Another Italian Weekend

This past weekend was all about Tuscany.  I learned the name of the place we stayed, but I still can't tell you, because it's a celebrity's private residence.  We were, in fact, the guests of said celebrity.  Am I bragging?  You're damn right.  All weekend I had meals--amazing, extraordinary meals--prepared for me by the nicest, most talented people.  I had free reign over a huge amount of property, and I had a freakin' blast.  Here are a few pictures to give you an idea (for some reason uploading to Picasa changed the pictures just enough that you don't get the richness of the colors; I don't know why, so just imagine everything looking more brilliant):

Tuscany

Meanwhile, my ability to keep track of what's happening in the baseball world gets worse by the day.  At this point it's all I can do to remember to check scores and try to maintain a general sense of the season thus far, but it's difficult.  My knowledge at this point breaks down to: Dodgers can score a lot of runs, but can't really pitch that well, and they've been a little bit streaky (currently on a three-game winning streak after losing a bunch, for instance); and the Red Sox suck (no analysis necessary on that one, as all I need is to see that they keep losing to the Orioles).  I'm looking forward to getting back to the states and maybe being able to watch a game or two (the internet issue we've had for the last two weeks hasn't made it easy for me to even attempt to catch an MLB.tv game, but I'll be trying this week), but for now I hope you'll forgive me for not making this much of a baseball blog.

Also, I miss my dog.  A lot.  For those who don't know or remember what she looks like:

On the left is the first picture taken of Jack when she arrived at the Pasadena Humane Society in February 2006.  On the right is what Christine calls Jack's "school picture," taken when Christine decided to do a photo shoot in the costume department of "Public Enemies" back in June 2008.  My heart seriously hurts every time I look at that first picture.

And a more recent shot, with baby Wilson: