. They had been to the fish market in the day and bought some very fresh anchovies and things similiar to mortan bay bugs. Guiseppie deep fried the anchovies in a wonderful flour and spice mix, and the bugs were quickly cooked in hot water. Hunter loved the bugs especially, and the anchoives were something you could eat all night. All this along with a simple green salad, along with a bottle of prosecco and then a Albana grape white wine. Followed up by some local ice-cream, plain, banana, and bacia.
This is life in italy.
Ewan is on a camp to Assisi overnight, which Hunter went on a couple of weeks ago, and like when Hunter was on it, it is quieter.
Today l caught up with Leslie and Guiseppe at Bar Sole, where you bring your own food, and drink mainly wine, it is from the 1400s, which is a bit older than Watsons Wine Bar
Jayne went to Milan to get her passport renewed, as we need it done before we go to NY in a few weeks.
Jo and Tim Edwards arrive in a few days, and 8 was launched this week, tomorrow the app arrives, so far so good, with some good articles in the Wall Street Journal.
At the moment they are digging up Via Ugo Bassi, and Via Rizzoli, and you can see old Roman walls and stone work, along with the old tram tracks that ran into Piazza Maggiore. Sadly it will be all covered over, but is being recorded for history. We hope the road will be returned to stone work , more than bitumen, but l fear it will not for convienence . Apparently they are going to have a tram run up the road for tourist and local traffic, possabily stopping car traffic, which will be great.
All the work in the studio is coming along well, and l sold two pictures to Francesco Cenerini yesterday of the Francesco Church interior in Bologna, they are going to hang in his office.

giovedì 5 marzo 2015

Life since xmas

Obviously l don't write nearly as often now, and l guess that's partly due to the fact that Bologna has become more of a home and less of an adventure, though we still have many adventures, but there is a routine now in our lives. This is something we are aware of and do try to break the routine as often as possible.
That being said with Hunters calcio matches on the weekends, and the boys sport/ music nights during the week its hard to go off somewhere at a whim. We had Susie Batten and her three girls come and stay for a week, which was a great time, and the boys enjoyed being with them. They were great guests and made themselves busy, going to Florence one day and Venice another, they came to one of Hunters calcio matches, and we had some great meals out, which became rather loud with all the kids fighting for attention. They had recently finished a ski trip in Switerland and France, and had travelled to London and Paris. And like good friends, it seemed that we just started off from where we left off in Longwood, several years ago. The one funny event that happened to them, while travelling to Bologna from Milan, they got on the wrong train and ended up taking three hours to get here, l think it's funny as l have done it as well ,and one other friend, l still wonder how, and warn everyone to check the train number first.
Otherwise it has snowed for a few days in Feb, which was fun and made the city look lovely, until it became slush. I bravely drove the boys to school one day after the night of heavy snow, so heavy it broke many branches and knocked down many trees around, and in Bologna, causing havoc. It was drive the best you can, and just zig zag around the fallen branches. Nothing gets fixed quickly of course here. So l got the boys to school which they did not likle as they thought they would have a day off, and at the previous International school they would have. They arrived, and had three other kids in their class, 30 or so were missing.
The weather now in the beginning of March is warming up a bit, and tonight we go for our last ski at Cortina for the season. The weather is going to be good, and they just got a fall of snow yesterday. Jayne is even thinking of going for a gentle ski, which l said you just be bloody careful, we dont want to go through that again, but she wants to get her confidence back, especially if we ski again this xmas.
So some strange sights in Bologna, l was standing at the chemist waiting to be served, you take numbers here, and l noticed a blind women with her white stick, waiting at the counter, so l thought she might not have a ticket so l was about to go up and help her get one, when l noticed she picked up a tablet packet on the counter and started reading it, at a normal distance, go figure. I guess she gets along lines quicker without a ticket this way!!
Then Jen told me of another women in the line at the supermarket who tried pushing in front of her, she had an oxygen mask on, but Jen had noticed that it was not connected to any bottle, and there was no bottle near by, all part of getting the handicapped service.
Jaynes singing is coming along very well, she practices continuously and is doing a small concert in a palazzo near Bologna at the end of the month.
My new studio is perfect, so much space, l cant believe myself, though there is not plenty of natural light or air, it is not bad at all, it will be interesting to see what it is like in summer. Having two skylights helps a lot, but its the amount of room and floor space l have that helps the most.
Hunter just returned from a overnight school trip to Assisi which he enjoyed, he definetly has an interest in religion or the stories at least, he bought himself a small wooden cross necklace!
Ewan goes in a few weeks, and l dont think he will be buying a cross, unless its a hot cross bun.
Hunter has contiued becoming Italian as he now likes to go and get a crepe or icecream a few nights a week after dinner, he then likes to go for a walk around the town while he slowly finishes his treat. He still gets dressed to go out on these small adventures, and l must say both Jayne and l enjoy his discussions with him, as he says it relaxes him.
Ewan is becoming more and more of a computer games nut, he has a huge list of things he would like to buy re gaming and laptops. It is all a bit foriegn to me unfortunelty.

venerdì 9 gennaio 2015

Xmas 2015, San Casino, Innsbruck

Finally i'm back, google is pissing me off, and this + business is crap. All l can say the quicker 8 arrives the better, and what is 8 well just wait and see, you'll wonder why it took so long, and much simpler the world can be.
Anyway enough of that, were was l ahh yes, we just returned from our xmas holiday in the mountains of the Dolomiti ,in San Cassiano. We spent a wonderful week at La Fradora, a well maintained hotel, that serves half board (breakfast, dinner), it has a terrific wellness centre, that is brand new, as were our apartments. We holidayed there with the Fennessey family ( Sue, James, Nick, Charlie and Jake) The snow was nothing like last year which was good and bad, the skiing was terrific still and most runs were open, but not all and it looked a bit like spring. But the food and restaurants, refugo's were excellent, the best yet. I can't stop talking about the quality and service we recieved , we ate like kings!
Like last year we got Gianluca (Jack) to take the boys on lessons, Hunter and Ewan love Jack, and got a bit jealous they had to share him, also the fact there was little snow it meant no off piste skiing, which is what they love the most, and the other kids are good skiers but not as good as the boys, Nick skied for the first time, normally snowboards, and the twins are only 6. But they all got on very well, and Jack made sure they all had fun. James and l skied a bit, drank some bombodianos and beers, and caught up with the kids through out the day. Often Sue and Jayne would walk up and meet us at a refugo. Jayne still is a bit nervous about her knee, and Sue just wanted to take it easy, she is too important at the moment to be injured, though she did come skiing one day.
The weather was perfect, sunny most of the time, and the temperture quite warm. The meals at the hotel were huge, and we had a great waiter "Dean", who was slightly Manuel, but more, just could not really care about anything, except us, and so we all got along well, l enjoyed seeing him wander about working all day, with his unique behaviour, mind you he worked hard, and l would imagine for very little. All the staff were great, the owners on the other hand seemed to be in a panic or nasty, as if we were in the way, but its worth staying there, as the bus stop is out the front and its close to walk anyway.
The boys and l went up with Jayne the weekend before to get skies and pass's before the crowds, that did not come, and were able to get brand new skis (Stockl) for the boys and Rossignol Hero ST for me, which are definetly the best skis l ever used. We met a clever man at the ski hire place, Roberto Pallestrong who is a ceramic artist, who made some great design plates, that had a wood grain appearance, lovely person who made sure we were always happy.
We caught up with Nicole and Carlotta for lunch one day, and also so they could meet Sue and James, but otherwise we kept to ourselves and had a great xmas lunch up on the mountain, and lots of laughs.
On the 28th December we left San Cassiano as the weather began to change, and headed off to Innsbruck, 1.5 hours away, arriving at the Sailer Hotel, which turned out to be a smokers heaven, unfortunetly none of us smoke! Dont stay there unless you love smoke, thankfully we found a sitting room with a door that we occupied in the evenings and ordered drinks from there. But the rooms at night filled with the smell of smoke from the hallway, until l wet a towel and rolled it at the base of our door. 1-2 days is enough in Innsbruck, we had 4-5. And so left happily knowing we were leaving, the Austrians l must say have very average service qualities, and the food is fun for a day, but enough of the sauerkraut , sausage, strudel, infact anything beginning with s. So we drank some more, the beer is good, it snowed all the time we were there, which made skiing less desirable. Sogan and Christiano, and Sophia came up and stayed near by, Christiano and Sophia skied one day, but it was such an event that it made it easy for us to say no. We visited a few museums, which was all interesting, saw some sights, and generally plodded through the slushy snow to and from cafe, bar, museum with the kids throwing snow balls, or crying .
The day we left the sun came out, as we headed back to Bologna, Sue and James to Munich to fly back to the states, and Sogan and Christiano went back a day earlier. We spent new years eve having a good dinner at the hotel, and getting to bed just before 12 to watch the fireworks from the window.
The sights to see in Innsbruck are the Zoo, which is actually quite good, Schloss Castle which l found very interesting, and well set up for English tourists, but no working cafe, and its out of town, the city museum was very good with an archilogical area, and some modern artworks and all in between, it also had a good audio to listen to. There is also a chinese reataurant you may want to go to if you are tired of sauerkraut.
So in the end a great week skiing, an average 5 days in Innsbruck, but we left planning a summer holiday together, so obviously we all got along very well, and had some healthy laughing.

giovedì 4 dicembre 2014

Summary of recent events

I turned 52 a few days ago, l just went and got my reading glasses so l could see what l am writing, l had an ESG (ECG) and my heart rhythm is perfect and blood pressure as well, and next week a blood test so we shall see.
I am in the middle of moving studios from Via Remorsella to possibly Via Fontanina which is closer to home. Via Remorsella was good, but at only 31 sqm a bit too small, the new one is 130sqm, with some skylights, but no windows except the two doors, but will l hope be much better to exhibit work in, as well as work. So l have been removing car load after car load of stuff, storing it in our cantina, and hopoefully move into the new one early Jan. I have a final show of works l have done in Remorsella next week.
Jayne is singing, she has a Swedish teacher, who is lovely she tells me, and Jayne has taken to it like her Italian, very well and practices and studies often, she even had Ewan singing away at one of her songs, though Ewan does sing often this was an actual song.
Ewan and Hunter have been having a harder time at school, l think the Italian only has been alot for them, and they really need the xmas break. Jayne went to the teacher \parent night, and the reports of the boys is very encouraging, they are coping well, obviously they miss some words, but overall are doing well. We try to get them to do it in English first then turn it into Italian, so they know both ways, as their English is suffering. They will often say, ohh what is it called in English.
They had their birthday party last weekend, 19 kids at the bowling centre, exhausting, but it works well there, they provide a table and chairs, food and drinks, we brought a birthday cake, which the left over became my birthday cake! Everyone except Zoel was from Malpighi, so it was solo Italiano. The kids rushed from bowling to shoving tokens into machines to win tickets that later they hoped to turn into prizes. Its a great con, l had to spend 50 euro on tokens, and some kids brought their own money, we ended up with a few thousand tickets which were generally used to get pocket knifes.
Hunter was given a great Bologna football top with Hunter on the back, and his lucky number 8 from a few of the kids, and lots of other things for Ewan and himself. Everyone had fun, and l think it helped having a party with their new friends.
Last night we had Eduardo come and play, he is in Ewans class, lovely boy, very polite, and this also l think helped the boys, It was great listening to them, chatting away in Italian.
But it has been exhausting, with the emotions of school and the studio move and Jaynes family issues, we have decided to stay a night at a hotel terme near by on Sunday night, as monday is a holiday, and treat ourselves to a massage and warm swim.
Ewan has been improving at tennis, he is lucky as he practices with much bigger kids, and so has to lift his standard towards them, often he plays better, as he is more consistent, not going for the big winners, but he needs to work on his serve. Hunter still plays well at calio, but could not go to last weekends match, and missed monday training, which is a shame as he was in a better team, so we will see which team he makes this weekend. He just needs to be more confident and go for his shots more, he definetly has the speed to beat everyone.
So Bologna has gone christmas, the lights are up along the streets, which looks great, the big tree is in the main piazza, and it has a lean to it, like the tower here. The xmas markets are back, and a new one in piazza Minghetti which is very good, lots of food at night and all the xmas things you want, the piazza looks so much better after last years renovation, and has become a good place to go with some bars and restaurants there.
The locals are all in their army green jackets, puffer jackets, and general dark cloths, and the bars seem more alive as the lights twinkle in the dark days. It has been raining and raining, and the forcast is rain. I hope this turns to snow in the mountains , as that is were we are going for xmas and NYE with the Fennessey's, and Silei's.
I recently went to London for a couple of days, and it reminds you how small Bologna is, and how international London is, and how much money there is. As l have said you see more Maserati, Ferrari etc in London than here. I saw a great Keifer exhibition, did some Mitch Dowd scouting for ideas, and caught up with Simon Lee, who's gallery is most exciting and successful, Simon has not changed really at all, from the school kid next door, though he deals with major works and artists from around the world.
So that can do for now, l realize l dont write nearly as much, but life is still exciting and wonderful, and not a day goes by that l remind myself how lucky we are to be here, the idea of having to leave is rather sad, and honestly l would love to spend 6 months here and six months in Australia.