Dum vivimus, vivamus!

Pino al parco

2011-11-01T09:27:00.000-07:00

Chestnuts

2011-11-01T09:00:00.000-07:00

Terrible 'tude

2011-11-01T08:51:00.000-07:00

The other morning when Fede left to take Sofia to school, Thomas seemed deeply offended at not having been invited to go along. There was a minute or two of screaming and posturing, and being a kind and loving father I gave him what he really needed - a wide berth to work through his tiny rage while I went to fix myself a coffee.

A minute later from the kitchen I suddenly noticed that the house was way too quiet, and I went to see what the little guy was up to. There he was, curled up in a comfy chair in the living room, with a couple of books, thumb in mouth, one hand in his hair, and a look of put-upon annoyance that didn't slip even when I went to grab the camera to preserve the moment. Once I started snapping, though, he decided that maybe he didn't rally hate everything after all. Poveraccio.

Sofia's first dance class

2011-10-21T16:24:00.000-07:00

Sofia got a new pink outfit, a tutu, and an opportunity to dance around in a gym with some little girls to "The Lonely Goatherd". In other words - in her mind it pretty much counted as a perfect day. When the class ended, she ran straight to Fede and said "Grazie, Mamma!"

2011-10-17T15:24:00.001-07:00

Hot chocolate is soporicious

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Texas

2011-10-13T10:54:00.000-07:00

We packed up and left Seattle after the first few rain-soaked days of late September, and caught the tail-end of blazing Summer weather in Texas. Good times & smores where had by all.

Mom's make-up / gym party

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Sofia's first day of preschool

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It's good to be back home

2011-07-16T18:23:00.000-07:00

Heading back for the States on the M.S. Rotterdam

2011-07-15T09:47:00.000-07:00

When I booked this leg, I didn't realize that this was a special trip for Holland America's flagship M.S. Rotterdam. It was a one-time, commemorative anniversary trip, featuring a onboard news crew, a performance by the Dutch Frank Sinatra, and what looked like most of the city of Rotterdam turning out to wish us goede reis. There was an electric charge in the air when we left the dock.

One day out from the sole port of call, Southampton, we encountered a nice gail that registered 8 on the Beaufort scale. We changed course and beat it for the calmer coastal waters of Ireland. This was a cool, wet crossing compared to the Queen Mary 2 a month earlier; but still infinitely better than flying.

A fitting end to a big day

2011-07-15T08:43:00.000-07:00

Here's wishing you all of the best and a lifetime full of joy and happiness together, ragazzi. We loved getting to be a part of your big day.

Back to Fregene for the celebration

2011-07-15T08:38:00.000-07:00

After the service

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The eleventh hour on the big day

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Pizzeria Da Beffetto

2011-07-14T09:59:00.000-07:00

Famed no-nonsense Pizzeria Da Beffetto kindly reminds you not to mess with Texas. Notice the mad gleam in Fede's eye as she prepares to tuck into her big pizza pie.

The Feast of Saints Peter and Paul in Rome

2011-07-14T09:44:00.000-07:00

June 29 is the traditional feast day for Rome's patron Saints, Peter and Paul (don't feel bad, I'd never heard of them either). Walking home from dinner, Fede and I came across a spectacular fireworks show over Castel Sant'Angelo, which was just across the Tiber from our rental apartment.

The illustration at the bottom is from 1775.

Fregene

2011-06-26T08:26:00.000-07:00

After the surprisingly low-key wedding "rehearsal" (do Italians waste time on plans and logistics?), Simon suggested that we all take an hour or two to freshen up and then head out at around 8pm for the picturesque beach town of Fregene. Fede and Marzia played, swam and sunbathed away vast swaths of their childhood there, and it will be the site of the wedding reception next Saturday. I'm beginning to understand that one of the secrets to truly understanding and appreciating Italy: when invited, go ahead and do the things which at first blush might seem pointless and illogical; because almost invariably that will be one of the times when it's possible to steal a peek behind the thick curtain which separates hapless stranieri and italiani. If, for instance, I had gone with my strong initial inclination here, I would have said "You want to pile into the car, brave an hour of chaotic traffic to the beach, eat, and then turn right back around and drive back? Grazie, no." But then I'd have missed out on seeing thousands of Romans in white linen on the powdery sand beach, literally collectively applauding the last light of a spectacular sunset, I'd not have experienced a delicious meal of fish - eaten among a surreal crowd that might have served as extras in Fellini's Satiricon, and I'd have never seen the stop and go traffic snaking past the ruins of Caracalla's ancient baths at 1am, with tens of thousands of festive young communists celebrating the Festa de l'Unità on one side of the road, while somber nuns, priests and true-believers on the other side marched silently in a single file candle vigil.
We arrived at the beach just in time for the optimal lighting of a beautiful sunset. Sorry for the photo spam; I took a lot of pictures of my lovely subjects.

The Church San Andrea al Celio

2011-06-26T08:21:00.000-07:00

This is where Marzia and Simone are to be married next week. We got a sneak-peak at this rehearsal; replete with another couple's wedding shortly afterwards. It's hard to imagine a more beautiful place to tie the knot.

Our little guys at the park

2011-06-26T08:09:00.000-07:00

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Ristorante Santa Lucia

2011-06-26T08:02:00.000-07:00

A meal to be remembered, in a beautiful al fresco setting near Piazza Navona.

Jewish Ghetto

2011-06-26T07:56:00.000-07:00

Roman churches

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London

2011-06-22T07:33:00.000-07:00

Pub-grub, a cool street market find, the London Eye, a carousel, two very tired little travelers.

On board the QM2

2011-06-22T07:25:00.000-07:00

Heading for the ship

2011-06-22T07:19:00.000-07:00

New York was really hot/fun

2011-06-22T07:16:00.000-07:00

On the way to New York

2011-06-22T07:13:00.000-07:00

New Grass!

2011-06-01T09:20:00.000-07:00

Gelato

2011-05-29T14:34:00.000-07:00

Episode 45

2011-05-28T10:46:00.000-07:00

In which Pino plays a medley of themes from Lord of the Rings, prompting Fia to bust a Sméagol on the kitchen table.

Precious.

2011-05-28T10:44:00.000-07:00

2011-05-17T21:24:00.001-07:00

Twenty-five yards of sand and compost - delivered the easy way.

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Recent Projects

2011-04-30T11:08:00.000-07:00

We've been working diligently to transform the marshy bog surrounding our house into some kind of a yard, so that if/when Summer arrives we'll all be prepared to enjoy it to the utmost. If the meteorological scuttlebutt is to be believed, this year Summer may fall on a Wednesday - sometime in late July. We'll have the hotdogs and ice cream at the ready, just in case. Up top, we've got a bunch of posts jutting out of the top of a newly constructed rock wall. Soon, through the magic of contracting, this will be a sturdy fence. If you've got a powerful imagination - try picturing all of that dirt covered with grass, all of the fencing supplies, concrete mixing equipment and rocks gone; replaced by merrily frolicking toddlers.

The Easter Baskets Arrive

2011-04-25T19:20:00.000-07:00

Thanks, Mimi. They were a huge hit.

Hawai'i

2011-04-14T11:37:00.000-07:00

Thomas tries out his new shoes

2011-04-06T12:18:00.000-07:00

Sumer is icumen in, Lhude sing cuccu!

2011-04-05T13:51:00.000-07:00

The days are getting longer. Dusk, thankfully, no longer creeps in at 4 o'clock in the afternoon. The birds are beginning to dust off their voices, cherry trees are starting to put on their gaudy show, and the sound of a single, far-off lawnmower recently struck panic in my rain-addled brain. Summer isn't far away, and the muddy area around our home - currently strewn with rocks, heavy machinery, one creatively named Honey Bucket - will soon be a playground for two stir-crazy, free-range toddlers and their put-upon cucciolone.

Taking the long view, though, someday not so far away this current state of disarray will be a hazy memory; hopefully half-remembered while sipping something wonderful from the comfortable perch of a lawn-chair.

In that spirit of wishful thinking, here are the "before" pictures:

Thomas walks!

2011-03-27T11:16:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Thomas took his first few unassisted steps. Bravo, Pino!

Look Who's Walking!

2011-03-08T09:12:00.000-08:00

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It's official now...

2010-12-24T07:47:00.000-08:00

In a small ceremony on December 23, at 5:30 in the evening, Charles and Fede tied the knot.

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Sofia's first coffee. Il primo caffe.

2010-11-06T14:42:00.000-07:00

Sofia enjoys her very first shot of sweet, milky decaf espresso. Since she lives in Seattle, this may very well be the first of millions. Anyhoo, some slurping happens, a mess is made (then quickly cleaned up), Argus gets grinned at, and Dad gets a unusually self-assured head nod from a toddler.

Thomas: Moderately enthused about his new bed

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Sofia goes for a ride

2010-08-27T08:37:00.000-07:00

Young T. A.

2010-08-26T17:08:00.000-07:00

Sofia's Birthday Cupcake

2010-08-26T16:58:00.001-07:00

It's so much better to watch this video in HD and full-screen. Just click on the video, and when it comes up in the YouTube window, change from 240p to 720p, and click the full-screen icon (those four arrows to the right of the resolution toggle).

Independence Day

2010-07-30T12:42:00.000-07:00

Paris, the final stop!

2010-07-30T12:00:00.000-07:00

These pictures are just a little bit stale, as I'm still scrambling to catch back up to real-time posts in time for the babies' birthdays. So without further fanfare, here are the last of the Summer vacation pics, in all of their Gallic glory.

These pictures were taken in our sweet little rented apartment, in a strange observation fort in front of the Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés, in a children's clothing store on Boulevard Saint Germain, in a the Tuileries garden (next the Louvre), on the Champs Élysées, around Boulevard Saint Germain, and finally in front of Notre Dame on a statue that has been converted into a makeshift pigeon toilet. Fun fact: the fumes from pigeon guano possess a powerful soporific effect, as Sofia demonstrates.

Thomas gets baptised

2010-07-29T20:34:00.001-07:00

On a warm day in June, a group of Americans and Romans descended upon the stately Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome in order to make a proper Christian of young Thomas Alessandro. His days of debauchery, incredulity and disbelief had run out. This change didn't come a moment too soon, since in the past year he often drank until he vomited, then passed out only to wake up with his little trousers filled with his own filth, all the while babbling incoherently to anyone who would listen. I'm not saying that he's perfect now; he still wakes up in his own filth and babbles, for instance. But his drinking problem is behind him now and it seems like he's doing a little bit better every day.

We love you, Bubba!

Inside Santa Maria Maggiore

2010-07-29T20:34:00.000-07:00

The Roman basilica Santa Maria Maggiore, so called because it is a great (Papal) church as well as the largest of the 26 churches in Rome dedicated to the Virgin Mary, is a beautiful, imposing building with a mysterious history. Even more mysterious is how a group of unruly Texans were allowed into this church to baptise one of their own. When you're in a foreign land it's best to just smile, nod, refrain from asking too many questions; and in Italy that goes doubly so.

A post-baptism lunch down the street from Santa Maria Maggiore, at "La Carbonara"

2010-07-29T20:07:00.000-07:00

The Last of the Cruise Pictures

2010-07-20T18:26:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the tardiness of this post, but after the long trip with the babies, a family-wide never-ending cold from hell, and an ever-expanding list of projects vying for an already limited attention span, well, this little project was quietly pushed to the back.

So more than anything, these pictures and videos are the result of my getting all of the phones, video cameras, regular cameras, and various memory cards from still other cameras all together and seeing what we missed the first time around. Quite a bit, apparently, but I've mercifully culled these few from hundreds of possibilities.

Not all of them were taken on the cruise; some were taken at the various ports of call. The first picture and video were taken at a restaurant in Napoli called Brandi, where pizza Margherita is claimed to have first been made some 120 years ago.

Naples...

Fede, Sofia and friends from the cruise stand before the plaque that boldly claims to mark the birthplace of Pizza Margherita Here a dead ringer for Super Mario forms dozens of supplì.

Here the ever adventurous Sofia goes after a sfogliatella like she's being doing it for years. Mmmm!

Greece

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Fede e Tommasino a Parigi

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A Roma

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An amiga visits in Rome

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The Sea-life

2010-05-31T12:01:00.000-07:00

Sofia and Thomas moon for the camera with the lovely tourist-choked strip mine of the Aegean, Santorini, as a backdrop

The Exhausting Business of getting from Point A to Point B

2010-05-31T11:56:00.000-07:00

Bambolina nella sfilata collezione estate New York

2010-05-09T20:06:00.001-07:00

Fede via iPhone

Una serata molto "Nippon"

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Andiamo al Central Park!

2010-05-07T15:10:00.001-07:00

A pranzo fuori

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Una bella passeggiata a Park Avenue

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Bambolina, il suo papa' e bau bau in una splendida giornata a New York

2010-05-07T14:22:00.000-07:00

La principessa

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A house-warming

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Una festicciola per inaugurare la casa nuova

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Una splendida giornata con il papa'

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I bimbi nella nuova casa

2010-04-14T23:03:00.001-07:00

Fede via iPhone

Tommasino durante il trasloco

2010-04-14T22:59:00.000-07:00

Fede via iPhone

Sofia explores her new place

2010-04-08T10:48:00.001-07:00

Sofia spent most of the day yesterday doing recon in our new house. She would explore until she was tired, then find me or Fede for hugs and reassurance that we were in a safe place. Stairs were summited, dark closets charted, and basically Terra incognita was mapped.

Poppy e i nipotini

2010-04-04T22:16:00.001-07:00

Fede via iPhone