Prelude To Sicily

Quite a full day today. JoAnn and I headed out to Hampden to do some shopping. It was fun poking around in the funky shops up and down the Avenue. We had lunch at Cafe Hon where the atmosphere was rather chaotic. From there we headed down to Little Italy where we were to meet Domenica and Anna's house. Domenica had assured me there'd be no trouble finding a parking spot at that time of day (2 p.m.). Well, I went up and down the streets of L.I. and could not find a spot and ended in one of the parking garages. Of course, Domenica found a spot a half block away!

We had such a nice time visiting with Anna, Sergio and Maria who is as sweet and beautiful as ever. We got the scoop on Dad and his relatives from Anna and Maria. I learned that Maria was not born in Italy. Her father, my dad's uncle, came to the U.S. in the early 1900s and travelled around looking for work. Maria was born in Albany, NY, and a sibling of hers was born in West Virginia. After three years her father returned to Bafia, Sicily, where Maria grew up. When Anna was 15 she and Maria moved to the U.S. They sailed over on the Andrea Doria...but that's another story.

From Anna's we made our way over to Caesar's Den where we met with Santina. We got some more dirt on the family through our discussions with Santina. We learned that dad had been a premature baby. He was born August 17, 1917, a seven-month baby. All those sevens, no wonder seven is my lucky number! We also learned that our great grandfather committed suicide. This is the story according to Santina: he was a gardener for the church. He was pruning trees when he fell off a ladder, broke his neck and was paralyzed. Realizing he could no longer provide for five daughters and a son he shot himself. I think the story is a bit suspect. If he was paralyzed how could he shoot himself? At any rate, Santina gave us some more names of relatives to look up.

We've got a bit of a mystery to solve when we get to Sicily. Maria says dad was born in Case Nove while Santina says he was born in Catalimita. Wherever he was born, everyone agrees he grew up in Bafia. I cannot wait to see these towns of my father's youth. I only wish he was still here so we could talk with him about it.

Prelude To Sicily

Quite a full day today. JoAnn and I headed out to Hampden to do some shopping. It was fun poking around in the funky shops up and down the Avenue. We had lunch at Cafe Hon where the atmosphere was rather chaotic. From there we headed down to Little Italy where we were to meet Domenica and Anna's house. Domenica had assured me there'd be no trouble finding a parking spot at that time of day (2 p.m.). Well, I went up and down the streets of L.I. and could not find a spot and ended in one of the parking garages. Of course, Domenica found a spot a half block away!

We had such a nice time visiting with Anna, Sergio and Maria who is as sweet and beautiful as ever. We got the scoop on Dad and his relatives from Anna and Maria. I learned that Maria was not born in Italy. Her father, my dad's uncle, came to the U.S. in the early 1900s and travelled around looking for work. Maria was born in Albany, NY, and a sibling of hers was born in West Virginia. After three years her father returned to Bafia, Sicily, where Maria grew up. When Anna was 15 she and Maria moved to the U.S. They sailed over on the Andrea Doria...but that's another story.

From Anna's we made our way over to Caesar's Den where we met with Santina. We got some more dirt on the family through our discussions with Santina. We learned that dad had been a premature baby. He was born August 17, 1917, a seven-month baby. All those sevens, no wonder seven is my lucky number! We also learned that our great grandfather committed suicide. This is the story according to Santina: he was a gardener for the church. He was pruning trees when he fell off a ladder, broke his neck and was paralyzed. Realizing he could no longer provide for five daughters and a son he shot himself. I think the story is a bit suspect. If he was paralyzed how could he shoot himself? At any rate, Santina gave us some more names of relatives to look up.

We've got a bit of a mystery to solve when we get to Sicily. Maria says dad was born in Case Nove while Santina says he was born in Catalimita. Wherever he was born, everyone agrees he grew up in Bafia. I cannot wait to see these towns of my father's youth. I only wish he was still here so we could talk with him about it.

Curtains Again

I was feeling a little under the weather today. I really felt like staying in my jammies and watching TV all day but I managed to motivate myself to finish one chore I've been putting off for a while. I took down all the sheer curtains in the living room and dining room, ironed them and then rehung them. I had previously hung them up wet after washing them, hoping the wrinkles would fall out, but they didn't. I've been taking Zicam for this cold that keeps trying to assert itself and it seems to be working. I certainly don't want to be sick for my trip to Sicily. Can't believe I leave one week from today. Tomorrow, JoAnn, Domenica and I will be getting together with Anna and Santina to talk about Sicily and Dad's relatives there.

Return to the Blogosphere

I haven't posted in a while. I've been struggling to adapt to life in the U.S. It's not easy after being an ex-pat for six years. We've also been really really busy getting settled in. Today I finally downloaded all the photos I've taken since last July when we were still living in England. It was fun looking through them...I got to relive our trips to London and Scotland. I had almost forgotten about this funky cinema sign in London near Leicester Square.

Today was my birthday. I woke up to flowers as usual. What a nice tradition. Brad also gave me a beautiful pair of blue sapphire earrings. Also part of our tradition, I got to choose where I wanted to go out to dinner tonight. I chose Sotto Sopra. It was wonderful. I had a salad and ricotta gnocchi with a fresh tomato sauce. The gnocchi were surprisingly light and fluffy. Brad had fried calamari and pappardelle with wild mushrooms. Very tasty. For dessert I had tiramisu while Brad opted for pistachio vanilla creme brulee. Both desserts were out of this world. The only disappointment was the stale decaf.