a considerable amount of nothing

10 CommentsMonday • January 22, 2007 • by michelle

Busy morning today without accomplishing anything whatsoever.

First P pointed out to me that “la tempesta perfetta“ just might be brewing over the Ionian Sea.

Those clouds looked more ominous in person, I swear. If only I had a more powerful camera! I know. I’m never satisfied.

Then, sporadically throughout the morning, one of my neighbors (who normally lives in Hawaii) and her visiting friend delivered many perishable food items, and I’m not complaining. They’re off for Rome, so all that good stuff would’ve only gone to waste/be thrown away.

I think we’ll be eating a lot of cheese today and tomorrow. And again, I’m not complaining. I love me some cheese.

In addition, I also received some beautiful pink and white gigli. Of course since I’m oh-so-cultured, they are now in a big ole glass jar that I’m quite sure is meant for salami or something else to be submerged in olive oil.

In a past life in my house, though, the jar also temporarily housed a lizard that P brought home for me.

And you thought that he only brings me flowers. Hah! Clearly P knows that nothing says love like lizard.

Here are the lilies:

Also during this action-packed a.m., my full-time neighbor you all know and love stopped by to ask me to check on whether her Coca-Cola has expired. Her eyes aren’t as good as they used to be, so she has trouble seeing those little numbers. So do I many times, truth be told, especially when they’re coded in with other numbers and letters. These manufacturers sure can get tricky when they want to.

Anyway, I’m sure Anna Maria actually does want to know this information, but mostly it’s a ploy to give me a bottle of Coca-Cola. Or a bag of coffee. Or a container of milk. Or a can of tuna. You get the picture.

It all works out well because now I’ll pass along to her some of the goodies I received this morning.

Circle of Life–southern Italian style!

And then came P’s mom bearing the bread that P likes. Yes, they sell bread up here in the village, but it’s not baked in a wood-fired oven or by his friend in the Marina–two facts that make said bread inedible (according to P). So every few days, Mamma brings up a kilo of the good stuff just for her baby.

Mammone you say? Actually he’s not at all, but, you know, an Italian’s bread is not something you want to mess with. It could get ugly.

In other exciting news, I received my law school transcripts in the mail today. Those translation job people keep asking me for proof of my degrees, so I figure this will have to do for now since I don’t have my diplomas with me.

They’re big on this proof thing here, by the way. Guess a lot of Italians would (gasp!) lie about their credentials if they didn’t have to prove them. Or this could simply be the Italians’ love of documents rearing its (with any luck) paper-cutted head again.

The transcripts also have little stamps and seals, so that should even further satisfy them. Italians *love* stamps and seals, you know (although they prefer the kind you have to pay for).

I graduated law school 6 years ago (oh my goodness, I’m old) and, um, there are classes listed that I honestly don’t remember taking–and I did well in them! I’m talking about you, Trusts and Estates. I scored an A, which means it must’ve been an easy exam because right now I’d struggle to define even the most basic concepts about a trust or an estate.

Probably a good thing that I don’t practice, eh?

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[tags]law school transcripts, weather, stormy weather, clouds, lilies, flowers[/tags]

Posted in: flowers, friends, life in calabria, uniquely italian, weather