There and Back Again

So here we are, still “in search of a dream to call home,” I suppose. The past several months, although completely and uncharacteristically uneventful on casteluzzo.blogspot.com, have been quite eventful in real life. Our business failed in February, we spent a glorious two and a half weeks in Italy in March, and we moved back to California in April.

The devastation of our business failing took awhile to fully sink in. Finally one day, we found ourselves on the living room floor, feeling as if we’d been rolled in on a stretcher. Business gone, massive debt hanging over our heads, and our idyllic Italian dream shattered. Among other things. But there were a few pieces lying around that we began slowly picking up.

Before we went back to Italy, we had spent some time looking for a new home. We were tired of little apartments in expensive San Diego neighborhoods (and no longer needed to live next to the office), so we began widening our search. Finally, a week or so after arriving back in the States, we found a cute little house on an acre, complete with a eucalyptus grove and (best of all) a utility shed. Really. Since we couldn’t have anything else on our dream Italian farm, we were determined to at least get our goats. And that shed looked like it would make a perfect little goat home.

As it turned out, it does. Hershey and Sweet Betsy, our two la mancha goats, who arrived at our home by miracle, now live happily in half of that shed and scampering about playing king of the mountain in their own little yard. The other half of the shed has been painstakingly prepared by Tony as a home for some long-awaited chickens, who should be arriving next week.

The bobbles spend their days playing king of the mountain with the goats, wandering the “jungle,” inhabiting their hut in the woods, searching for snails, having picnics on the grass, hunting dragons, unicorns, and monsters, playing in the mud pit, and generally making Charlotte Mason proud.

We floundered around from pest control to a new business selling organic fruits and vegetables door to door, but we were just not making it, and the stress of owning our own business had finally caught up with us. The predictable Monday-Friday work-week (and the predictable paycheck) we’d always rolled our eyes at began to look better and better.

I guess it’s no coincidence that on this, Tony’s first day of work, I finally feel put-together enough to blog. It seems like an eternity since we hiked up to Mirabello castle for the last time to look down on the beautiful Piemontese countryside.

And what should I say about the future? In the near future I see a lot of goat cheese, some days at the beach, and some nice visits from family. And after that? Well, I just finished filling out Tony’s AIRE registration so he and the children can get their Italian passports and I can apply for citizenship. And Tony’s new company has offices in all sorts of exotic cities around the globe. Only time will tell (and hopefully not too much time either).

Till then, I hope life will at least be reasonable enough for me to blog sometimes.

2 thoughts on “There and Back Again

  • September 19, 2009 at 3:46 am
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    Good to hear from you.

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  • September 10, 2009 at 1:13 pm
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    We are praying for you! The goats sound awesome and like a little tender mercy. Good for you guys.

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