What Fills My Plate

Buffalo Grazing South of Denver Ghost Town in Colorado Yippee Kay Yay, cowpokes!  Last winter an unintentionally funny restaurant called Old Wild West opened in Monselice which is about a pistol shot from my village.  This is run by a corporate chain which has placed their burger joints in many other places all over Italy.  We have also been to the one in Padova, our nearest big city.   When I need a horse kick to get my blood flowing, we make a visit.  I miss burgers, and my Italian wife now has a similar craving.  She is converted  This is not a commercial for them, but more of a small Italian adventure, so please relax and put your boots up.  Remove your spurs, mind the fancy Italian furniture!     The two saddles placed on sawhorses at the door of Old Wild West call out to the youngsters….” Ride ‘em Cowboy.”   Walking inside, my first response was to point and laugh at the museum of cowboy paraphernalia nailed t...

Living in the Veneto,  the first question my Italian friends have been asking lately is ”What do you think  of Trump?”   Trump makes a big splash here in the news, as this is what they are seeing most.  They question his racist comments and the whole circus of the Trump campaign.  They also question why we have  expensive and long campaign periods.    Killed by a gun Now after Orlando, there will be questions thrown at me about the ownership of weapons.   Clearly the interpretation of this and other related events cause them to believe the pilot has announced a loss of cabin pressure!    Monday the Senate, by a vote of 53 to 47, rejected a measure that would have denied a gun sale to a known or suspected terrorist , but only if prosecutors could convince a judge within three days that the would-be buyer was involved in terrorism.    Today, July 23 the Republicans voted to NOT vote and NOT debate a no-fly no ...

            Dropping The School or How To Fight With Your Spouse I felt a great relief when I dropped the Italian Language School.  I needed to get back to my “old” life, pondering things like hair loss, sagging skin, shaky fingers and loss of memory.  The daily surrender to stress, being disgusted with their negative techniques and having too little  “conversation” practice  in class had taken its toll on my mental state.    The school was used mainly by students who wanted to enroll in the University.  Most of the European students had already had one or two years of Italian in their high school.  The school let them enroll in the beginner class, causing true beginners like me to feel always behind.   There were days when, after class, I just went out and sat in the piazza, feeling overwhelmed.  I wanted to learn but there were too many students who already new a huge amount of Italian.   I...

My purchase of 12 months of Italian language instruction from a government recognised school assisted me in getting a one year visa with the ability to apply for a second year thereafter.  I needed to learn Italian in order to enjoy living in Italy.  I had taken some German in high school and at the University and did not have any difficulty in class.  Italian was a bit more challenging.          The movie where Rodney Dangerfield goes to college? That was me!  Back in the states I foolishly the language school to be a congenial gathering of folks who were interesting in enjoying learning in a non competitive atmosphere.  I envisioned a small class of friendly people conversing in Italian, while learning how to use the language in real life situations .  I studied Italian by myself before I left, and expected to have a real good start in the language.  I did not realise that I from my first day in class it would be like...

An interesting article was published on Yahoo a few days ago concerning impressions of Americans on European customs.   It is always interesting to learn what people think when they encounter differences.    I am hoping  it will make a good blog post.   Actual Portion Size You Get In The Veneto Half The Size Of American  Preparing for my first  European visit (1974)I was completely unaware of my prejudices and preconceptions towards what I would find in Europe.   That summer I was schooled!  Arriving across the pond, I didn’t realize that the only people in a restaurant before 7:30 would be  Americans, or that it is not a crime against humanity for food portions to be so much smaller.   On of the BEST in Rome for pasta! yet totally GSp I had to get used to not having air conditioning in public vehicles.  I had no a clue about those strange traffic signs and the various driving regulations, or that peopl...

Friday morning I went to the city of Verona by train in order to visit the Russian Consolato to pick up our visas.  I was nervous because a few days before this my blog had received a record number of readers, 160, from Russia.....  All in one day!!!   The usual count I would get from Russia are only 2, from my two good medical doctor friends, a husband and wife who faithfully read what I write.  So this record number of 160 was a big surprise, (kind of scary) and I was not sure what to make of it.  Surely Russian visa workers were checking us out and found the blog.  The title of the blog that week contained the name Putin, so this, I was figuring, had something to do with it. How to say, Yippee, in Russian? The visit in the visa office went smoothly and I left with our visas in my backpack.  The lady in the office did not seemed surprised to hear my story of the 160 Russian readers.  I was just glad that we can proceed with our summ...