Weekend's Revels

This past weekend saw us out and about in the piazza for a cram-packed few days! It was the archery competition for Florence, and they had a lovely assortment of targets new and old, a visit to a private palazzo in Piazza Garibaldi that up until now hasn't been open to the public, and a concert by Jeremy's orchestra. Plus, of course, the market for purchasing delicious comestibles (cheese, pepper jelly, special breads, salami, honey, and more!) and handmade and other goods (I got my basket for the back of the baby car, which I had ordered a little while ago from the lovely basket maker who attends most of our fairs!). It was a delight to see the piazza well populated, and, thankfully, the weather cooperated.

I didn't charge my camera, though, so I've had to lift from Facebook (with permission, wherever possible, of course!).

Here are some of the sights we enjoyed:

The ballroom. The "paintings" on the walls are frescoes.

The morning room

In this palazzo, there were two framed items of particular interest to me: each was a letter of introduction. The first was rather large (think 14" by 20"), quite plain, but signed by Louis XIV. The second was much smaller (about 7" by 10" or maybe smaller than that...I don't quite remember), and was much more ornate (illumination of the initial letter, etc.) and dated 1595.

The ceilings were superb

A vaulted ceiling

Drone's-eye view of the orchestra

Jeremy is the cellist in the back center

Jeremy is in the center here

Florence's archery group; she is smack-dab in the center

The banquet in the Sala delle Pietre

The women of Arcus Tuder

Another palazzo whose courtyard I'd never seen!

My basket-weaver!

All in all, we had a great time!

Love,

Alexandra

Optimism

I went to visit my shoemaker today...remember the one who's now 92? His landlord was there, and told me that he had just re-signed the lease for 6 more years, with an option for another 6.

Love,

Alexandra

Unchained melody

Michael has not yet reported on his injury, but long story short, he got hurt skiing and needed surgery (yes, he's fine! I hope he'll have a chance to blog about it, but couldn't let this experience linger in blog-draft-land; this happened while we were skiing). I need to talk about getting him to surgery, because it was a three-stooges-but-taking-years-off-my-life experience.

The surgery was not really scheduled, but we were told to be at the hospital no later than 7:30 a.m.; this was impressed upon us on multiple occasions in two separate phone calls. Our arrival time was clear.

Since the place was about 40 minutes away, we left the apartment an hour and ten minutes early just to be on the safe side. We knew that there was a bit of fresh snow, and just wanted to make sure everything would go smoothly. Hah.

I pulled the behemoth (9-passenger van) out of the garage, went up the driveway and...slid back down a foot. Okay, I can handle this. Not to worry. (Because, of course, I wasn't at all stressed that I was taking my husband in for some serious surgery.) Backed all the way down. Then gunned it. Up and over we went! Hurray!

Through the gate and into the pedestrian piazza (we had a permit) and....well....it felt like we were tobogganing. There was no progress being made.

At this point, I freely confess, I lost the plot. I called 112 (one of the emergency numbers) to beg for help and the operator suggested a taxi, and an inspired second later inquired as to whether I had chains. Of course I did! I had just forgotten. Blessing the unknown operator, I hung up and grabbed the chains. Meanwhile, Hopalong Cassidy decided that it was a good idea to come out with his foot in a cast and gimp around on crutches in slippery snow. Because, why? You tell me. On the one hand, I'm trying to get the chains on, and on the other, I'm trying to shoo him back into the car so he can call one of the kids for help.

After much effort, the chains are on. I start up the car, and (this is one of the many Three Stooges moments of the morning)...yes, it is a rear-wheel drive and I have (you guessed it) put the chains on the front wheels.

Panic has really set in now. We are at t-35, and it is seriously time to be on the road, not stuck in a piazza with chains on the wrong wheels. I get them off, of course messing them up and being as clumsy as humanly possible (in my defense, I think it is the first time I have ever put chains on a car).

I look up.

I weep.

The local snowplow that has been lovingly clearing the piazza has built a two-foot wall of snow all around the front and side of the car.

I march over to him and cry and tell him I am trying to get my husband to surgery, the chains aren't working and could he kindly remove that hideous mound before I completely launch into hysterics in front of the grocery store?

He very sweetly set to work. And I went back to my work as the chain gang. By this time, Jeremy and Florence had (thank goodness!) shown up for moral support, and a bit of physical support, too. We wrestled the chains onto the rear wheels (the driver's side not terribly elegantly), and started, and...they worked!

Michael and I managed to get up to the main road, and then had the joy of driving on chains on cleared road for what seemed like hours (in the back of my mind, I'm convinced they will cancel the surgery if Michael is late...which he will be for sure at this point), but was actually probably only a few hundred meters. Made it to the pull-off! Now time to get those dratted chains off. Out hops Michael (grr), who easily removes the passenger side chains. I, on the other hand, manage to embrangle the chains in the axle.

I try moving forward a few feet. No dice.

(At this point, I am convinced it is the nightmare-come-to-life-that-never-ends.)

Michael suggests trying to pull the chain OVER the axle instead of the normal "letting them fall behind the tire" route. We do it, and it works.

Thank you, Lord.

Michael called the hospital as I drove, and they were just as nice as could be. No problem, and we were "only" half an hour late to the hospital.

Love,

Alexandra

New record in the PIazza

Today is pi-day in the U.S., since the month/day combination are 03.14 (the first digits of pi). Loth to miss out on the possibility of a festival, the Liceo and other area schools decided to go for the Guinness World Records for the longest human chain containing the digits of pi. It's much harder to describe than it really was (in some ways!). Essentially, each person had a digit, and everyone was lined up in order to provide pi to the nth decimal place.

In the end, there were over 1000 participants! Something like 1085, Jeremy said. Jeremy was an unwilling participant because in his mind it didn't give due respect to the constant...besides which, the European method of writing the date doesn't result in pi, and can't (they have day then month). If April 31 were to exist, you might be able to stretch the point, but even then, it would be 31/04. So, just no.

In any case, I thought it was a ton of fun. Michael and I were vastly amused to see that the smaller children (elementary school) were towards the end...as the decimal values got smaller, so did the people representing them!

I've lifted some photos off Facebook, with permission (thank you, Giuseppe Cecconi and Gilberto Santucci!), to give us a look at it:

Beginning the lineup (image from GC)

Heading into the piazza (image from GC)

Still loading in participants (image from GS)

Wide-angle view; sorry about the distortion (image from GS)

And now it's time to get the sour cherry-marzipan pie out of the oven!

Love,

Alexandra

Flying Visit to the US!

Last week, the day after getting back from skiing, I flew to DC to meet up with Eleanor and Matthew. We had a great time together, including lots of museums, dinner with Michael's relatives, and more!

We were struck by how like the Italian briscola cards
 these Native American playing cards are.
We read in the caption that they were modeled
 on Spanish playing cards. Aha!

I mostly focused on taking pictures of
 Matthew and Eleanor's being cute together, to be honest.

Space Ship 1! Privately funded, and I loved the folding wings.
https://airandspace.si.edu/collection-objects/spaceshipone

I asked them to stare contemplatively at the Hubble telescope
(actually, this was a mockup used for various testing purposes).
Eleanor failed.

Take two was successful

I'd forgotten that the surface vehicles had mesh wheels.

James has been talking about dynamometers in class,
so I thought he'd like to know they were taken on space flights.

Moon sharks? Who knew?
Actually, this was in the astronauts' packs because they would be landing in the ocean...

We've also been talking about thermal properties of ceramics at home.
 Thought the sibs would enjoy this demo.

Trick or treating costume for future generations?
We were all smitten by these.

 For those who don't yet know, Eleanor scored a really competitive internship this summer. She'll be working to advise lawmakers on scientific matters, and will be living in Georgetown. Of course, we had to take a photo of her in front of her new office building!

Guess who might come for a visit?

The Washington Monument was still a long way off,
 and our feet were already tired. Time for a photo op!

Looking from one monument to another...

And then my camera batteries ran out, and it turned out that the charging cable I'd packed was the wrong one...in any case, we ended up visiting:

• The Air and Space Museum (twice, for Matthew and Eleanor)
• The Natural History Museum
• The National Gallery
• The Postal Museum
• Union Station
• Arlington Cemetery
• WWII Monument
• Washington Monument (outside, since it's closed indefinitely)
• Lincoln Memorial
• Ford Theatre
• Petersen House

I also went over to Dupont to meet up with a friend, and we ended up driving to Alexandria for the afternoon (thanks for coming, Michelle!). All in all, it was a fantastic 5-day visit. 

And now, back home to paperwork and everyday life! The roadworks in Todi have been nearly completed, and the weather is superb.

Love,

Alexandra

Happy Meal

And the time came for us to go skiing! As it was a long drive, of course we had to stop for lunch before meeting Jeremy in Verona (side note: Jeremy had spent the previous week skiing in Sestriere, site of Torino Olympic games, so he had to take the train across to meet us...Sestriere is on the northwest of Italy, whereas we were going to the northeast). And this is what we found in our truck stop:

Bresaola with arugula and parmesan, plus fresh pineapple

About 15 different olive oil choices, and about 10 different vinegars

An eggplant/zucchini/red pepper medley, salad with fresh mozzarella

Prosciutto and fresh mozzarella, plus raspberry tartlet. Oh, and the rolls! Freshly made and lovely.

We were tickled by the washing on the line strung between the trucks....

Love,

Alexandra

That crazy American

The road crew essentially has decided I'm insane to be interested in their work and taking photos of their progress. I, meanwhile, think it hilarious that every time I want to take a "candid" (for which I have permission), they stop and pose. There is one fellow in particular who has been shy (and I have not pressed), but his comrades all insisted that he start pretending to get busy. In fact, they've actually been making great progress, in my opinion!

Each of the blocks is precut according to the road's curvature and shown on a plan that they then follow for block placement

Our door remains blocked. 

An earlier photo...we now have lovely construction fencing
all around our front door, so getting out can present a challenge

No large concrete deliveries, here. Mixed as needed!

The new stones should weather to look like the old

The fencing!This part of the curve was actually very complicated

After the end of the work day

They use these for picking up the heavier stones

Ribbing "shy guy"

"shy guy" posing

A little further down the street...

Meanwhile, in the piazza, they are discouraging pigeons from roosting by using an assortment of wire barricades, nets, and so on. This crane just gave Michael and me the willies...gobs of leverage and a very, very high bucket.

The truck "base" is just teeny weeny

Back at the road works, these guys are continuing to lay the base. At the same time, they are raising the drains...no more "pothole" drains!

The drains, complete with trap

Jackhammering

By the time I get back from the US, they may be close to done! I will miss their incredulous faces as I try to get shots of their work...

Love,

Alexandra