Dear Diane,

I need help. I don't know what I am doing. I think I got conned into learning to do these computer letters, so I am using you as my first guinea pig. Please bear with me during all the mistakes that will follow.

By the way, I haven't heard from any of you since Christmas. Are you snowed in or something?

We had a surprise last week. We got a decent size snowfall. Here at the house we had probably less than an inch. We drove about 10 miles north to the town of Castlevolturno where it had snowed about 2 inches. We built a snowman and threw snowballs and caught snowflakes on our tongues. Steven did not remember snow in the States, so this was his first memorable snowplay. He thought it was so neat! The snow was very wet and packed well. You're probably sick of snow by now and wonder what's the big deal, but Naples hasn't had a measurable snowfall in about 12 years. We had planned on driving up North into the mountains some Saturday to let the kids play in the snow some this winter, but maybe we can get by without it now.

The snow was a nice change of pace for us, but it did create some problems. Many Americans that live a mile from us were without electricity for several days. The temperature stayed at or below freezing all that time. The military gave them emergency funds to move into hotels for that time, but they weren't too happy having to live with that inconvenience.

Remember I was planning a Brunch for the Hospital Officers Wives Club in which a lady from Rome was going to come down and present a color analysis program? Well, she got snowed in in Rome and couldn't make it for our brunch. We'll try to reschedule her in March. Also that was the weekend we were planning our Rome shopping trip. Since we knew Rome was in much worse shape weather-wise than Naples we decided to postpone our trip. That was sad for me since I had spent so much time trying to get that trip organized.

Now I'm looking forward to the Northern Italy Shopping Trip the second week in February. I'm going with the Naval Officer's Wives group. We'll spend two nights in Venice, one whole day of shopping there, a night in Verona with shopping in that area for two days, two nights in Florence, I believe, with a day of shopping there. Saturday morning will be spent at the Gucci factory just outside of Florence, then shopping in Siena, then return home. That will be five nights and days of serious shopping. Last year the ladies on this trip spent about forty thousand dollars. Many bought furniture and such and had it delivered to Naples. I don't plan on spending a whole lot. All I know of that I want is a table cloth from Venice. This trip is a package deal for $170. That's quite expensive for one table cloth I guess, so I'll have to find something else to buy to justify that money. Logical, huh?

Did you make a video of Christmas in Searcy? We haven't received it yet if you have mailed it. Did you receive ours? Did Bill say on the telephone that he had mailed two boxes of diskettes? If so, we haven't received those either. Maybe we just misunderstood or our mail system has not recovered from the holidays.

We are looking forward to seeing you in June. Would you like to go see Prokofiev's "Romeo and Juliet" at the San Carlo Opera House in Naples while you are here? It is one of Europe's finest opera houses. Michael has volunteered to stay home with the kids while we go. Laura may want to go see this. The dates are June 8, 9, 19, 21, 22, 26, 28, and 29. As soon as you know definite dates of your arrival, please let us know. Michael could try to take off a few days if he knows at least two months in advance.

Steven has an ear infection right now. Michael and I have been passing a cold back and forth ever since Christmas. So far Angelique has not had a sniffle. It has warmed up about five to ten degrees since the cold spell, but it is still quite cold in the house.

I'm enclosing a poem that came out in one of our newsletters. It's somewhat cute.

Do we owe you money? How much?

I need to get my house picked up since I found out this afternoon that we have company coming over tonight. We've had a lot of that lately since our house has been blessed with a Commodore. Michael enjoys teaching all he knows to everyone else. At least it gives me a chance to visit with the wives. The people coming tonight are really close friends and I'm sure we'll have a good visit.

Well, I guess this isn't too bad for a beginner. Now if I can just get this to print out right.....

Love,

Jeannie