Dopo il baccalà veneziano...

Ciao Principessa,
while you're sleeping over two huge slices of lasagne with tons of besciamella let me give a couple of link to photo-space providers:

www.flickr.com ( very famous )
www.blipfoto.com ( very UK )

Hope you like them... I've got to go to work, see you in the night, ceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeo.

Walking Zia Marcella Home

This is Gianpy going to get the car to drive Zia Marcella home.











More big balls of fiena (hay)










Here is Franca and Ricky walking Zia Marcella home. 

La Casa Vecchia

This is Casa Vecchia. It is over a hundred years old. Franca, my cousin, was born there. It was their first house at Pegorino. I have asked if I could buy this house.
















This is the Camino or fireplace in the casa vecchia.

















This is a cat I am trying to make friends with who lives next to Casa Vecchia. She has no tail and now comes up to me to play but her idea of playing is to bite me softly when I pet her! She is saying "ciao tutti" right now. Meowwwww

Le Anatre - The Ducks

These are Ilde's Ducks. When Zio Vittorio passed away he gave the ducks and chickens to Ilde and the Rabbits to Franca.

The ducklings are having fun in the water.






Until the father duck came along and squawked at them and the skidaddled away while he had fun in the water.









CHICKENS 101: Here are the chickens and the 1 rooster. Apparently hens, like women over 45 - 50, get old too and they stop laying eggs. There are only so many eggs they can lay. The rooster, however, is still...well, how should I put it...viable! Even when the hens have no more egg material the rooster still can have his way with them. Every once in awhile you can hear the hens making a loud sqwaking noise and you know the rooster has struck paydirt. A hen can have many eggs in various stages of development inside of her. Up to 50 I am told (by reliable sources...i.e., people who own these chickens). A hen can sit on 10 eggs at once. Some hens like to sit on eggs and some don't. So it can be just like women...some want babies and some don't. Duck eggs were put under a hen and she sat on them (to hatch) until Zio Vittorio shook the duck eggs...can I say they were no longer babies but food... I also found out that you can't have more than 1 rooster or it makes for a wild time in the hen house. And 1 rooster happens to be more than enough to handle multiple hens...hmmmm

Lunch at the Frigerio's

Here are Sergio and Mara the new parents

Ricky and Gianpy











Giuseppe Frigerio (the new grandfather) or "il Gattone" (The large cat)











Silvia with Lorenzo 

Sunday Lunch

This is Sunday Lunch at Ilde's casa. This is Mara and little Lorenzino with Franca and Marcella (great-grandmother).







Here is what I ate for lunch today. Polenta, Mashed Potatoes, Rabbit stew (I think I met that particular rabbit), and a pig arm with lentils. That was after I ate a full plate of pastasciutta which is farfalle pasta (butterflys) with cheese and olives in a red sauce.








This is our group. We are missing a few members because the went inside to watch the Forumula 1 Race. Michael Schmaucher won the Grande Premio! As I was eating I could hear the cars racing.






Here is Ilde (La Nonna) with her grandson Lorenzo. Today he is 3 weeks old. 

Art Show - Laura Genghini, Monza, Italia

Last night (Saturday) we went to an art show for Laura Genghini in Monza. It was held at a Mercedes Dealership in the center of town. The art was different. She used materials such as burlap, sand, stones, glass and copper. Her technique is Raku from 16th century Japan and 5th century Islam. There was an older man, a professor of Art who talked for about 30 minutes mostly about Art. He talked very slow so I could actually understand what he was saying.

After the art show we strolled into the center of town. It was 10:30 pm or so and the town was full of people. Mostly because it was Saturday night but also because the next day was the Grande Premio or Formula 1 races in Monza.

Zia Marcella Penati

I asked Zia Marcella the other night at dinner whether or not she had ever been to Venice. She said she had when she was about 23 years old (70 years ago). She said that Il Duce (Mussolini) had given the people free train rides to Venice to chant and cheer for him. They were supposed to chant "Il Duce Il Duce" but instead Zia chanted "Il bice Il bice" That means a glass (of wine perhaps) in dialect. The dialect is from Brianza. It is interesting. Even with my limited Italian I am beginning to understand this other language. 

Pranzo - Sabato (Lunch - Saturday)

Today we had for lunch pasta with sugo misterioso. All things from Franca's orto (garden), Pane e insalata. Delizioso!

Pane, Vino e Parmigiano












Gianpy picked the prunes in the yard. Tonight we will go to an art show with Ilde, Giuseppe, Pinuccia, Gigi, Franca, Gianpy and myself in Monza. Also in Monza today is the Formula One Races - Grand Premio (Grand Prix). It is unreal to actually sit here on the veranda and hear the Ferraris and look up and see them on the television at the same moment. La corsa (The course) is quite near Pegorino. I hear the cars all day long. Today is just the "Warm-Up" and tomorrow is the race.
Le prugne (the prunes)

Il Bosco

As I was walking into the woods, the temperatura dropped at least 15 degrees. It was so beautiful except for the men on bikes. I was almost run over on the path 10 times.


Grano Turco.

















I saw this little flower climbing upon the grano turco.

Il Bosco -The Woods

Today I took a walk by myself into the woods in back of the house. As I was walking through the corn fields, I saw these flowers with a bee being very busy.
Every time I see corn I think of Zio Vittorio. 

Milano at Night

This is the Duomo in Milan. It is bing cleaned. This is the third year. The difference from 5 years ago is unbeliveable. It was a dark gray before and now the marble is almost white. My group (Franca, Gianpy, Monica e Nicola) went to Milan last night for dinner. Che casino! On ourway we encountered a traffic jam as if I have never seen. A autobus was stalled on a rounda-about after that there was an accident with a truck and a SUV. The people were out in the middle of the road exchanging information. People were crossing the middle divider and driving against traffic! Traffic lines were only a SUGGESTION!
Here we are in 4. Franca, Nicola, Gianpy e Monica.
Here is the ristorante we went to. Primafila. They were very very busy so we had to wait 1 hour for our Pizza. In the meantime we ate salumi, bresoala, prosciutto, olive, pane e vino.















This is the Galleria across from the Duomo and La Scala at night. There are many shops, Louis Vitton, Prada, Gucci, etc. None, of course, have prezzi displayed (prices). 

From The Family Guy

Such a life,
while you and the rest of the gang ( Francotta + Gianpy, Monica & La Coda ) are having a sparkling night in a posh restaurant of Milan, I'm here fighting with your laptop that refuses to burn that supreme vcd, refuses to open outlook to check the email we're waiting for...and guess what now? There's a tunderstorm, so no more dsl. Hey dude? I go to bed, thinking how wonderful is life in milan, bacetti a tutti. Buenas noches dudes.

Interesting People at Piani d'Erna

As we were walking up the hill we heard this wonderful music. I looked down and there was a dance floor with this couple dancing.
This man is a pensionato or man on a pension.
Here is a group of pensionati taking a walk.
La Nonna del Futuro! Ilde Colombini.