la dolce vita (the sweetness of doing nothing)

We closed out our Roman adventures by renting 2 cars to drive to the Tuscan countryside. Being in Europe, the cars were manual transmission. Being carefully trained in a 1992 Geo Prizm in high school, I was one of the few qualified drivers for the Fiat Punto.

After a warm-up drive around the rental car parking lot (oh, that light means the parking break has been on), I was ready for the roadway. Things were jerky but fairly uneventful. I didn't have to drive through Rome, but the winding, narrow country roads, the town piazzas (GPS says turn left, I say that's a 5-ft wide alleyway), and the washed-out, muddy ascents from our off-the-beaten-path rental home to the main road got me very acquainted with negotiating first and second gear.

In the end, everything went well with the car. We did have a slight hiccup one day when we filled the tank with regular instead of diesel fuel. A 2-hour wait for siesta to finish, a ride with an Italian tow truck driver, another 2-hour wait at a car shop in no-where Italy, and $400 later, we were back on the road.

Besides being in a car, here are other things we did in Tuscany.


Lucignano, the nearest town to our lodgings (we stayed in a villa on countryside castle grounds).


Dinner prepared by our Italian cook, Amela, who came 3 out of the 7 nights we were there.


In the Punto.


Some of the countryside.


More of the countryside. This is a small town called Cortona. It sits atop a hill, looking out over the valley. Abe and I spent an afternoon alone there, and it was one of the highlights of the trip.


Us being happy.


Us eating Gelato from Snoopy's. Nutella flavor wins again.


This is a 2-way road.


Many evenings spent by the fire playing Rook.


Abe cooking popcorn over the fire.


Lake near the villa - I couldn't get over how beautiful the clouds were. It rained every day in Tuscany, but usually cleared up in the afternoons. Considering we never woke up before 11am, that worked out pretty well for our schedules.


Kids locked out of the house while parents on day trip. Chris climbed up and through an open window.


Skyline of Florence. We only spent about 5 hours here, mostly hitting the 2 major museums to see Michaelangelo's David and a collection of some of the most famous paintings from the Italian Renaissance. Which was exactly what I wanted to do with only 5 hours in Florence.


We also managed to get some street kebabs and gelato (twice, actually. favorite flavor: half dark chocolate and half caramel).


The duomo.


I loved the colors of the buildings here. Abe and I have taken inspiration from our trip and will paint our nursery in a Tuscan palette (warm yellow walls, red-orange and sage green accents).

things this snowman might be doing

1. down dog

2. succumbing to winter

3. seeing if he can still touch his toes, after all these years

4. checking his fly

5. preparing for a forward tuck

6. hanging his head in shame

7. saying, "augh - my back! my back!"

8. shimmying

9. navel gazing

10. walking into a stiff wind

11. meeting the Queen

12. checking his feet to see if he stepped in dog poo

13. holding up the world

14. sprouting angel wings

real butter is so much better than margarine

Remember that time we had Thanksgiving? I know everyone's into the whole 8 days until Christmas and all, but I'd like to take a moment to share these photos with you.






I know, I know. It looks like a Pilgrim-shaped coffin. But it's actually a Pilgrim-shaped stick of butter. My sister carved it for our Thanksgiving dinner.

I have the coolest family.

a wassailing

Two weekends ago, Abe & I held our 3rd annual Christmas Wassail Open House. We make gallons and gallons of our secret wassail recipe, an assortment of appetizers, and fill our home with wonderful friends to share the evening.

Ideal as that may sound, every time I hear wassail, I think of a claymation Christmas program I saw when I was a kid. Until I looked it up on YouTube, I had not seen this program since I was about 11 years old. It has left me wondering why this particular scene is ingrained in my head, yet I can't remember something like the presidents of the United States. Actually, I think the reason I remember this scene is because the dinosaur-like creatures* are somewhat terrifying.

Here it is:


I also fondly remember the 3 kings camel scene:


And who doesn't like the California Raisins?


By the way, a much requested recipe at the Waffle - I mean, Wassail - party was the spinach artichoke dip. Credits go to my sister.

Spinach Artichoke Dip
1 can artichoke hearts, chopped
1 cup frozen chopped spinach
1 (8oz) package cream cheese, room temperature
1/4 c mayonnaise
1/4 c grated parmesan romano cheese
1 tsp crushed garlic, or 2 cloves fresh garlic
Salt and pepper to taste
Dash of cayenne pepper

Blend all ingredients together. Microwave or bake in oven until heated through.

Also, some photos of the party.







Our friend Evelyn brought a German Smoking Man, which is a traditional Christmas incense burner.

*Why dinosaurs, anyway?

Chinese! (part III of Vancouver!)

1+ month later, I think these are the last photos of my trip to Vancouver: a beautiful, cloudless morning in Chinatown.

This giant abacus was right next to our parking spot on the street.


We visited the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Garden. The guided tour was actually really interesting. Our guide explained how the garden creators used light and dark, round and square, to create different visual effects. He explained that viewpoints were very important.

For example, we stood for a while in this beautiful spot.


Then the guide had us look through the circular door to a beautiful view on the other side.


We then walked through the door, turned around, and saw the same garden as a completely different scene.


Reflections of nature and structures were also a running theme. Depending on what side of the water you were standing on, you would see a completely different scene because either nature or man-made structures were prominently reflected.


I think I would be happy with a Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Garden of my very own.


Here's a Chinatown street view.


I thought the principles of yin and yang were reflected well in this store display. What you can't see is that they bobble back and forth.

Nature! (Part II of Vancouver!)

Although it rained for an entire day when my sisters, mom and I went to Vancouver, we did get some good time in with nature.

We went to a suspension bridge (there were 2: one cost $35, the other was not quite as high and not quite as long cost $0 - I'll let you guess which one we went to). The colors of everyone's coats are almost as beautiful as the fall leaves.








We took many walks and drives around Stanley Park. Here is a view from part of Vancouver from the park.




On the day that happened to be warm and sunny, we had trips to 2 parks planned. Pictured here is Queen Victoria Park, including a photo of the Vancouver skyline. The other park, Dr. Sun Yat-Sen's Memorial Garden, will be featured in the future Vancouver! vignette Chinese!

May need to check out the Carol Burnett Show from the library

While reading Gone With the Wind the other night (now on pg 798), I had a sudden impulse to watch a few scenes from the movie. The first YouTube hit for "Gone With the Wind Part 1" starred, not Vivien Leigh but Carol Burnett.

Just to give you an idea, this is a still from the scene where she comes down in her new green dress made of the drapes.



Parts 1 and 2, for your enjoyment.

Where the fishermen meet!

In my family, Saturdays always meant day trips in the family van. Which was no small thing (the van, I mean. We sported a 12-passenger Ford Club Wagon, like this one but baby blue and with curtains made of PVC piping and canvas).

One memorable trip was down the Lake Michigan coast of Wisconsin. Actually, I remember nothing about the trip, except that we stopped in Two Rivers, Wisconsin, for dinner. Mom really wanted a Saturday night fish boil, with fresh fish from the Great Lakes. Of course, none of us children remotely comprehended why this would be a better option than, say, McDonalds. But to a fresh fish boil we went.

And ended up at M&Ms, or perhaps MOMs -- the restaurant's logo was ambiguous, so we were never quite sure. Maybe we should have left when they sat us at a table that still had the previous diners' trash on and under it. But we didn't leave. After all, fish boil.

Mom ordered her fish and we all got something with fries. But even the fries weren't a safe bet. They had a distinct yeasty taste. Being in Wisconsin, there was a strong possibility that they were deep fried in beer. We added more ketchup, but the yeast taste got worse. Then we realized the ketchup bottle was marked with an expiration that pre-dated my birth.

It didn't help that I had ordered a kiddie-sized milkshake (we're a "I'll just start with a water" family, so I knew Mom and Dad wouldn't take a full shake well). The shake came in a shot glass-size paper cup that I managed to stretch out to 2 spoon fulls.

M&Ms/MOMs has always been something of a joke to us since. My family moved away from Wisconsin about 13 years ago, and (to their surprise and ours) my parents moved back about 2 years. In between, Dad was on a business trip there and ended up in Two Rivers. He bought a black logo truckers hat from M&Ms/MOMs for me.

And this weekend, I finally found the perfect venue to wear it at.

Demolition Derby! The Michigan state championship, no less, held at the Saline Fair. My friend Elizabeth invited us, and, as she says, if you haven't gone, you should go because "it's a lot more fun than it should be".

Some footage:


Generally, what happens at a demolition derby.


Note the dirt flying at us.


Captioning: "He's got the rear end shoved up in the sheet metal." And just which one of these cars might you be talking about, sir?


They also had a truck heat.


In my M&Ms/MOMs hat.

p.s. I actually found M&Ms/MOMs website, and confirmed the name. M&Ms Lunch and Catering. Catering?! Their slogan: "Come and eat where the fishermen meet!"

Toronto Day 2

Continuing my final summer vacation series...


I started Day 2 by going to Abe's conference to see him present on his paper "Applying Voice Recognition to Vox Populi: State Transition Models and the Study of Public Opinion and Political Communication". There were 5 people on the panel and about 15 of us in the audience. Actually pretty good average for an academic conference.


Afterwards, we went to lunch at Richtree Market. I enjoyed delicious pad thai.


The restaurant was based on an open market concept. After being seated, you received a "shopper's card" and could then stroll through a maze of different eateries, swipe your card to get some of their food, return to eat, and then pay for your entire shopper's card when you left. Think high school cafeteria meets bistro.


After that I went to the Art Gallery of Ontario, which my guidebook said was $5. It was actually $18, so I left and went to the Bao Xi contemporary art gallery across the street (free). It was a two-story, 15-ish-painting gallery and I absolutely loved it.


Then I headed over to campus to see the rare book library and museum. The "museum" was 5 display cases with 16-18c books. But it was on a floor that sort of floated inside a round hall several stories high, filled with rare books. Despite the bust of Shakespeare, I sited no Shakespearean writings in the museum.




While contemplating vellum, I heard shouts and screams outside. Come to find out, freshman orientation at Toronto University includes 1,000s of students parading through several city blocks. Everywhere I went, I could see or hear their giant snake of different colleges and clubs, weaving up and down the streets.


Campus, sans students.


I met up with Abe and his academic folk at a Vietnamese restaurant in Chinatown for dinner.


Abe got the XL soup.


We finished the night by walking to the city hall building. You can see the spacecraft ready to shoot up, just above the fountain.