First of all….

I’m celebrating being Scottish out here in Rome!

When my travel friend Melanie asked me to come stay with her in Rome, and be a part of her Thanksgiving meal on Saturday 30th November, I jumped at the chance. I managed to get a flight for £74 which is cheaper than trying to get a train from Glasgow to Inverness.

That said, I did then add on a suitcase a month or so later, then chose my seats so I could have the window… that added up but hey…. I am paying for memories.

I have never celebrated an American Thanksgiving 🇺🇸. Melanie has been cooking Thanksgiving dinner for around 30 years and it is a big deal to be invited to her table.

She said she decided that, this year, she would invite strong women. I was proud but, you know me, I inwardly cringed because I can big a “big girl’s blouse” as we say in Scotland and I can “worry about the day we never saw” as my Gran would say.

I think it’s about time I actually realise what I do actually do. While I internally panic and flap and catastrophize at times, I still actually go and do the thing I want to do. Again the reason for writing the blog is to help others see the reality of life rather than just the FB glorified version of my life.

I am in my element out exploring the world. I feel a sense of peace and of excitement that I don’t get from the day to day existence of trying to make enough money to cover the bills. Does that sound awful? Should I be more grateful for the day to day… yes I should, and I’m working on that. I also think that I finally work to live rather than living to work. I had it all wrong in the past.

I’ve had a very peaceful November. I’ve spent it relaxing and resting and preparing for this adventure.

The bird is in the oven!!

Mrs veggie/vegan is being parked for the day. We had a long talk about this as I didn’t want Melanie to change anything for me. She told me last night that even the salad has meat in it. 😆

We wake at 6am but have slept from 9pm so that’s pretty good I think. It’s a beautiful but cold morning.

I’m off out to walk to the local park to see Belvedere Lake. You would never believe this was in the centre of Rome.

and then you stumble on some ancient architecture.

Wow!

Zoom in on this amazing fountain… it’s CarPlay growing!

I had a really good walk and then went back to Melanie’s lovely apartment!

Here I am all showered and ready for my first ever Thanksgiving.

And Melanie’s wonderful food…..

And the wonderful table. Full of wonderfully strong women!

And my meal! It was just as good as it looks!!

And boy did we talk. Strangers around a table and yet we talked and talked and talked!!!

What a wonderful noise we created!!

I love meeting people I don’t know. I’ve sat in an apartment with 11 Italians, one Zimbabwean, 1 Polish Italian and 2 American Italians…. When would I ever be able to do that?!? I loved getting to know everyone. it really is a small world.

(Did I say, Melanie’s son also had a table of 8 in the other room! She cooked for 15 of us!)

Then we got stuck in to the dishes before moving on to Pumpkin Pie, Pecan Pie and Cheesecake…. I loved my first ever pumpkin pie and of course I had to have a bit of all 3.

As the sun started to set, the starlings flew across the skyline. It was fascinating to watch so many of them.

The sky looked lovely at sunset.

Pic with Wadzi!

Pic with Antonella!

More chats, more washing up and then it is over. We are sitting on the couch. We have our feet up.

What a wonderful day with so many wonderful people.

Melanie is so kind to invite all of us to her special day. What an effort to go to, she’s been preparing since Tuesday….

Think we’ll sleep tonight!

Stay safe everyone ♥️♥️♥️