Suffering from snow withdrawal
View of the Gran Sasso
I’m just back from a fantastic week of sun, snow, and ski slopes and I find myself extremely slow to get back into the rhythms of city life and the difficult rite of catching up with dreaded e-mails and deadlines.
I was out in the Italian region of Abruzzo, in a little town called Ovindoli. I’ve already written about skiing in Ovindoli and spending summers out there.
It’s a convenient location for Rome get-aways and, in fact, when we’re there we’re always running into people we know from Rome.
View of Ovindoli’s old town
We were lucky with the weather all week. We had lots of snow at the start of the week, so there was plenty of fresh powder on the slopes and the picture-perfect, white-capped look around town.
But the entire week of skiing, we enjoyed sunny, blue skies. During the week there are also fewer skiers on the slopes, so we could whip up the gondolas and chairlifts without the lines.
While in Ovindoli, I even managed to get lots of reading and writing done. It’s a pleasure to sit down to read a book or to work on your manuscript after a day of working your muscles hard on the slopes. I always find my time in the mountains productive times for writing.
Now it’s back to real life – days spent in the office, attending meetings, and responding to e-mails.
But in my mind, I’m still out in the fresh mountain air, feeling the snow beneath my skis, trying to catch up with my kids (who seem to be training for the Grand Slalom, and are all set to leave me way behind them) and enjoying the views out to the Gran Sasso.
But now I have to shift gears and return to ‘real life’ in Rome. Hopefully these snow withdrawal symptoms won’t last too long…
Gee, we’d much rather be back in the office/at school…
Ahh I hear you. I have this problem every Monday in winter. One of the best things about living in Veneto is being so close to the Dolomites, where we go skiing every weekend. Otherwise it’s very very foggy down on the plains where we live!
Aha, Catherine. Now I know why you never get to Rome. : ) Maybe there’s hope for us in the spring. My kids are begging to ski in the Dolomites next year, so I’ll definitely have to talk to you about your favorite places…
What a fabulous post! Thanks for the virtual tour! You and your family look great. Now I see how you get so inspired to write your wonderful stories. Have a good week.
Thanks, Julia. Awfully pretty the region of your ancestors, isn’t it? : ) I agree, writing here is definitely a pleasure.
Ciao, Kimberly! I’m glad that you had a beautiful holiday. Seems that you had much fun, relaxation and nice walks on the snow.
Unfortunately I had a bad flu two weeks ago and I didn’t blog for a while.
Now I’m back! There will be a meeting of romance followers from Italy in Florence next month. I’ve written my last post about it.
Perché non dai uno sguardo e magari fai un salto qui con una tua amica? Così ci conosciamo! A presto, Celeste
Ciao Celeste! So sorry to hear you’ve been sick. The flu has been really bad this year. ‘Bentornata’ al blogging. Faccio un salto adesso per leggere del incontro fiorentino!