Shortcut to Mushrooms

Global cooking, unschooling and the care and feeding of nine year olds.

2012-02-14T05:20:00.002-08:00

Nine year olds are feisty argumentative creatures and I have been banging heads with Angelica ever since she turned nine. ( Ben will tell you it has been going on a whole lot longer :) While we are both strong personalities it did help to realize that part of this comes with the territory. They are discovering that they are part of a big big world and are ready for big things because, they are really becoming "the big kids."

This, as a home/un-schooler, is a great challenge. How to make the world bigger when frankly we are, well, home so much. This is especially frustrating in the colder weather when we lose much of our outdoor time, hikes, etc.

We made a trip to the library three weeks ago and got out a wonderful, wonderful book (which I am seriously considering buying because I guess the Strasburg library will not let me renew it indefinitely), The One World Kids Cookbook. Angelica instantly loved the idea of cooking some meals for us and the recipes are very simple for children to understand. I also love that in the book they show children cooking over hot pans and doing all sorts of wonderful dangerous kitchen things that so many children's cookbooks forbid. (of course the children are school age, not three-year-olds) It also opened up a wonderful venue for discussing the third world, economic differences between our country and many impoverished nations, geography and history. Who would have thought cooking could teach so many lessons.

Angelica has cooked a Somalian curry and a Greek salad with tadziki so far. It has really boosted her confidence in the kitchen and when she had a friend spend the night this past weekend they even made crepes together. The picture above is her with the pizza she assembled when I was out last thursday night.

Lè Buerre

2012-02-03T05:46:00.000-08:00

I spent all last week with my head buried in baking cookbooks. Here is the result. My favorite one was basically a primer on French style pastry. I love French desserts because they have twice as much fat as American ones and about a third the amount of sugar. Ben and I were talking about why this might contribute to the fact that Americans are as a rule heavier. As Ben said, "More fat, less sugar, and then they walk home." Ha! So true. . . . .

Bringing Home the Bacon

2012-01-31T05:27:00.000-08:00

Even though we slaughtered over two weeks ago, all the bits of the pig are always hanging around for the longest time, being cured, and ground, and whatnot. I always love opening my fridge and seeing an entire pig belly sitting on a tray when I go to reach for the milk in the morning. However, with four children and a busy life it finally was on a Sunday that Ben and I sat down together and sliced the bacon.

Bacon really is a drawn out process, and I even though I have always loved bacon, I never appreciated that real bacon is never an instant product. It also doesn't look all bright pink and watery and come in a package that you have to open with scissors. Also it requires patience. If you are a ribs or pork loin kinda person than instant gratification is truly yours. You cut open the pig and there they are, all ready to eat. But bacon is still a good week off (at least).

Ben likes to slice it himself because even though he lets me sharpen my butcher knives and cut up pigs he knows that putting me in front of a twirling electronic blade is a recipe for a fingerless wife. Ben did great job of slicing it and now we have it all safely packed in the freezer.

I suppose if we were truly enterprising I would be curing a prosciutto and gratification would be further delayed another six months. The best stuff takes the longest. That's the irony of it all. Italians, who are generally known for their passionate temperments and inclination toward impatience, are the artisans of some of the best aged meat and cheese products in the world, and also the culture which gave birth to the Slow Food movement. Any food that you have to take months to make and can be consumed in a manner of seconds requires a reverence for nature's cycles, and a true spirit of humility. After all, when was the last time you tucked into a panini and someone yelled at you to appreciate all the work that went into it?

Really when I think about it, my bit of work as pork processor was fairly minor, the final motion on the assembly line. It was Andrew who hauled feed and slops to a pen full of excitable pigs in the freezing cold for months on end who is really the only person truly capable of understanding all the work that went into this bit of bacon.

p.s. Annie, I posted a humility picture just for you. That's our living room torn apart by Zita and Julia while we were slicing the bacon. ;)

Open Shelving and Hippy Kitchens

2012-01-26T17:51:00.000-08:00

Today I had my first stint of my once-a-week baking for our local cafe. The owner, Wendy, is a passionate woman, dedicated to building a restaurant that is not only sustainable but also a gathering place for the communitiy. It is a place where connections are made and friendships forged and all over good food and beer.

I laugh that this is almost my first post college job, other than grading papers part-time and doing and learning all the million jobs that come with homemaking, real homemaking that is, not of the cocktail and cigarette variety. The best part was getting to use the restaurant kitchen which is full of what every real homemaker needs or at least acsess to. Most most middle class modern kitchens are made to keep things behind cupboard doors so you don't use them and honestly, ovens are for cooking freezer pizzas.

After being in the cafe kitchen tonight I was reminded why open shelving was one of my favorite patterns in Christopher Alexander's Pattern Language. It is so much more accommodating to the cook to have everything within sight and easy reach. Who wants to go pawing behind a door of a dark too deep cabinet?

Anyway, as we are renting for the time being I will just have to make do. At least I can console myself with the wonderful collection of hippy kitchens here.

Global cooking, unschooling and the care and feeding of nine year olds.

2012-01-23T16:32:00.000-08:00

UCELLINI

2012-01-21T19:42:00.000-08:00

Several times this winter I have looked out my window to see these huge black clouds of birds circling my house and then all of a sudden they will descend on our yard and eat something in the field for a minute or so and then will all fly up at EXACTLY the same moment and rest in the oak trees behind our house. It is like nothing I have ever seen before. It almost makes time stand still. I finally looked it up online.

They are starlings and it is a phenomena called murmuration.

They apparently do this when they get ready to roost for the winter. My little photo does not begin to do it justice but an amazing video of it can be seen here.

Ronia's little mat by our bed is next to the window where Angelica feeds the winter birds by throwing birdseed out onto our porch roof. Angel I was trying to catch her watching the birds on camera but she turned around when she heard me.

Winter Hike

2012-01-19T17:07:00.000-08:00

We had a sixty degree winter day the other week so we headed with some homeschooling friends to the first part of the Signal Knob trail at the George Washington National Forest. The intention was only to go as far as a spring at the end of the first part of the trail.

When we stopped to fill our bottles my friend and I noticed that there was a beautiful rock formation we had never seen before ascending before us to a large outcropping . The children all decided quite suddenly to scale it, scrambling up rocks off the trail to the top of a large bluff. Before we knew it they were at the top and we followed in an awkward pursuit, babies on our backs. The view from the top was quite beautiful since the trees, without their vernal dress, could not obstruct the mountain on the other side of the gorge

I never knew these rocks were so close to the trail because I usually hike it during the summer months. It always amazes me how the seasons reveal a place so familiar to you, anew. What gave me pause to think, however was that, while my friend and I commented on how we had never noticed this formation before, we were content to simply take it in with our eyes.

It is children who are always willing to turn their gaze to some new thing, and then, to pursue it and glory so fully in the very gift of it. It was because of them them that we experienced the beauty of that place so fully. Unforntunately I left my camera in the car but here are some photos with the winter hikers.

2012-01-17T05:54:00.000-08:00

These are the dollies I made for Christmas this year. I never got a good photo of them finished. My mother in law gave Angelica a book on how to make these years back and we finally learned this year.

Quick news from the homestead:

Rain again, still no snow in this strange warm winter.

Ronia learned to wave. She waves at everyone now. Yesterday she waved rather helplessly at her father as her four year old sister carried her out of the bathroom and into the living room.

I learned to fishtail braid on a Rapunzel doll no less. My hair is finally long enough to pull back again but it will be a while before I can fishtail it.

First week of pig slaughtering is behind us. Two piggies down, four more to go. I rendered lard and made stock yesterday. I'm really mad because I was doing too much and it got too warm because I was impatient at one point and so while creamy white, it is not as odorless as it could be. (oh to answer questions: We unfortunately do not have the resources to save pigskin. (not enough manpower to dunk the pigs into the vat of boiling water, however we did save the cheek meat this year! .... and Maggie, you can come by and bake bread whenever you want but set aside two days and spend the night because it is a long process. )

Day's begun. . .

2012-01-11T16:36:00.000-08:00

I woke up this morning planning to go to the grocery store and shop. My parents left last week and I am all off my schedule of shopping which is usually Thursday or Friday depending on our milk pick up. Yet another part of my suburban breeding is my tendency to go to the store when I am out of a few basics. It really is rather absurd and I am trying to curb this habit.

As it so happened I also remembered that I am helping butcher our pig this weekend and we have a whole half of a pig coming. When I opened my freezer I realized that it was time to make space and lo and behold I didn't have to go to the store at all.

Out of the freezer came the hidden bounty. I made two pots of stock (pork and fish respectively) patè, malfatti (spinach ricotta dumplings), and potato ham frittata, and a batch of cranberry almond bread. I also soaked the beans and fed my starter for baking bread tomorrow.

Of course I spent all day in the kitchen minus a brief homeschooling hiatus. On the other hand to really make the most of one's cooking I have found that you need to spend at least one day a week making your basics anyway. Stock, beans, sourdough. All the time intensive ingredients you need to throw together quick meals that have that slow flavor. So it was gratifying to realize that just because I don't have apples and lettuce it is no reason to fly out the door and spend money.

Looking forward to sourdough pancakes in the morning.

A bed for Julia

2012-01-09T16:11:00.000-08:00

I bought this frame from the bargain basement antique store in Strasburg. It was about 26 bucks. Ben made me bed slates out of our wood scraps out back.

stripped it. Cost- one buck in babysitting fees to my nine year old.

made a mattress out of a thrifted curtain and the stuffing from Julia's old bed (which was really an old futon on the floor.) Here Julia is testing it for me. Ronia wants to help too! Cost two dollars for the curtain.

The bed is painted green inspired by Carl Larsson's children's beds in their home in Lilla Hyttnà, Sweden. Cost 10 bucks in paint plus one buck in babysitting money to my six year old. Oh and one pretty glass jar full of q-tips is smashed while said six year old decides to entertain the baby by throwing all the toilet paper rolls around the bathroom.

All finished! Julia has a new bed and is no longer climbing into our bed at 2 am. Ronia has her very own mat for napping on made of futon remnant and we are all sleeping better! Total cost 40 bucks!

2012-01-08T19:51:00.001-08:00

Okay so everything is still feeling new and different and I owe a big thank you to my husband who understands these things we call computers.

2012-01-08T17:13:00.000-08:00

Messing with my blog here. I need to get my husband. My computer skills make me want to weep.

I found that photo of Julia and it made me melancholic for spring. I am very happy on the other hand that Julia is four now and not two anymore. That was a year of tantrums such as I pray we will never see again. You would never think it to see her all sweetly wrapped up in that blanket. . . . .

2012-01-07T05:31:00.000-08:00

Nonno dishing out the polenta. We miss you already!

Ronia in her new Generation Y diaper cover. I really like these. They have a little flap that holds the prefold in place and come in many groovy prints.

Julia turns four!

Been spending my time winding down from Christmas guests, gearing up for homeschooling which we start up again next week, and refinishing a youth bed I bought for Julia. I am trying to photograph my progress, so I'll try and post some photos soon.

2011-12-29T17:46:00.000-08:00

Picture of Christmas breakfast here.

I spent the whole day in the kitchen with my Dad. We made Bolognese sauce and Ribollita and I have four loaves of bread rising overnight for a small Christmas gathering we are having tomorrow.
2011 has been a pretty bad year for many many people we know. Ben spent New Years day at a funeral and it has been a crazy roller coaster of a year from there on out. I continue to hold out hope that this next year will bring good things. Let's talk resolutions.

I could make this list a mile long but then it would be more like wishful thinking rather than resolutions.

1. Learn to play the concertina. ( Already working on this one but YouTube could use some more tutorials. All you awesome anglo style concertina players out there stop showing off and make some tutorials, dammit!)

2. Brush up on my Italian.

3. Live out of a suitcase for some of the year. Getting that travelin' bug again.

4. If I grow my hair out, do something fun with it, corn rows, etc.

5. Read Moby Dick.

6. Pray the morning office before the kids wake up.

Okay 1 and 6 are probably the most important.

Good riddance 2011!

2011-12-27T19:15:00.000-08:00

Buon Natale! We are having a lovley Christmas with my parents and here is a little angel I made for the Christmas tree.

Between midnight mass and learning to play my Christmas concertina and chasing my dad around the kitchen and Ronia away from the ornaments and the staircase I am beat!

2011-12-15T05:20:00.000-08:00

Happy Santa Lucia! (photo taken yesterday)

Advent is passing quickly and I have been immeasurably busy getting Christmas gifts knitted and sewed. For the first time this year everything the girls are getting is homemade plus one item from an antique store. I have wanted to do this every year but have always ended up ordering a little something here or there.

Angelica and I did a big journey up to the Asian market and bought fish for our Christmas Eve soup. Their fish section is about the size of most grocery store produce section with big vats of eels, crabs, lobsters, etc and red snapper as big as a four year old sitting on ice head and all. You can pick out your fish whole and they gut it and cut the head off for you. I also picked up some smelt for frying which I can never find here and are a wonderful memory from my childhood. I used to love to crunch on the crispy little fins. Also bought a whole bag of salmon heads for fish stock for five bucks and a whole vat of kimchi to add some much needed fermentedness into our winter diet. Its a bit spicy for the kids but Ben and I will consume quantities.

Only frustration . . . looks like Christmas duck this year instead of goose. Next year I will get my act together and order some goslings.

2011-11-29T18:46:00.000-08:00

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Some photos from around the house and our trip to the national gallery. I love the one of Julia asleep on a bench in the sculpture gallery.

2011-11-28T17:13:00.000-08:00

Goodbye November!

2011-11-28T16:53:00.000-08:00

Mondays are laundry day. Probably my least favorite household chore but at least I have it over with first thing in the week.

For years we didn't have a drier. I love the zen of line drying clothes. The way you think of each family member as you pick up their clothing, the way you can arrange things on the line, tights hanging in row. Of course in the winter it is not always as fun and I was always the person who would yell out at the first clap of thunder and make a mad rush to get everything off the line.

Then I got pregnant with my fourth. I still really wanted to cloth diaper and there was a free drier in the house next door so we hauled it over here. If I have to use a drier now, and I am resigned that I do, (though some things I still stubbornly hang) at least it is an avocado green drier and it has a pink and blue strobe light in the back that blinks while it is running and it rings a little bell when the clothes are finished that reminds me of the "idea" bell noise in road-runner cartoons.

It also is holding my winter plants on it right now and provides a nice spot for the catfood away from Ronia, who loves a good meal served up on the floor.

Also if anyone has any good disco we could have a fantastic dance party while my clothes are drying.

Okay, okay, I like my drier.

It helps to remind yourself sometimes

2011-11-16T05:27:00.000-08:00

Mental note on road to inner peace. . . . . Don't be the screaming lady in her pajamas.

2011-11-11T16:25:00.000-08:00

Lately the girls have been playing with the dolls I made them for Christmas. The dolls in our house have a rather varied assortment of names. We have dolls with sensible names like Lucy and Greta (who is I believe is named for the girls' cousin) and then there are dolls with names like Chocolate, Peppa, and my personal favorite, Silverware. Julia has a fetish for flowery sounding words. They make me happy, these dolls who have very much become little personalities in our home.

I am very exited because I found out about a kind of baby doll that you can make that is stuffed with millet and is very heavy. You stitch little sleeping eyes on it and it is a sleeping baby. THey are supposed to be very good first baby dolls and I want to make one for Ronia for Christmas.

Woops I need Ben to fix my picture for me . . . .

2011-11-03T19:49:00.000-07:00

Had to share this photo of Angelica with chicken pox! It made the rounds in our house in October.

Baking with Spelt

2011-11-02T04:56:00.000-07:00

I'm loving it. I bought a 25 lb bag of spelt when Ronia was born and of course I just had it ground at the Burwell Morgan Mill the last week of October.

Spelt is an ancient grain, more ancient than wheat and the Burwell Morgan Mill the oldest mill still operating in Virginia and entirely water powered. I've been using my sourghdough yeast (also since the baby was born) and cooking in the bread in big Cast iron pots from my mother-in-law. I joked to Ben that if he makes me a wood powered outdoor oven we will have gone to great lengths to eat bread that probably hasn't been eaten on a regular basis for centuries.

But it is worth it for the flavor alone. Spelt is nutty and a little mild and when it was freshly ground it had a really earthy aroma. It also works well in pancakes and cookies so the versatility factor is nice. Down side is that it is a bit pricier. Only thing I haven't tried it yet in is pizza.

Gotta get more coffee. BYe!

Reclaiming Halloween.

2011-10-31T04:24:00.000-07:00

Halloween is upon us again.

As a child, my parents went thru various stages of shunning halloween. There were years we didn't go trick or treating because my mother was convinced that Halloween was pagan practice unfit for Christians. Then there was the discovery of the true feast of all Saints. Suddenly we wore costumes again and eventually even my mother caved to peer pressure and we were trick or treating again. I never gave all the philosophical dilemmas much thought until I had my own children.

In the end I decided I do let my children go trick-or -treating. Here is why.

In Catholic Tradition we always take what is good about pagan traditions and keep it because it fits in with some aspects of Christian theology and the bad stuff we pitch, like a fabulous cheese with a few moldy spots that can be cut off. True, some cultures have let their cheese rot so badly that the whole thing has to be tossed out but usually just like a good mom, Mother Church tries to see if there is something salvageable The bad stuff of paganism (child sacrifice, etc) is shunned and denounced. Its a pretty simple formula and its worked well for centuries.

So when I returned to my analysis of Halloween I realized that the Church has put together the feasts of All Souls and All Saints. Not separated them, mind you, put them together. They are also placed at a time of year when traditionally pagan cultures turned their thoughts to the shades and spirits that dwell beyond the pale.

There is something important, something necessary about acknowledging fear, and death. They are real and increasingly we live in a culture where death is hidden and ignored. Reminding ourselves on Halloween of death and decay and fear are important, because only then does the triumph of the saints make sense and Christ's victory over them hold weight.

Yes there is a line to be walked between mocking the devils' power, and celebrating ugliness and decay, but walk it me must. I think that dressing as saints, (often offered as an alternative to other costumes) is great and should be encouraged, but the point of the saints (whose feast day follows the morning after Halloween) is that they faced these fears and triumphed . The saints' victory means nothing if act as though all is sweetness and light in this world.

Lastly the feast of all Souls is the church's plea to feed the dead (spiritually of course with acts of prayer and penance) We the faithful need one another in a very real way. just as we depend on one another for material sustenance in this life we need to think of the poor and unfortunate souls still awaiting heaven who hunger spiritually. Reminding ourselves of death reminds us of those who have passed on and are still awaiting heaven.

So yes, I celebrate Halloween.

All that being said, here is what I don't like about the modern American Halloween: the chance to mass market thousands of cheap disposable costumes and shameless commercialism. Loading up kids with tons of fake sugar,especially the attitude that it is a chance to "get the stuff" drive me crazy. This is all similar to the much more shocking butchering of Christmas. Still, all the more reason to celebrate properly or is just casualty surrendered to the cause of secularization. And that is scary, indeed.

2011-10-21T04:16:00.000-07:00

some homeschoolin photos and a mushroom pic that Angelica took. Gotta go make pancakes.

Oh October, can you stay with us for one more month?

Ronia's guide to street fashion in NYC

2011-10-16T15:58:00.000-07:00

Ronia aka "the satorialist."

Hippies in Liberty Park are always cutting edge.

Ronia says "Good cheese is never out of style. " at Beechers in Manhattan

Ronia at DSW. . . "Well, there are lots of leg warmers and funky boots, but where oh where are the diaper covers?"

Ronia contemplates her fleeting youth.

2011-10-15T18:02:00.000-07:00

Oh and Ben took this picture of our house from two fields behind it. You can't see all the roads so we look like we live in the middle of nowhere. Anyway it was a cool view.

Hello again NYC and Occupy Wall Street

2011-10-15T09:08:00.000-07:00

Ben took me (and Ronia) up to NEw York with him for my 30th birthday. Wow, what an amazing time! I had lots of lovely time walking around with my husband and looking at all the beautiful buildings shrouded in October mist. There was great banjo music, espresso, and markets. . .

We rode the subway down to wall street to watch the protests and see what was really going on. I don't really trust the right or left media anymore so we thought it was a great chance to see stuff firsthand. I think that on one hand I could see how anger can feed anger and that there is a real clash of cultures mounting to a head here in the US. . . . that makes me a wee bit scared. On the other hand I saw reasons for hope.. . People who want the right to solve their own problems and put a stop to Wall street funding public policy. All very good and noble aims.
I think that the young people know that they have been cheated on one level and are open to change. That is essentially good. I just think we really need a St. Francis to lead them. . . and not a Lenin. At least they were cleaning up after themselves and have lots of fiddlers and banjo players.

2011-09-26T05:01:00.000-07:00

Oh, also just finished the book Goat Song last night. If I wanted a goat before, now I REALLY want one. . . . or at least a bunch of goat milk so I can learn to make a tomme or at least chevre. . . .
Also learned that many letters of our alphabet come from our pastoralist roots. Newfound respect for yodeling.

2011-09-26T04:57:00.000-07:00

Ronia is six months old!

She's on the move. Look out big sisters.

2011-09-16T18:01:00.000-07:00

AH summer is over, and the blog is long neglected. We had an amazing trip to California to visit my family. The big highlights were going to the beach, going to the Zoo with Nonna, long evenings full of wine, amazing cheese, lasagne, sushi, fritto misto, the list goes on and on, and best of all CAMPING IN THE REDWOODS! I finally was able to meat my dear little neice too!

Now we have begun the school year and I am not sure where blogging is going to fit into things. I have been working rather intensely on discipline with a schedule of housework and schoolwork with the girls and myself. So far things have been going well. We have decided to do schoolwork in the afternoons which I find is working much better for us, We have a weekly schedule of Monday, laundry, Tuesday, Baking, Wednesday, Cleaning, Thursday, organizing and yard, gardening, etc. and Friday errands. So far this has made my life hugely more organized and since I know what I am doing it is easier to fit in little additions to the schedule here and there. I am also happy thus far with the three Classical Liberal Arts Academy classes that we have been doing this year. We did one last year just to try it out and we are doing two more this year. So far so good. One of Angelica's classes was even written by my old college proffesor!

Daniela, I haven't forgotten you! Ben and I are really shooting for next spring so keep your fingers crossed. We miss everyone over in Gravagna so much!

2011-06-30T18:56:00.000-07:00

Its been a looooong month since posting. I think many deep thoughts these days but have been neglecting the old bloggo a bit. Ben has just returned from New Orleans and the American Library Association conference. The girls and I had some adventures in his absence including meeting a cool family who is living in an old Civil War era Barn they are fixing up.
Between Birth Circle, the creek, La Leche Leauge, the Summer Reading program, the pool, and the river, we are having a busy summer and I am spending most of my free moments enjoying Ronia and her smallness and sweetness. Aunt Josepha came for a visit and brought lots of cheese too!

I also finally caved and put two bumper stickers on my car, which has been devoid of soundbites until now. I put a "Buy fresh, Buy Local" sticker and a "Ten Moons Midwifery" one. A good start. But we will leave it at that until Dan Nichols makes his Wedell Berry one.

Beautiful gowns. . .

2011-05-05T19:39:00.000-07:00

2011-03-17T19:04:00.000-07:00

Yes, yes, shameless newborn adoration. These days are so brief and so special with a new one. Ronia seems like she has always been part of the household here and now Nonna has come to help me out post-partum, I feel enormously spoiled and blessed to have round the clock help until I am a month post-partum.

Also a mighty hurrah for lemon balm "the gladdening herb" really enjoying it with lavender thanks to my midwives. It is so relaxing to drink in the evenings.

I keep meaning to post Ronia's birth story but I am too tired in the evenings. . . . another night perhaps.

this one's for Josepha

2011-02-26T17:05:00.000-08:00

Here we are with our little eyes open.

Look it's John Bertolini's grumpy face!

She is here!

2011-02-25T16:56:00.000-08:00

welcome little Ronia Francesca Hatke.

Born at home 2:17 a.m. Feb. 24 7 lbs even. Another beautiful little girl!

2011-02-20T18:35:00.000-08:00

We are all so busy. . . . .

A last hurrah

2011-02-18T04:42:00.000-08:00

My friend Marina recently had her fifth and called her last big prenatal outing her last hurrah. I decided yesterday that in spite of my large girth and looming due date (one week) I really wanted to accompany my husband to his very first book signing in Washington DC, and bring our daughters along with us. So yesterday we had our last hurrah. It couldn't have been better.

I met up with a dear old childhood friend of mine (wondrous pilgrim) who lives in the city and the day was sunny and in the upper sixties. The folks at the bookstore (Politics and Prose) were very kind and so helpful and down in their lowere level is the best kept secret in coffee in d.c. I haven't had such a good lattè since the leaving Italy. And the pastry were worthy of the coffee too, to put it mildly.

It was such a joy to see Ben give his talk on comics to a group of school age children and while he signed copies of his book the girls and I perused the children's section and bought a book or two of our own. After the booksigning we parted ways with my friend and we headed to Chinatown for dumplings. Zita (who is gluten intolerant ) and I went to a food truck (wow. . . . foodtrucks. . . . .) and ate our food on the steps of the portrait museum, watching the washingtonians enjoying the fine weather on their lunch breaks and Ben and the others went for dumplings. Afterward we visited the museum and headed home on the metro.

One cannot put a price tag on a days outing in February with the sunshine and birdsong of April. Oh. . . . and the vienna metro sure has a lot of buskers now. Whenever we give them money I laugh and think about how all the starving artists are just passing the same money around to one another.

Per gravagna e per fede

2011-02-05T17:02:00.000-08:00

Ecco. Devo scrivere in Italiano.

Fede,

Arrivera il bambino (a?) nel principio da Marzo. Speddiamo che tutto andava bene! Adesso mi sento grandissima! Le bimbe s hanno molto entusiasmo. La Angelica e la Zita volanno un fratellino ma la Giulia vole una sorellina.

Habbiamo preso un altro gatto anche noi!! In nostro e chiamato "Nicco" perche la Angelica recorda un gatto similare che Giuseppe ha dato lo stesso nome! Forse "Gustavo" e proprio un bel nome per un micio. Angelica ancora piace le luchertole e adesso anche le dinosaure. (? questo parola in Italiano non sonno sicuro. . . . )

Speddiamo che torniamo questo estate. Fa un preghiera a San Barttolomeo e San Rocco. . . . . .

Ci manca tantissimo!!!

Anche grazie a la Lina per la bellisima lettera che ha mandato per Natale!

Baci a Gravagna,

Anna

2011-01-26T18:35:00.000-08:00

Look who's three!

Today we our first beautiful thick snow of the year and it was really lovely to get out and walk in it. It was beautiful thick wet stuff and it wasn't very cold so it made the snow so enjoyable. I have been so busy nesting for this baby, getting out the diapers and washing some of the things packed away when Julia was little. It seems like every time I have to get out those little yellow stains that show up on perfectly clean things. I washed my wool puddle pads which where way dirtier than I thought and now I have to re-lanolize them. And I sewed a silk I dyed into a blanket backing it with flannel and I loved how it turned out. Ben calls it my hippy baby blanket. It is rather psychidelic.
My midwives host a birth circle on the last tuesday of the month and I went the other night and met lots of wonderful moms and it was really fantastic, They always have San Pellegrino which is seriously like my favorite thing to drink when pregnant.

Wow this post is all about being pregnant but really I have been reading other things besides diaper catalogs. I am reading "Travels with my Aunt" by Graham Greene and it is the funniest book I have read in a long time. Perfect winter reading. Ben and I have been watching Dr. Who and I finally learned to knit socks and made a pair for Julia. I helped out with our neighbor's pig slaughtering in exchange for some meat and feel like I finally am getting a little bit better at making the different cuts on a pig. This year I was able to bone out some hams into pork cutlets and that was fun and tasty. Andrew did five pigs this year over two last year so it was a good opportunity to really cement in what I did last year and learn some more. So all in all it hasn't been a bad winter but it is getting to the point where I start to dream of zucchini and tomatoes and ripe peaches and blackberries. Sigh. . . . those days are still far off.

At least we have baby to look forward to sometime in the next four to six weeks!

2011-01-04T18:37:00.000-08:00

Forgot to post this picture of Zita and Julia dressed as Bavarian shepherdesses for their Christmas play.

We are swinging back into more normal routine this week as much as we can with Julia's Birthday and Epiphany in the same week. It always is our final hurrah to the Christmas season. We tried burning frankincense this week which was cool but did make the whole house very smoky and I just kept feeling like I was at mass. It was a very strange feeling to have in one's home. Incidentally you can make a great incensor out of a tin can.

Ben had to fill out a survey for Shelf Awareness "Daily enlightenment in the book trade", some sort of reviewers. They wanted to know all the gritty details of his llong literary journey. He asked me to help him with it and I was honored. One of the questions was about books you have "fake read." We both fondly remembered (fakely of course) "Paradise lost", by John Milton. Did anyone at Christendom ever really read that book? Oh and Ben and I share at least two of five top favorite authors. Neil Gaiman and C.S: Lewis. Hooray! Remember, "A survey a day keeps the marriage counselor away."

Oh and Gwen taught us speed scrabble during her wonderful visit with us and I am totally hooked!

smoothie for sale

2010-12-28T18:17:00.000-08:00

Anna's Pregnancy smoothie, adapted from a midwifery blog. I like it because it is, (or can be), all raw!

I cup yogurt
I/2 cup milk (raw if possible)
1 banana
1 TBS flax seeds or 2 tsp flax seed oil
3TBS coconut oil
1-2 raw eggs (I only do this with our own eggs and I only use the ones the day they are laid just to be exrtra careful, but if you have acsess to free range local eggs from a healthy flock this is okay otherwise a big no-no)

blend well

then add
1 cup fronzen berries
cinnamon or vanilla

you can also add a little honey or maple syrup to sweeten if needed

I think this baby packs a whopping 28 grams of protein and all of your calcium requirements. . . and the coconut oil stabilizes your blood sugar and the raw eggs give your liver a break.

Oh and Ben and my kids love this smoothie too and it is a great healthy snack. Wow, is there anything this smoothie can't do?

Oh and it is really important to blend the coconut oil into the other ingredients before adding the frozen stuff or you get these gross globs of cold coconut oil. Yuck.. . .

2010-12-26T17:52:00.000-08:00

Buon Natale!!!! Christ the Lord is born!

The tree, the panettone, the waldorf dolls, most importantly the bambino divino!!!

We have had a lovely Christmas so far. The baby Jesus is here at last and the feasting has begun. With no less than nine kinds of cheese in the fridge, a new case of wine and the girls blissfully happy with their new dollhouse and furnishings from their grandmothers we will hopefully live out the last days of 2010 to their fullest.

Of course, today was full of bundling everyone out the door for the second mass of the weekend into the bitter cold followed by the usual crash from the sugar high of yesterday but all things considered everybody got to bed by eight. (even my husband) I am so full of baklava and chocolate that I for the first time in three days went to go make some nourishing nettle tea and soak some oats for a breakfast porridge. I am needing my health comfort foods already. There is something to a hot breakfast that is so needed at this time of year. I was on this smoothie kick the past two weeks and they are absolutely energizing and so nourishing but I have to down a glass of hot tea immediately afterward or I lost my core heat.

Hmmm footsteps, look like I spoke too soon. . . . .

Julia is down for food. So typical.

Oh m goodness she is a fickle thing. Here is a sample of our conversation this morning in bed. (they are almost all like this)

Julia: Mama I want some pants.

Me: Oh, Pants?

Julia: Yeah I want pants.

Me: Oh, okay there are your little red pants. They are over there, on the floor of your bedroom.

Julia: No I don't want pants.

Me: (puzzled) But you just said you wanted pants. You don't have to wear those. There are others here in the drawer.

Julia: (with emphasis) No, I DON'T want pants

Me: You don't want pants now?

Julia : Yeah no pants. (walks away shaking her head)

I just don't get it, do I. . . . . .

Okay I am off to do bed duty round two. How could I think it could be this easy the day after Christmas. I just don't get it do I?

2010-12-18T18:22:00.000-08:00

. . . .Been a long and fun filled fall full of tons of fun family visitors and now we are gearing up for Christmas. I have been working hard on making the girls waldorf dolls, which consumes pretty much almost all my time now. I just finished the third one last night and realized that I did used to blog in a world without dollmaking and all our wonderful guests. So here I am again. I am not so little now and Hatke number four is going to be making an appearence early this spring.
Latley I have been drinking lots of awesome smoothies and have enjoyed cutting my own hair. I watched Scott Pilgrim and decided to bite the bullet and finally cut myself a cool thick bang (alas mine is not pink like Ramona Flowers) I had been on the fence with this one for a while. Last time I had bangs was back in my Audrey Hepburn phase freshman year of college.

The chickens have stopped laying almost completely this last couple weeks as we approach the solstice and there is pretty much no daylight at all. I am going to have to cave and buy eggs for the Christmas baking. Ben has been hoping we could get away without buying eggs but Christmas baking is CHristmas baking.

Hopefully I'll get a picture of the waldorf dolls up before they become worn with love.

2010-08-30T17:27:00.000-07:00

Chickens in dresses. Cats is slings. Rooster hanging post mortem awaiting the pot. Oh and a nice pumpkin harvest. We have been having a busy ending of the summer. THere has been lots of food to process. We put up our peaches and have TONS OF JAM. I ordered the school books this week and have been easing us into the new schedule already. Last week was cleaning out closets like a madwoman and bringing bags to second hand store. I feel as though a great burden has rolled off my back. I think fall house cleaning is always way more involved than spring cleaning.

Goals for the fall include.

Getting to mass every Friday.
Continuing some kind of once a week hike at least until December or I am too fat, whichever happens first. Nature journals!

Oh and everyone now has a chore list, even Ben. I become a mad organizer when pregnant.

Pat on the back right when I needed it. . .

2010-08-16T18:02:00.001-07:00

So a few weeks ago a nasty cop showed up at our door and arrested my husband and we went through a small town drama worthy of a vintage television sitcom. My husband is analoging the entire episode for posterity in comic form over on his blog so I won't say any more about that. But, needless to say, my attitude toward the outside world has been slightly embittered of late.

Today we drove out to an orchard to get our two bushels of peaches and there was a little old lady there. I am used to this kind of person fussing about my kids climbing on things (I always tell them that their father is a gymnast) or worried that they'll get dirty when they go to draw in the dirt or look for bugs.

She asked me if my children were home-schooled. The question surprised me as it is still summer vacation but I replied that they were. Then she said in a soft Virginia drawl. “Yep, I can always tell cause they are so well behaved.

WOW! Thank you, kind lady! You have no idea how that has made my day, well my month actually. A pat on the back to homeschoolers everywhere!!!

Oh and the peaches are really good too.

2010-08-15T17:57:00.000-07:00

Well I'm not posting anymore pictures of the garden. While the bounty has been fairly plentiful, between breaking my flower pot, the great drought of '10 here in Va and the chickens its looking a bit like "the devastated vineyard". But as you can see Angelica has worked hard on a couple of cool projects this summer. The first of them is this set up made mostly from her little wooden figures and moss and such from over in the forest. She worked so hard on this that we kept it up for several weeks. I don't know if this is visible in the photo but my favorite part was that she made a little field for the animals out of hay from the mower and it looked just like a little field of animal hay.

I am stating to get exited for the time of year when I blow all the homeschooling money on sweet sweet german art supplies and gorgeous books and then end up scratching my head and wondering why there is nothing left to buy the math book with, Also fall hikes in the musty leaves and best of all APPLE SEASON!!

We have been making many foraging walks lately and brought in a bumper crop of elderberries. I have been inspired by reading Stalking the Wild Asparagus again and we have made many quarts of jam out of Blackberries and elderberries and even some grape jelly. (all sitting rotting on the vine and waysides right outside my own house. Who knew! With the elderberries I made jam and am turning the rest into Sambuca for my dad for Christmas ( I can post that because I don't think my father ever has really been online to speak of) Of course I am keeping some for myself to enjoy a cafe coretto once baby Hatke makes his or her appearance.

I am off to get peaches tomorrow so lets hope this preserving kick doesn't lose steam.

Oh and Ben killed the rooster. I made coq a vin and it was sublime.

2010-07-17T19:35:00.000-07:00

Well the summer marches on. We have some exiting news. Hatke number four is on his or her way and due late next winter (probably early march) So far I have had way more energy and less sickness with this pregnancy but I am not sure if it is the nettle tea I have been slavishly drinking or the fresh eggs and veggies from the garden but either way it has been nice not to be puking all the time. I am crossing my fingers. We just returned from our fabulous fun visit to Ben's family out in Indiana. Angelica received her first communion out there with her cousin and it was a very special and beautiful mass. We also enjoyed a breif but lovley visit with the Storks on the way out who we have not seen for a long time. Ben and I enjoyed Mike's home brewed hard cider. With all the fun we sort of just crashed today and spent the day sitting on the couch reading books with the fan blowing on us and then taking a quick dip in the creak around dinner time.

Garden pics in reverse order

2010-06-17T20:12:00.000-07:00

Farmers market goods for sale.

garden beginning to get nice and bushy. I have since added mulch to my kiddo path and restaked a few tomatoes.

mid may

Here it was in early spring

We have a kitten too!

2010-06-06T17:51:00.000-07:00

Happy thirty-third birthday to my great love, Ben!! Ben turned thirty three this past week and we celebrated with a marvelous birthday breakfast of fritatta and strawberries. I envy Ben having a June birthday because there are so many delicious things to eat at this time of year.

We have been selling at the new Strasburg farmers market outside of Christina's cafe and last week I sold salad, eggs, and strawberry jam. The best part was it was on Ben's birthday and we didn't have time to eat our birthday cake at home so we brought it with us to the market and gave away free pieces of cake. Wow, if you ever want to be popular that is the best secret. Make a big chocolate cake and go out in public and put it on a table. When people come ask about it give them a free piece and voila, instant popularity! The jam sold well too, It seems that most people like to buy food already made even more than produce! Next week, if the chickens don't get into my swiss chard again I am going to bring torta d'erbi.

We had a relaxing weekend despite the busyness. Zita has started her dance camp again and we went to the flea market and i got a sickle. Wow, I am exited about my sickle. (you know you are a Gravangota when. . .) I just need to get it sharpened and I will no longer frighten my children with a loud weed wacker again. Instead I will wield my sickle.

Our rooster also has tried to attack Julia a few times and we are thinking of putting him in the soup pot. I am pretty sure we have at least one cockerel in our new brood so he is not so invaluable anymore. Looks like the sickle won't be the only implement getting sharpened around here.

2010-05-24T19:37:00.000-07:00

May is egg month and true to form there have been many fun egg times around here.

Our baby chicks hatched out of their eggshells on mothers day and while there were only three (I wasn't one to trust a broody hen this young. . ) I have been mistaken in my mistrust for the broody hen is the best of mothers and she takes her chicks for walks now daily. It is just about the cutest thing I have ever seen. It is probably just because we live in such a technological age but it seemed like an absolute miracle to me that all we had to do was put a few of eggs under a hen and then a few weeks later they turned into baby chicks. Of course now I don't feel so bad about feeding our rock star of a rooster all the time.

Also the girls and I have been busy with the garden. We have fresh lettuce now and our potatoes are big and just starting to get their flowers. The sunflowers are up, tomatoes staked, swiss chard, french peas, carrots, onions, garlic, basil, peppers, all planted. I planted flax too, just for fun and cosmos. Oh and the best part is we fed our melon innards to the pigs last summer and now they tilled so many melon seeds into the garden that they are coming up everywhere so I'm just letting them do their thing. Oh and can i just gush for a minute here. My lavender survived the winter beautifully and is coming back and growing bigger. Hooray!!!!!!!!! I have dreamed of having lavender for so long.

Ben found a yoga class for me at the cafe in Strasburg and I am loving it. It is at a very convenient time and close by so all the peices sort of just fell into place with it.

Oh and we saw a mama turtle laying her eggs the other day too. ( and yes in the photo I'm trying to convince Julia not to pet the mama snapping turtle. . . . . )

2010-04-16T16:40:00.000-07:00

The cat brought us live baby bunnies. . . . . much to the girls delight.

We only kept them for the afternoon and then put them out in the evening for their mama bunny to come get them, Unfortunatley the next few days there was the same blood bath of baby rabbits in the yard that we had last summer. I guess our cat just really has a taste for rabbit. Cruel cruel mother nature.

Julia has been chasing the cat and saying "Pia, no honey bunting. "

Also, there was a totally random convention of Amish people at the abandoned gas station the other day. (layers of irony there, I know) I stopped to ask them if they needed help with there car-- I know--why were they driving a car which incidentally they abandoned there--, I have no idea. They were dressed pretty traditional too .. so, yeah, weird. It was cute to see all the little boys in straw hats wave at Angelica though. She waved back.

We planted out potatoes this week and swiss chard. Hoping to get more in next week. I suppose I ought to be grateful to the cat for decreasing the rabbit population around the garden. Why, why, why was I raised on Beatrix Potter? It makes one so sympathetic to the rabbits.

2010-04-10T18:11:00.000-07:00

Woops, I forgot to say that I just love Julia in the Polly Flinders dress my mother-in-law sent ages ago!

2010-04-10T17:52:00.000-07:00

Buona Pasqua!

Questa primavera la piu bella quest anno. Il mondo e tutti fiore. Le bimbe stanno bene e Angelica comminica preperatzione per il primo Communione al primo di Maggio. Noi ancora proviamo trovare un modo per tornare a Gravanga quest anno ma adesso e difficile dire. Come voliamo tutti tornare a videre nostri amici, le montagne, San Barttolomeo!!!!!! Mandiamo i penzieri e preghieri. Ciao e baci!

We have all has a beatiful Easter following a very long and sober Lent. You really only appreciate Easter with Lent before it. The girls were very exited to have our own eggs to color this year and although we had so much wonderful food on Easter Sunday I think all the fasting during Holy week made us have tiny shrunken stomachs and nobody was very hungry.

We are having quite a weekend. We drove in with Ben on the metro to DC to see him off on his New York bolt bus. Ben is in New York this weekend hanging out with his cool publisher friends. I took the girls and a friend with her kids out to the Virginia State Arboretum today for a truly breathtaking experience. We have never had a more blossomy flowery spring ever. The kids all ran throught the feilds of daffodils and narcissus yelling "Paradise! Paradise!" It was beautiful. The old plantation house there is really more beautiful than I remembered too. Add some wine and cheese and fresh bread and that's about as good as things can be with one's husband gone.

2010-03-10T17:19:00.000-08:00

Thank goodness this is over. I have been watching the last little patch of snow dwindle away as spring arrives. Our chickens started laying this week and when the really warm weather hit I decided to spend the whole day outside. Julia and I even napped on the blanket outside but I ended up with a mild case of sunstroke the next day. That's what being indoors all month does to a body. Lowers your tolerance. But in spite of my headache from the sun it was so good to be soaking up the warmth. I have three people I need to write to. Annie Hatke, Colby Stork, and Jamie Gorman. The last hold outs of good old fashioned hand written letters. Oh wait Mary Schnerre too.

Meanwhile I have been reading Life is a Dream by Pedro Calderon de la Barca, (what a FABULOUS name!) Elizabeth Goudge novels and dreaming of earthen roofs. I mean does it get any more hobbity than a grass roof. REALLY?

2010-01-10T16:34:00.000-08:00

We are enjoying this very cold winter by doing things that people all over the word do during real winters like ice skate! Ben took the girls out on the pond today and I even took a spin. Looks like those skates my mother held onto for years in California are finally being put to use. I bought a new boning knife this past week as we are gearing up for the pig slaughtering. Lots of blood and guts but lucky for me no problems there. ( I just can't take needles. . . shudder)

The girls and I have been spending lots of time reading books and Angelica is really into dinosaurs. I even found a website that makes wooden ones that are so sweet. They are made by a company called Holtziger and the girls each got one in their stocking this past Christmas. Latley they have been living in the castle sent by their grandparents.

Two winter experiments so far have been sucsessful. One is wintering my geraniums indoors. They are not growing huge but they haven't died yet and one even has a blossom. I may not be Carl Larsson's wife but window geraniums is something I have always dreamed of.

Second I have been seeing how long I can go without a dryer. I have been drying clothes by the line on and off since Angelica was in diapers but living over in Italy made me a diehard fan. Now that Julia is going on the potty and I am not washing diapers it isn't that big of a deal. Check out Project Laundryline at www.laundrylist.org for diehard activism regarding your line. For me it is more all about the art. A well hung washline in the bright sunshine is a sight to behold. Of course drying in the winter is a bit more of a pain but we have made it this far into the winter. I did finally give up and put in an indoor launrdy line. It is too cold for me to go outside and the stuff dries faster inside now anyway. I do fall asleep dreaming of woodstoves every night because laundry dries even faster by the woodstove.

2009-12-27T06:42:00.000-08:00

On the third day of Christmas my true love gave to me. . . . .

I have had this recurring fantasy lately where I become a fabulously sucsessful chef for some form of obscure European royalty and prepare a feast themed on the twelve days of christmas complete with the french hens, five donut rings, six geese, roasted of course, seven swans (how does one cook a swan?) a huge cake topped with marzipan drummers, maids, ladies, and lords.

Then of course I come back to the first Christmas and how it was an event which was surrounded by the most abject poverty. Of course the irony is that twelve days later come the kings who bring the costliest of gifts. Of course Chesterton reminds us that the learned wealthy men come later, it being the poor who make it there first. It is of course easiest for the humble shepherd to greet the infant. Still the point is, the magi DO make it there and there is a little room for a little excess, a bit of opulence in honor of the king who was been born.

I have fallen in love with paper crafts this Christmas and we even made a star mobile out of the gold cardboard that our Christmas Eve smoked salmon came in. The girls and I also decorated our upstairs windows with lots of paper snowflakes and chains. It certainly makes the winter seem much less dreary!

2009-12-25T17:45:00.000-08:00

THe Christ is Born!!!

Buon Natale! Christmas has begun!

I am so stuffed with duck l'orange and panetone and cranberry relish and chocolate and wine I think I won't eat for three days and the girls are finally asleep after spending the day playing really hard all day long stopping only for crackers and cheese and the occasional peice of chocolate.

May the peace of the Christ child come into the hearts of all men this Christmas.

2009-12-18T17:38:00.000-08:00

Advent is such a wonderful season. My evenings have been very full of the thousands of little Christmas projects that I have taken on myself. Of course very few of them have been accomplished. I am endeavoring to do some spiritual reading this Advent and have been reading Fulton J. Sheen. I think in the past I sort of wrote him off as a pious fifties bishop who would be very dry. Well I have eaten every one of my words because he is wonderfully fantastic. I am struck with how the plight of the poor is a huge theme of his. I keep trying to think of ways that we could be more aware of how all those below the thirteenth parallel live. One thing I have been realizing is how often I just buy something because I can, not because I need too, This is not a huge immoral thing to do but perhaps not very in solidarity with the poor. Of course the horrid thing is given our past experience at being employed by a non-profit I am somewhat mistrustful of organizations that give your money to the folk below the border. I know there are good organizations out there but the research is overwhelming. Of course there is the isolation and poverty of spirit to be ministered to here in the first world. And of course the poor are always with us. They just get food stamps and a welfare check in our country. Does that really exempt us though?

Of course probably the poor folk in the nursing homes are the most obvious outcasts of our society. Angelica's little Flowers group met at the nursing home this past week to sing to the elderly. The man at the home told us we were the first children they let in to see the old folks this year on account of the swine flu. They said yes to us because we were homeschoolers and probably wern't exposed.

This is a good time of year to think about the poor. . Fulton J. Sheen says that if you want to see what life is like for a poor person from India just eat one bowl of rice and a small bit of fish a day for your food ration. Wow. There is some food for thought too. I keep looking at our pig scrap pile and realizing how these hogs eat better than many people. Ugh, I roll up my sleeves and resolve to waste less, consume less, and look to the coming celebration with a mind to thankfulness for all the beautiful things that surround us at the feast of Christmas.

2009-12-17T12:42:00.000-08:00

2009-11-09T18:50:00.000-08:00

Whooo! WHat a fun week we had visiting family in Indiana. I felt like the william tell overture was playing the whole time with Zita and Peter Xavier (three and four years old respectivly) running around together. The girls has a blast sleeping at Grandma's house and playing with all their cousins( all nine of them are quite a crew together. ) We came back home and I feel like we must have slept for three days. Angelica is seven now and taken on setting the table every night.
The girls and I are reading Ronia the Robbers Daughter. It is so wonderful! I look forward so much to our chapter every day. Waking child calls. . . . .

2009-10-15T17:23:00.001-07:00

I had a wonderful birthday this year. Our friend Jason does wine tastings (and makes magnificent chrevre!!) and he was doing one at the great little deli across from a historic mill where Ben and I spent my birthday the first year we were married. We decided to head back for old times sake had a wonderful time, bought a bottle of Virginia wine and consumed it with some salame, cheese and a bit of chocolate next to the creek behind the mill.

2009-10-05T17:40:00.000-07:00

Fall has definitely arrived and we celebrated the turn of the year with a small Michaelmas gathering. Angelica decorated a dragon on a candle with her beeswax for St. Michael. I have been really busy with caring for all the animals. We moved our pig down here to root up the garden and the chickens are getting ready to transition out of the shed and into their coop now that they are getting all their feathers. I am amazed at how much time I spend just watching the pigs. They are so interesting. I bought onions and garlic to plant and that is supposed to happen this week but I have a feeling it won't .
It was a rather bittersweet weekend. On Saturday we attended the funeral of a baby who died of crib death, my friend Colby's nephew. It was so sad to see the tiny casket. On Sunday though, my friend Dian who suffered multiple miscarriages last year birthed a healthy baby boy, and so we had cause to rejoice as well. It all seemed so fitting at this time of year when we are seeing the death of one season and the birth of another to experience a birth and death side by side.

I have gone through the winter clothes and put away the summer things and feel that a monumental task is behind me. It is so crazy not to hunt down three little pairs of everything, shoes, gloves, socks, etc. I found a wonderful clothing company (alas expensive) through a friend and feel that I have finally found what I am looking for. Their catalogue is great inspiration for handmade items too. I am hoping to copy one of their courderoy skirts for Angelica. The company is Olive Juice Kids. www.olivejuicekids.com

Ciao a tutti in Gravagna! Daniella I'll try to post in Italian for everyone but i am tired so bear with me!

Provo fare un post in Italiano.. Ho visto mie genitori in Luglio e sonno state bene in Gravagna. Fa bene la salute Gravagna. Ho visto come ha perso qualche kili mio papa. Loro tornanno a Gravagna questo primavera. Anche noi volgliamo andare con loro ma e dificile dire adesso, (Non c'e stato tanto lavoro per Ben adesso.) Le bimbe stanno bene. Angelica ha cominiciata sua scuola. Io la insegno a casa e fa le lessione al tavolo. Giulia parla tante parole adesso, alcune in Italiano e alcune in Inglese. Zita piace sentire le storie a fa la cuoca in cucina. Anche Ben saluta tutti in Gravagna. In questo stagione penso sepmpre do le castagne e i funghi. . . . . braci per Teresa, Mafalda, Carla e Fede e Lina!

Ci manca Gravangna sempre! Ciao!

monday nature walk..oatmeal and chicks

2009-09-14T17:55:00.001-07:00

We found a beautiful civil war battlefield a stone's throw from our house (Fischer's Hill) today on a very spontaneous adventure. It turned into a great history lesson though my visions of hiking were lessened by the hot September sun. Also many things arrived to live with us last week Aunt Josepha and a dozen chicks are joining the domicile. Zita dreams of fresh eggs for breakfast wile downing her oatmeal.

2009-09-10T19:18:00.000-07:00

Our unschooling year has begun and while the big yellow bus zooms by our house every day I can't help but feel like things are so exiting right here at home. Angelica asked me even today to teach her how to write what day of the month or the year it is and Zita has asked repeatedly to go to the Strasburg library of which we are becoming fans. Currently we are all reading together Raggedy Ann stories and D'Laurie's Greek Myths which I love! Nature walks are on Mondays and we are trying to get something social going on on Fridays. Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday mornings are our study time.

Zita is really into baking and Julia is determined to help her and always mixes up her own little biscuits or something. The wonderful thing is that Zita can then take care of all the gluten free baking while I mix up our regular batch of whatever so it is really wonderful. (Of course some things like brownies and apple crsip we just all eat gluten free to make things easier.)

We ordered chicks and they should arrive tomorrow. We have a great big crate out back all ready for them. I'm reading "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" right now and also Emma. I'm hoping to start Netflix this winter as other than Ponyo I don't think I've watched any movies for two months. Crazy.

I have to say the best part about having a house with two levels is being able to sneak downstairs in the morning and have my little quiet greeting of the day. I've been trying to do the Liturgy of the Hours and it is such a beautiful way to pray. I never thought of myself as much of a morning person but I am really enjoying them. I can always remember my mother being up before all of us every morning sitting in her rocking chair with her Bible and her coffee and what a wonderfully comforting feeling that was to wake up and see.

2009-08-18T18:50:00.000-07:00

Okay we have a pig and she'll be ready this december. Ben brought her home one day and said. "Hey, I bought a pig!" I keep bringing her lots of skimmed or soured milk in hopes we might get a prosciutto out of her. I can dream, right . . . . Anyway I know my posting has been non- existant. Most of the reason I blog is for our extended family and Gravanga folk and Ben has started a private family blog so I have been less motivated to post. I don't really know how I feel about the blog thing. I might be theming this blog a bit more towards homesteading or self-sufficiency or something. . . . . something. We'll see. I am enjoying quietude away from the computer in an event while edifying my soul with vampire romance novels.

The big news is we have moved out to the sticks and are renting an old farmhouse. It is really beautiful and near the famous Fort Valley of Virginia. I really love being near the national forrest and the girls have been spending all their time swimming in passage creek and hunting frogs. I love summer.

2009-08-18T18:43:00.000-07:00

2009-08-18T18:41:00.000-07:00

2009-06-14T18:06:00.000-07:00

Fun with chalk, fun with watercolors. Nobody really attempted to paint the flowers and Julia made glorious mess but we really let loose with the watercolors. Angelica has been at the pool learning to swim and Zita has started an Irish dancing summer class and between toads, the lizard, the giant spiders, and the chipmunk there has been no shortage of animals.

I finished reading " The End of the Affair" by Graham Green and really recommend it highly. I used to find Graham Green to dark, but maybe I have just changed because I loved this book. . . . .

Ben had a little trip to the Big Apple and we missed him very much but loved hearing about all the cool people at MoCCA and all the cool people in New York. I had no idea getting there from here was SO easy.

crying baby. . . bye.

2009-05-27T18:23:00.000-07:00

Angelica has a new pet lizard and man, what an amazing and easy pet!! No pet food to buy if you have a willing six year old around who loves to catch flies. They are cold blooded with slow metabloisms so there is really hardly any poop to speak of. I find him really fun to watch. We moved him near the futon today onto the window sill where he gets more light. This is becoming my new favorite spot to nurse, surrounded by my house plants, the lizard, the sunshine, and of course the books.

The pics are from Aunt Josepha's graduation this past weekend which was a whirlwind of activity. Julia really latched onto my Dad and is was really fun to watch her with him. She reminds me so much of Josepha when she was a baby.

Lastly I found a Charlotte-Mason based homeschool curriculum for Catholics, which we are going to be using this fall. ( as much as we waldorfy unschooling gyspy vagabonds can do a "curriculum"--I don't think we are going to be super strict but it will provide some vastly needed structure for mom-hehe) I am mostly posting this to share with Sarah but everyone else is welcome to explore) It gives us a good booklist to work from. The best part is it is free but for purchasting the books. Its www.materamabilis.org

2009-05-04T17:13:00.000-07:00

Ciao a tutti in Gravagna!! Noi stiamo bene e pensiamo sempre da Gragvagna. Adesso forse sonno tante fiori la e hai portata fuori la madonno per il rosario a San Bartolomeo. Per adesso noi non possiamo viaggare a Gravagna perche Ben ha tanto lavoro da finire con questo libro fino a Luglio. Si cè tempo e habbiamo bastansa per i biglietti vorrei volare la in Augosto o Settembre ma per adesso non cè un programma fiso. Pero, fra due or tre settimane arrivanno i miei genitori a Gravagna e dopo in Junio mio fratello e sua moglie. Anche venga la Josepha per tre settimane. Io sono goloso!!!!!

L'altro giorno ha chiamato, Enrico perche voleva l'indirizzo da gravagna per mandare i foti dei i bambini. La Maria ha parto un bella bambina la settimana dopo Pasqua. Lei e chiamata Eveyln Marie. Maria sta bene e la bambina e bravissima. Anch loro mancanno la Gravagna a chiedanno come stanno tutti.

Per adesso sai che sonno tutti in mie pensiere. Carla, Teresa, Fede, Daniela, Giuseppe, Berto, Lina, Luisa, Mafalda!!!!! Baci!

Scusa, il mio bruto Italiano!

Recession meals

2009-04-28T18:40:00.000-07:00

Well the warm weather has been wonderful and the girls and I have been down at the river almost daily. This past weekend we went to George Washington National Forrest to dip in Passage creek and it was paradisical. The dogwoods and redbuds are in full bloom and the water was perfect. It is one of the only places I know of where the water is prisine and unpolluted. (other than Gravagna of course --the land of unspoiled beauty.)

I also stared a detox this week as I really went over the top this Easter with the food and candy and haven't done a true cleanse in couple of years. I am already feeling much better and have lots more energy and am trying to do mostly raw fruit and veggies and legumes, nuts and grains.

I also saw that there was a chef's challenge on NPR for a 10 buck HEALTHY meal for recession era budgets. Here is our ten buck meal from tonight.

Black beans, soaked and cooked in water with cumin and two cloves of garlic thrown in.

I threw them in the fridge and then chopped up cilantro, one red pepper, and threw it into the cold beans along with a splash of lemon juice (lime would have been better) and a splash of oilve oil.

We ate these with brown rice and shredded sharp cheddar, and chopped lettuce on preheated corn tortillas.

2009-04-19T18:15:00.000-07:00

2009-04-19T18:09:00.000-07:00

2009-04-13T13:46:00.000-07:00

So sorry. . . I sort of ended up giving up the internet for Lent, and. . . well now it is Easter, so here I am. Unexplained abscence is rather my forte.

I got this teapot at a moving sale. It is from Romania and I think has many stories inside of it.

In Napa

2009-02-26T21:02:00.000-08:00

The girls and I are out in California visiting my mom and dad and brother and sister in law and we are having wonderful visit minus missing Ben. This is absolutley the most beautiful time of year to be in Napa. The feilds are so green they look like Ireland and the blossoms are blooming. I have been enjoying the great shops and my dads cooking. I can't remember the last time I had a long break from cooking. I think it was when Julia was born! So I have been reading lots and hanging out on a blanket on the lawn with the girls, and calling Ben on Skype feeling so sad that he couldn't be here :(

There are always so many tiny things I forget about Californians that I love. I've been wishing Ben was here to share them with me . . . so here they are Ben.

How everyone puts potted plants EVERYWHERE.
How there are fruit trees even in suburbia. Some people in my parents neighborhood even have vegetable gardens instead of front lawns!!!!
Patios
painting in bright colors
how people are always out walking around, running, jogging, biking, cause hey, they have a fit Californian image to maintain.
the salsa
west coast bay area fog (love it)

Otherwise I am hoping to kick my miserable cold so we can do some day trips into San Francisco and to the beach to see the seals!

2009-02-17T18:54:00.000-08:00

Well its been a quiet February for the most part. We did another hike in George Washington last weekend, making the most of the warm spell and this time we did a portion of the Signal knob trail. I was hiking in the rear and looked down and found a huge crystal in a bed of moss. Then Zita found two more in a tree stump and the search was on. We found a whole bunch of them all hidden on the trail in funny hollows of trees and such. It was so magical! The girls told me they are now convinced that fairies are real. It turned out to be an awesome hike and the crystals are now sitting in a little wooden bowl in the living room and the girls get them out and play with them all the time.

Currently I am reading an excellent book called "Fruitless Fall: the Collapse of the Honey Bee and the Coming Agricultural Crisis.° For its very doomsy title it is actually written in a very witty way and quite delightful. The guy who wrote it obviously wishes he was Michael Pollan but gives an important subject a just treatment. I didn,t realize how agribuisness really depends on the honey bee and how they are all dying. Like um tons of them and its mostly because they are pushed to the limit being trucked around the country to pollinate massive monocrops of almonds, etc. Oh well, I'm sure Barack Obama will sign some kind of magical stimulus package for the bees since he is going to solve all our country's problems and herald a new era of soaring real estate, bulging 401ks and wildly productive apiaries. Whatever.

Pardon my sarcasm. Anyway I am looking forward to someday owning some bees of our own and when I do, this book has convinced me to buy Russian bees because they are REALLy tough little bastards and are not as prone to mites and varoa and all the other things that plague our poor Italian bees.

Its sad of course because I feel like I should have solidarity with the Italian bees.

Well until next week, cheerio.

2009-02-05T18:42:00.000-08:00

One more thought on warmth. I think that dressing warmly--with undershirts and heads covered-- is the single biggest thing I wished I had realized more when Angelica was a baby. I think it has taken me a while to understand the importance of warmth for health partially because I was raised in California and had to learn about layering clothes only after moving out east-- but also because our society of constant temperature control 24-7 and shuttling from heated house to heated cars to heated stores has made us forget the connection between our bodies and the world around us. It is possible for us to lose heat very fast, especially a child, and when that happens we are much more prone to illness.

My favorite book for home remedies is by Aviva Jill Romm, called Natural Healing for Babies and Children and she has a whole section on the importance of warmth for the child to grow and thrive, which is wonderful to think on. This is not always easy because children often insist that they are warm when they are really cold and just distracted. Remember those kids that pee their pants because they'd rather play. But I think the payoff is well worth keeping those little necks and ears and chests well covered from the cold winter winds.

okay, I'm off my little warmth soapbox.

2009-02-05T17:36:00.000-08:00

<

Ah February. This is usually my least favorite month of the year, but this year I am not finding it quite so bad. We have been blessed with one unseasonably warm weekend and another in the forecast. When the weather hit the fifties last weekend we drove out to George Washington national forrest and hiked. Ben has this rock face he loves to climb but getting to it was tricky and at one point we were crossing passage creek which was frozen over in sections and the spot we crossed over on broke off and we were stranded in the middle of the raging creek. (Thank God for the Beco!!) Anyway poor Ben saw that the only way to get his family back across was ferrying us each on his back while he forded the freezing creek. It wasn't deep but I have an idea of what it was like. Ben didn't catch a cold either which was what I was afraid of. Righty, well I'm going to post a little posty for all our friends in Gravagna now which was what I came on the computer to do. . . oh and Mary Grace thanks for your comment and I am working on an e-mail to you about all that Waldorf stuff!!!.

Ciao a tutti! Ecco qua la prima neve qua in Virginia. Finalmente. Angelica era triste a prima perche ha detto Ben che cèra la neve in Gravagna, ma non qua. Forse venganno a Gravagna i genitori di Ben questo Maggio e Ben ancora sta lavorando sul libro. La Giulia diventa piu dulce e intelligente quotidianno. Ma anche birrichina. Adesso ha scoperta come butare i giochi net toilet. Io parlo italiano con la Giulia quasi sempre e adesso capisce lei, le parole "bano" e "stelline" e "micio." La Angelica e Zita stanno bene anche loro. Oggi ci habbiamo trovato ala biblioteca un libro dei fiori delle Montagne di Virginia e Angelica ha trovato dentro tanti fiori similare da quelle che nascanno anche in Gravagna nella primavera. Mandiamo baci a tutti!!!!!!

2009-01-28T19:19:00.000-08:00

Finally updated my links to include Jamie, Clare, and Kelly. Ben was so sweet and said, hey, I'll make you a new header. My only complaint is that it is a bit narcissistic. (But Annie, you can see the hat I made from the yarn credit you gave me at River Knits!)

Jamie, to answer your question I use prefolds, snappis, and a combo of wool wrap covers and recycled sweater covers. I like the ruskovilla wool longies and disana makes WONDERFUL wool soakers but I have yet to buy any (a dear friend has some though and they look WONDERFUL). I also have a couple stacinators that I got on ebay a couple years ago and man are they sturdy. I have some kushies all in ones that are nice for outings as they are quick for changes . I know , ask a cloth diaper question and you get a dissertation. Sorry.

2009-01-27T19:31:00.000-08:00

I have to sneak in my updates on tuesdays since Ben is always out with his RPG group then and I can hijack his compy to post pics. Angelica has taken to using our camera latley ever since I taught her how to use it and the last two pictures are taken by her!!! Josepha has been coming over almost every Friday and Saturday which is really nice. I have gotten myself into a weekly menu and weekly chore schedule so as to organize the new year. I am finding that the secret of unschooling at least in this family is hyper organizing everything else so that there is time for learning and not me chasing a pile of laundry around the house all week long with a spear. The cat has also gotten fatter since Angelica has assumed feeding responsbilities. And the girls still are really lazy about toy clean up but the HUGEST breakthrough has come with the "if you want your breakfast you must make your bed and get dressed rule." Almost all battles on that front have ceased like magic. There are still days but I no longer feel like half my day is spent having motivational talks or randomly yelling to get three little people changed out of pajamas and the morning chores done.
And I bought a beco, which is like an ergo, but with cute patterns, and it rocks. I love it. My back no longer aches and Julia likes it too and I feel like I am free to jet out the door at a moments notice again. Last week I carried ALL my groceries out of the car all by myself with Julia on my back and was pain free even after carrying her and groceries and putting them all away. Hurray!!!

2009-01-13T16:51:00.000-08:00

some little pics from christmas.

It has been a hectic new year so far between Julia turning one and a trip into the city to the Smithsonian who is is running two wonderful exhibits right now. The Pompeii exhibit is every bit as wonderful as everyone says it is and the girls really enjoyed the live butterfly room exhibit at the Natural History museum. I had to laugh when we were going through the stuffed animal section on the first floor and Zita looking at all the preserved exotic animals asked if there would be "stuffed babies". Thanks heavens no.

There sure are a ton of porto-potties in the national mall in preparation fro the presidential inauguration. Wow. They must be expecting quite a crowd. I will thankfully not be going and probably spend the evening curled up with a good book.

Lastly I found the most wonderful blog in the world. Try it to live your life vicariously through this amazing gypsy lass from the British Isles. Her wagon is so cool. intothehermitage.blogspot.com. Talk about leaving the rat race. . . . .

A christmas of books and art. . . .

2008-12-27T17:19:00.000-08:00

This Christmas I sent my neice and goddaughter a book from Floris books, (www.florisbooks.co.uk) who put out such lovley children's books. They put out a beautiful selection of very sweet innocent children's books. We bought their copy of Grimm's fairy tales a year ago and it is probably the most beautifully illustrated copy I have seen yet: vivid colors, yet very soft illustrations. I enjoy reading it to the girls so much and it has "The Hut in the Forrest" which is such a great not as well known Grimm's gem.

Also I have found another new favorite painter (in addition to my own husband of course. . . .) I of course love, love, LOVE his house too!!!!!!! Carl Larsson is his name and he and his wife are considered somewhat swedish cultural icons but they do have a lovley home and yes the painting above is his. . . here is his site (http://www.clg.se/start.aspx)

Otherwise we have been spending our time enjoying the lovley books sent by my mother-in-law and Aunt Allison, Ben has been laughing at his new Jack Handy book, the girls have been playing under their new playstands, and Angelica has been modelling with her beeswax nonstop. I have been enjoying looking at the lovley painting of Gravagna that Ben framed for me for christmas, every morning as I sip my coffee.

Buon Natale.

2008-12-25T11:49:00.000-08:00

I can't upload pics and nurse at the same time but i can type. . . a wee bit. Merry Christmas and let the feasting begin!

Santa Lucia

2008-12-13T19:09:00.000-08:00

Today was the feast of Santa Lucia, celebrated traditionally with the eldest girl of the home waking everybody to a candlelit breakfast at dawn. Thankfully all went well and Angelica still has a full head of hair.

Advent pics. . . .

2008-12-11T08:14:00.000-08:00

FOR ANNIE!!!!

2008-12-10T17:30:00.000-08:00

Here are your pictures, Annie! Sorry it took me a while. Lots of julia photos as you requested. The one of everyone was taken after a Sunday trip to the Used Bookstore, in the afternoon. The last is our last minute thanksgiving dinner which I was pretty proud we pulled off since my sister got too sick and we were exposed and we didn't want to expose my dear friend's great aunt (long story) anyway. . . .

In other news Ben fixed our car ALL BY HIMSELF with a part he bought on E-bay!!!! I am so proud of him.. We had to wait longer for the part but it saved us so much money and was wonderful. Angelica had a great time sitting out in the driveway with him watching and she told me all about the belts later. Great free homeschooling.

Advent is probably my favorite liturgical season and so the girls and I have made a big Bethlemhem display on our Mary altar ( Mary is sequestered in our bedroom until after Christmas season. I borrowed and baptized a waldorf idea and am tweaked it so that we are doing one day of the creation story in accordance with each week of Advent. LAst week we laid our a blue silk for the sky on the wall and a brown cloth for the dirt (heavens and the earth) and we put out the rocks. It looked barren but I found it set a good tone for the first week of Advent which starts off somber and the Church gets jollier and more festive the closer we creap towards Christmas. This last sunday we did all our plants (boxwood cuttings) , trees, and mosses, and pine cones, for the next day of creation, NExt week we do all the stable animals and flocks, and last week we will do man, (shepherds, Joseph and Mary, etc). It is fun to have something new to add as we go along and the girls are really enjoying it. I'll try to get photos up.

No fruit, no flowers, no leaves, no birds, NOVEMBER.

2008-11-15T19:29:00.000-08:00

Sotto un post in Italiano per i Gravangot!!

The leaves are off the trees now and it really officially looks like november. I just checked out Tasha Tudor's "Around the Year" out of the library and it is always a favorite book. Tasha Tudor, incidentally had just about the most awesome house (pictured above) ever that her son built for her in New England and she was known for not only her beautiful illustrations but also her wonderful gardens---(the woman made compost tea out of rotting stuffs and water). Anyway the page for Novemeber shows a family cheerfully making Christmas preasants because they presumably aren't going to be doing that in Advent. Every year I make it a goal to get things out of the way before the start of December so that Advent can be an internal and quiet month, with varying degrees of sucsess.

I am glad that all the election craziness is over and that quiet interior months of winter are ahead. Angelcia daily prays for snow and Julia has begun to walk just the past few days. Her new favorite thing is this rabbit skin bag that Ben found in his things. I think that she thinks it is a live animal because she gets very exited and carries it around cooing in the same manner she does when she sees the cat. It makes me laugh so hard.

Ciao a tutti in Gravagna. Le bimbe stanno benne. La Giulia ha comminciata caminare questa settimana e adesso e molta contenta stare come la sua sorelle. Oggi ha caminata con una cestina in mano. La sua favorita gioco adesso e una picola pelle di un coniglio che ho trovato nella roba di Ben. Forse lei pensa e un animale avivo perche sempre fa una festa cuando lo vede. La Angelica me ha chiesta oggi "Come il tempo oggi in Gravagna, e freddo o caldo?" Forse adesso un po piu freddo da qua pero qui ha stata tana piogga, pero ci sonno tanti funghi---ma i porcini, no. :( Ciao a tutti!

Via Francegina

2008-11-05T17:36:00.000-08:00

Finally I am able to post loads of pictures with fast fast internet. Here are some pics of Ben who went hiking with my one of my favorite of my Dads relatives, Carlo, on a peice of the pilgrim trail that runs from Cantebury, England down to Rome and passes right thru Gravagna. These pictures were taken in the late spring. Ben loved the hike and all the forgotten little shrines, bridges, etc.

2008-11-04T17:02:00.000-08:00

Ecco la Giulia.

Well happy election day to all! I wish i could vote for Julia.

An update per Gravagna

2008-10-26T18:02:00.000-07:00

Questo per la Sara e la Fede. . .

Siamo arrivati in gli Estati Uniti. Le bimbe sonno state bravissime sulla volle e tutto bene. Noi sentiamo la mancaza tantissima per tutti in Gravagna. Baci per Teresa, Carla, Maria Pia, Lina, Fede, Sara, Sivia, Cesarina, Mafalda, e certamente, Giuseppe. Ogni tanto adesso provero fare il post in Italiano, ma sta pantienza con la gramattica

Ottobre

2008-10-16T12:53:00.001-07:00

Well if anyone still follows this blog the posts should be getting more frequent once we fly back and go back to the land of fast internet and fast food (barf). Oh by the way that's early next week.

The fall has been so beautiful here and I am getting more and more teary eyed the closer we get to leaving. This place is the most incredible little time capsule of all things Catholic. The people here are so kinds and if I had the winter I'd be speaking in dialect and wearing rubbers and a scarf in my hair by the end of it (oh wait, I already do that. . . )

We have begun to light the stufa and Ben has now learned to roast chestnuts on top of the wood stove instead of in the oven. They call them "le mundine" and Ben eats them in the evenings, like a true Gravagnot.

I am enjoying every last day here to the fullest.

Oh and I will be updating my favorite blogs list soon. I MUST add Flighty girl and Clare Corner, because they are both mad sweet craftin' mamas.

2008-09-11T12:11:00.000-07:00

The city of Pontremoli is perhaps the most perfect of all cities ( ah yes post has nothing to do with gratuitous pictures for pleasing grandmothers. . . . ) as I was saying, I know that I am of course biased, but the city of Potremoli is truly the most perfect city I have ever encountered, being laid out on a line which Belloc reminds us in the Path to Rome is the function of a civilized town, all rotund designs being barbarian. Additionally it has both country and city in perfect harmony with one another and is happily situated on the narrow strip of land between two rivers. For its population of 6,000 it is amazingly cultured offering one of the most pretigious literary awards, in Italy. There are theatres, ballets, markets, cultural festivals, etc. and so on. In its heyday it boasted a seminary, a monastary, a convent, a fortress, and an episcopal seat, and off the top of my head I can count at least six catholic churches. Incredible. But all this is nothing compared, to my favorite aspect of Pontremoli-- that no matter how many times I visit it, there is always another suprise.

Last market I popped into the duomo to visit the little side chapel where the Tabernacle is. On my way in, to the right, where there used to be a fairly normal Italian altar was instead said altar, with the marble front removed and behind glass, a dressed corpse in full regalia, lying on his side ala Liz Taylor with his head rested on his palm. I asked the little turtley man who is always tidying the church what it was and it turns out Potremoli has its own Roman martyr which was brought from the catacombs in the 800s. Apparently they air the little fellow out every ninth of September and then close him up again the following day. Thank you dear pontremoli for reminding me that things are not always what they seem and that we really need to resurrect the burying of saintly folk in altars. What a cool Catholic tradition.

Feasting in August

2008-08-21T12:08:00.000-07:00

I don't know why this page takes so long to load but it does. Sorry about the sporadic postings these days. I usually just about have time to check the NPR page and that's about it. But all is well here in Gravagna. August is vacation month for the Italians and there were tons of people here for Feraugosto this year. We went to the big dinner that everyone has up on the mountain and feasted to our hearts content. The following day there was a picnic lunch way up on the mountain where they pasture the animals and I think the Italian picnicing is about the most involved procedure I have ever seen.
First they load up their cars with all their food and it ain't no panino and beer. My wonderful Bertolini cousins invited us to eat with them and they pulled out lasagnas, roast lamb, torta, rice bomba, bread, salame, cheese, figs, baskets upon basket of wine, huge water coolers, tables chairs, cushions, tableclothes. You name it, they had it there. Italians apparently take picnicing very seriously. We started eating at about noon and it all wrapped up about six with plenty of napping in between. It should take six hours to eat dinner every once in a while and two or three days to prepare it. These are things worth doing.

Meanwhile the Wingates have been visiting. Henry and Ben have been busy with landscape painting and everyone in the village is curious about what they do all day in the big dark studio room. Ben and I had our seventh wedding anniversary and we celebrated with panna cotta ( a delicious dessert similar to creme brulee but without egg) over at Marietta. Delicious.

Lastly above is a photo of the cena this year and a token photo of Julia, well loved by all, most especially Giuseppe. Here he is telling me about his wife's artifical heart.

al mare

2008-07-31T11:16:00.000-07:00

july update

2008-07-12T07:46:00.000-07:00

Between a very busy summer, lot of time outside, and Ben needing the majority of our limited internet for work purposes I am not sure how frequent the posts will be but keep checking!

We have had a great month, punctuated by a visit from Gwen Adams who has brought us music, laughter, and lots of great stories. Also Ben's friends from the studio came up for the weekend and Angelica had her first modeling job sitting on the bench out in the courtyard. Julia is now crawling and learning that Gravagna is a very stony and rocky place for a small baby. Her favorite thing to do is sit at our little kitchen step and pull herself up to a standing and watch the wind blow the bead curtains that we have to keep the flies out. We were getting wonderful raw milk from a lady in the village but the cow just got pregnant and dried up so we are back on the regular stuff again. The raspberries have been really plentiful this year and the girls and I raided a couple abandoned bushes and they were so great.

Ben discovered another swimming hole even deeper than the waterfall down by the abandoned mill and we took the girls there today. Afterwards we explored down the creek and of all things found a wonderful deposit of clay. The girls had fun smearing it all over each other and i put some on my face and afterwards it made our skin so smooth! I brought back a bag to use at night after I wash my face. What a find!

Wowl I am feeling wonderfully mellow after five hours out in the sun and water.

Oh and the man in the photo is our neighbor Giuseppe who hurt his wrist up in a tree (he's 81) and had us help him make his dinner the other day.

2008-06-30T05:08:00.001-07:00

Here are some sardines that I got from the fish man the other day. Here you cook them with bread crumbs,olive oil, pecorino, garlic, and parsley on top. ah the naps are ending. I'll seize a moment late.

2008-06-23T11:40:00.000-07:00

not sure why these photos double posted but I am to scared to mess with photos right now with our super slow uploading time. I know everyone is sick of seeing pictures of my children and is probably dying for some cool stone houses or tuscan vineyards but my mom JUST got a computer (a mac--way to go mom!) and is really exited to see some pictures of the kids since I am a horrible daughter who never mails her any. That's Zita in the sling reliving her babyhood, incedentally. And the last one is the kids "fishing" on the first sunny day after the great deluge we had.

I am listening to Trio Medeiveal right now which is all I EVER listen to now (as well as the GREAT theme-song to Serenity) because all our old music is trapped on our dead compy and all that we have right now is what was on the ipod when compy died. Oh well it is making me sing more and at least I have a husband who plays the flute wonderfully.

Hoping to go for mushrooms again tomorrow. Angelica and I found some cool specimens up by the Campo Sportivo but they were none of them good to eat despite a few being bolete mushrooms. We actually found chanterelles but I was too stupid to pick them all since i was only bringing one home to identify. RRRRR.

In other news Berto's daughter has been giving me milk fresh from the cow and lives right in town which has been great. I have really been enjoying it. Not much other news other that we are hoping to all go to Florence this next week and I am so exited. I haven't been into the city since we got here and Ben found out that the best markets are on the third Sunday of the month. My sister's going to be away from her apartment for the weekend so we have a place to crash.

I also got to talk for a while with Don Lucca this morning who is the priest in the village. He is so young (thirty) and really energetic and great. I invited him up for dinner when Gwen comes so fun times ahead!

2008-06-15T11:55:00.001-07:00

Ah and to explain, that is Julia wearing her "buona cuoca" (good cook) hat. I thought it was fitting.

passa the pasta

2008-06-15T11:05:00.000-07:00

All right, I know I promised some recipes. Let's talk sauces. I don't know about the rest of Italy but here there seem to be five main sauces, pesto, ragu (meat sauce) , pomodoro (tomatoe), funghi, bechamel. Once you master these you can make lots of great pasta sciuta (dry pasta as opposed to fresh) or what have ya. Of course there are some crazy sauces like sugo di cingiale (boar sauce) but as most of us don't have easy acsess to lots of fresh wild boar meat, we'll just save some things for local pride.

Now there are many varied ways to make a meat sauce. My dad once taught me an extremely complicated recipe that is quite good but as the mother of three small ones sometimes I can't spend the entire day on the meat sauce most of the time. (His is Bolognese style--but this one I learned is more simple and a bit more french. ) I think it is really neat for two reasons. First the vegetables are sautèd in butter instead of olive oil. And second, no herbs. None. You probably could give it a kick of fresh parsley but it stands just fine on its own. The trick is timing and as always fresh ingredients. Now I make no promises as I have only made meat sauce this way here and the flavors might be different with American beef.

Okay my saucy friend,

Take one carrot, one onion, and one stalk of celery. Chop very fine. (you can even grate the carrot)
Saute them in butter on low heat.
Then add, one pound ground beef and one pound ground pork. (you can use just beef if you can't find the ground pork)
Then when all the meat is brown add one cup of red wine. (bring up the flame a bit here) and let it all evaporate with the meat and vegetables. When it has all evaporated add about three fourths of a can of tomato paste and some broth (or water if you have no broth) and let her cook at a gentle simmer for about 45 minutes while the flavors blend and the sauce reduces. Make sure you salt and pepper to taste.

Serve with pasta sciuta, sprinkling parmesean on top or use as the base for a great lasagne.