From Galveston to Genoa...

  New Pompeii – How Am I Going To Be An Optimist About This?* Hey You! Yeah, You! The one with the scurrilous lips that spew hate! I saw you, or at least the aftermath…in the dead, dark streets of Pompei and the cindered bodies and bleached bones of Herculaneum. Their people living high with your shadow looming over them. They praised you, used the extrusions from your mouth, tuft, basalt, chinkery lava rocks to build their houses and their roads. They plastered over the walls with a thin veneer of colorful frescos and gleaming marble. The precursor shakings were explained away – “Just our God’s rumblings, no cause for worry. He is not serious. He loves us.” They continued on with their lives, oblivious, eating the fat of the land and toasting to their own blessedness with the purple-red wines of their own indulgences. Then, the mountain lost its head. Poisonous gases, mud, ash, and lava spewed forth down the slopes, covering everything, ending it all in an instant. Some had heeded...

  A Taste of Home… Last week it was chilly and wet, colder than it had been in awhile… lows in the upper 30s…highs in the 40s (Fahrenheit…still haven’t gotten used to conversions to Celsius yet). We had eaten out a lot and didn’t really want to go out and walk around in the cold and wet, so we planned a few days of meals at home.   We had had gnocci with pesto one night, leftover soup, and a ready made meat dish another night.   We decided we wanted to have something homecooked, warm, and comforting, but maybe a little lighter.   We decided on vegetarian chili.   I know… I know!   I can already hear it, especially from the Texas delegation… “WTF –   vegetarian Chili?   That isn’t Chili!”   Even worse than the beans/no beans debates.   But hey, it is chili to us and we like it!   We use an assortment of beans (Kidney, pinto, and black beans… no problem, they have those here). We add a small can of corn (shoe-peg is my favorite…bu...

  Finding New Doctors When you move to a new country, just like moving to a new area, you have to find new resources.   Everything is new… new grocery stores, new drug stores, new restaurants, and yes…new doctors. Steve’s New Dentist The need/urgency to find new doctors was initiated by Steve having broken off a crown at gum level right before we left the States.   He had attempted going to our old dentist but there wasn’t time for a fix before we left, so he had to wait and find a new dentist when we got to Genova.   We were pretty busy the first month here, and since he wasn’t in any pain, he let it slide for a little while. There are actually several professionals within our building including lawyers, financial advisors, and an assortment of doctors.   Just like at home in the States, it is nice/optimum to have a referral. Our new friend, Angelica, recommended her family’s dentist and actually helped Steve get an early appointment. A week ago Tuesday...

  Last Stop Parma – Art, History, Meat, and Cheese! Parma was all about art, history, Prosciutto di Parma, and the king…Parmigiano Reggiano! We arrived at the train station around noon on the 31 st of January.   It was cold and rainy.   We had one cheap collapsible umbrella between us, and emphasis on the collapsible, it kept bending in the wind.   We struggled to make it useful or to keep dry.   The walk from the train to where we had scheduled to store our luggage wasn’t very far, so we huffed it staying as close as we could to try to stay dry. The luggage storage was actually in a very cute shop down a cute alleyway with lighted signs overhead a hangover from the holidays.   We opened the door to a tickling bell and inhaled the sweet perfumery of scented soaps and candles.   They also had some women’s attire and an assortment of home décor.   “Buongiorno!” we greeted the shop owner, who replied with a warm “Buongiorno!”   “Parla Ing...

  Immigration From Another Perspective… I’ve always been proud of my early American Revolutionary War ancestry.   Well, that is, since I first became aware of it while doing research on Ancestry.com and getting involved in the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR).   I’ve now traced my ancestry back through many branches. Most came to the new world, the colonies, for religious freedom. These included Puritans, Quakers, Catholics, and Protestants… all under the umbrella of Christianity.   But don’t think that once here they were all willing to grant religious freedom to others.   I have an ancestor that was hung by the Puritans in Massachusetts colony for being a Quaker. Growing up, all I knew about my family’s ancestry (on my Dad’s side) came from a few hand-written notes from my Great-Grandmother and some sketches of a family tree that my Aunt had created some 40 or 50 years ago. My Mother had been proud of her Irish history on her Mom’s side, and she ...

  Food Tour Continued ...   2 nd Stop – Modena, Italy We took a local train from Bologna to Modena.   There were a few interim stops before we arrived around 11:30 in the morning.   We couldn’t check-in until 3 pm (15:00). We had pre-located a Radical Storage near where we were staying in the historic center of the city.   We decided to take a taxi there (our legs were still very sore from the day before…25,000 steps). That taxi ride was a bit …exciting shall we say?!   The driver seemed to be in a big hurry, zooming through intersections and around roundabouts. At one intersection we almost had a collision with another taxi, but I think it may have been that the other taxi ran the light (not sure)!   Finally, we arrived at our destination, a little shop that had pens, paper, and miscellaneous office type supplies and a Tabaccheria (smoke supply shop). However, the older woman who ran the shop (owner?) indicated that we needed to pre-schedule our lu...