Something edited this way comes

I'm not the only person obsessively researching Walt Disney World

2012-02-14T20:56:00.003+01:00

I do hope I look a little less possessed, though.

Valentine's Day preview: Funny fortune cookies

2012-02-10T13:34:00.011+01:00

The January/February issue of American Girl magazine has some great ideas for Valentine's Day. Laura and I agreed on these funny fortune cookie valentines because they looked easy to make, I knew we could get all of the materials easily, and they would work for boys or girls.

If you happen to have the magazine, you can find much better instructions there. You can find the silly fortunes here. I printed them directly from the site -- you can choose the ones you want or it will auto-fill randomly -- and ended up with 22 on a regular-size page. Some examples:
Even if you decide to create your own fortunes, you'll need:
Felt (a thin variety, often labeled "craft felt") in whichever colors you choose
A circle template 3 to 4 inches wide
Double-sided tape
Scissors sharp enough to cut the felt

We ended up with pink, purple, green and blue felt because red wasn't available. We used a 3-inch template, but now that I've done 24 "cookies," I think something to 4 inches actually would make them more realistic-looking.

Basic assembly instructions:

Arrange a felt circle on a flat surface and put a small piece of tape close to the edge on one side.
Fold the felt in half.
Slide in the fortune.I folded the fortunes in half because it seemed like there was too much hanging out the sides. You can avoid this problem if you're using the American Girl fortunes by cutting 4-inch circles. Making sure the fortunes are only 3 inches wide would work, too, I just didn't realize it would be a problem until it was too late.

Put another small piece of tape on the outside of one end of your felt half-moon.
Fold the half-moon in half again so it looks (sort of like) a fortune cookie.
I also created a sort of takeout box to hold the finished cookies. There are tons of patterns out there; Google "takeout box template" and you'll see what I mean.
So, now 24 of Laura's classmates and closest friends will be receiving little felt fortune cookies next week. And I didn't have to buy any candy ...

A Summer in Tuscany by Sandra J. Swanson

2012-02-06T11:09:00.002+01:00

Awhile back, I was looking for a Kindle book to fill an afternoon. This was available through Amazon's "loaner" book program for Prime subscribers, and I figured it was worth a look.
The bottom line: I wouldn't pay money for it, and it's definitely not the best-written book about Tuscany out there. But it's quick read, and the diary-like nature of it means there's a lot of detail about things people might care about.
Like shopping. If you read the reviews on Amazon, a lot of them complain that it's a "rich woman goes to Italy" sort of story. And it definitely is, to an almost-maddening degree in some ways. But even if I never go the places she went or buy the things she bought, the stories behind some of them are worthwhile.
The trip this book chronicles was quite a few years ago, before the travel-simplifying magic of the Internet was so all-encompassing. For that reason, the author's planning tips probably won't be of much use even to the rich people who are seeking similar accommodations. But I will say that her family's idea of creating a "base" from which to do some traveling but to really become part of one little area -- in their case a villa outside San Gimignano -- makes perfect sense no matter what kind of time or monetary budget you're working with.

Looks like the shoe car's having a bad week

2012-02-04T15:51:00.002+01:00

This car advertises a little boutique near the Pagano metro station, and we see it both driving around and parked quite often. The sign on the windshield asks people to please not climb onto the hood to take photos, and I must admit that never would have occurred to me with or without it being covered in snow.

Snow angels: A tutorial by Owen

2012-02-02T10:57:00.007+01:00

Step 1: Have your mother carry you to a nice patch of unspoiled snow and lie you on the ground. Can't have your feet actually touch the stuff, you know.Check.

Step 2: What? I'm supposed to move my legs? You've got to be kidding me. Come over here and move them yourself.Check.

Step 3: These ridiculous mittens you made me wear are weighing down my arms. You'll have to come and move those, too, if you're going to insist on me going through with this.Check.

Step 4: Have your mother lift you off of your lovely creation so it can be properly oooed and ahhed over by your adoring fans.Check.

Step 5: Insist that it's way cooler than your mom's. I mean, seriously, was all of that flailing around really necessary?Check.

Ah, the memories.

No worries, I obsess over a lot more than Italian churches

2012-01-31T15:24:00.003+01:00

For example, the past couple of weeks I've been focusing on Walt Disney World.
Yes, we've been there before. Numerous times. But we've decided to split our home leave this summer between Orlando and Houston, so there's a real, live event to plan for. And restaurants to book. And a toddler to indocrinate.
I'm only partly kidding about that last one. We don't want a repeat of the Great Buzz Lighyear Incident of 2010. His current interest in barking and meowing means he's watching 101 Dalmations a lot (actually the sequel when Patch goes to London), and the dalmations don't do character appearances. But at least it's something.
We're not staying in a resort hotel this trip -- it's part of an effort to economize as much as possible -- so we won't do as much Disney dining as we typically have. That hasn't stopped me from checking for hypothetical restaurant options, though. And the question of whether we'll drive from the hotel to the parks probably was settled by the information I received from a very nice woman who answered the phone at our hotel when I called the other day.
And I haven't even mentioned Universal Studios and my careful research of Harry Potter World. Don't even get me started on that ...
Yes, this all still is months away. Will I move on to another obsession soon? Probably. But I'm more than willing to share details on our favorite guidebook or to compare and contrast crowd level projections for various days. I'm nothing if not thorough.

Isn't Thomas even creepier than usual when he's slightly out of focus?

2012-01-26T12:30:00.003+01:00

Yeah, I thought so.
What's going on these days: speech assessments, sick kid, an earthquake, lots and lots of trains -- some of them creepier than others.

Oh, look, I'm writing about books again

2012-01-20T13:45:00.006+01:00

I haven't stopped reading but somehow have stopped writing about what I'm reading. This will catch me up only a little.
Several months ago, I came across a couple of Marshal Guarnaccia Investigation novels in the consulate library. They're set in Florence quite a few years ago, but the stories are interesting.

The first one I read was Death of an Englishman. Yes, the name is a bit dramatic, but it is about an Englishman, and it's fairly brief and quick to read. (I think it's the first in the series, and it seems the author, Magdalen Nabb, may have written more each time as the series progressed. Sort of like J.K. Rowling, you know.)
I think the most enjoyable thing about this book was the characters and the way, as a reader, you really can picture the neighborhood (and its personalities) while reading it. And unlike with some such stories, I didn't find myself feeling sorry for the murder victim.

The other book I read isn't the second one in the series, but I don't think a lot of the story really carries over from book to book. This one, The Marshal Makes His Report, was a lot more disturbing to me. I don't mean that in a particularly bad way, just that there were a lot of people to feel sorry for.
Part of what makes reading nonfiction so much fun, at least to me, is reading about situations I'd never be a part of otherwise. I can say this book was full of those for me.

I'll be reading some more of the series for sure, but since there don't seem to be any more floating around the bookshelves at the consulate, the others likely will be on the Kindle. I hope they'll be just as excellent.

Foreign Service swap

2012-01-18T16:29:00.002+01:00

My friend Ottawa Amy -- not a name she actually goes by, but I think it sounds cool -- is organizing another Foreign Service swap. So, if any of you reading this are FS and are interested, click here for the details.
The whole thing is a lot of fun. For the first swap, we were in Trinidad and were assigned to someone in Iceland. For the second, we already were in Milan and were assigned someone in El Salvador. It's a fun way to learn about other places and to exchange some cool random objects from your post. Join us!

A day at the (cross-country ski) races

2012-01-14T19:25:00.009+01:00

Cross-country skiing's World Cup races are in Milan this weekend, and we spent a little while this afternoon watching some qualifying and quarterfinals races.
In Parco Sempione.
Seriously, when I first noticed the World Cup posters a few weeks ago, I thought they were saying Milan because we were the closest city to whatever mountain location they were using. But no, they trucked in snow -- the city hasn't had a single flake this winter -- and raced around some of the paths between Castello Sforzesco and the duck pond.
Way cool.
This screen was set up behind the Castello.
I think there was another big screen by the Duomo, but we didn't make it down there.
The stands were only for VIPs, which of course we aren't. So we walked around until we found a clear spot to watch. These guys (and girls) were pretty fast considering there were no hills on the course.
Because there were staggered starts for qualifying, it was only individual racers who zoomed by. But when we came back after lunch, there were a few groups warming up and practicing.
Meanwhile, Laura got this close-up of the tracks they left:
Owen was grumpy by this time, so we only stayed for a couple of the women's quarterfinals races. But I am curious about how many of them end up with pole-poke injuries on corners such as this:
Someone has to ask the tough questions.

Hardship Homemaking

2012-01-14T07:11:00.003+01:00

Foreign Service (and other expat) types might be interested in this relatively new blog, which is all about cooking from scratch and finding creative ways to solve lifestyle-type problems that crop up when you can't just go out and buy things you want/need.
Yesterday I shared my granola recipe, a slightly different version that I posted here awhile back. You can see my post here. There also are links for contributions and questions, which are encouraged.

More on "Mary and Jesus in a Tree of Floating Baby Heads"

2012-01-13T12:58:00.005+01:00

I originally wrote about this painting here. It's significant for many reasons, partly because it's by Andrea Mantegna and painted in 1497. Its real name is Madonna in gloria e santi Giovanni Battista, Gregorio Magno, Benedetto e Girolamo or the Pala Trivulzio, as it was part of an altarpiece.
I thought about it again recently when I came across it on the Web site of the Restauratori e Restauri in Museo project, which is educating museum-goers on the history of various paintings through chronicling restoration work that has been done on them. It sounds fascinating, although I haven't been to see any of the displays as of yet. (I have been to all of the museums and seen the paintings before, though.)
You can read more about the history of the Mantegna, which is in the pinacoteca at the Castello Sforzesco, here. The main Web site also has information on the other three pieces currently included in the project: Michele da Verona's Crocefissione, which is in the Brera; the Ancona della Passione in the Museo Diocesano; and Gaetano Previati's Madonna degli Gigli, which is in the Galleria d'Arte Moderna di Milano.
Don't be scared away by the Italian names; most of the information on the Web site has been translated into English.

Did anyone else in Milan notice this?

2012-01-11T21:59:00.003+01:00

The night of the consulate Christmas party, as we walked home, all three of us who notice and discuss such things mentioned the extreme lean being exhibited by the tree in front of the Duomo.
Heck, Owen probably would have noticed it, too, if he hadn't been falling asleep.
I didn't get a photo then, though, and didn't think about it again until last week. Then I finally snapped this:Maybe I won't feel so bad the next time I have a crooked Christmas tree ...

Adventures in northern Italy: Monte Berico, Vicenza

2012-01-09T16:39:00.004+01:00

We've been to Vicenza numerous times for shopping and even to see some sights, but we'd never gone up to Monte Berico until this weekend. The church opened in 1429 and is on a hill overlooking Vicenza. (There's an interesting staircase from city level to the church, but I don't have any photos of it.)We didn't go into the church -- such visits are limited to about 6.5 minutes with Owen these days, so we'll go back later -- but we did spend some time in Piazzale della Vittoria, the square in front of the church that has lovely views of the city.
Here's an example:Supposedly it's also possible to see the Venetian lagoon from up there, but I didn't think to look for it. I guess that'll be a goal for our next visit, too.

All because we took a different exit from the metro

2012-01-06T06:50:00.003+01:00

Generally speaking, metro stations on Milan's Yellow Line are the only ones with elevators. This comes in handy pretty often -- the consulate is on the Yellow Line -- but it also means I tend to take certain routes because they're easier.
But yesterday I decided I'd carry Owen and his stroller up the stairs at the Missori station instead, and we ended up in Piazza Missori. I've been there numerous times but never had seen the gate to the crypt of San Giovanni in Conca open. This time it was, though, and we decided to descend into its depths.
The church doesn't really exist anymore; this, which was the apse, is all that's left at ground level:An aside: This is the kind of pose one gets after instructing their preteen to "look like you actually want to be here."
So, I'd seen this little piece of Romanesque ruins tons of times but not the crypt. I was so glad we happened by when it was open. One of the volunteers working -- the Touring Club of Italy mans many of Milan's free sites -- took us around to explain all of the photos, illustrations and maps, as well as a section of aqueduct that also happened to flow through the crypt. I understood much of what he told us but wondered why the church had been torn down. (One of the photos, from 1885, shows the campanile with scaffolding on it.) My later research showed that much of the building was razed to make way for Via Mazzini (in 1879) and then was reduced to its current tininess in 1949. But the Waldensians, who owned it by then, used the facade on their new church.
So now I guess I need to go find THAT, as well as pay more attention the next time we're in the archaeology section of the Sforzesco Castle musuem, where most of the real artwork from San Giovanni in Conca now resides.

Oh, look! It's another Ambrosian church!

2012-01-05T16:41:00.007+01:00

This morning I made the executive (read: boring, educational mom) decision to visit San Nazaro in Brolo, which is one of the churches St. Ambrose built in Milan. This one was started in 382 (nope, there's not a 1 missing there) on the main road to Rome.
One might see the facade and think it's not very exciting:but rest assured that isn't the real facade. It's the crypt of an important family that Bramantino (not his real name, but he was an understudy of Bramante) designed in 1512. So, the real facade is covered up.
I must say, though, that if I was going to have a crypt, I'd definitely want it to have a dome like this one:
Of course, the inside of the main basilica is lovely as well:
There's also some lovely artwork, but we didn't get any clear photos. Maybe next time.
One of our guidebooks mentioned that the back of the church was dramatic-looking. I'm not sure I'd describe it as dramatic, but it's probably just as interesting as the front:
And here's a completely unrelated bonus photo, this one of a nativity scene inside the church:

San Maurizio. Again. And again.

2012-01-03T21:49:00.006+01:00

I've written about San Maurizio before, and I've been there at least a couple of times without writing about it. But I finally took Laura there the week before Christmas, and she agrees with me that the frescoes are awesome. (We don't always agree on things, so this is significant.)
I found it significant that I was drawn to this, as we were there a couple of days before Christmas and it depicts Jesus' family's escape to Egypt:
It isn't often that I consider black-and-white paintings to be worthy of the same study as their color counterparts, but the ones at San Maurizio really are.
I have grand plans to make photo books of many of our adventures here. Maybe one of the books will be all about St. Ambrose. There he is again, in awesome color, keeping watch over everyone:
I think San Maurizio is worthy of its own photo book for sure. I guess I'll have to return a few more times to take more photos. Wanna tag along?

It was a dark and spooky night ...

2011-12-29T14:37:00.003+01:00

OK, so it really wasn't. It was late afternoon Monday as we walked home from one of the playgrounds near our house, and Laura pointed out the crescent moon. But doesn't it look like it could have been a dark and spooky night?

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-25T07:59:00.000+01:00

I'm posting this a few days late -- yay for backdating! -- but didn't want to go without a Christmas message. My new nativity, made in Peru, sums it up nicely:The holiday really should be all about celebrating Jesus' birth. We need to work harder to remember that.
On a less serious note, would the baby Jesus have been frightened by having livestock eyeballing him?

Guide to our Christmas card

2011-12-24T07:20:00.001+01:00

Some of you soon will be getting something like this in the mail from us:and as such you might be wondering, "Who are these people, and where in the world were all of these photos taken?" You wouldn't have to ask such questions if I'd included a guide to the photos on the backs of the cards as I originally planned. Since I didn't, here goes (clockwise from upper left):

Kevin, Owen, Zoe and Laura, roof of Milan's Duomo, February 2011
Owen, outside the Pantheon, Rome, November 2011
Zoe, Owen and Laura, in Bergamo's Citta Alta, February 2011
Kevin and Laura, in the Vatican Museum in Vatican City, November 2011
Laura, with the Rosetta Stone in the British Museum, London, June 2011
Laura, at Milan's Arco della Pace, September 2011
Laura, on the roof of the Duomo in Florence with the Campanile in the background, February 2011
Laura and Zoe, at the Roman Forum, Rome, November 2011
Kevin, Colosseum, Rome, November 2011
Owen, Milan, November 2011
Laura and Zoe, Bergamo, February 2011
Owen and Laura, Rome, November 2011

I may not do cards next year. Or maybe I'll plan ahead and do tons of cards. Who knows?

In case there was any doubt: Yes, I can be quite an airhead

2011-12-20T14:29:00.003+01:00

Remember this little feat of engineering? It got fixed this morning when that pesky air conditioner was replaced with an AC/heater combo unit. It solved the (current) too-cold living room problem and the (summer) air-conditioned floor problem all at once.
The guys who came to change out the unit were nice and professional and easy to understand. They even pretended to understand me (no easy feat with my caveman Italian). One of the embassy maintenance guys came by as they should have been about done and stayed with them after I had to leave the house.
Fast-forward a few hours, and I got home. The house was nice and toasty. Too warm, in fact. I started looking around for the heater's remote. Couldn't find it anywhere. Figured out how to take the front panel off the unit so I could access the emergency operation switches. Found the operation manuals lying in plain sight. But nope, no remote.
So I called Kevin, who went to track down the maintenance guy. Who must have said, "I left the remote in that little holder made specifically for holding the remote. You know, the one on the wall right beside the thing?" And may even have added, "You know your wife is crazy, don't you?"
Yep, Kevin wasn't too thrilled when he called to ask whether I'd checked where the remote should have been all along. He was even less thrilled when I said no, no I hadn't looked there. And yes, yes it was there. Just waiting to be discovered and turn the dang heater off just as it was intended to.
I at least get some points for telling the whole world this story, don't I?

Christmas in Milan

2011-12-20T09:55:00.003+01:00

Last year, I posted a photo of lights on Via della Spiga around Christmas. They were part of a big LED festival, and as such they were quirky as well as festive.
This year, Via della Spiga isn't that impressive-looking. Its holiday lights are somewhat understated arches, and during the day it doesn't look like much at all.
But Via Monte Napoleone makes up for it. If I ever have a street to decorate, I think I want to use some big gold baubles like these. It wouldn't hurt for it to be one of the most prestigious shopping streets in the world, either ...

Owen continues his boycott of Santa's lap

2011-12-17T09:57:00.004+01:00

This was as close as we got during last night's consulate Christmas party:
I guess his violent objections tired him out, too, because he fell asleep during our 2.5-mile, hour-long walk home. (There was a transit strike, so getting a taxi would have taken longer than walking.)

Lime + black pepper = cookie deliciousness

2011-12-15T11:26:00.003+01:00

Last week Deirdre sent me the Los Angeles Times' new cookie recipe book for Kindle. (It's a compilation of recipes from the past few years, including ones readers submitted for contests.) Some of them looked cool but called for ingredients that are hard to get here. But I needed to make something for the consulate cookie exchange and settled upon Lime and Black Pepper Cookies. They turned out great, although I forgot to take a photo until this morning. They also were pretty easy except for the zesting of the limes.
In other cookie-related news, I made Pretzel Chocolate-Chip Cookies, which I came across on Pinterest, for Laura to take to her Girl Scout party yesterday. They turned out quite well, too, even though I used white chocolate chips instead of the peanut butter ones called for.
Mmmm, cookies ...

Just what I always wanted

2011-12-12T15:30:00.003+01:00

I'm not sure when it started, but for a long time, I've wanted a Provencal-style tablecloth. When we lived in Colorado, I almost bought one at a cute little store in downtown Littleton. Several times, in fact. But I never did.
Finally I broke down and did Saturday at L'Artigiano, which is one of Milan's largest annual shopping events. I went last year and don't remember why I didn't just buy one then, but it doesn't matter because now I have it. And, thanks to a bit of luck and my and Laura's correct guessing as the saleslady helped us unfurl the thing across the middle of her stall, it actually fits my biggest table.

Foreign Service parade of trees (aka A sort-of reappearance of the FS blog roundup)

2011-12-10T07:56:00.022+01:00

So as I was overdecorating my Christmas tree the past few days, I was thinking about all of my friends (Foreign Service and otherwise) who put up their trees the day after Thanksgiving. Or even before Thanksgiving (I'm not naming any names). It occurred to me it might be fun to compile a collection of Foreign Service Christmas tree posts.
I had a similar idea about Thanksgiving posts, but I never was able to pull it off. I'm apparently a little more organized now, though, because here, in living color, is the:

Foreign Service parade of trees

Abuja
Bamako
Beijing (featuring a video of the decorating)
Brasilia
Brussels
Chengdu (I'm having some trouble linking to this one, but scroll down to the Dec. 1 entry)
Ciudad Juarez
Conakry
Cotonou (Love the Mr. Potato Head!)
Dakar
Jerusalem
Luanda
Majuro
Manama
Manila
Milan (yes, this one is mine)
Moscow (here, here and here)
Phnom Penh
South Africa
Tallinn
Tijuana (A must-see post if you've never seen anyone mop a Christmas tree.)
Tunis
Riyadh
Washington, D.C. (D.C. could have its own parade! Check it out here, here, here -- best use of an Oakwood ficus for sure -- here, here and here.)

With something like this, photos really are necessary, and the above links are all to posts with photos. But in Conakry there's a photoless Christmas tree story that deserves a mention as well. Been there, done that is all I can say.

All of the unsolicited blogs included in this post are listed at Life After Jerusalem, but if you're included here and don't want to be, definitely let me know. Also, if you have a Christmas tree photo on a blog somewhere that I've missed, let me know and I'll update. It'd be cool to have a real around-the-world representation on this.

How to overdecorate a Christmas tree

2011-12-09T20:47:00.004+01:00

Last year I posted a photo of my Christmas forest, which consists of four trees. But this year I decided to go for the minimalist approach and only use one.
When I put up that one, lonesome tree -- a six-foot Wesley pine purchased for $20 at Walmart in 2009 during our most recent Oakwood stay -- it looked really, really sad. Kevin pointed out that the little labels showing where to insert which branches were visible, and I briefly considered saying the heck with it and buying a bigger, prelighted, 220-volt Christmas tree.
So I did what any self-respecting woman with 72 million boxes of Christmas decorations would do: I poured (almost) everything we have into that one, lonesome little tree.
Hundreds of decorations and 6.5 strands of lights later, we have this:
How does one use 6.5 strands of lights, you might ask. Well, there are seven strands on there because that's all we have. But half of one of those strands won't light, and it's not like I could give up the half that will, so the dead half is wrapped around the bottom of the trunk. I like to think that half would make all the difference in those almost-dark lower branches, but the reality is that I might have gotten just a little carried away with the lights on the top. But just a little.
I actually like it better without the lights on. That way I can tell whether there are any branches yet to be smothered in decorations ...

This could be the beginning of a beautiful collection

2011-12-08T20:14:00.003+01:00

Or maybe it will be the only piece of Polish pottery I ever own. Either way, thanks to our friend Cary for giving it to us for Christmas.

Duomo at night

2011-12-04T20:27:00.003+01:00

Last night a friend from church and I were out visiting another friend, and we ended up in front of the Duomo waiting for a tram. I've never taken a similar photo because I'm often in bed by the time this was taken. Maybe if I was out past 9 p.m. more often, I'd have more such opportunities.

Behold: My latest project

2011-12-02T11:34:00.005+01:00

Remember last year when I said this?
Yeah, I was crazy. But you all already knew that.
So a couple of months ago I ordered some fabric for stockings. This was easier said than done because although Joann.com has a lovely selection, as soon as I would decide on something and try to buy it, it wasn't available.
Finally I decided to just do all four of our stockings the same. (I had been planning to do four different prints, each with a coordinating back, that went together but didn't match per se.) Joann came through with an international-flag-themed Christmas fabric that was perfect for our little globetrotting family. With some input from my sister Laurie, I selected a single backing fabric (a green-and-gold stripe, which I didn't take a photo of) and finally was able to place the order.
So this week I printed a stocking pattern from here (scroll to the bottom of the page to see the link), enlarged it to 150 percent and then redrew it to create a half-inch seam allowance (because the pattern was for a felt project, there was none). I used HeatnBond to stiffen the front and back pieces (they're lined with unbleached muslin), created hangers, and finally finished them all this morning.

You don't have to do a careful comparison to see they're not really the same shape as the original pattern. I blame my less-than-careful sewing and the stiffness of the double layer of HeatnBond. But they still turned about much better than I anticipated.
Plus, I have enough fabric that if we should need more, I can make them without too much of a problem.
No, this isn't an announcement; I'm not planning on having any more children. But if we should change our minds, he/she/they can have stockings that match ours.
I might go ahead and order some more of the fabric just for fun, though. Isn't it lovely?

Maybe I'll make a tree skirt for next year. You know I'm crazy enough to try.

Things I love about Milan: Medieval churches

2011-11-28T12:42:00.006+01:00

Some people -- I'm not naming names -- think there isn't anything to see in Milan. Those people are mistaken. Sure, the things aren't massively famous (except a handful of big sites, nothing compared to Rome or Venice or Paris or London), but there's still history everywhere.
Have you heard of St. Ambrose? He built a few churches around town back around 380 AD and is the patron saint of Milan. One of those churches, Sant'Ambrogio in Italian, bears his name.
The inside's pretty neat, too:
Although the church was consecrated in the fourth century, the current structure -- including that mosaic depicting Christ you can sort of see in the photo -- is from the 13th century. That's somewhat young by Italian standards, and it's why the church is considered medieval. Interestingly, the original altar was in the same location as the current one.
Allied bombing during World War II damaged a lot of the area, and I haven't researched which areas of the complex are post-war. But I think this is pretty neat regardless of when it dates from:
I think I have photos of another Ambrosian church, San Simpliciano, but I can't find them. I guess an outing is in order ...

The big adventures of Flat Michaela

2011-11-26T14:05:00.017+01:00

Laura's friend Michaela, who lives in Montevideo, recently flattened herself to simplify sending herself through the mail.
Oh, wait, no, that isn't what happened. But we did receive a flat representation of Michaela in the mail with the assignment to show her around Milan and then to send her on her merry way to another awesome place.
So we took her to the Duomo:
And to La Scala:
And to visit Leonardo da Vinci in the piazza nearby:
She also visited the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele, but that photo didn't turn out. But never fear, we got a photo of her in Milan's second-coolest massive building interior, the Stazione Centrale:
The exterior shot wasn't all it could have been thanks to never-ending construction:
She got an up-close-and-personal view of the Elephant Parade:
She also hung out with us at Sant'Ambrogio on All Saints' Day:
Then it was time for her move on. But I didn't let her. I'm mean like that. I figured she should see Rome, too, while she was here, and our trip was rapidly approaching. There she saw the Colosseum:
And climbed the Spanish Steps:
And had a not-very-clear photo taken in front of the Pantheon:
Last but certainly not least, she crossed the river and made the trek to Vatican City, where she hung out at St. Peter's.
Flat Michaela now is making her way to Istanbul to visit our friends the Donadieus. As for us, hosting such quiet, easy-to-transport children always is a joy, so keep sending them our way.

A pre-Thanksgiving trip

2011-11-25T11:20:00.013+01:00

Some people may remember that last year we spent Thanksgiving in Paris. This year we contemplated spending it in Rome, but instead we decided to travel a few days before and return home in time for the holiday. So here's a little about our trip ...
Obviously one of the big draws of Rome is its history. I'm always struck by the sheer OLDNESS (no, that's not actually a word) of everything there. This photo puts it in perspective, I think, from the Forum (at the bottom, where we were standing) up through the ages to the Vittorio Emanuele monument (at the top).
The Capitoline Museum actually has much better views of the Forum than does the Forum itself. Such as this:
The Capitoline also has an important statue of Marcus Aurelius. Outside you see this:
and you might think, Hey, there's an important statue! But silly person, you'd be wrong. That's just a copy! The real thing is inside:
We also went to the Colosseum. You've seen it before. But this time we happened upon a napping cat there. (OK, I'm overstating it a bit by suggesting we happened upon it. We actually were alerted to its presence by the very loud meowing of someone else's child. It's always nice to realize one's own children aren't the only loud ones around.)
Of course a visit to Rome isn't complete without a visit to the Pantheon. We went inside once:
and walked by a few times:
Our visit to the Vatican Museums was my first since Study Abroad in 1993. It's amazing everything there is to see there. The map hall still is one of my favorite parts:
Of course, its ceiling is pretty amazing, too:
Afterward I accidently took an illegal photo of the Sistine Chapel. It really was an accident, which was just as well since it doesn't show much:
We didn't go inside St. Peter's this trip -- grumpy toddlers and long lines don't mix -- but we did admire it from numerous angles:
It was fun and all, but I'm glad we're home. And that our building has an elevator, as the apartment we rented there didn't.

The joy that is Thanksgiving

2011-11-25T08:10:00.003+01:00

We have so many things to be thankful for. A few that were mentioned at our dinner table today: Family. Friends. Being together. The Internet. Having the opportunity to spread the gospel. Being Americans and all of the rights and privledges that come with that.
Our guests were the sister missionaries from our ward and our friend Cary, who works in Milan (and Saudi Arabia and Singapore and South Korea and Poland and ...) but whose family is in Montana.
Of course there was turkey. And dressing. And mashed potatoes. And gravy. And macaroni and cheese. And green beans. And rolls. And pies.
I was all about the pies.
It was very sad to miss various family gatherings around the U.S., but Thanksgiving overseas does have its perks. Some of you should join us next year ...

One last post from the Elephant Parade

2011-11-23T15:22:00.002+01:00

I think all of the elephants are gone now, off to be auctioned to people with way more money and space (and allotted shipping weights for household goods) than we have. But I wanted to post this one last photo, which was one of the readers' designs ViviMilano selected to grace its pachyderm on Corso Vittorio Emanuele. Too bad Milan doesn't really have a tram shaped like an elephant ...

Kind of like being haunted by my grandparents -- in a good way

2011-11-17T14:24:00.002+01:00

I was on the metro this morning and overheard a conversation between two older gentlemen. The younger of the two probably was around my mom's age (early 60s or so), and he was reading the news on his iPad. The older man sitting beside him -- it didn't seem like they knew each other -- was expressing amazement at everything the little machine can do. He specifically seemed to like that it's very compact so there was no need to spread out a massive newspaper (he spread his arms out wider than any newspaper I've seen in years) on the train.
It reminded me of when my grandfather bought a car that had cruise control. You would have thought he'd found the secret to happiness or something. I guess he had, at least in a very limited way.
I guess it's just because Italy is an old country (estimated median age of 45.6 vs. 38.1 for the U.S. and 33.1 for Trinidad, the other countries where I've spent the most time), but I see lots of people here who remind me of my grandparents and doing things I could imagine them doing. Well, except the speaking Italian part.

Why I had to call the Netherlands to have a British company send school pictures to Italy

2011-11-14T14:02:00.003+01:00

I, obviously, am American. I have American credit cards with American billing addresses.
My kid goes to school in Italy, so it makes sense that her school pictures will be shipped to Italy. The school in question has online ordering of photos, which I'm all for.
The portrait company in charge of the photos is in the Netherlands. The company printing the photos is in Great Britain.
Totally confused yet?
The Dutch company uses PayPal to handle payments. I've used PayPal for years and don't have a problem with it. But have you ever tried to use a U.S. credit card to pay for something via PayPal that you want shipped to Italy?
Nope, can't happen.
But some people are nice and do their jobs -- and then some. I initially e-mailed the printing company, who immediately responded with a "We can't help you, but contact the portrait people at (fill in the blank with an e-mail address)" e-mail. I did, and their customer service woman was super-helpful and exchanged numerous e-mails with me both Friday and today. And this morning, after a phone call to her to provide credit-card information, e-mailed to say that my order had indeed gone through after some work on her end.
Yay for helpful people, wherever they are on the globe.

Marine Ball 2011

2011-11-13T15:04:00.003+01:00

This week the U.S. Marine Corps celebrated its 236th birthday. Last night we attended our consulate Marine detachment's birthday celebration.
This year's video presentation focused on parallels between Pearl Harbor and Sept. 11 and how Marines responded to each one.
We had a good view of all of the presentations for in-person purposes but not so much for photographic purposes. You'll have to take my word for it that all of the Marines' dress blues were spotless and pressed and that all of their medals were gleaming. (This includes our detachment commander's Purple Heart, which I hadn't known about until last night.)
An unrelated detail: Miss Italy 1977 sat at our table.
Here's our "prom" photo. On my screen we kind of look like conjoined twins (he was in black, me in navy), and the clip was sliding out of my hair. But at least it gives you a general idea.

Owen launches his career as a JCPenney catalog model

2011-11-11T14:45:00.002+01:00

Mercifully, there were only five candles on the cake

2011-11-09T10:03:00.002+01:00

This week I turned 39.
Seriously, I really am only 39. I'm not one of those people who tries to pretend she's never going to turn 40.
I got a blender, which is just what I wanted. It's not the VitaMix that many of my Facebook friends recommended, but I'll do another post later about it (and why I don't want a VitaMix). Once I use it and all.
There was cake. There's still some cake left, in fact, so if you want to come visit us in Milan today or tomorrow, you can have some. Past then, I make no guarantees.
I tried to buy shoes. Silver ones, for the Marine Ball. It turns out neither of the Zara stores I visited actually carry these at the moment, so my plans were thwarted. I have a backup plan, but I might check at a couple of more stores. We'll see.

Laura's favorite elephant

2011-11-01T08:10:00.002+01:00

This particular specimen in Milan's elephant parade was designed by Katy Perry. Laura seemed to think that was cool, but I think she was more impressed with its sparkliness. Who wouldn't want to discover a glittery pachyderm in the basement of Milan's fanciest department store? I had told her ahead of time we were looking for elephants, but I hadn't told her what I knew we'd find.

The gnome returns

2011-11-01T07:52:00.002+01:00

Is Halloween over yet? Apparently two parties (one with trick-or-treating) weren't enough for us because yesterday we found ourselves trick-or-treating on Corso Garibaldi.
Of course, Owen had torn the feet off of his potato head costume -- and wouldn't have been able to wear it while sitting in the stroller anyway -- so I fished out his gnome getup from last year. It was too small, the tag and velcro in the back were bugging him something fierce, and he wouldn't keep the hat on for more than 30 seconds. Laura decided to call him Merlin.
Of course, to me the whole thing was a complete waste of time because all of the stores were handing out black licorice. Ick.
I guess now we should move on to planning our costumes for next year ...

The space unicorn carves a jack-o-lantern

2011-10-30T20:21:00.003+01:00

The consulate Halloween party this weekend was all kinds of fun. It could have been all kinds of messy, too, but the weather was nice enough that we were able to do the pumpkin-carving outside. The space unicorn shed her duct-tape skirt for this set of festivities -- don't even get me started on that -- and Mr. Potato Head ripped his feet off. I guess it wasn't a good day for the family costumes overall, but the fun more than made up for it. Well, that and the candy.

That's 93,205.678 miles, in case you were wondering

2011-10-22T09:12:00.003+02:00

Last night as we returned home from the Halloween Festival, I noticed this on the dashboard:
Our decision to buy a new car soon had nothing to do with this -- I'm not sure either of us had been paying much attention to the odometer -- but it's interesting that the two coincided.

Mr. Potato Head meets a space unicorn

2011-10-22T09:04:00.003+02:00

Much like the rest of us, he had no idea what a space unicorn was -- but it did look suspiciously a lot like his sister.
Last night was the American School of Milan's Halloween Festival, which is a PTO fundraiser and a huge deal in general. It was fun and loud and all kinds of other things.
There was a girl dressed as a shower, which definitely was the best costume. A close second, at least to me, was Laura's friend Andrew, who was dressed as Steve Jobs. He was walking around with a homemade iPad declaring "I've got an app for that."

Oh, look! It's Mr. Potato Head!

2011-10-19T09:23:00.002+02:00

This particular specimen apparently has an aversion to sitting still for the camera this morning. His costume's creator hopes he will be slightly more cooperative when it comes time to wear the thing for an actual Halloween event.

Here, ducky, ducky

2011-10-14T08:37:00.003+02:00

Another photo from last weekend. Sometimes I wonder whether Owen is thinking it would be a good idea to jump in the water and try to swim after the ducks. Luckily, that hasn't happened -- at least so far.

Can't you imagine Rapunzel sending her hair over the edge of this?

2011-10-13T14:12:00.005+02:00

We were in the Giardino della Villa Belgiojoso Bonaparte over the weekend, and I decided to snap a few photos of what I've begun to call the Rapunzel tower. No, it's really not that tall, but it's still cool-looking. Maybe I'll write a Rapunzel book where the tower is in a forest instead of on open ground like most drawings portray it.

More on the Elephant Parade

2011-10-08T19:45:00.006+02:00

I think I've seen 34 of the 80 elephants around town now. (If you're my friend on Facebook, you can see the photos I've posted.) While the Milano map one in front of the Cardorna station still is my favorite, I like the collection in front of the Natural History Museum in the Giardini Publici as a group. I haven't found the clusters I've seen elsewhere around town to be that impressive, but all four of these are cool:

What Harry Potter may have looked like as a baby -- if he had a mustache

2011-10-08T19:35:00.005+02:00

There's an advertisement everywhere in Milan these days that looks something like this:Basically, the Wall Street Institute wants Italian businesspeople to come to them to learn English. That's a noble goal and all, I guess, but a lot of the billboards are in metro stations and have been defaced in various ways. I've seen a bunch with a mustachioed baby, and today we saw one with fangs. But then we saw this in the Porta Venezia station, and it was worth pulling out the camera for:

Maybe someone needs this, but I don't think it's me

2011-10-06T17:56:00.004+02:00

I was cleaning out some clutter and came across these instructions that were included ages ago with one of our debit cards. Thank goodness I figured out how to use it even though I'd never noticed this.

Milanese statue scavenger hunt

2011-10-05T07:22:00.012+02:00

Milan has so many great statues of people and things around town. (This is typical of a lot of cities, of course, but I'm focusing on Milan's because I live here and see them all of the time.) I used this series of photos for the cover of the consulate newsletter a couple of weeks ago. The really great thing is that with the exception of the Michelangelo, all of these are in public outdoor areas anyone can see and enjoy without having to pay any money. I've blogged about many of these individually, but here they are as a group.

Cavallo di Leonardo da Vinci, Ippodromo di San Siro:
Giuseppe Garibaldi, Largo Cairoli:
Constantine, Basilica di San Lorenzo:
Vittorio Emanuele, Piazza del Duomo:
Vertunno, Giardino Perego:
Leonardo da Vinci, Piazza della Scala:
Facciata della Chiesa di Santa Maria della Passione:
Pieta Rondanini by Michelangelo, Castello Sforzesco:
San Bartolomeo Scorticato, Duomo:

How's that for random?

2011-10-02T21:44:00.003+02:00

Tonight I was on Pinterest (multitasking while watching General Conference), and Laura saw a photo of these and suggested we make them.
And although they look delicious and I may indeed make them some day, the description on the pin I was reading went something like this:
Marshmallows dipped in butter, cinnamon sugar and wrapped in crescent rolls.
That didn't sound very appealing to me. In fact, it reminded me of this Saturday Night Live skit.
I think I can sum it all up like this: Ugh.

Elephants in Milan

2011-09-28T16:03:00.003+02:00

The Elephant Parade is in Milan through mid-November, and I was out snapping photos of a few of them the other day. This is my favorite, which is outside the Cadorna train station:
I was considering trying to visit all 80 specimens -- they're cute and cool and all -- but then I realized there's one at Terminal 1 at Malpensa. Yeah, I never go there. So the best I'm going to do is 79, and that's only if I have a reason to visit Terminal 2, where there are three more. So I'm definitely not going to be seeing them all, but I will wander around town in search of some of the others. I haven't even been to the ones closest to our house yet.

The tiny plastic train equivalent of Timmy being stuck in a well

2011-09-28T12:05:00.004+02:00

Some friends recently gave Owen a Thomas the Tank Engine and James (is "the Tank Engine" part of his name, too?) to add to his existing collection. He likes to race these particular engines around the house, which is fine and dandy until one of them gets trapped somewhere.
Of course, that somewhere isn't always a place Owen couldn't get them out himself. But he does insist on me doing it, usually in the course of a "conversation" that goes something like this:

Mom! Mommommommommom!
Yes, Owen?
(A string of words and phrases that I interpret to mean "I sent Thomas and/or James on a secret mission to save the world, and now they're stuck!")
So Timmy's stuck in a well?
Mom! (followed by something like "I have no idea who this Lassie character you keep referring to is, but can you please stop what you're doing and come rescue my trains? Please please please please please?")

This last sentence is accompanied by pointing in the general direction of the tiny-train-related emergency.
So then I proceed that general area, where I usually discover something similar to this:
Thomas is under the end table, which can easily be accessed from the opposite side. But apparently I'm an enlightening conversationalist and/or an excellent train rescuer because I'm always summoned to fetch him.

Sometimes I cook things worth eating

2011-09-27T08:17:00.004+02:00

Like the Irish soda bread recipe from Baking with Julia. I tend to make it when I want bread but don't want to wait for it to rise. Here you'll find a video of Ms. Child herself explaining how to make it. I've had this book for years and flip through it every few weeks to get some ideas on things to make. Right now I have some peaches that I need to do something with, so maybe I'll use the book for that, too.

Recently I remembered I also own The Frugal Gourmet Cooks Italian. Yes, I live in Italy. Yes, this book contains Americanized versions of Italian dishes. But I still made Chicken Parmigiano with Tomato Cream Sauce the other day. And it was good. I suppose I should peruse it for some other ideas, too.

Awhile back I came across an orange chicken recipe on Pinterest. I make orange chicken all the time, but this one was for crock pots. I figure since I have a crock pot that I might as well use it even though I have to run it off a step-down transformer. So here's that. Since I live in a country where you can't just go out and buy concentrated orange juice, I used regular orange juice but then added more when my crock pot had cooked it all away. (Since it cooks quicker than I think it's supposed to, this was bound to happen.) Otherwise I pretty much followed the recipe, though.

Apparently I'm all about chicken because this weekend I also made barbecue chicken in the crock pot. The children ate it, so it must have been good. (Kevin was in Rome for work, but I assume he would have eaten it, too. I guess I'll have to test that theory with the leftovers.)

Yep, still covered in scaffolding

2011-09-26T18:02:00.003+02:00

I was walking down Corso Vittorio Emmanuele today and thought I'd take an updated photo for the Milan then and now photo project I wrote about here. Yep, still scaffolded and everything. Maybe some day ...
Those photos you can see on the right are pretty cool, though. I guess the Sicilian tourism people thought it'd be a good idea to promote their little island during Fashion Week.

Things I hope my children never do

2011-09-23T13:34:00.003+02:00

I was driving out to Laura's school today when, at a gas station near the highway, I noticed a young couple who apparently were trying to hitch a ride to Genova. (The GENOVA sign one of them was holding gave it away.) They looked carefree and happy and like they were ready for whatever adventure might come their way.
Obviously they never got the "There's so much meanness in the world" lecture from their grandmother. Maybe my own grandmother had a corner on that market. I'm particularly thankful I've never needed to decide whether to follow her "If you have a flat tire, just keep driving!" order.
I finished my business at school and drove back into town, passing the same gas station along the way. The young couple was gone. I found myself hoping they'd gone to the train station and made what probably would have been a much safer trip to Genova that way. Either way, I hope they get there without incident-- and that their grandmothers give them a good talking-to the next time they see them.

More on tiny felt trees

2011-09-23T12:46:00.005+02:00

I finally got around to scanning the pattern for the tiny felt trees I wrote about here. You can find my pattern here. As creating and posting PDFs is something I don't do very often, please let me know if you try to use it and have problems.

Here is an overview and some basic instructions. You'll need:

Felt (brown for trunk, yellow for star, and however many colors you want in the tree)
Scissors for cutting felt (thick felt requires some heavy-duty scissors)
Needle and thread
Thicker thread, yarn or ribbon for hanging

All of the felt used here is the thicker variety (about 1/8th of an inch or 3 millimeters thick). If you're going to use thinner felt, you'll want to make the strip for the trunk longer; make multiple (probably three) circles of each size; and cut out two stars for each tree and glue or stitch them together at the end.
Before you begin, you need to decide how many colors you want your tree to be. It makes sense for the trunk to be brown or black (the ones in all of my photos are brown) and the star in yellow or a glittery felt (mine all are yellow).
For a tree with two colors, such as this:you'd cut all of the odd-numbered circles in one color and the even-numbered ones the second color.
After cutting out the trunk, roll the strip up and stitch it closed. Then run the needle through the middle of the roll and then through the middle of each circle (starting with circle 1 and ending with 18). Then put the needle though the bottom angle of the star and out the top. (With the thick felt this shouldn't be difficult, but this is when you'd glue together the two thinner stars I mentioned earlier.)
The trees in my photos also have a hanger made of embroidery floss. To attach it, I strung it through the loop I made at the top of the star before knotting the thread when I was done.
I know these aren't the greatest of instructions, but I have a lot easier time showing than telling. Let me know if something isn't clear.

Perhaps it's time for Laura to learn to iron

2011-09-19T16:46:00.002+02:00

When Kevin and Laura were in Houston a few weeks ago, they went clothes shopping. One of the things they came home with was this skort for Laura, which is totally cute but that really has to be ironed.
Well, it has to be ironed to look like it's supposed to. Over the weekend, Laura was wearing it and referred to its ruffles. I had to break the news to her that those really are supposed to be pleats but that I hadn't ironed it. She then insisted that I iron it the next time it got washed so she could see what I was talking about.
This is what she'll find in her closet when she gets home today. I had to take a photo in case I never iron it again. Ruffles are cute, too, right?

Expressing individuality through mismatched socks

2011-09-16T08:55:00.003+02:00

Laura wore these to school today. Her shirt and shorts matched neither each other nor the socks, either. Yep, it's an exciting life around here.

When the forehead meets the driveway

2011-09-15T17:45:00.003+02:00

I don't think Owen realized until today that he has a massive scrape on his forehead. I guess he didn't notice me cleaning it and Neosporin-ing it and everything since Monday afternoon. But now that he realizes it's there, he's been trying to push his hair off of it and look in the mirror (or at least at shiny surfaces).

Adventures in violining

2011-09-13T21:22:00.003+02:00

I've probably mentioned it before, but Laura plays the violin. Last year we rented one from school, but we decided to buy one this year.
Except that was easier said than done. On Saturday we went to the school's recommended store, which gives a discount to our students. But they were sold out of the model we'd planned on buying. The salesman suggested a different model but thought we should check with Laura's teacher first. So we returned home violin-less.
The teacher agreed the suggested model would be acceptable, which worked for me because it also is slightly less expensive. Of course, by that time it was Sunday, and the store in question is closed Mondays.
So today I found myself violin shopping again. The main difference this time was that it was just Owen and me. So instead of have three people who could possibly push the stroller and/or carry the violin, it was just me.
Yeah, if you happened to wonder who the crazy American woman pushing a large toddler in a stroller while carrying a violin was this afternoon, that would have been me. I wish I would have gotten a photo, but my hands were full.
Of course, I'm still not sure whether the stares I got really were related to the stroller-violin combo or the large scrape across Owen's forehead. Maybe some day he'll provide a first-hand account of the time he skidded on his head while running in the driveway ...

Has it really been 10 years since Sept. 11?

2011-09-11T18:07:00.004+02:00

Today is Kevin's birthday, so I've been busy cooking (beef Wellington and birthday cake). Having a birthday on a day associated with tragedy and horror isn't fun, I'm sure.
I have two solid memories of Sept. 10, 2001. That morning I went to renew my passport, mostly because although we'd been married 2.5 years, I'd never changed my name on my passport. That evening, I worked on the news copy desk at the Houston Chronicle, where our top-of-the-front-page story for the next morning was about the federal deficit.
Kevin was going to work as usual that day even though it was his birthday, and I was up with Laura. I don't remember whether she was asleep or awake as I lounged on the sofa watching television. My brother Daniel, who had been home from his mission for a few months and was living with us, left to go to the Houston Temple with some friends from our ward.
I had been to the top of the World Trade Center -- the tourist observation deck, so not the tippy-top -- a few years before, and watching the towers fall was one of the most shocking things I've ever done.
I was part-time at the Chronicle and didn't end up going in to work until that weekend. But I was glued to the television coverage almost nonstop from the time the first plane hit until I drove to work Saturday.
A year later at the American Copy Editors Society conference, Philip Reeker -- who was a U.S. State Department spokesman at the time and now is a deputy assistant secretary -- came to talk about events at the State Department that day. He'd been prepping for the daily briefing and expected to answer questions about the situation in Belarus.
Of course, the expected cares of the day (on newspaper front pages and elsewhere) were eclipsed by the terrorist attacks. It's a cliche, but I don't think anyone alive at the time will forget where we were. Too much emotion, too much horror, too much shock. I hope it's something we never have to deal with, either as a country or as individuals, again.

Sure, I'm crafty, but am I crafty in Italian?

2011-09-09T11:27:00.004+02:00

The Relief Society (women's group at church) was looking for ideas for an annual project in which the women make crafty and/or householdy things to donate to a local social service organization, which then sells them to raise money for its programs. The Relief Society president, whom I'd never talked to (she's relatively new), approached me a couple of Sundays ago and asked me to submit some ideas. I brought this to her thinking they'd think about it and get back to me. But no, on the spot it was decided we'd make them -- and that I'd be teaching the making of them.
Yeah, I'm nowhere near that fluent in Italian. But I'm always up for an adventure, especially if it'll make for an interesting story later. So the past couple of days I've been procuring supplies (with the help of my friend Rachael), creating a pattern and making samples so I can at least show the ladies what they're supposed to do even if they can't understand a word I'm saying.
Aren't they cute little trees? Laura has asked if we can start making them every Christmas. I'm not sure I'll be so enamored with that idea a week and a half from now, but we'll see.

What turtles and Buzz Lightyear have in common

2011-09-07T09:05:00.003+02:00

Apparently both can get stuck on their backs and not be able to go about their normal activities -- or at least I think that's the meaning of the scene I happened upon in my kitchen last night.

Our living room light fixture is very popular

2011-09-05T14:59:00.007+02:00

Yesterday I downloaded the photos off Owen's camera for the first time in ages. There were about 200 photos, mostly of which were of nothing or so out of focus or overexposed that I trashed them. But among the several that I kept -- some of which were of friends and I can only assume weren't actually taken by Owen -- were a series of shots of our living room light fixture that are almost artistic.
I'll start with the one that's the most in focus, which I'm pretty sure was taken by me:
What it looks like with a slightly out-of-focus, artsy, way off-center vibe:
If it was a spider gone awfully awry on the ceiling:
I'm not even sure how to describe this:
But I think this is my favorite:

Adventures in play dough-making

2011-09-05T14:12:00.004+02:00

When I was a kid, we made homemade play dough all the time. I'm not sure we ever had the kind you buy at the store, in fact. But despite knowing how easy it is, I'd never made any myself.
That changed yesterday. A couple of weeks ago, my friend Sarah shared her mom's play dough recipe on her blog. Since her mom and I are great friends, too, I decided it would be the play dough recipe to launch me into homemade play dough-dom. I enjoyed it so much I might not ever return to store-bought play dough-dom.
This is what we ended up with:This is how we did it to get each color -- a bit more than you'd find in a regular-size can of store-bought Play-Doh. Using the amounts Sarah lists would give you twice as much of each color; I only had enough salt for a full recipe but wanted to end up with two colors.

Into a small-to-medium saucepan, add:
1/2 cup water
Food coloring
Mix these together thoroughly before adding anything else. We were using Wilton icing gel colors, and it seemed to work better to whisk them together. You should use a spoon for the next step, though.
Put the saucepan over a burner set to medium heat and add:
1/2 tablespoon vegetable oil (Because this is a nonstandard measure, I used a tablespoon measure and estimated half)
1/2 cup flour
1/4 cup table salt (not kosher or sea salt, which is too coarse)
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
Stir it all together until everything's wet and blended, turn off the heat and let it cool, and then knead it. Store it in the refrigerator until you're ready to use it and between play sessions.

It didn't occur to me until later that we could use the colors Laura chose to create the Nick Jr. logo from play dough. I guess that's what I get for suggesting we make two colors that weren't similar. It doesn't matter much, though, since I'll be making more of this as soon as I remember to buy more salt.

Random ways I entertain myself

2011-09-04T17:12:00.004+02:00

I've been thinking about how cool it would be to get a photo of Laura "jumping out" of the Arco della Pace. Yesterday we happened to be in Parco Sempione, and we did some exploratory work on the project. There was a storm rolling in, so the light wasn't great. But it was kind of fun even if none of the photos turned out the way I'm planning for the real ones to.

Rainbow waffles

2011-09-03T13:48:00.004+02:00

This morning Laura was looking over my shoulder as I was perusing Pinterest and noticed a post on rainbow pancakes (similar to this). Apparently it reminded her of the rainbow cupcakes we had for her eighth birthday (I wrote about those here). And since she already had asked me to make waffles for breakfast, we ended up with this:
FYI, it's a good idea to let all of the steam escape from the waffle iron before you try to take a photo of the waffle inside. Your camera will thank you.

Added later: Since Naoma asked and I have better sense than to deny a pregnant friend a food-related request, here are some basic instructions:
Mix waffle batter as you always do. (We used Bisquick this time, mostly because I tasked Laura with that process.) Keep in mind that if you'll be using old-fashioned liquid food coloring, which sometimes can thin whatever it's added to, that you should account for that. We were using Wilton gel colors, but I think our too-thin batter was a result of less-than-stellar measuring.
Divide white batter among as many bowls as you'll want colors and add desired coloring to each. You'll want to use a clean spoon for each bowl to keep the colors pure.
The waffle in the photo was made by using a different color in each quadrant of the waffle iron. If your waffle iron isn't divided, you can achieve a similar effect by adding the batter to each corner of the circle. (OK, so circles don't have corners, but you know what I mean.) Or you can do other patterns or just "freehand" them to get a more mixed-up look.

More great things about Milan: Markets

2011-09-02T13:40:00.003+02:00

Today Owen and I wandered over to one of the markets near our house. There's one somewhere around town every day of the week, and although we don't go every week, we easily could. On this trip we scored Sicilian oregano (in the bag) and some bunches of very spicy pepperoncini (peppers, not pepperoni). A couple of weeks ago we got miniature bananas. There's always a ton of produce as well as meat and cheese vendors, plus some clothes and shoes and housewares and other random things.

First day of fifth grade

2011-09-01T08:36:00.000+02:00

Laura wanted Owen in one of her first-day-of-school photos. Owen wasn't so keen on the idea, but at least he's somewhat in focus. Luckily, the rain that necessitated the jacket didn't last very long.

Laura launches her career as a celebrity chef

2011-08-31T15:59:00.003+02:00

School starts tomorrow, and today we went to the "icebreaker" that's designed for new families but tons of returning people show up for, too. We got the new after-school activities schedule, and Laura pointed out her photo on the cover. I guess she and one of her little Young Chef friends from last year looked really convincing in their love of (fill in the blank with whatever it was being cooked). I'd post a link, but the school doesn't have this year's brochure online yet.

20 years ago this week

2011-08-30T15:41:00.002+02:00

Way back in 1991 -- that was post-dinosaurs for anyone young enough to wonder -- I left home to go to college. My dad, accompanied by my brother Heath and sister Laurie, drove me and most of my worldly belongings from our house in Chester, S.C., to Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah.
Random facts about the trip:
The drive is about 40 hours, and we didn't stop for the night. Why not? normal people are asking. Well, my dad's peer group considered the number of hours one could drive without sleeping and the quality of gas mileage one could milk from a rattletrap car to be true measures of manhood. (We were driving my grandparents' car because ours had died the previous weekend.)
We spent the night in Salt Lake City, visited Temple Square and then drove down to Provo.
I had never set foot in the state of Utah before moving there for college.
My dad helped me carry my stuff in, waited while I talked to my resident assistant about which bank she recommended, drove me there and helped me open an account -- and then left. I think he and Heath and Laurie were around for less than two hours.
I wasn't bothered by any of this, of course, because I was totally an adult and ready to move on. It's all turned out pretty well, in fact. I'm still in touch with several friends I met that first week (mostly thanks to Facebook), and most of us have done great.
But wow, was that really 20 years ago?

Are there cool classical statues overlooking your kids' playground?

2011-08-30T10:24:00.003+02:00

I didn't think so. We went to this park near the consulate last week, and I definitely found it interesting that this cool statue overlooks the water fountain and children's play area and not some calmer, more serene area.

Slow-cooker triple chocolate brownies

2011-08-29T22:18:00.004+02:00

I made these today. The original recipe, from Martha Stewart's Everyday Food, is here. I changed it a little, partly out of necessity. I did follow the instructions included there for the most part. Well, except that the original ones didn't include a "have your 10-year-old unplug the transformer into which the slow cooker is plugged without telling you when the brownies have about an hour left to cook." But, since my slow cooker tends to cook things more quickly than slowly, it all turned out OK.

My revised ingredient list:
Nonstick cooking spray
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
3/4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt (I used regular, not coarse)
1/2 cup butter (I estimated this because I usually buy butter in 500-gram blocks)
6 ounces unsweetened chocolate (because I didn't have bittersweet and didn't have enough unsweetened, either)
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

These turned out OK even with the minor ingredient adjustments and interrupted cooking time. They go particularly well with gelato, but what doesn't?

Milan masterpieces: Santa Maria delle Grazie

2011-08-28T08:04:00.000+02:00

Yes, I'm posting a lot more about Milan than I have in a while. I take a lot of photos that I never post, and I've decided to use that to my advantage while posting more at the same time. So here's a look at Santa Maria delle Grazie. It's famous for The Last Supper, of course, but there are a lot of lovely things there, including this painting by Nicola di Cremona done in 1520. (It's in the first chapel on the left of the main entrance if you want to go and see what I'm talking about. Which everyone should, of course.)

Things I love about Milan: the Arco della Pace

2011-08-27T20:14:00.000+02:00

Yes, I've talked about the Arco della Pace before (here and here, probably other times, too), but it doesn't stop being cool. We were in Parco Sempione for a picnic lunch with some friends this week, and I had to take some photos even though there were scantily-clad tourists all over the lawn. I love the view of the arch from the Castello, but right now there are cranes surrounding the Castello, which makes it look less authentic. So there are no photos of that.

Have you ever seen one of these?

2011-08-26T17:03:00.001+02:00

I hadn't either until a few months ago, and then I kept forgetting to take a photo until I had Laura snap this one a couple of weeks ago. It sort of reminds me of my dad's old step-sided Chevrolet, but maybe that's just because it looks so old.

CPSC apology

2011-08-25T09:01:00.002+02:00

I really wasn't traumatized by the e-mail I talked about in my last post, but this morning's CPSC e-mail apologized anyway. Of course, it didn't answer my questions about who in the heck Rick is ...

Yesterday, with the confusion caused by the earthquake on the East Coast of the US and having certain functions, including the subscription list messages, transferred among various people, we inadvertently sent an email with the subject line "FW: not sure if Rick is online since we all got sent home because of the earthquake" when the subject line should have been "News from CPSC - Two Recalls". The message did come from CPSC and the content of the e-mail (the two recalls) was correct. We apologize for any confusion or inconvenience this may have caused.

Far-reaching ramifications of the D.C. earthquake

2011-08-24T15:40:00.003+02:00

I'm one of those people who has found the news coverage of the Washington, D.C., earthquake to be quite humorous. I hope the Washington Monument isn't damaged beyond repair, and I'm glad there weren't widespread injuries. But some of the stories I've seen have just seemed overblown.
I guess that's one of the reasons I found an e-mail I received overnight to be so funny. It's from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. No big deal, I've signed up to receive all of their recall announcements. But it's the subject line of this one that was so funny. Normally they say something like "News from CPSC -- Two recalls." This one reads:

RE: not sure if Rick is online since we all got sent home because of the earthquake

OK, so I'm not shocked people got sent home. But who is Rick? And is his probable absence really of interest to the thousands of people who receive CPSC recall e-mails? Would it have been so hard for someone to 1. check to see whether Rick was around and/or 2. change the subject line?

I might think this was cool if it wasn't staring at me from the wall right now

2011-08-23T22:59:00.003+02:00

So here I was at 10:50 p.m., innocently minding my own business at the computer after trying unsucessfully for some time to get a certain toddler to go to sleep. The study was dark, but there was enough light from the monitor to tell there was a dark spot of some kind on the wall. And since I'd been sitting in this same spot with the lights on earlier, I knew that spot had to be a bug of some kind. A pretty big bug, too.
I was worried I wouldn't be able to get a photo, so I didn't focus on focusing or anything. That's pretty obvious. I shouldn't have worried, though, since it was about 10 minutes ago that I noticed the thing, and it's still sitting there even though I've taken numerous photos of it both with and without a flash and now have turned on the light. The body is about an inch long, and then there are all of those freaky legs.
Is it technically a bug if it has more than six legs? I think this one has 26. Maybe I'll leave it there to scare Laura in the morning ...

One year later

2011-08-18T17:24:00.004+02:00

My dad died a year ago today (early morning on the East Coast of the U.S., much later in the day at my house in Italy). It's been hard, of course, and will continue to be. I won't detail all of that on here, but those who have been in similar situations know what I mean. I've actually thought quite a bit about it over the past couple of weeks in particular, since Kevin's grandmother died, and I've decided to be grateful for the time we had with both of them.
A few weeks ago when I was looking for photos of GG, I came across a few of Dad that it would have been nice to have last year. This is one of them. It totally cracks me up on so many levels. It was taken at my aunt's wedding (I think it was December 1981), and boy were we dressed for the time. That Nicole and I are looking in opposite directions makes it even more hilarious. (I don't remember whether that was on purpose.)(From left: Nicole, Laurie, Mom, Daniel, Dad, Heath and me.)

Fun times, fun times.

Saving the world one Teletubby at a time

2011-08-18T17:05:00.002+02:00

Tiny cowboys are particularly well-versed in Teletubby CPR, it seems.

I wish all monsters were made of stracciatella

2011-08-16T16:05:00.002+02:00

Stracciatella is a flavor of gelato that's sort of similar to fudge swirl in the U.S. I opened a container the other night and encountered this:So of course I had to eat a good bit of it to keep the thing from attacking. You're welcome.

Any Approaching Enemy by Jay Worrall

2011-08-15T08:06:00.002+02:00

This is a novel of the Napoleonic wars, and I wasn't sure I'd actually read the whole thing. But it's well-written and has interesting characters and lots of details about the British navy in the late 18th century. It was a fun, somewhat quick read in addition to all of those other things, and I recommend it if British naval history is your thing.

When the cat's away, the mice will ... decorate?

2011-08-12T11:32:00.004+02:00

Kevin and Laura got back from Houston on Wednesday morning. And to be perfectly clear, they're not cats. But I did decorate while they were gone.
Our apartment didn't have curtains in the living room. I know the curtains exist because they came back from the cleaners with the ones for all of the other windows shortly after we moved in. But because of some kind of problem with the rod or rings or some such (my Italian was particularly rusty at the time), they never were hung. So last week I whip-stitched together some long panels of fabric that once were window treatments on a couple of the big windows in our house in Houston. Then I climbed to the top of our big ladder (keep in mind these things are way off the floor) and sewed the fabric to the existing rings. Yeah, it was all kinds of fun. But now I have two of these:
I've also begun a quest to frame and hang all of the things we've been buying over the years but never have prepared for display. This list included a series of prints of Florence we bought on our trip there in February. They now reside in the spot behind our front door:
It wasn't all ladder-climbing and nail-driving, though. A measuring mistake while hanging some other things (I'm blaming it on the curved walls of our oval-shaped living room) meant having to move some nails. Removing one of them left a nasty hole in the plaster. Luckily the ugly part is behind a corner of one of the frames and I was able to use scrapbooking glue to piece some of the plaster back together.

That worked out well since I haven't scrapbooked in ages ...

You don't see this every day

2011-08-10T09:30:00.003+02:00

Yesterday I took Owen to the park. That wasn't unusual, although the videos we made (you can see a couple of them if you're my friend on Facebook) were kind of entertaining. But when we arrived at the park, I noticed a car parked outside the gate.
Given that we live in Milan, seeing a car parked on the sidewalk didn't come as a shock even though most of the locals are gone for August and there are plenty of regular parking spots open. What made this unusual was that the owner of this car -- a middle-aged-to-older woman -- was detailing her car right there on the street. You can see the trash bag and cleaning cloth on the hood. What you can't see in the photo is that she was wearing yellow rubber gloves and everything.
Later I wondered whether it was because there was a water source (the park fountain) and trash cans right there, but I'm not sure. It certainly wasn't something we see every day, though.

Yes, I am a granola nerd

2011-08-09T12:56:00.004+02:00

By that I mean I make my own granola. It's not fancy, but it's not hard. This came up on Facebook last week, and someone asked that I share the recipe (hi, Nicole!), so here it is. This is adapted somewhat from one of the cookbooks our church (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) distributes at its canneries to teach people to use their food storage. Everything in this can be stored for months at a time, so it might be a good choice for people going to consumables posts.

Granola

6 cups rolled oats (I tend to use the quick-cooking kind, but the old-fashioned ones work as well. If you do use the old-fashioned type, you might want to add a bit of extra liquid.)
1/2 cup brown sugar (I usually stock and use light brown sugar, but the stronger flavor of dark brown sugar is good, too.)
1 cup coconut (I've been using a type of powdered coconut that's sold here in Italy, but I also like the shredded variety easier to find in the States.)
1 cup chopped nuts (I usually use pecans because I have them for other recipes.)

Mix all of this in a large bowl. Then add:

1/2 cup oil (I use canola.)
2 tsp. vanilla
1/3 cup honey

After you've stirred in the liquids and all of the oats are coated, spread it on a baking sheet and cook it at 350 degrees F (that's about 170 C) for 25 minutes. Then add:

1 cup raisins

Bake another 5 minutes, let it cool and store in an airtight container.

To me, the beauty of this recipe is its simplicity, but you can make it as complicated as you'd like. I've seen recipes that include wheat germ, sesame seeds and sunflower seeds. Obviously there are all kinds of possibilities for switching out the nuts; I think almonds sound good. And craisins or dried blueberries would be good in place of or in addition to raisins. Like cinnamon? Add some (I'd mix it in with the oil before you add that to make sure it gets somewhat evenly distributed).

I made some of this a few weeks ago, and Owen and I ate in within a week. Now I'm thinking about making some again. Mmmmmmmm ...

My Heart's in the Lowlands: 10 Days in Bonny Scotland by Liz Curtis Higgs

2011-08-07T15:55:00.002+02:00

This is another book I've had sitting around forever and finally got around to reading. I don't know much about Scotland but do plan on visiting some day, and I think this book is a good introduction. It focuses on the Lowlands (rather obvious from the title, I think) and mostly smaller villages and rural areas. It's a good read if a little cheesy at times. The Robert Burns quotes that begin each chapter are interesting. I might have found the quotes from the author's other works (historical fiction books set in the Scottish Lowlands) interesting, too, if I'd read any of those books. I'll probably keep this one around in preparation for real opportunities to visit some of the places in a couple of years.

Someone got a haircut

2011-08-06T13:23:00.004+02:00

No, that someone wasn't me. Here's a shot from earlier in the week, taken on a post-dinner outing to one of the playgrounds near our house:
Here he is yesterday on the playground train at Parco Sempione:
I still need to do some detail work around his ears, but at least he's not as shaggy-looking as he was.

Rest in peace, GG

2011-08-01T14:29:00.007+02:00

Kevin's grandmother, whom the family calls GG, died this morning. When we heard last week that she'd had a stroke, I initially assumed she'd be OK because she's one of those people I always imagine will live forever. It wasn't to be, though, and I'm terribly sad none of us got to see her at the end (Kevin and Laura just left this morning to fly to Houston) and that I won't be there for the funeral (Owen and I stayed behind).
I loved GG from the moment I met her at Christmas in 1998. This was a few months later (April 1999) at our wedding reception in Houston:
A year later, Kevin and I were taking a trip to Paris and invited family members to join us. GG was one who came; she's in the far left in this photo from Versailles:
A year after that, Kevin and I had moved to Houston and had Laura. She was a hit because the family had gone a few years without a baby. Here we all are with GG and Grandpa, who died later that year:
Laura got bigger, we moved to Denver, to Washington, D.C., and then to Port of Spain. But Laura still loved her GG, evidenced by this photo taken at Aunt Babs' and Uncle Dennis' house in 2008:
The most recent photo I have of any of us with GG is from home leave in 2009. Laura was 8 by then, and Owen was 2 months old. We all hung out with GG and Aunt Mavis in Texas City:
We'll all miss her for sure. If there's one thing I hope we all learned from her, it's unconditional love. She displayed it toward her family all the time, and I hope we follow her example.

Just in case you were wondering

2011-08-01T09:43:00.002+02:00

What do Robert Harris, Stephen King, a strange plastic dinosaur-looking thing, a kid-chewed Cars book, Irish racehorses, Madeleine Albright and Yeats all have in common?
They're all proof Owen has been rearranging our bookcases.

"You haven't had a blog post in so long!"

2011-07-29T17:02:00.002+02:00

Or so I just was told by Laura. And she's right, of course. But I'm not going to post anything more than this right now just to annoy her. And because I'm still composing my next post in my head. There's lots going on, just nothing I'm quite ready to write about yet.

Do people really need to be told these things?

2011-07-25T09:33:00.002+02:00

I just discovered this tag in a dress I bought Laura at Gap last week.

Archaeology in Milan

2011-07-21T08:21:00.002+02:00

Milan has a bit of Roman history, but it's not as obvious as some other cities'. Last week we went to the archaeology museum on Corso Magenta -- there's some information on this site -- and learned a lot. This is a bit of a bold statement, but I think the explanations on their displays are the best ones in any Italian museum I've visited. As an added bonus, there's a lot more in English than is typical.
The highlight of the site itself is a polygonal tower that was part of a a city fortification. There are frescoes inside whose date can't be pinpointed, but one of the scenes shows St. Francis receiving the stigmata. That's supposed to have happened in 1224, so obviously the frescoes were done after that.
Photos aren't allowed inside, although that site I liked to has some. We did buy a couple of maps of ancient Milanese sites in the gift shop, though, and I plan to check out some we haven't seen and revisit some we have.

Milan then (1901) and now (2011)

2011-07-20T14:11:00.005+02:00

A few years ago -- maybe when we still were in Port of Spain but knew we were coming to Milan -- Kevin got this poster for either my birthday or Christmas.

It's been rolled in its tube long enough that I can't get it flat except in a frame, which produces a variety of glare-related issues. But you get the idea.
A few weeks ago I decided I wanted to re-create the scene. It's really not difficult since the immediate area apparently escaped being bombed during World War II. I took a few shots from different streets and angles. The front side of the Duomo is more attractive and scaffolding-free at the moment, which makes for a better photo even if not the same scene as the original. But as you can see from Piazza Cordusio, it's not as nice an angle.

So I pinpointed the spot the original photo was taken -- on Corso Vittorio Emmanuele -- and finally went there today to take the modern photo, ugly scaffolding and all.

I'd like to convert it to black and white (for comparison's sake) and have a print made and frame it to match the first one. I think I'll wait for the scaffolding to come down, though. Maybe that'll happen sometime over the next couple of years. I hope.

Alice Waters and Chez Panisse by Thomas McNamee

2011-07-17T19:36:00.004+02:00

I'm not a foodie of any sort -- OK, so I don't like those individual slices of cheese that come wrapped in plastic -- but I knew something about Chez Panisse and was curious about its history. I'd had this book sitting around for a while (since 2007) and finally got around to reading it.
The expanded title of the book includes "The Romantic, Impractical, Often Eccentric, Ultimately Brilliant Making of a Food Revolution." That's definitely a fair assessment of the story overall. I admire Alice Waters' commitment to working toward better food and wanting people to have a great dining experience at her restaurant. Some of the history of Chez Panisse -- especially how it "did" organic and local before those were mainstream -- and its personalities was interesting. But sometimes I think it's better for us not to know so much about people we might otherwise admire. I guess this is one of those times.
It's an OK book, and I'm not sorry I read it. But I don't feel badly about having left it sitting unread all those years, either.

Yeah, that's one big horse

2011-07-15T21:01:00.005+02:00

Today we ventured out to visit what is billed as the world's largest equestrian monument. Yeah, it's pretty big.
In 1482, Leonardo da Vinci designed this for the Sforza family, who ruled Milan at the time. I'm not sure when the original went on display, but it was destroyed in 1499 (the Sforzas has fallen by then). This version was erected in 1999 as a gift to Italy from the United States in appreciation for the Renaissance and Leonardo da Vinci's contributions to it.
This is what it might look like if the world's biggest equestrian monument was trying to paw my children in their heads:
I love the detail on the hoof.
I think at one time there was a display with more about the history, but all that's left now is some photos showing the construction. There are a few pieces of the cast, too, but the horse itself is more impressive.

A conversation with the 10-year-old

2011-07-12T21:49:00.002+02:00

"Did you pour water on your brother's head while you were watering the plants?"
"Maybe a little."
"What made you think that was OK?"
"He was bugging me."
"You bug me sometimes. Should I start pouring water on you?"
"Yes! Can you, please?"