“Don’t even think about it,” Tizi said. We were walking down to the local market the other day, a two-mile round trip on foot. It was a bright morning in October, perfectly autumnal. I was telling her about a professor of mine who used to say au-TOOM-nal, a pronunciation I liked and tried on for…More
Tag Archives: language
On Wine Tasting and the Limits of Winespeak–from Get Thee to a Bakery
“You taste wine the same way I do,” the guy pouring says. “We all have the same equipment: nose, mouth, tongue, palate. Technically, yes. And it’s very nice of him to say that. It’s my last day in Sonoma. I’ve had a head cold all week, so none of my “equipment” has…More
Wherefore Oodles–gobs and gobs
An oodle sounds a lot like a Monty Python character. You can imagine John Cleese dressed up as a woman, saying, “Hello, my name is Ann Oodle. I am an expert on snakes.” Funny thing about oodle. It’s one of those words in English that has no singular. Think trousers, butterfingers, hijinks, spartypants, gadzooks. I’ve…More
Subtracting the Negatives–Orvieto caves and a focus on feet
We have a new server at Nud e Crud, one of our favorite restaurants in Rimini. Tizi and I form attachments to servers. Dido at Passatore, Valentina at Marianna, Luccio in San Gregorio, Sergio at La Rivetta. We’re more than consumers passing through, paying for a product and service. We’re regulars now. The food, the…More
Mastery of Mystery–ashes, old friends, and the faith
We arrive in San Marino on Ash Wednesday afternoon. To get here we’ve traveled all night and through most of this day. We unload bags, turn on the water, and raise the heat in the apartment. Tizi makes a bed. We pull sheets off a couple chairs so we have a seat in the morning.…More
And Now the Letter H–hamburger with an Italian accent
Today I discovered Hamerica. Make that Hamerica’s. It’s a chain restaurant in Italy “dove vivi l’esperienza degli States e provi i migliori hamburger fatti in Italia con un gusto completamente americano.” Best hamburger in Italy, they boast. Just like being in the States. Walking through Rimini this morning, we passed what used to be Picnic…More
What’s Not to Love–rare books and earthly love by night
When pleasures take you by surprise, they are so much sweeter. Last night we attended a lecture in the rare book room at the Oliveriani Museum in Pesaro. I was not prepared to enjoy it so much. Not one but two notable art history scholars spoke. The discourse was learned, the vocabulary was specialized, and…More
Why Lunch–and meterological mayhem
It rained last night. I was awake around 4:00 a.m. I could hear thunder in the distance, its low-level rumble, like nature clearing its throat. Then it came closer and in ten minutes was above us. More
Why Don’t Italians Get Hot?
“It’s warm in here.” Anyone entering our apartment in San Marino makes this observation. They don’t mean warm. They mean warm. Hot.More
Waking Up in San Marino–Where We Are?
It takes a while to get my mouth working. Tizi and I arrive in San Marino on a Thursday afternoon, focus the rest of that day on getting heat turned on, hot water flowing. After 14 hours of travel, it would be nice to have a shower? From the need-to-do-right-away list, pick one and get…More