Children's Literature in Italian and some great Christmas stuff!

Ciao tutti!  Today Conor stayed home sick again, I rescued a beetle, and I pulled a tick off Phantom.  I have also taken the liberty of skimming some libri in italiani for you.  As far as I can tell, they are all americani in origin.

Per esempio, there is a lovely libro called Pippo e Filippa sono Amici (Pippo and Filippa are Friends) by Matt Wolf, about a topo (mouse) and a gatto who are friends.  They eat colazione (breakfast) together, they giocano (play) together, and they vanno a scuola together:

"The two friends go to school together.  How comfortable Pippo is on Filippa's head!"

Then there is an Usborne Discovery libro called I segreti dell'antica Roma (The Secrets of Ancient Rome).  Here is what it has to say on the Roman baths.  It says interesting things like "Ci si comincia a rinfrescare nelle piscine tiepide" (One cools down in the tepid pool) but also uses the inglese onomatopoeia "splash":

Here is a pagina from Green Eggs and Ham (by Dr. Seuss), along with a bookmark from the libro italiano, Prosciutto e Uova Verdi.  As you can see, "I am Sam" has been changed to "Sono Nando":

Here is a pagina from a book by everyone's favorite bunny-related childrens author, Margaret Wise Brown, called A Pussycat's Christmas in English and Un Natale da Gatti in italiano.  It is about a cat and all the sensory things the cat notices with regard to Christmas.

There is also a libro called Il Natale di Carl by Alexandra Day, which is Carl's Christmas in English, that has very few parole (words).  Here is Carl giving to i poveri (the poor):

"Aiuta i poveri questo Natale" means "Give to the poor this Christmas".

We have our own Christmas cane:

And a Christmas gatto:

Salve tutti from me, Bridget!

Oh, deer!

Today I went for run and I saw a deer.  Unfortunately I did not have my camera with me.  But we all know what a deer looks like:

Later I made a pie with the leftover canned zucca and pecans.  It is a different taste sensation than the other pie, which is not to say that it is definitely worse.  It doesn’t LOOK any better

Conor stayed home from school today because he had a febbra (fever) and a cough.  I am pleased to report that I do NOT have a fever or cough, and neither do any of the other non-Conor beings in this household. 

Here is some graffiti I found in Venice a while back:

It says Ti sbatto fuori di casa (I’m kicking you out of the house). 

Sbatto = I kick

Ti = you (oggetto diretto/direct object)

Fuori = outside

Di = of

Casa = house/home

 And because YOU asked for it, here is a vending machine that dispenses pizza:

Ciao tutti from me, Bridget!

Italian Chinese food, plus more Harry Potter and a face in a toilet!

Ieri (yesterday) Cooper il cane left us because his people came back from their trip.  We will miss his fuzzy face.  Here he is:

Tara and Gene were in Venezia (Venice) for the night.  While they were there they found this charming faccia:

When they came home today Gene wanted to go see Harry Potter, which was showing on Post in inglese at three.  He and I went to see it.  We managed to get seats that weren’t terrible.  Here is the vista of the screen:

The movie was better this time because I was more used to the accents and I’d seen at already, so I knew what they were saying anyhow.  I’m not sick of the movie yet (this is la terza volta (the third time) I’ve seen it) and am open to seeing it again when I get home (which will be a week from tomorrow).

After the movie, we went to the Commissary to pick up a few essentials and some canned bread, because why not:

Then we picked up some cibi cinesi (Chinese food).  Chinese food in Italia is not so different from Chinese food in the states, but it is sadly lacking in little Chinese food boxes, and there is a prominent cappuccino maker.  As you might expect, an instrumental version of “My Heart Will Go On” was playing faintly in the background as I took the following foto of the ristorante:

Most of the Harry Potter characters left the house yesterday, which was lucky because everyone's least favorite journalist, and unregistered Animagus, Rita Skeeter, showed up today with her crocodile-skin handbag, her two inch long nails, and her quick-quote quill.  Since Harry wasn't there, she was reduced, once again, to asking Draco Malfoy prying questions about Harry.  I took this foto while they were chatting about how Harry is Dumbledore's favorite:

"Potter gets all the attention (not that I care because I hate Dumbledore) even though my family is pureblood and rich."

Salve tutti from me, Bridget!

Say "cheese"

Today I ran up a big big collina and it was icy at the top.  Gene says the montagne are covered in neve (snow) but I didn't see them today.  Conor has a fever, Annie Cate is at a party, and it is an excellent evening for reading Harry Potter libri.  But here is a great foto from a few settimane (weeks) ago:

Remember, it's important to have your hair combed while reading a fascinating book before you have your picture taken in front of a giant ruota di formaggio (wheel of cheese)!  That's just a general rule for life.

Ciao tutti from me, Bridget!

Hello snow! Oh no, toe woe!

Happy Black Friday tutti!  Today, Tara and Annie Cate and I were going to go to Bolzano (which is a charming town up north that is culturally Austrian but geographically Italian), faceva neve (it was snowing) so we didn’t.

Here is Tara’s hat after her run in the neve:

Here is the yard in the neve:

We all went shopping in Vicenza.  We parked next to this:

A lot of the time we were wishing that we hadn’t gone out at all, because the snow turned quickly to slushy rain, and the slush we walked through was like icy gazpacho for our feet.  Our toes were wet and icy.

Here are some foto di shopping:

 

 

 

See the bottom half of a fake tree:

Here is Conor, the boy with three hoods, posing with the mannequin with three shirts:

He and AC were kind of bored:

 

We ate at a little place beside the river.  Here is some pasta con salsiccia e radicchio (pasta with sausage and radicchio):

Conor and Tara traded shoes in the bathroom because Conor’s feet were cold and wet.  Here is Conor wearing Tara’s boots:

Later we watched “some” of those classic stop-motion Christmas movies.

Gene and Conor and I were going to go see the Harry Potter movie again tonight, but it was cancellato.  I will have to read the book instead.

Ciao tutti from me, Bridget!

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Today is my dear mother's birthday.  It is a very important birthday because she is turning 32 for the nineteenth time.  Here is a birthday message from Zackie the cat:

Here is a birthday message from Winnie the cat:

Here is a birthday message from Squeaky the cat:

Happy birthday, Mom!

Buon Ringraziamento!

Today is a special day for three important reasons.  First of all, it is Ringraziamento (Thanksgiving), which is a festa americana fantastica.  Second, it is the day of the debut of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in Italy (in English).  Third, it is the first day that nearly all of the photos I took ended up accidentally deleted.  But not to worry, I took three good ones in the past fifteen minutes that have survived.  And for that we give thanks.

I got up and made a pecan pumpkin pie, while Gene made multiple other things.  Here is  the delicioso pie, more recently:

The Harry Potter movie was showing on Post at 1:00.  We figured there would be crowds of people there, so we left at 11:30 and got there around noon.  We bought tickets right away, and they opened the doors right away.  Actually, the theater didn't even fill up, although most of the seats were full by 1:00.  But we got good seats, close to the middle aisle, not too close to the front.  The theater was kind of old, and it stayed lit until the start of the movie, so we could read our libri (books) while we waited.  That was nice, and so for that we give thanks.

I'm glad I saw the movie first in italiano and then in inglese, because if it had been the other way around, I would have been racking my brains trying to remember what the actors were saying the whole time.  As it was, I got a lot more of the humor now, although judging by the audience reactions, the jokes are funnier in italiano (or maybe I just think that because the Italian audience was louder in general).  Still, a lot of lines flew over my head because of my irritatingly shaky grasp of British accents, and since I wasn't straining to understand what they were saying as I had been when I saw the movie in Italian, sometimes the italian was easier to understand.  Still, it was a lot better to hear the original actors' voices than the dubbed Italian ones.  And for that we give thanks. 

After the movie, we finished up getting ready for Thanksgiving dinner.  Tara and Gene had invited a few neighbors over.  And for that they gave thanks.

The food was eccellente.  Unfortunately, I only have a foto of the leftovers, and not even of the tacchino.  But the leftovers are the best kind of letovers, and for that we give thanks.

The meal included mashed potatoes, stuffing, zucca (squash), gravy, cipolline (weeny little onions), tacchino affumicato (smoked turkey), and crescent rolls.  I am especially thankful for the cranberry sauce.

Conor apparently felt bad that my pictures got deleted (there weren't many though), so he consented to pose like a tacchino for me.

Thanks, Conor!

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Harry Potter...in Lumignano?!?!

Ciao tutti!  Tomorrow is the debut of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in English, in Italia!  We are very fortunati indeed, not only because we get to see the movie tomorrow, but because several Harry Potter characters have chosen to stay with us to avoid the paparazzi!


Here is everyone's favorite free house elf, Dobby, with one of his many hats!

Here are Fred and George Weasley, the hilarious and entrepreneurial identical twins behind Weasley Wizard Wheezes:

Here is our tortured (physically and literally) young pure-blood enemy Draco Malfoy of Slytherin House:

Here is our favorite sardonic, bitter, and vindictive Potions master, double agent, and Head of Slytherin House, Severus Snape:

Here is Professor Minerva McGonagall, Head of Gryffindor House, strict Transfiguration
teacher, Animagus, and lover of all things tartan, in cat form:

Here is Luna Lovegood, a Ravenclaw and the only daughter of Quibbler editor Xenophilius Lovegood,  with her pet nargle:

Here is Muggle-born know-it-all Hermione Granger, who once bought Harry a magical homework planner for Christmas:

Here is Hermione's part-kneazle cat, Crookshanks:

Here's Ron Weasley, who is jealous of Harry even though Harry's lines are never as funny as his own:

And here's Harry James Potter, the Chosen One, the Boy Who Lived, with his loyal and intelligent owl Hedwig:

Ciao tutti from me, Bridget, and all the characters of Harry Potter!

Phantom the Soggy Doggy Woggy and his Foggy Boggy Day

Oggi the weather was foggy but it didn’t rain.  Gene and Phantom and I hiked on three different sentieri (trails) today, but sadly there were no belle viste to be found.  There was a lot of fango (mud), acqua, thorns, and spiky chestnut balls, though.  I got lots of foto d'acqua:

 



Here is a foto of one of the blazes (usually they have numbers on them):

I also got lots of foto della nebbia:

And here are some facce:

Here is a cachi (persimmon) tree.  Cachi have the texture of old cucumbers and taste like sweet ickiness.

These are fiori (flowers) that look like paper lanterns:

Here are some dead ones:

Here is Phantom il cane:

Phantom ended up getting very fangoso (muddy), so Gene and I took him the the dog wash.  That is a nice little place that provides everything you need to wash a cane.  To use it, you have to insert your dog wash card, and then it recognizes you:

Gene got Phantom into the tub, then hosed him down:

He shampooed and conditioned him:

Then he dried Phantom off:

Phantom is soft and fluffy now!

Here is a thrilling video of Phantom's bath:

And apparently Ikea isn't the place to get your gingerbread house kits, as demonstrated by the remains of our gingerbread village:

Ciao tutti from me, Bridget!