April is the Cruellest Month

April is the cruellest month, breeding lilacs out of the dead land, mixing memory and desire, stirring dull roots with spring rain. Winter kept us warm, covering earth in forgetful snow, feeding a little life with dried tubers. (T.S. Eliot, The Waste Land)

It is officially Springtime in Gainesville, and I'm pretty sure I have spring fever. I don't want to get up and go to work, but I do want to buy plants and flowers for the yard. Here are a few of my recent acquisitions.

This is a plant called "Mona Lavender." The blossoms are very delicate, but the leaves are thick and sturdy.

Here's my little Herb Garden. I have cilantro, rosemary, oregano and basil! I plan to use some of these to make Chick Pea Ragout for a dinner with my Italian friends.

And, of course, a tomato plant that is destined to yield dozens of fat juicy red tomatoes. It's planted right outside my bedroom window, so hopefully I will scare all the birds and other critters away.

A co-worker brought in some surplus amaryllis bulbs to share, so I guess I'll try my hand at growing these, too!

One more shot of the lavender plants that I love so much. They are even prettier in real life.

Clemons-Langston Reunion 2009

Last weekend Garold and I went to the Clemons/Langston family reunion in Branford. It is hosted each year by the Hurst sisters. Although we did not spend much time together when I was growing up, I always enjoy attending this reunion because these folks remind me of my Mom. They tend to be very organized, they cherish their families, and they cook great food! Each year at least one person brings a big roasting pan full of stuffing that tastes just like the stuffing that Mom used to make. This year on the dessert table there was a yummy homemade chocolate cake. What set this cake apart from other cakes is that it was made of many very thin layers of yellow cake, with chocolate frosting in between each. You couldn't get a single bite of this cake without frosting!









Here is an old photo someone brought to the reunion. The lady on the right is Dosha Clemons, and on the left is her daughter, my Mom's first cousin. Can you see the family resemblance?

My brother, Mike, and my cousin Robert's wife, Pam, were also there.

This is Robert, my first cousin. He's the son of Uncle Howard and Aunt Pearl. If you remember Aunt Pearl, then I don't need to tell you who he looks like.

And this is Uncle Howard, my Mom's brother. He will be turning 90 this September. He still takes care of himself, drives his own car, and does his own cooking. He brings a homemade covered dish to every event he attends. For this reunion he made corn casserole. He was a little miffed when he discovered there was a lot left over because someone had mistakenly put it on the dessert table.

The morning after Tosca

We went to the opera last night! Puccini's Tosca is a story set in Rome in about 1800. It is one of the most frequently performed operas in North America, because it is a very entertaining story. The set was marvelous, and very realistic. The 1st Act was set inside the church Sant' Andrea della Valle, and it looked very much like many of the churches we saw throughout Italy. The building still stands in present day Rome. The 2nd Act took place inside the Palazzo Farnese, the residence of Scarpia, the Chief of Police. This building still stands and is currently used as the French Embassy. The 3rd Act was atop the Castel Sant' Angelo, where we stopped for sandwich and coffee (cappuccini e panini) when we visited Rome last fall. The set looked remarkably realistic. It was over by 10:00 PM. Since this was a week night, and we both had to get up early this morning to go to work, that was a good thing. It was interesting to watch an opera with with lots of young college students (many many cell phones) and several busloads of retired people (many many canes) in the audience. Talk about your mixed crowd! Lucky for all of us, there was an English translation projected just above the stage. So even if we didn't know what the story line was we would have been able to follow. All in all I was very impressed with both the venue (Phillips Center for the Performing Arts) and the production (University of Florida Opera Theater).

Tosca

This is a classic tragedy that rivals Romeo and Juliet for intensity and irony. The story begins in a church in Rome, the Sant' Andrea della Valle! A painter (Mario) is busy painting Mary Magdalen. His friend (Cesare) rushes in and begs Mario to help him hide--he is a political prisoner who has just escaped from Castel' Sant' Angelo. While the two friends are talking, Mario's lover (Tosca) knocks at the door of the sacristry, asking Mario why the door is locked, and who he is talking to. She is jealous and suspects Mario may be seeing another woman. Later, the Police Chief (Carlo) uses Tosca's passion for Mario to trick her into telling him where Cesare is hiding. In exchange for Mario's life Tosca agrees to submit to Carlo. The story ends tragically because neither Carlo nor Tosca keeps their word.

We're going to the Opera!

Tosca is being performed at the Philips Center for the Performing Arts on the University of Florida campus this week! I just reserved two tickets for this Thursday night. We saw the famous opera house, La Scala, in Milan, but did not see an actual opera there. We did go to a smaller opera in Venice, which we very much enjoyed. I am hoping this performance of Tosca will meet the standards set in Venice, because they were really very good. Recently we met an Italian family who are visiting the states for a few months. The father sang for us, and I was reminded once again how beautiful Italian voices can be. So between now and Thursday I need to do some research and get up to speed on Puccini's story of Tosca. I remember studying it in a college Humanities class many many years ago, and I remember it is a tragedy, but that's about it. Education truly is a life long process!

Venice

After viewing da Vinci's Last Supper, we returned to the Hotel to retrieve our luggage (they were holding it for us) and took a taxi to Milan Centrale. We arrived at Venezia Santa Lucia in the late afternoon on Saturday, October 18, and took the "slow boat" (vaporetto #1) down the Grand Canal to Sant Elena. From here it was just a short walk to the B & B Venezia at Calle Bainsizza, 3. Our room was on the top floor, on the right. We had breakfast each morning in the kitchen, which was just across the hall. This was one of the nicest and most reasonably priced places that we stayed. They even had a T-Mobile HotSpot so we were finally able to use our new cell phones to call home.

The heart of Venice was just a short walk, or vaporetto ride, away. There are no cars in Venice. People who live there have their own boat, walk, or ride the vaporettos.

St. Mark's Square is the center of action in Venice. Inside the church the floor has buckled and you can see water marks on the columns where it has flooded in the past. There is a stack of folding tables that they put up for people to walk on when Venice floods.

A gondola ride through the canals of Venice could cost 80 Euros or more.

The Rialto Bridge crosses the Grand Canal. The current stone bridge was built in 1592 to replace the previous wooden bridge. Rows of shops line both sides of the bridge.

Here's Garold on the island of San Giorgio Maggiore with St. Mark's in the background.

This is the view from atop the Bell Tower on San Giorgio Maggiore.

Milan

We left Cinque Terre Thursday, October 16, and spent one night in the Hotel Poliziano Fiera in Milan. It was nice to be in a big city after the beautiful but rustic Cinque Terre. We were treated to a big American breakfast on Friday morning, complete with bacon, toast and orange juice!

Of course we went to see the Duomo. Construction on Milan's gothic cathedral, the Duomo di Milano, was begun in 1386 and substantially completed in 1805 by Napolean Bonaparte.

This statue of St. Bartholomew was placed in the Duomo in 1562. He is depicted holding his own skin, because it is believed that he was flayed and then crucified upside down.

This is the famous La Scala Opera House in Milan. The Marriage of Figaro was being performed.

Santa Maria delle Grazie was built by the Duke of Milan Francesco Sforza in about 1469. Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper is located here, on a wall in the convent. This was one of the most amazing works of art that we saw in Italy. It appears to be a three dimensional extension of the room, rather than a single dimension fresco. When this church was bombed during World War II, the wall with the Last Supper survived.