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 […]
Life is so changeable. What exists today may not be there tomorrow, and everything will certainly pass away one day. And that’s a good thing. We’d like the good things to last forever. But imagine if the bad and negative things went on forever. What a nightmare! We cannot control time, neither slow it down […]
When you first move overseas, nothing seems to be where it should be. Offices, appointments, and waiting in line may not work the same way. Stores don’t always sell what you expect. When we first moved to Italy, we spent weeks trying to find matches for our stove. Who would have thought you could only buy matches […]
We have a saying in Italian. Non c’รจ niente di nuovo sotto il sole. (There is nothing new under the sun.) And yes, I know it’s from the Bible. But I also know that King Solomon, who wrote it, didn’t live in a foreign country. Otherwise, I wonder if he would have changed it to: “There is something […]
A few years ago we were able to visit a church in Pozzuoli, a town where the apostle Paul landed on his way to Rome! They even have a sign in the harbor that shows where he disembarked, and we couldn’t help but wonder what it was like back then and how he felt. After […]
I can still see her, old and frail, limping up the steep hill with her homemade canes. “What do you have there, Zia (Auntie)?” my Hubby asked, pointing at the mesh bag on her kerchief-covered head. I just gaped, wondering how many nasty things had been on that seldom-washed, filthy headscarf! “Oh rabbit droppings for my […]