Author Archive
Post-Christmas Wrap-Up
No, this picture hasn’t technically cleared the censors (P), but, in true holiday spirit, I’m going to do what I want and then hide the results. The real reason I’m posting this photo is to announce that I now have my very own digital camera!
Babbo Natale was extra generous this year, although he did require that I brave the nasty two-days-before-Christmas weather of driving rain and wind in order to earn my prize. But it’s all good, folks–
We’re here and we’re taking pictures!
Nothing in Italy is ever easy though, folks (fellow expats, can I get an Amen?), and neither was acquiring my brand new Acer CS-6530.
After arriving in the town where I’d be shopping (half hour away), I walked into the store I had, weeks before, secretly chosen as my vendor of choice. In the window interspersed with various available photography-related products were lots of wedding portraits, but even that didn’t stop me from attempting to buy there.
So what did stop me? The clerk.
Rude? No.
Unhelpful? Sort of, but not exactly.
The real reason I didn’t end up buying from this store was because this guy wouldn’t sell me anything! I shuffled into the store after shaking off any excess water that had gathered on the brim of my baseball cap (worn only in the heaviest rains here), the hood that was over the hat, and my rain jacket. As I wiped my feet on the benvenuti mat, I asked the clerk to see the Fuji camera in the window.
The following exchange ensued, translated for your reading pleasure:
Cute elderly man: Oh we don’t have Fuji, but we do have Sony, Canon, Acer….
Me: But I saw a Fuji in the window.
CEM: Oh, really? Well this is my son’s store. I’m just filling in for him.
Me: That’s nice of you. Can I see the camera?
CEM: I don’t know anything about the cameras. My son’s the one that can tell you about which one you’d need, how to set it up, the warranty. I’m just a 70-year-old man. I don’t know about these things.
Me: Right, but I know a little about cameras myself, and I know which one I want.
CEM: But I can’t sell you one without my son here.
Me: I see. Will he be back soon?
CEM: Tomorrow.
So that was my first attempt to buy a camera. Now, granted, the guy may have been doing me a favor and doing the ethical thing by not selling me something he had no idea about, but since when am I looking for ethics in a commercial enterprise? I’m American, damn it! At the time I was just fearing that I wouldn’t find another option and I’d be without a camera (again) for Christmas.
The spirit of Babbo smiled upon me, though, and in the next store, the ever-important son *was* there. Mom was too, but Helpful Son explained the differences between the cameras they had, set up the date and language on mine, and sent me on my merry way.
So for the past couple days, I’ve been playing around with the settings and generally learning how to take advantage of all its features. Today was the first sunny day, so I haven’t had much opportunity to get out there in the field. I’m finding that it’s rather user-friendly, though, and I think that figuring out the lighting and closeness stuff will all become natural very soon.
But imagine how much more I’d have to learn if the Cute Elderly Man had actually agreed to sell me something. So, as it turns out, I am grateful to CEM for not selling me a camera. Think I should go back and tell him, or better yet, his son?
Anyway, that was/is my big excitement this holiday season. P didn’t feel well Christmas Eve, so instead of going out, we stayed home and ate Italian wedding soup (recipe to be tomorrow’s What’s Cooking Wednesday). Can’t complain there.
We spent Christmas morning in the piazza, offering up “auguri” greetings to one and all, and then had a quiet lunch, just the two of us, at home. We did linguine agli scampi (linguine with prawns), which just may be the dish next Wednesday. Oh the suspense!
We were invited to his sister’s house, but we reasoned that since P already didn’t feel very well, hours of screaming children probably wouldn’t help. So, aside from eating, we spent a lot of the rest of the day on the phone talking to his brothers and sisters and their families spread around Italy and France.
I had spoken to my family on Christmas Eve, so the evening was free for movie-time. P made popcorn old-fashioned-like on the stove, and we watched The Italian Job, which was one of his Christmas gifts. Neither of us had ever seen it before, and I have to admit that I kinda loved it. A lot. I can’t wait to watch it in English when he’s not around.
Then we watched what is perhaps the least appropriate Christmas flick of all time–Legends of the Fall. I kid you not, this is what Italy’s Canale 5 featured last night for the family to gather around.
Has anyone ever seen a more depressing movie that didn’t include the Holocaust? If so, please let me know so that I don’t happen upon them either, particularly on Christmas.
I had never seen Legends, and let me tell you, I can’t imagine a circumstance in which I’d ever want to watch it again. If only the children had died gruesome, violent deaths, too, it would’ve really instilled the Christmas spirit deep within.
By the way, I hope I’m not spoiling anything for the one other person out there who hadn’t seen it as of yesterday.
Legends aside, though, we had a lovely Christmas. And around sunset, the pink in the sky told me we’d be having a sunny day today, finally, so, like I said, it’s all good:
And finally, Happy Saint Stephen’s Day to those who celebrate (like us in Italy) and Happy Boxing Day to our friends in Canada, Britain, Australia, and New Zealand, but let’s all take a moment to remember the victims of the December 26, 2004 tsunami.
Little Boy and Tiger Wishes
Many years ago, I clipped from the newspaper one of my most favorite comic strips ever–a poem entitled “Christmas Eve” by Bill Watterson written for a little boy and his tiger, Calvin & Hobbes.
Silly me, I didn’t think to bring it with me to Italy to someday scan into my then-nonexistent blog. I even have a book that it’s in at home. Somewhere.
Anyway, the text was easy enough to locate, but the drawing with it made it all the more special. Unfortunately, the only image I could find is here, and it’s not the best scan. But I hope you’ll still appreciate the poem–makes me want to snuggle with my pooch.*
Christmas Eve
Leaves feathered patterns, crissed & crossed,
But in our house the Christmas tree
Is decorated festively
With tiny dots of colored light
That cozy up this winter night.
Christmas songs, familiar, slow,
Play softly on the radio.
Pops and hisses from the fire
Whistle with the bells and choir.
My tiger is now fast asleep
On his back and dreaming deep.
When the fire makes him hot,
He turns to warm whatever’s not.
Propped against him on the rug,
I give my friend a gentle hug.
Tomorrow’s what I’m waiting for,
But I can wait a little more.
*Also check out the Calvin & Hobbes Snow Art Gallery for some wintry laughs.
Cutting Corners
No, this isn’t a post about wimping out on Christmas obligations. I’m fully in the swing o’ the season and entering the homestretch, which will include a good amount of cooking in the next few days. More on that later though.
This is a post about an actual corner. The corner of my kitchen to be exact. It’s the only part of my house that is decorated for a variety of reasons–not the least of which is the reverse peer pressure of being in a place where most can’t be bothered to even string up a set of lights.
Bah humbuggers!
My grandmother used to go crazy with Christmas–red, green, gold, or white wherever you looked–including bathrooms. And I loved it. I’m getting all warm and fuzzy just thinking about walking in there after Christmas Eve mass, the warmth inside and only the lights of the tree lighting the way to the amazing smells in the kitchen.
Well, I don’t have much of a stash of Christmas decorations here in Italy, but give me time, my friends…and the food is forthcoming!
Anyway, I’m going to show you my decorated corner as I play along with something I saw a couple weeks ago on Mom O Matic:
Now, again taking Mom O’s lead, some random info about the corner:
- This is the corner of my kitchen, which also serves as our living room for the most part (the TV is in another, far less pretty corner). To the left is the balcony door. If I were a better photographer, you might see the Ionian Sea through the window (and also *not* the reflection of the overhead light in the glass of the picture above the fireplace). Sorry.
- Those blondies in the picture in the lower left corner? My niece and nephew. A good three years ago, but they’re just so darn cute in that shot, I can’t take it down. There’s a black-and-white of them, too, on the lower right side by the Christmas teddy (paw dated 2003), but you can’t see it very well from this angle. There are also individual pictures of them on the mantle in the off-white square frames. One could use the word obsession. I wouldn’t be offended.
- I bought the 1895 map of southern Italy above the fireplace on Ebay for $2.99 (plus shipping) and got it framed and matted here for 20 euro. Many of the villages now on the coastline aren’t on the map because they weren’t built until after World War II. For anyone who hasn’t seen them, you can tell this from the concrete, institutional-like architecture that lines the coast. Very becoming.
- My mom recently sent me the festive tablecloth and the basket that is sitting inside the fireplace (that woman can fit anything in a shipping box). These are the only new additions to the scene this year, but they really make it, don’t you think?
- You already know a little about the heart on top of the tree.
- That circular thing above the window? It’s a Pennsylvania Dutch hex sign that says “Bless this House.” My mom is Pennsylvania Dutch, which, if you’re wondering, is not remotely Dutch and is not the same as Amish, although many Amish are indeed Pennsylvania Dutch. Please research this one on your own if interested as it’s far beyond the scope of this two-days-before-Christmas blog post.
- The orange splash of color on the table may be my favorite thing about the picture, but I had to throw out at least half of those lovely clementines. For a few days straight, I was greeted by two maggots on my table in the morning. Always two. Swiftly eliminated. Thank goodness I don’t eat risotto for breakfast or it could’ve gotten ugly around here. Even more disturbing was that I never found the culprit, and I sure hope I didn’t eat it.
Now, come on, fellow bloggers. Show me your corners!
This Just In: Santa Existence Can’t Be Ruled Out
Cecil Adams at The Straight Dope says:
the existence of Santa Claus “can’t be definitely ruled out.”
Yes, Virginia, there just may be a Santa Claus.
Michelle Kaminsky is an American attorney-turned-freelance writer who lived in her family's ancestral village in Calabria, Italy for 15 years. This blog is now archived.
Calabria Guidebook
Recipes
