-

 A new blog post coming soon.

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

More Things Italian

-
Image
All Things Italian This morning in my coffee bar, I spent a few hours on an art project and did my usual people watching. 7 Men came in for a coffee, and 8 women of which half were a group on over 80’s who meet twice a week there. Only one of the men was retirement age, he is a regular who speaks loudly in Veneto to the barista. She always speaks loudly, so they get along fine. I don’t know what it is about baristas, they must have a hearing problem as they are almost yelling at the customers, greeting them with a buongiorno and then asking them which type of brioche they want, and then running through the whole list of what is inside the brioches. One can find chocolate, cream, vuoto (empty), pistacchio (pronounced Kee, not chee) nutty, and more. One other thing about all baristas, they all love to make noise when putting the coffee cups and saucers in the sink. I think that they must be cymbal players in the local town band. When I first went into the bar, my phone told me i...
Read more

This Fantastic Weekend In Venice

-
Image
Caped Crusaders of Folk Music This weekend we were rewarded by hearing some old Italian musicians squeezing their accordions and playing some Veneto  folk tunes.  We watched as these two accordionists, old geezers my age, were accompanied by a  large group of blacked caped men, some in masks,  belting out song after song as they strolled along the calli (street in Venice).  Their folk tunes seemed to be  known to many bystanders who then proceeded to join in with the capesters.    cymbals adds some rhythm Decked out in long black capes, called tabarros, the group centered itself in the middle of the Campo San Bartolomeo (Venetian piazzas are called campos).  Singing with gestures of hands in the air, and some smiling like a prankster, they proceeded to entertain themselves and everyone else.  There were several guitarists amidst the  singers and one fellow with a face of concentration playing a drum which made me thi...
Read more

John Kennedy, Nikita Krushchev and the Lucky Hand

-
Image
Yesterday when I was in Padova I went to my usual bar where they have wifi and when I walked in I noticed that the owner had put up black and white photos of past historical events.  Almost in the center was a photo of John Kennedy shaking the hand of Nikita Krushchev, and I had to tell the owner that my hand had also shook the hand of John Kennedy.  I got a double take on that one and he asked me to explain, which I did in my elemental Italian.   When I was 9 years old John Kennedy was making a tour of the United States before declaring his candidacy for President.  This was in 1958 and in June he  made a stop at the airport of Colorado Springs where my family lived.  My father knew of the Kennedy family because he had been stationed in New England after WWII, and he told me that we had to go to the airport and see Kennedy.   We watched the plane land and taxi up to the terminal.  They used a moveable staircase such is now used for...
Read more