Rooster and Rome

Our Rooster "Green Taily", or "Smarty", depending on the boys' mood

I figured that it's been a while since I've shown you a picture of the rooster, so here he is.  He has some really pretty feathers.  We still don't know what kind of chicken he is. 
Our hens are laying way better than expected.  The Ameruacanas are said to lay 3+ eggs a week, and the rest were all supposed to lay 5+ eggs a week.  Well, we get 7 to 9 eggs a day from 9 hens, so they are really taking this laying job seriously.  Yesterday I collected 9, today 8.  That's pretty typical over the last week.  As you can imagine, we have lots of eggs, so it was good to hear that Nathaniel's friend/coworker wants to buy a dozen a week.

Also, I think all of you know that my wonderful husband traded his airline points to get us tickets to Rome for our 10th anniversary this year.  As it's getting closer, I've been getting more and more excited.  I've been trying to learn Italian and brushing up on my Latin.  (Yes, I'm that nerd.)  Anyway, I now can say things like Vorrei un po'di formaggio per favore.  (I'd like a little cheese please.)  Many years ago, Mamaw and Papaw got me a learn Italian set (because I've always wanted to learn a lot of languages) but now I've actually got some motivation and am currently on lesson 22.  I can't say a whole lot, but I am learning, so that's nice.  As for the Latin, I'm actually remembering more than I thought I would, and I'd like to be able to read the monuments myself, so I'm brushing up on that, too.  Maybe someday I'll actually be fluent in a couple of languages.  That would be so cool. 
As I study the Italian, Spanish filters through my head.  I remember that when I first studied Spanish, I filtered it through the Latin I knew, so this is not new, just kind of odd.  Now I often think in Spanish while I'm reviewing Latin, too, since my Spanish is better than my Latin now.  I've found myself trying to talk in Italian and ending up in Spanish.  Oh, well, it may work out in the end.  My Columbian friend Gloria assures me that Italian is pretty much "like Spanish with a bad accent".  (Her words)  Of course, she doesn't actually speak Italian, either.  I can honestly say that I don't think I've ever heard any "real" person speak Italian, just some bits on the Godfather movies or other tv (and now my learn Italian tapes).