Rain, rain, go away

It was another gray and rainy morning. It's been raining on and off since Tuesday and this weather is supposed to last through Saturday. It's a shame because Tuesday, Avery's field trip to the Zoo was cancelled, and tomorrow Charlotte is supposed to have a "Sports Day" outside in the Terme di Caracalla.

I went to the gym. Then, I came home to ice my knee and have lunch. I think my next move is going to have to be to Arizona; I'm turning in to one of those old people whose body parts flare up when the weather changes. Today, my knee is killing me.

Charlotte had an orthodontist appointment today so Josh picked her up from school early. She had all her wires removed, her teeth cleaned, had three new braces put on her new upper teeth, and had new wires put on. Later, her mouth would be sore.

Since Josh had the car, I rode over to RIS and walked home with Avery and Olivia. But first, they were allowed to choose a snack from the vending machine. For whatever reason, the vending machine is a huge draw for our kids. I don't know if it's because they get to put the money in, or because they get to watch their chosen item drop down into the bin, but they beg for money every day to use it.

Charlotte and Olivia went swimming. Olivia has her swim meet this weekend but she was switched into 25 back instead of 25 Free, because all 2002 kids are doing backstroke - how stupid!

For dinner tonight, we decided to open our Montalcino Coop special purchase: a 2000 Brunello di Montalcino from Col d'Orcia. Josh had gone out this afternoon to buy steaks from the butcher. The cool, rainy weather made us feel like this might be one of our last windows to enjoy a good hunk of red meat and a great bottle of red. I set the table with tablecloth and candles for dinner in the dining room. I wish we were eating in the garden -- too bad it's springtime, and it's unusually cold and wet. In fact, Josh read in the paper today that this is the wettest spring ever. Bummer!

Aside from the poor weather, the markets are in state of panic today! The botched Greek bailout has resulted in chaos, and Spain and Portugal will be next. I was aware of these debt and unemployment problems a year ago, and expected the euro to suffer. I guess I was just a year early. Now, the markets are realizing the pending issues and the euro is (finally) tanking. It's just too bad for us, now that our year in euro-land is coming into the homestretch, that it didn't tank sooner. Still, I took advantage of the plunge to buy some euros tonight at 1.26. (Who says I'm not "working"?) It made absolutely no sense to me when the currency was at 1.50 in December. From today's levels, it will decline further still, but we'll be gone by then. Too bad. The shopping will be more interesting (and the rents cheaper too).