Bleeding Espresso

Even though I’m not in America any more, the end of May still means bright red poppies to me.

Yes, these in the fields around here, but I’m talking about the ones that remind me of the sacrifices veterans have made for you and me and how many of them still suffer today even while in the “care” of our veterans’ hospitals.

Every year around Memorial Day, the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW)’s Buddy Poppy Program and the American Legion Auxiliary Poppy Program distribute millions of crepe paper poppies in exchange for contributions that benefit disabled and hospitalized veterans and their families.

Where do the poppies come from?

Why, the hospitalized veterans make these nine-piece wonders in “Poppy Shops,” gaining a small wage and also some physical and mental therapy.

What is history of the paper poppy?

During World War I, ever-resilient poppies grew and thrived in the war-torn battlefields of Belgium, inspiring this poem by Canadian Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae:

In Flanders Fields

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

The symbol was picked up by Allied countries immediately after the war ended and paper poppies began being sold. In 1921, the Franco-American Children’s League sold French-produced poppies to benefit the children in areas of France and Belgium hit heaviest by the war.

When the Children’s League dissolved in 1922, the VFW took over the cause and two years later began the Buddy Poppy Program with veterans producing the poppies for the benefit of veterans and their families.

As much as I love the gorgeous wild, natural poppies that surround me, I’m still nostalgic for those paper beauties and all they represent.

So if you’re in America, can you do me a favor? Please make a contribution to the VFW or American Legion Auxiliary and get yourself a poppy.

That way you can remember too.

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She walks in beauty, like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
And all that’s best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eyes:
Thus mellow’d to that tender light
Which heaven to gaudy day denies.

One shade the more, one ray the less,
Had half impair’d the nameless grace
Which waves in every raven tress,
Or softly lightens o’er her face;
Where thoughts serenely sweet express
How pure, how dear their dwelling place.

And on that cheek, and o’er that brow,
So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,
The smiles that win, the tints that glow,
But tell of days in goodness spent,
A mind at peace with all below,
A heart whose love is innocent!

~ Lord Byron

Thank you, Mom, for teaching me grace, kindness, and, above all, love.

Happy Birthday! Can’t wait to see you!

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I’m celebrating lemon love this week.

Although this wonderful citrus fruit grows year round here, lemons still say l’estate to me. I *love* an ice cold glass of homemade lemonade; P prefers lemon slices sprinkled with salt.

As much as I love to enjoy lemons, though, I couldn’t split up this adorable pair:

Even though I know that more are on their way.

What’s your favorite way to enjoy a lemon?

Happy Love Thursday everyone!

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Today is Earth Day, 24 hours for us to stop and really think about how our actions affect the environment.

Of course we should do this every day, but, according to the Earth Day Network website, since 1970, April 22 has represented at least one day per year for people around the world to “celebrate the earth and renew our commitment to building a safer, healthier and cleaner world for all of us.”

The Earth Day Network site offers many ideas as to how you can get involved:

Volunteer. Go to a festival. Install solar panels on your roof. Organize an event where you live. Change a habit. Help launch a community garden.

Communicate your priorities to your elected representatives.

The possibilities are endless! Do something nice for the earth, have fun, meet new people, and make a difference.

This Earth Day, I’m going to tell you about the birds and the bees.

OK, really just the bees, but I wanted to make sure you were paying attention.

The plight of honeybees may seem small in comparison to many of the other problems our environment faces, but make no mistake–the fact that millions of honeybees are dying (Colony Collapse Disorder) can have disastrous effects not only on flowers and honey but also on food production, including many of the fruits we hold so dear.

Honeybees pollinate about a third of the food we eat, and without sufficient numbers of bees, these crops simply can’t survive.

Why are bees dying?

A few reasons:

• stronger pesticides (which, incidentally, can be toxic to humans as well);
• loss of natural habitats due to urban expansion;
• changes in farming techniques that replace native vegetation with pasture grasses for cattle; and
• more frequent severe droughts in some areas like southern Italy

The endangerment of honeybees has been big news in Italy. The National Beekeepers’ Association (UNAAPI) has seen drastic drops in honey production–as much as 50%–because of a silent “slaughter of bees.” Along with southern Italy, Tuscany and Umbria have also been hit hard.

Environmental group Legambiente and the Slow Food movement have teamed up to help the UNAAPI create a buzz about the endangerment of bees; hopefully world leaders and lawmakers will work together to ensure that we all avoid getting stung by a major loss of honeybees.

For more information and what you can do to help, see PBS’s program Endangered Honeybees and Häagen-Dazs’s page on how to Help the Honey Bees.

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Before I moved to Italy, I was never good at remembering and identifying flowers and trees. No matter how many times someone told me “this is a peony and that’s a petunia,” the information just didn’t stick in my brain–like it just wasn’t wired that way.

Thankfully things have since changed, and I find my memory working in perfect harmony with nature. I am always happy to learn a new leaf shape, a new flower, and have it stick in my head without much effort especially since I am surrounded by plenty of flowers I’ve never seen before (not that I remember anyway).

For weeks I had been meaning to photograph some interesting flowers that I pass on my walk with the dogs. I finally grabbed the camera the other day, afraid that the magenta petals would shrivel up before I had a chance to immortalize them.

For some reason, I kept thinking: “I *know* my mom would know what these are” but how could I describe them over the phone?

So I came home and put the photos up on Flickr, and asked if anyone knew what they were called. My new friend Doisemum kindly responded with a link in Italian telling me that these are Bocca di Leone (lion’s mouth) in Italian.

P had actually told me they were called something that starts with a B and ends in “leone” so he was on the right track. Then I searched for the name in English and found out that these are Snapdragons.

Immediately I thought, “My mom loves snapdragons!”

Only I had no idea why I thought that. No specific memory in which my mom talked about snapdragons came to mind, but I just had this overwhelming feeling that I had to tell her about these flowers.

Later that evening, I walked with the pooches again and couldn’t believe what I saw–the very same flowers that I had photographed hours before had been pulled up from the roots and left to rot on the pavement!

I guess someone thought they were weeds (mind you no one lives where these flowers grow) and decided to do his/her civic duty–and then let them sit there in small piles on the ground, as if that looked prettier.

Good thing I had taken the photos in the morning, I thought, and gathered up the long stems, brought them home, and stuck them in some water in a jar on my fireplace, hoping to extend their life just a bit longer:

Later I told my mom about the whole strange experience–and her reaction when I told her I found out what “those” flowers” were?

“I love snapdragons!”

Turns out that she has very fond memories of playing with these as a child, making their “mouths” open up and talk.

It is an understatement to say that my mom doesn’t have many fond memories from childhood, so this was extra-special for her to relive and also for me to hear.

I can only conclude that she must have told me about this somewhere along the way and that my brain kept just enough information handy for someday when I could truly appreciate the Story of the Snapdragons–for when it was rewired to handle it.

And now I will always remember what snapdragons look like and why it’s important that I stop and make them talk.

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