There’s something soothing about working with nature’s bounty so, I was able to focus my thoughts on the important things in life as I set about canning my bread and butter pickles.

Later I pondered the various obstacles in my way as I cleaned and trimmed green beans and set them to boil for green bean salad.

Then I was able to contemplate the future as I cleaned and chopped some basil in order to freeze it for the winter.

I’m sure I’ll have plenty of opportunities in the coming weeks to do some more thinking and pondering as I prepare other garden goodies. And while I don’t often have the time to putter around in the garden, I really do enjoy it and, if you could make a living at it, I’d love to do something that was tied to the earth. Unfortunately, in this day and age, only large agricultural companies are able to make any money in the farming business.

Of course, while I was working the land, I’d also have to have other intellectual pursuits because otherwise I would be lost.

Still, the simple life is very appealing.

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Yes, the plan had been to do a simple finger food buffet party and it evolved into a much larger, sit down food affair, but that’s ok. It probably was easier since finger food takes a lot of prep time.

A good bit of the preparation was actually done on Friday, but on Saturday there was still a lot to do and my brother-in-law and his wife along with my parents were all railroaded into helping all volunteered to help.

We started out with antipasto kebabs (cherry tomatoes, mozzarella, mushrooms, salami, etc. strung on a stick and marinated), some bakery bought mini pizzas, homemade finger sandwiches (cucumber and goat cheese with olives), ventricina and capocollo and frog eyes (which mom made and were a big hit).

Next up it was a cold pasta dish made with chicken breast, carrots, celery, a creamy pesto sauce and grapes. That was definitely a change for the Italian palate – some liked it, some didn’t, but that was fine.

Then it was time for the meat dishes – meatballs in brown gravy and Judith’s fabulous pork cooked in milk. (That recipe has a big thumbs up. It’s delicious, easy to make for a large party and leftovers are also delicious. Thanks Judith for all your help!!). Along with the meat I made a big Caesar’s salad with homemade croutons (another novelty for the Italian crowd).

We followed that up with fruit salad served in a watermelon carved into a basket and then, of course, the birthday cake.

Wine and beer were flowing, as was the conversation, but I was too busy to take any photos.  You see, the idea was that everyone would help themselves, but I guess that was too foreign of an idea for this crowd. We ended up serving everyone, which in a way might have actually been the better solution. After I thought about it I realized that it would have just been mass confusion as everyone descended on the tables with no rhyme or reason since organization seems to be in short order here.

There were, of course, some sour spots. One of our guests considers any food that she herself didn’t make or pick out (as in a restaurant) to be inferior and God forbid if it happens to be something that she’s not familiar with. She, of course, also knows best how to make the few recipes that are in her repertoire and doesn’t hesitate to let people know this. Consequently, most of the food she was served ended up getting thrown out. Unfortunately, she’s brainwashed her kids into thinking the same way she does so they didn’t eat much either. Now, it’s possible that they truly didn’t like it, but you should at least try it. The whole attitude gets to me along with the narrow-mindedness. (Not to mention how incredibly rude that kind of behavior is.) Life is about trying new things. Why paint yourself into a corner and miss out on new flavors? Last year I made a Devil’s Food Cake for Luigi’s birthday and she didn’t taste a single bite even though everyone else positively raved about how good it was. (And I know it’s not because she doesn’t eat chocolate, because I’ve seen her do it.)

This year the cake was a luscious sponge made with 20 eggs. It turned out to be delicious, extremely light and airy, so I kept it light by spreading some cherry flavored whipped cream in the center, then covered it with buttercream frosting and decorated it with a Winnie the Pooh frozen buttercream transfer.  I’m no professional cake decorator, but it didn’t turn out too bad.

Luigi got lots of presents and lots of attention of course. He quickly learned that the bags that people were carrying in the door were for him and, despite his usual reticence, was giving people kisses left and right. After all, they were giving him prettily wrapped packages, so I guess he figured he was going to give something in return.

I think a star has been born though because after hearing everyone sing “Happy Birthday”, then blowing out the candles on the first try, he got a wondering, self-satisfied look on his face as everyone clapped and cheered for him.

Blowing out the candles

Although there were a few sour notes, the party turned out to be a lot of fun and I think most people enjoyed it. Cleaning up the next morning was another story though.

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I had a friend who somehow managed to function on only 3 or 4 hours of sleep per night. In fact, he physically wasn’t able to sleep more than that, he would automatically wake up. When I was sitting in meetings pinching myself to stay awake, I used to wish that I had that same ability. He said it was annoying, I thought it would be fantastic.

Then I moved to Italy. Since I wasn’t working at the time I think I spent the first month catching up on years of missed sleep. But, I felt like I was wasting time. I needed to be working and not sleeping.

One of the biggest culture shocks that I had was when I went somewhere that required me to wait. The doctor’s office, hairdresser, post office and other similar places were a nightmare to me. People thought nothing of waiting for over an hour (sometimes hours). Even if I had nowhere that I had to be, it still chafed me to have to wait so long. I found it frustrating and would end up being irritated for the rest of the day.

But everyone doesn’t perceive time in the same way. To some people I guess that having to wait isn’t all that big of a deal.

Here’s an interesting video that talks about time perception and raises some very interesting points. What do you think?

www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3oIiH7BLmg

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Lately though, I just can’t seem to bring myself to be interested. I still get American news updates in my inbox and I am still subscribed to various RSS feeds, but I have to admit, I hardly ever read them. And, don’t even think about buying a newspaper. I let my magazine subscription run out after a few issues ended up not being read at all and I think I’ve gotten 2 newspapers in the last 6 months. Trying to read a newspaper with a toddler around sounds like an exercise in futility anyway.

Instead I look at the blogs that discuss how to get your toddler to eat more vegetables, when to start potty training, how to get them to sleep through the night, etc. I zip right past the latest updates from Washington and make a beeline for the kid’s stuff.

Am I unhappy about it? Not really. Although I sometimes feel that I’m abandoning those things that I do feel passionately about (health care, the environment, etc.), I can’t say that I really miss it. Plus, I know that in a few years I’ll have time once again to keep on top of current events. The world may be passing me by, but I don’t mind. Instead of stopping to smell the roses, I’m stopping to hug a toddler.

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That vision has come to a shrieking halt.

Yes, I started out reading to him. I bought lots of English storybooks and used to read to him all the time – until he got old enough to reach out and turn the pages. Now there is no story time because it just became a game with him of turning pages. He wasn’t interested in listening to the story, just turning (and sometimes ripping) the pages. So, rather than have story time turn into screaming child time, I gave up on that vision.

Lately he’s become interested in picture books – the kind that show pictures of objects that he can name that is. So, we often sit in the evening and name the different items in the books. Of course, he still has to assert his independence (or should I say show his stubborness) by insisting certain things have different words. There are no such things as forks and knives for instance, they are all spoons. He will sit and argue with me about it too with him saying “spoon” and me saying, “no, that’s a fork”. To which he responds forcefully and with a glint in his eye, “spoon!”.

Another sign of stubborness? Everything is the color blue. It doesn’t matter if it’s red or yellow. If you ask him what color it is, it’s blue. Or as he likes to say, “beeloo”. I’m certain that this is yet another instance where he’s asserting his independence since I’ve caught him saying red and yellow, but then it’s as if he realizes what he said and changes it back to “beeloo”. No amount of cajoling can then get him to say anything other than “beeloo”.

Yes, he is learning from these books and will stay cuddled up with me for all of, maybe, 10 minutes. But, I still have that vision in the back of my head of bedtime stories. Maybe someday….

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The sad part is that I weigh about the same as I did when I got pregnant, but it seems to be spread out more. Maybe “s” is for Spread.  Of course, saying that I weigh the same now as I did when I got pregnant is not really saying much.  Sure, when my feet first touched Italian soil to call it home, I was wearing size 4 jeans, but there’s no way I’d squeeze into them today.

To be honest, I’ve struggled with my weight for all of my teen and adult life. As a child and early teen, I was fine, but once puberty hit, the pounds piled on quickly. Since then I’ve been up and down the scale a few times until a short while before I moved to Italy when I found the solution. The only thing that worked for me to keep the pounds off was to do at least 90 minutes or more of aerobic exercise daily and eat less than 1000 calories a day (I averaged 800).

That was all fine and dandy until I came to Italy. Yes, I know a lot of people have lost weight after moving here because you tend to do more walking. The problem was that I gave up counting the calories of every single thing that went in my mouth so I regularly exceeded my 800 calories a day. O is happy because he says I was too skinny when I got here, but I’m not at all pleased with my current look.

It hasn’t helped matters that my posture, which was not great to begin with, has suffered from pregnancy and toting around a baby. When carrying Luigi I have a tendency to jut my hips forward and round my shoulders forward so that I’m more or less shaped like an “s”. Let me tell you, it’s really attractive when your paunch is outlined by your baby’s legs. Yes, very attractive.  All that does is emphasize the weight around the middle.

So, is it time to go back to semi-starvation? More exercise is out of the question since chasing behind Luigi takes up all of my time.

At 44 will my body ever get back to a decent shape or am I destined to have a paunch for the rest of my life?

In my case, I guess “s” is for sagging, slouching and spread out.

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Oh, I don’t mind paying taxes. If you expect government services, you should pay taxes and paying those taxes gives you certain rights and privileges. So, I am duly registered in Italy and pay my taxes regularly, unlike a lot of Italians it seems. After all, tax evasion is the Italian national sport. And you thought it was soccer, didn’t you?

The other thing the US government requires is that you divulge all of your bank accounts that you hold overseas. It seems that no matter where you go you can’t get away from Big Brother.

So, I wasn’t surprised to get this big book of tax documents in the mail.

Although I think it’s an amazing waste of money considering that you can print them off or fill them out on-line.

The best part is that they apparently have done some bulk mailing so that the documents all get sent from a nearby location. That should save money, right?

After all, New Zealand is right around the corner from Italy.

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Getting back to reading, which I’ve always enjoyed, made me think about the fact that I don’t see many people reading here. Back in the States, people carry books around with them whenever they think they may have to wait for something for longer than a couple of minutes. Many people take them with them to work and would read during their breaks.

Here I have never seen anyone take a book with them to the doctor’s office or on public transportation. And speaking of the doctor’s office, people rarely pick up the magazines that are there. They’d rather just sit and look at one another. When people are waiting among strangers they often just sit there – which makes me wonder what in the world they could possibly be thinking about. I would go absolutely crazy if I had to just sit there and stare into space.

When I went to the hospital I took a book with me, but I was probably the only one there who had one. O even brought me a magazine while I was there, but none of the other mothers seemed to even be interested. Now granted, there wasn’t all that much time to read, but still, I did manage to read that magazine.

There aren’t many book stores around either and the stores that do have books don’t carry a huge selection. That’s not to say that books aren’t sold. I’ve found a couple of very good websites here in Italy that actually even get the books to you within 24 hours (a record here) and one even offers books in English. So obviously someone reads.

Next time I have to wait somewhere I’m definitely taking a book with me. I wonder if people will look at me strangely….

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Well, it seems that they’ve decided to heat the battle up a notch.

The other day I was sitting on the floor playing with Luigi when I heard a loud bang that sounded like something heavy hitting the sliding glass door that leads to my balcony. I quickly looked up in time to see a pigeon flying away. Consequently, I figured that I must have been mistaken about what I thought caused the noise.

That is, until I saw this

That must have been some collision!

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