December 2009: family status-check [of trivialities, faves and hobbies]

Things simmer in my mind, tiny little things I want to remember never to forget. It occurred to me to take a snapshot of our lives, not of the photo variety but more of a mental, emotional, geographical freeze frame. So I set out to check-in with our family of four: of where we are with regard to current reads, favorite foods, recent memories and more. This is a quick-list, far from exhausting, but a good start:

Nicknames. What was your nickname in school? We didn't have a lot of nicknames, but this trip and circumstance seems to be fertile ground for upgrading names and attaching new ones. During our summer of cycling from Amsterdam to Paris, we called Anthony 'the cat,' and Caleb 'grease monkey.' Anthony's bike would catch a rut and throw him---on occasion---and we have multiple stories of him somehow flying off his bike and landing, uncannily, on his feet. After a day of cycling, Caleb would often have greasy proof of our day's ride. Somehow the back of his calves and his greased up bike chains had an affinity for one another.

Italy provided an entirely different proposition: new first names. Because Caleb and Janelle are a difficult to say in Italian, we have since adopted new names. We knew 'Caleb' was a mouthful in the Italian language, so we told him he could use his middle name instead. He became Francesco at school and on the soccer field. He has since gained two more nicknames: 'Franchi' (pronounced Frankie) from his soccer buddies, and 'Maio' (pronounced /My-oh/) from his coach---obviously a shortened version of our last name. Janelle is tough to say, so James started calling me Gina... and seems to get a royal kick out of it. James is Giacomo---an easy translation from English to Italian; Anthony is Antonio, with the added bonus of his mom regularly calling him 'Anto'---a common nickname for Antonio.

That was long-winded, these are not:

current favorite cereal: Anthony Miele Pops (think honey Kix) and Caleb cocoa pops. There are a LOT fewer options here!).

current hobbies:
Caleb is enjoying painting, guitar, collecting gems/minerals and sketching/researching cars.
Anthony is busy making ornaments, house design, reading, and researching Fantasy Premier League (our family of four compete online in fantasy soccer); he is also looking into fantasy stock exchange(s).
James and Janelle are into touring Florence, tasting wine and food, researching business opportunities and blogging/journaling/collecting souvenirs. Oh, and Janelle loves loves loves cooking Italian food!

fave souvenirs:
Caleb: gems
Anthony: tiles from Orvieto, San Gimignano, Florence and Pisa
James: Poggio Amorelli wine box (plus contents)
Janelle: metal chef (handcrafted metal wine-bottle holder, made to look like a chef); Christmas sangria pitcher (James just bought for me!)

current read:
Caleb: Hamish X and the Cheese Pirates by Sean Cullen
Anthony: The Firm by John Grisham
James: The Firm by John Grisham
Janelle: Mario Batali's Molto Italiano cookbook

favorite store:
Caleb: Mineral Shop (Florence)
Anthony: unknown
James: Oibo (actually a cafe, but we buy our morning espresso and pastries there...)
Janelle: euro store for inexpensive decor and dried goods, and Pep Bizzarrie in Castellini in Chianti---easily my favorite ceramic shop.

current favorite meal:
Caleb: "I have had too many great meals in my life, I could never ever decide which one was the best."
Anthony: Thanksgiving (esp. raspberry balsamic sauce, turkey, squash risotto and wheat rolls)
James: wild boar sauce on soft polenta
Janelle: wild boar sauce on soft polenta (aka polenta and cinghiali ragu)

favorite Italian cities:
Caleb: Volterra, Sienna
Anthony: Bologna, Sienna
James: Lucca, Orvieto
Janelle: Bologna (due to best meal ever), San Gimignano, Orvieto

frolicking fridays, round 8

This Friday was unique, since we had James' parents in town. The fun of having guests is that you look at your 'own' city with new eyes. Which means you retrace steps of your favorite streets, share your favorite sites, and have reason to revisit special cafes, museums and galleries.

We rolled out of our home late morning and en route to Palazzo Pitti walked along the Arno. We had the timely fortune of seeing a production of skydivers dropping from the sky... only to land on platforms---or should I say float docks---located sporadically in the Arno River. We watched, photographed and were impressed when 4 out of 5 jumpers landed on their small-time targets. After feeling fortunate for our timing, we scooted toward the Ponte Vecchio and shopped, stopped and photographed our way across this singularly famous bridge.

We popped into a little cafe James and I had been to before, and grabbed a carafe of house wine, slices of meats, cheeses and a pile of olives. After topping off our bellies, we walked to Pitti Palace (aka Palazzo Pitti) and enjoyed 3 hours of strolling and gawking before famous upon famous works of art. We witnessed Raphael, Titziano, Lippi, Van Dyck, Boticelli, Granacci and my favorite was from Allori...

With all the amazing art I find it helps to stroll through, find the famous pieces, then find what else you are drawn to and ask why. I loved the Allori, for example, because it was a nearly disturbing and profound painting of Judith, holding the head of Halofernes (captain of an enemy army)... the emotion and her eyes were grounding. She was strong, sad, deliberate, wise in her youth, determined, successful, profound.

The amazing thing is you could say so many such things about so many paintings. The Medici family (this was their collection) had so many famous works from so many well-regarded artists...

My other favorite was the large room dedicated to Hercules. It had huge frescoes highlighting points in his life, and it was poignant. We left the Pitti mentally tired but soulfully brimming.

We went home to greet Caleb just as he was finishing school (Anthony would be home 2 hours later, due to soccer practice). Our evening was full of good wine, lively chatter and competitive card-playing.

frolicking fridays, round 7

Thank God for Fridays.

From Monday through Thursday James and I are working on business ideas, blog posts, photo updates, resume building. But on Friday, we take the day off for a self imposed day of touring.

This Friday in Florence, we hit the big one: Michelangelo's David. James and I (and Anthony) read The Agony and the Ecstasy---a biography of Michelangelo's life. It was brilliant, and we highly recommend it (p.s. I just read that Seattle's Art Museum has 10 original sketches from Michelangelo). If you have read the book, you have read the description of Michelangelo's David: the process of making it, the intent in the sculpting, his study of the human body and his portrayal of youth-becomes-man through David. It was remarkable. We circled The David, trying to memorize every vein, and envisioned the artist covered with marble dust while he aggressively and deliberately placed each muscle and bone and tendon.

It is humbling and surreal to be in a city whose artists created so many works, defined history and reinvented art, dedicated their lives, sweat and sanity to their passion...

... it makes you visit and revisit your own passions and talents. What are we contributing? Sigh.

Besides a visit to The Academia, which houses Michelangelo's original David (a copy of The David stands in the Piazza Signoria---where the original used to stand), James and I had a splendid lunch at a nearby cafe. A bottle of wine, some rigatoni with rabbit, white fish baked in tomato sauce... long Friday lunches are key to our touring success.

You will note a photo of me in Piazza Signoria, mimicking a statue by Giambologna (ironically, this Piazza has the copy of Michelangelo's David, and this original Giambologna; and in The Academia is the reverse: the original David and a copy of Giambologna's statue). It is a little nuts, but once you have been here long enough, gone to the Bargello and Gardens, toured the Uffizi and visited the many churches... you see originals and copies and copies of copies... it take great concentration to keep it all straight!

We cut it a little short this past Friday: by 2 we had to jet home, as I had an Italian class (taking a few hours to push some of the lingo into my brain... just to keep up with the boys). All in all, a day well spent.