An elderly neighbor stopped my husband on the street one day. “I need to talk to you,” she said softly, through her toothless grin. “I want to apologize,” she added hanging her head. “For not showing you proper respect. But I didn’t know you were a professor! I’m so sorry!” “Don’t worry about it, Zia (auntie)” he comforted […]
In small Italian towns, anything can happen. And sometimes it doesn’t even matter if it’s true, as long as it’s good gossip! Like the time they had my husband all but dead and buried! Or at best seriously ill. We were away most of the summer, as we often are, staying at our summer home […]
The Italian word tormenta has three definitions. It can mean a blizzard. Or a turbine of powdery light snow, carried by strong winds over mountain peaks, ridges, and slopes. Finally, it is a present tense conjugation of the verb to torment. This should give you a pretty good idea of how many Italians think about […]
Communication has existed since the beginning, and it began with God. He created everything, through his speech. He simply spoke and it all came into being. God has always used communication to create and build, and he wants us to do likewise. God’s word constructs With it he created the earth, making a safe place […]
Ask any child what the chicken says and he or she is sure to say “Cluck, cluck.” Unless of course, that child happens to speak another language. You see, animals speak different languages, depending on where they live! There is no universal way to imitate animal sounds. So when we do imitate their sounds we do […]
Our neighbors are mostly older, simple folk with little education. Often confused by our rapidly changing world, they often have difficulty using technology. So they tend to stick to the way they’ve always done things. And that can lead to some pretty crazy conversations! Crazy dialogues! Just for fun, let me share some of these […]