Snow, snow, snow, snow.....

We have had yet more snow, over 30cm yesterday & last night, I don't know what's going on with the weather as it's very unusual for such bad weather at this time of year. The road was blocked all day yesterday and the snow plough has only just managed to get through late this afternoon. The weight of all the snow had brought down quite a few trees which were blocking the road. Andy went out earlier & cleared some close to the house but we could hear the snow plough stopping & the sound of a chain saw clearing fallen trees as it made its way up the road. The forecast is for slightly better weather so we are hoping for an improvement over christmas.

Happy Birthday!

I can't believe how quickly the last year has passed, Matteo will be 1 year old on Friday! He is turning into a real character & is into everything. He has been enjoying opening kitchen cupboards for several weeks now & emptying the contents onto the floor but yesterday he discovered he could also open the fridge door & as I write he is contemplating whether to remove something from the fridge or play with the sprouts he has strewn across the kitchen floor! We are still waiting for his first tooth to arrive and although he stands on his own and will walk holding our hands we are still waiting for his first step on his own. His favourite word is 'cracker' which he shouts repeatedly at crackers, bread, biscuits or anything similar! He is looking forward to opening his pressies on Friday & tucking into his chocolate & smartie birthday cake (well maybe just a small piece!)

Progress Update (December 2008)

Work on the house has been progressing quite well over the last couple of months. The plumbing & electrical work is almost finished, we are waiting for one final visit from the plumber/electrician and then we hope everything will be more or less complete. The kitchen worktop was finally delivered after months of waiting & the kitchen is looking really good now, we are just waiting for a couple of appliances that are on order then it should be finished. The railings for the balconies & stairs were delivered a few weeks ago & Andy has managed to get them installed & they look lovely. Andy has just constructed & fitted our first internal door which is a real novelty for Matteo, he doesn't know what doors are! As we are having visitors for christmas this year the pressure has been on to get the apartments into a habitable state so we have employed some friends of friends who were looking for a bit of work to help us finish a couple of jobs in the apartments & do a bit of painting for us so the apartments are looking a lot better (although still far from finished!). We still have plenty to do in both the house and apartments and when the weather improves we must start on landscaping outside.

More Snow

We've woken up this morning to another 3 or 4 inches of snow, the second heavy snow fall we've had in the last 10 days. Last week we had several days of heavy snow and we're snowed in for a couple of days. Fortunately the Commune are pretty good at clearing the roads and the snow plough digs us out most days by lunch time! Unfortunately it's up to us to dig the cars out (see picture!) and clear a route to the wood pile which can be quite hard work. Matteo isn't sure what to make of all the snow, he's a bit young this year for sledging and snowmen but will definitely enjoy it next year!