Archive for the ‘flowers’ Category
Buon International Women’s Day!
To all my fellow females, Happy International Women’s Day!
Far be it from me to speculate as to why this worldwide holiday isn’t celebrated the United States, but I assure you, here in Italy, it’s a big deal.
It’s called la Festa della Donna, and it’s the day when women of all ages are honored with dinners, girls’ nights out, auguri, and, of course, flowers–in particular, the exploding-with-joy yellow mimosa, the international symbol of the day.
We have a few mimosa trees in the piazza here and normally they’re in bloom just in time for March 8, but this year’s mild winter had them full of yellow in January, and so now, sadly there are no more mimosa.
But I thought ahead so I could give all of my favorite women (you’re one if you’re reading this!) a little love for this International Women’s Day, so I snapped this photo on January 20:
Now for you fellas that are reading: you have some appreciating to do!
W le donne!
airing my clean laundry
*Don’t forget that all this week is The Ultimate Blog Party!
Check out 5 minutes for mom to learn more about
how you can participate–everyone’s invited!
I’m smiling just knowing that so many of you enjoyed the photos from yesterday; it was a pleasure to share a beautiful Calabrian morning with you.
Had I thought ahead, though, I would’ve worn red to stop all that malocchio coming my way from so much envy.
Just kidding, of course–I know it wasn’t *that* kind of envy.
On yesterday’s post, fellow blogger Stefanie commented that sometimes my life seems like a movie, which got me thinking…and you know what? She’s absolutely right. Sometimes it’s more romantic comedy and other times horror or drama, although hardly ever Van Damme action (quite by design).
And isn’t this more or less how all of our lives are when you think about it?
I tend to focus on the positive in my daily life, and that’s what I like to share on the blog as well. Do I never stress about anything? I wish, but I’m human. I have rants and whatnot, but I like to get them out and then be done with it.
Sometimes that’s here on this Internet thing, but most often it’s on the phone with my mom, or even better, with P. Venting in Italian is *so* much fun–probably because it’s the only time I talk really fast in my second language without a care as to whether I’m making sense.
You see, P nods and agrees no matter what. He’s a smart man.
What I’m getting at, I suppose, is that I don’t dwell on mishaps or frustrations because then I feel like the nasty forces in life are winning.
And I hate to lose.
So besides bringing some warm sunshine to cold, snowy days with yesterday’s photos, I also hoped to encourage all of you to appreciate the simple things, the everyday sights in your life, whatever they might be.
And today for me, the sights are laundry (so much that it will spill into tomorrow), a translation project that I need to finish today, and lesson planning for tomorrow and Thursday.
So in lieu of a longer post, I’m going to share more pictures from yesterday’s Marina adventure.
I’ll start with a woman doing laundry the old-fashioned way (note: I use a washing machine although I do hang out the clothes like most of us here…don’t get us started on the dryer situation, right expats?).
“Maria Concetta!” she called out when she saw me, mistaking me for her granddaughter, but she didn’t act the least bit disappointed when she realized it was just a straniera with a camera. She even offered coffee, but I was on a tight schedule so I could catch the bus back up the mountain before lunch.
“La prossima volta!”
Next time, I promised.
Just a few steps away from this woman’s house was this view through the stairway:
And here’s a leftover shot from the beach area:
The flower stand at the small market in the Marina on Monday mornings:
A wider view of the mercatino. That’s my village nestled into the mountains:
And this was my view while waiting for the bus home:
OK, so this was my view *after* I pushed down a plastic orange fence surrounding the property with one hand and leaned over the squished barrier to take the photo with the other.
Sometimes you just gotta go for it and make your own pretty pictures.
P.S. Happy Birthday Dad!
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[tags]calabria, badolato marina, badolato, open air markets, italy, beaches, boats, ionian sea, sea, hanging laundry, trees[/tags]
Love Thursday: Making it Pretty
Italian women love their homes.
They express this love by keeping them cleaner than some hospitals and by decorating them.
Now I don’t mean like for the holidays kind of decorating, because actually, that’s not so common at least where I am. And I’m also not saying that all the southern Italian homes I’ve been in are especially warm and homey, at least for my taste. I’ve seen quite a few stark white walls, and since many of the apartments (most Italians live in flats stacked one on top of another) double as echo chambers, an overall sterile feeling isn’t uncommon either.
That said, Italians are masters of making things pretty. We know this. So while maybe some homes lack a certain lived-in feel, it’s rare to find a bare balcony or terrace. Flowers, plants, and trees are everywhere adding splashes of color to complement the lush green hills and achingly blue sea.
Other that a simple love of nature, this, in my expat opinion, has a lot to do with the bella figura, making a good impression. I have to believe that there’s some sort of logic along the lines of “If the outside of your house is brutto, it doesn’t matter how well you clean the inside.”
I don’t know if that’s true, but it goes a long way in explaining sights like this:
This isn’t an uncommon scene here in Calabria. Unfortunately, many unfinished concrete monstrosities line the SS 106 that runs along the Ionian Coast. And man are they fugly (even when they’re completed for the most part).
But that doesn’t stop Italian women from making homes out of them from the outside in, from trying to make them pretty, from showing them some love.
Happy Love Thursday everyone!
a considerable amount of nothing
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]
Love Thursday: Flowering Surprises
During my first date with P, he disappeared for a few minutes while snipping a miniature rose off of a nearby bush. Keeping his reputation safe as village flower thief, the other day when he took the chicken photos, he also showed up with something else for me–our first mandorla blossom this season. This wasn’t technically thieving, though, as the tree is ours.
FYI, usually February brings these dainty flowers, but I suppose the temperate weather has fooled them.
In the sunshine:
And at sunset:
Happy Love Thursday everyone!
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[tags]love thursday, mandorla, almonds, almond blossoms, blossoms, flowers[/tags]
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.
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