Il Cane Dave

I tried to sneak out this morning without Dave noticing me. He sleeps on the piazza outside the monastery. But the only dog I can sneak by is Spud. I soon found him galloping behind me. I've wondered why he insists on running with me when it must be so painful with his sore hip but I think I activate the shepherd in him as he does try to bodyblock me which is annoying. I think he thinks I'm a sheep escaping the fold. He gave up after a half mile today. Sometimes he follows for more than a mile and I worry about him being hit by a car again even though I usually only see a few. I haven't seen much wildlife. There are signs to be careful for the boar and deer but I have never seen either or any signs of them. I did see some enormous snails amongst the wild clematis.

Big test day tommorrow as it is mid-terms. The Italian should be easy-the cinema hard. It is difficult watching movies keeping track of camera angles, lighting tricks, focus, tracking,etc. On top of that the movies themselves are so difficult to understand. Again noone could say what happened at the end. It is so obvious with most American movies what the end is going to be.
The movie last night was especially hard to watch. This man obsessed with thinness, though not for himself, starves his girlfriend. She is so hungry for affection, she agrees to this. He becomes more and more abusive.

So Nancy had a good birthday and spent most of the day crying everytime someone did something nice for her. I did go out to the Bar after the movie with her for a birthday drink and had Ratafia, the cherry liquor. Benissimo. We rarely have meat at dinner. Antonetta made this very tasty dish that turned out to be made from Swiss Chard stems, which are mild if you cook them forever. Generally Americans, is they eat Swiss chard at all, eat the leaves. She also made patties of fried zucchini that also were tasty.

Time for lunch