Archive for the 'love thursday' Category

2 July 2009

Love Thursday: William’s Orgasmic View Lives On

Everything's brighter after the rain on FlickrWilliam the Englishman (or l’Inglese as he was called in the village) had a house in Badolato with an “orgasmic view” of the Ionian Sea, as he called it. He came to stay here every year from April to October.

*

During the early years (we both arrived in the village around 2003), we were the only two English speakers, so we’d meet for cappuccino in the piazza before William took the bus down to the beach. Along the way he’d stop to chat with just about everyone, trying out his ever-improving Italian, helped by the years he had spent as a bar owner in Spain.

William always joked that everyone knew him, but he most certainly didn’t know everyone. The young children on the bus especially enjoyed him as they relished the chance to practice their school-learned English.

I always felt like a surrogate daughter for William, whose own precious girl was about my age back in London. When William’s house needed “a woman’s touch” as he put it, I helped him pick out dishes and other little accents. Every couple weeks, I’d set up his cell phone ring tones, phonebook, and other settings he’d somehow managed to change. Paolo and I even had him over for a very impromptu Easter dinner one year.

William called me “the Unamerican American” because I had what he considered a rare curiosity about the world and desire to live abroad–Unamerican for an American, according to William. And he never did quite understand how I was able to work via Internet in this mountaintop village and actually make a living; I must have tried to explain it a hundred times.

Lest you think he was anti-American, though, William always rang me on Thanksgiving and was always sure to pay for my cappuccino on the 4th of July.

*

Soon after William bought his house here in Badolato, he was the victim of a hit-and-run back in London, and although he survived, he did so just barely. He suddenly had a long physical and emotional road to recovery ahead of him–not made any easier by all the steep hills and steps in Badolato.

And so, William considered selling his beloved casa with its “orgasmic view,” but I got the feeling that was never going to happen. He just loved his piccolo paradiso (little paradise), as he called it, too much.

*

In 2008, William died in a house fire in his flat in London. Paolo had gotten word when I was away on a trip, but he waited until I got back to tell me.

At that moment, on my balcony looking out at that same orgasmic view of the Ionian (my house was on the same side of the mountain as William’s, only higher up), all the memories of William came flooding back, bringing mostly smiles and, admittedly, also quite a few tears.

Then came an overwhelming sadness with the realization that not only would we never have cappuccino again, but also our connection was completely gone. Even though I had heard many stories about William’s family back in England, I had no contact information for anyone in his English life.

But then one day a few months ago, I opened up my email and saw what I knew to be his daughter’s name in my inbox. She had found me through this blog, not even realizing that I knew her father, only that I was an English speaker who lived in this mysterious medieval village that William had loved so much.

*

I met William’s daughter in person last week for the first time when she and her fiancĂ© came to Badolato. She looks so much like her father and has precisely the same English sense of humor, or “humour” I suppose.

I know she was pleased to find out how many people enjoyed the company of l’Inglese, and that he didn’t simply come here to live as a hermit. I introduced her to quite of few of William’s acquaintances, each one saying he was “bravo” or “un grande amico” or something similar.

After initial thoughts of selling the house, she and her family have decided to keep it, rent it out, and otherwise offer it as a place of refuge from the real world for family and friends–much as her father used it when he was alive.

And I like to think that somewhere, William is smiling. His orgasmic view has been passed on to a new generation–and so have some of his friendships.

For William, “Tears in Heaven” by Eric Clapton,
the man he called his “God”:

Happy Love Thursday everyone.

18 Comments »

11 June 2009

Love Thursday: Just Me and the Kids

Yes, I know the blog has been heavy on books and reviews lately, but that’s certainly not all we do around here. We also, for example, admire our baby goats.

Yes, the girls have been showing more sisterly love:

Insieme on Flickr

But there’s just nothing like a Mamma’s love is there?

The Kids and Me on Flickr

Look at those faces! on Flickr

Happy Love Thursday from our pen to yours!

29 Comments »

21 May 2009

Love Thursday: Celebrating an Anniversary

Last week, P and I celebrated four years together.

Lots of people on both sides of the Atlantic ask us about marriage and when we’ll make it “official.”

We may get around to doing that (and I’ll be sure to let you know!) but for now, we’re just fine with the way things are, so no announcements are forthcoming–not today at least. Every day is an adventure, though, so who knows what tomorrow will bring?

In any event, I refer to P as my marito (husband) in conversations with others, and he calls me his moglie (wife)–or more often, his mugliere in Badolatese. And as far as everyone is concerned, his parents are already my suocera and suocero; I also have lots of cognati e cognate (brothers- and sisters-in-law).

Also, this is what my left hand looks like each and every day:

Just some rings on Flickr

P gave me the white gold band when we had been together for about a month or so way back in 2005, and the diamond engagement ring is just that–but it was my grandmother’s, given to her by my grandfather in the early 1940s. She gave it to me several years before she passed away, making sure that I would be the one to have it.

No, the two rings don’t remotely match, but that seems rather perfect for P and me, who are, in many ways, polar opposites. We’re alike in some important ways too, and just like P and me, the two rings meet somewhere in the middle–I love how the silverish tones shine together–and somehow just work.

And that works for us, too.

Happy Love Thursday everyone!

P.S. I have already contacted the 5 La Bella Lingua winners:

Paola of Always Italianissima

Kazbell

Peter Leonard

ann-marie

Syrahsuzie

Congratulations!

42 Comments »

30 April 2009

Love Thursday: Somebunny Loves Me!

I have a huge sweet tooth, so it’s not surprising that one of my favorite parts of Easter is the candy. More specifically, the candy my mom makes–especially the peanut butter eggs. Yum!

If you’re starting to feel sorry for me because I’m not in the same country code as my mom and therefore can’t enjoy her Easter candy, think again.

My mom continually sends me care packages, but around Easter, one always contains a special treat:

Mom's Easter candy on Flickr

And I swear when I staged this photo, I wasn’t trying to make it look like one bunny was offering his/her love to the other. But it does sort of look that way doesn’t it?

Happy Love Thursday everyone!

When is the last time you received or sent a care package?

P.S. Happiest of birthdays to my mom (yesterday) and my sister-in-law (today)!

13 Comments »

16 April 2009

Love Thursday: How to Leave Your (Teeth)Mark on the World

I’ve mentioned recently that P and I have a new garden spot. When we took it over about a month and a half ago, it was terribly overgrown so we spent many hours just getting it back to where it was no longer a jungle.

We pulled most of the weeds and unwanted greenery, but we also left a good amount for our kid, Pasqualina–she wanted to help out too.

And help she did, particularly one day when I spotted a cute heart-shaped leaf but was without my camera. I positioned the leaf by a lemon tree, ran home, got my camera, and came back to find this:

Munched heart-shaped leaf on Flickr

Obviously Pasqualina likes heart-shaped leaves too.

Does she look The Goat Who Ate the Heart-Shaped Leaf or what?

Pasqualina! on Flickr

Happy Love Thursday everyone!

Blog Widget by LinkWithin

27 Comments »

Next »

  • month by month

    July 2009
    S M T W T F S
    « Jun    
     1234
    567891011
    12131415161718
    19202122232425
    262728293031  
  •        

    Say goodbye to your savings accounts

       

       

    Expats in Italy, ex-pats, assistance for those moving to italy, a forum with loads of information for the newbie or the old hand - Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

       

    expat blogs

    Bella Bags by Maria

       

    Ajax CommentLuv Enabled c8caa0c33c4e17bd635cac02f98a1d7e

       

    Wow! Women on Writing

       

    All receipes are on Petitchef