Today, I remembered the day our daughter and her family moved back to the USA, which was several years ago. They kept their house here in Italy, so in the beginning we had to go there frequently. We had to empty the fridge, close windows, and tidy things up. Then we went upstairs to strip […]
Growing up, I thought I was an orphan, unwanted and abandoned by my “real” family. I imagine many kids have such thoughts, possibly influenced by books or movies. But in my case, these thoughts came from my own family and friends. “Is Sheila adopted?” family friends would ask. “She doesn’t look like anyone in the […]
Autumn is slowly creeping into our area. The grape and olive harvests are in full swing. The days are lovely and warm, but not uncomfortably hot. Nights are sometimes cool enough for a light blanket. For some reason, autumn always reminds me of Nonno’s house, our summer home. It’s the house my husband was born […]
January 29, 30, and 31 are generally considered the coldest days of the year here, particularly in northern Italy. These days are also known as the Days of the Blackbird (i Giorni della Merla). This can be traced back to the Italian “Legend of the Blackbird”. Different regions of Italy have their own versions of […]
In the 1970 musical Scrooge, even the grumpy Christmas-hating Scrooge eventually realized that “December the 25th is the dearest day of all the year!” (Watch the trailer here.) I never needed any convincing about that. The sound of Andy Williams singing that Christmas was “the most wonderful time of the year” had always filled our […]
A celebration of love. Yes, October is the month of love, at least in our house! You see, we got married just one month after we first met. (Not that we “had to” – we just wanted to be together.) We don’t even have any wedding pictures because we got married so quickly. But since […]