"Deeds, not words, shall speak to me." -- J. Fletcher

Mary and I went walking at lunch hour today. It's the first time we have walked together in about a month, and felt good. I'm hoping now that I'm done traveling for a month or so to make this a regular occurence.....even as I say that I understand the long Memorial Day weekend is coming up. I think that means more Green Lake walks on dates I have to skip the team walks. Amy is still on vacation this week, so I have some breathing room in the gym.

Italian Colds and Florida Wildfire Breezes...

The cold that Leroy caught in Italy blossomed forth last Saturday evening, despite all his efforts. As a result, I flew medicated 8 hours or so with cough and cold early on Mother's Day. I returned last night after four days of meetings in Florida, where wildfires have left the air polluted. The conference was excellent, and I attended most of it, except for evening events, choosing instead to sleep. I wish I could say that I increased my walking power on the sandy beach, but alas I was busy just trying to keep from coughing in meetings.

Mother's Day gifts were spectacular: a new tall green pot from James & Lauren, filled with beautiful shade loving plants that's installed on the front porch; a huge bouquet of fresh flowers from Sabrina; and an Amazon gift card that allowed me to buy a huge book on private gardens of the world from Cassandra. The book was there when I got home last night.

I'm in the office, but hoping to catch my doctor early this afternoon. I feel badly that I haven't really walked since Italy, and that I need to get back into training with Mary and Lisa as soon as possible.

"Ability will never catch up with the demand for it." -- M.Forbes

I found out at my training session this morning why it has recently seemed harder than what I was used to: I have moved into the "adult intermediate" category! This is a big win for me, and I am still waiting for my gold star from Amy. (In the absence of the gold star, please look at Irish shamrocks, above...) I have much more flexibility, power and range on anything she throws at me these days.

I am still hoping to avoid the cough and cold (now bronchitis) that my husband brought home from Italy. Jet lag has calmed down, but I'm taking care to get extra sleep so that I can go seamlessly to a 3 hour later time change when I fly to Florida on Sunday morning. Tomorrow noon, the Risk Bustiers walk on the waterfront!

Back in Seattle...

It's Wednesday morning and I believe I am now back on Seattle time. The flights home were long and our systems had reset ahead by nine hours last week, to Italian time. Yesterday I got a good grade from my trainer after a solid workout, and I was glad to see that I continue to lose weight. Must have been all that Italian walking!

A colleague at work has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. I have added her to the list of people whom I honor with this walk.

To date, I've raised around $7,000, not all of which is yet showing on the site. I am still planning to raise $25,000.

Grazie and prego....

One could travel from one end of Italy to the other with these two words....this is the last day of the conference, which has been both exhausting and exhilarating. We started yesterday morning at 7:25am and got back to the hotel after proceedings, reception and dinner, about 10pm last night. We are several hours into today's proceedings, and everyone has agreed that more caffeine is needed to continue. We will be here until around 7pm, later today determining if there are formal recommendations we wish to come out of the conference. This year the conference participants are primarily American or British, with a few Europeans thrown in. Next year, it is to be hoped that the gathering will be more multinational.

Strolling the grounds at lunchtime will be the extent of my walking today. Tomorrow afternoon, we start our journey home. We fly from here to Frankfurt, then board a plane for San Francisco, where we will sleep on Saturday evening US time, then fly on home early on Sunday morning.

I have made a number of new colleagues and widened the circle of persons with whom such topics can be discussed. And I've improved my walking resiliency at the same time as I've seen beautiful art and architecture from the heart of the Renaissance.

To Italy, I say "grazie" and "ciao!"

Villa Pietra in Florence

New York University's 50+ acre Florence campus, complete with palazzo, is the site of our conference. Beautiful surroundings to talk about matters most consider worrisome. Everyone from Interpol to Scotland Yard to financial insitutions, major corporations and worldwide government entities like the World Health Organization and the United Nations.

I am resting from walks today, while my brain walks much further than usual.

Firenze and Siena

We are walking 3-3.5 hours every day, with a short break for tea....we spent Monday in Florence to see the Duomo and the large plaza outside the Uffizi Gallery called Plaza de la Signoria....then off to the market...then a concert. Tuesday we rented a car to go to Siena, where cars are not allowed in the old part of the city. It was truly spectacular. The center of the old city is Il Centro, a round plaza with sloping sides. From there we walked up toward Siena Duomo which is a century or so older than Florence -- truly amazing, in particular the marble floors. Today we shopped more in the market before walking up to Gallerie del Accademia, where the famous David statue is housed, along with La Pieta and other unfinished pieces....on our way back now to hotel to snooze, write postcards, before my conference kicks off this evening with a reception just across the plaza from our hotel. If I can walk 3 to 3.5 miles on these uneven surfaces, imagine what I can do on a trail or walking path!