It's Been a While, Folks!

They say time flies when you're having fun -- it's been almost a year since I've written -- so I guess I've been having lots of fun...(actually, I have been).  

Too Much Free Time?

Where to begin?  

DOG:  Well, Topper turned 4 years old in January.  He has become a wonderful, lovable, well-mannered pooch.  The transformation from that first year, when he bounced off the walls and did not hear one word I said, to now, being Topper Grown-Up Dog, is amazing. He still often races with wild abandon from room to room, leaving 125 year-old soft fir floors the worse for wear in his wake.  He still hears imaginary visitors walking up the front steps several times a day.  He still freaks out when Sam the Cat dares to stroll along the back fence.  He still has his allergies and itches, but enjoys his special diet and takes his meds.  So while things aren't idyllic, they are definitely under control.  He loves to go to his day-care/camp.  When we get there, he drags me through the door.  That place is heaven magnified a hundred times for a wire fox terrier.  While there, all the dogs get to play together, so his usual at-home slower paced day is put aside.  And later, when I pick him up to go home, he curls up in the back seat of the car and, plumb tuckered out, falls asleep within minutes

Yes, We've Been Talking about You

ANCESTRY:  Talking about how fast time flies:  I've spent many days this past year working on our family's history.  Not only have we gotten from way back then to right now in a flash, but also, when working on this, it seems it's quickly 2 a.m. each day before I know it.

Back in the 1980's I was fortunate enough to have asked aunts and uncles lots of questions about what they remembered of their older relatives.  They relayed stories and found old photos and clippings for me.  That, then, formed the basis for the present research.  And now, through ancestry.com I've met 2nd and 3rd cousins, of whom I previously knew nothing, who are doing ancestry research also.  We are able to collaborate on common family lines, and it's been very rewarding.  

Jerome, the son of one 2nd cousin, has built an amazing documented family tree with over 60,000 (!) people in it and has shared a huge amount of his research with me.  Joan, the wife of another 2nd cousin, had written three times in the 1970's to my (unresponding) aunt asking for information about her husband's family.  I came across those letters after my aunt died in 2000 and now, more than 30 years later, I was able to find this lady, and we've corresponded.  Joan is a genealogist (among other things) in real life and has had books published of her family's histories.  Also, in the meantime, as a gift to her husband, she did a very comprehensive search of his ancestry and produced a genealogical report going back several generations.  And...since her husband and I have the same great-grandparents, his family is my family too!   Jerome and Joan have each traveled to towns where our ancestors had lived, and visited the town halls, newspaper offices, churches where the relevant 18th and 19th century records were kept.  What a trove of information they have unearthed, recorded, and shared with me.  Thank you, Jerome, and thank you, Joan!

I did my own sleuthing in Bavaria last spring.  I spent a day at the Catholic Church Central Archives in Würzburg and poured through meticulously-kept microfiche of pages from 18th and 19th century church ledgers from St. Stephen's Pfarrei (parish) in Wülfershausen-an-der-Saale where I found birth, marriage, and death records of my maternal grandmother's family going back to the 1700's (until the German script turned into an even older version I was unfamiliar with).  Other days, I tramped around cemeteries, finding headstones of long-lost relatives indicating the dates and places of their lives.  

The walled churchyard of old St. Stephen's Kirche in Wülfershausen-an-der-Saale in the foreground.
The steeple in the photo is the newer Church of St. Vitus in the middle of the village.

I must tell you about my sister-in-law's branch of the tree.  I've been able to trace her family back directly to Gaius Julius Caesar I, II, and III, by way of a woman, Flavia Maximiana Fausta, the mother of a certain King of Brittany, born in a.d. 305, named...wait for it... Conan (the Barbarian, no less!).  (That explains a lot!  lol)

GARDEN:  What else has been happening during the last 12 months?  Almost went overseas again at Christmas, but didn't.  Been mainly hanging around the house.  Spending lots of time on the "new" one year-old deck and in the "new" two year-old renovated shed/studio. 

Our Favorite Spot to Enjoy Fresh Northern California Air

I do a lot of my writing and ancestry work in the shed.  Topper snoozes on the daybed (and makes room for me at times) while I play Ernest Hemingway, John Updike, or whoever writing whatever. 

Nap Time in the Shed

But, of course, as I'm wont to daydream and thereby gaze out the windows, I oft see things that need some attention in the gardens.  And then the day becomes a little of this and a little of that (all unplanned)!  Here are some of this year's spring and summer blooms, borne of that puttering:

Gillian Blades

Spring Iris - 2012

Artichokes - 2012

South Porch Tree Roses

North Hydrangea

Volunteer Sunflowers

A Natural "Spray" of Karl Lagerfeld Roses

First Year Asparagus Patch Gaining Strength -- Yay!

When in Rome - (Lunedi -- la mia serata finale a Roma)

Monday evening -- my last evening in Rome. 

Dana and Tom have invited me to their home for dinner tonight.  I haven't seen them for quite a while.  They left NYC two years ago for a year-long visit to Rome.  That one year has now extended into its third year!  They live in a very old building deep in the Monte Rione section of Rome, near Trajan's Forum, so I head out to the Via Cavour to begin my walk down to their apartment.   Along the way my right hip gives out so I hail a cab.  The cabdriver insists he knows where Via di Campo Carleo is, but it seems like we are driving in circles -- I'm seeing the same landmarks over and over.  I ask him if he is certain he knows where he is going and he tells me if I don't like what he's doing I should exit his cab immediately.  I refuse because my aching hip needs us to get closer.  So I begin to give HIM directions (based on my fascination with Google maps for weeks before arriving in Rome).  We eventually get to a street that I recognize as being very close to the little street, ending in Roman ruins, called Via di Campo Carleo.  I exit the cab, give the driver half the fare, and hobble down the hill to a building I easily recognize (also from Google maps) as my destination -- (easy -- as it's rather unique:  painted yellow, around six storeys tall, has an ancient tall tower, and has stacked rooms in a bridge over a side street -- how could I miss it!).

I ring the bell for what I assume to be the topmost apartment.  Fortunately I am correct and soon hear Dana's voice on the intercom telling me to take the elevator to the 6th floor and then walk up a flight of stairs.  She buzzes me in and I find the elevator -- one of those open types (I always think they're French, for some reason) -- big enough for perhaps two French people, with lots of open ironwork and a wooden bench well-patinated by dozens of years of buffing derrieres. 

Arriving at the top I'm greeted by Dana and Tom and their 2 boys, now ages 13 and 11.

Dana and Tom

I haven't seen this family since Sam, their older son, was two years old and Michael, their younger, was soon to be born.  What a nice family they have become!  They are enjoying Rome and their travels in the Mediterranean area tremendously.  The boys have taken Italian lessons since they were toddlers so attending excellent Italian public schools is very easy for them.  Outside of school they are busy with sports, music lessons (piano, cello, and clarinet), and reading.  Every day purposeful reading is de rigeur.  They have been blessed with the same inquisitiveness and zest for learning as their parents.

I'm given a tour of their apartment.  It has many rooms on many different levels.  At the top level is the master bedroom -- in a 14th century tower.  

14th century tower with 18th century exterior embellishments and a bedroom inside!

Taking some steep narrow steps from that bedroom to the rooftop of the tower provides a priceless 360 degree view of Rome.  The Palatine, the Esquiline, and the Capitoline Hills, the Colosseum, several other ancient towers and monuments, domes everywhere including St. Peter's, and extensive areas of excavations of buildings from Imperial Rome.

Back downstairs we spend the evening on their huge west-facing terrace, blooming profusely with bougainvilleas and jasmine and affording stunning panoramas as well.  We watch the gulls swoop and dive.  The most amazing views of Rome are everywhere I turn.

Right below us are remains of Trajan's Forum and Trajan's Markets.  When it was constructed (AD 107-112), it was the last and largest of the Imperial Fora and was considered one of the most important monuments of Imperial Rome.  The giant complex was "unlike anything under the heavens."  And now, to realize in 2011, the colonnades and the western hemicycle are just feet away from this family's everyday life.

 

Just to our left, across the Boulevard Via dei Fori Imperiali (built by Mussolini at the expense of destroying much of Trajan's Forum and other sites) is the Palatine Hill.  It is thought that Rome has its origins on the Palatine.  Recent excavations have shown that people have lived on the site since approximately 1000 B.C.  According to Roman mythology, the Palatine hill was where Romulus and Remus were found by a female wolf that kept them alive, allowing Romulus to grow up and choose the site to build the city of Rome.  The Palatine, due to its close proximity to the seat of power, became "the place to live."  The very powerful and wealthy chose to build their homes there.  Eventually the emperors took over the hill completely.  (more info here)

The Palatine

Just to the left of the Palatine is the Colosseum.  The Colosseum, built in AD 79, is located at the foot of Mussolini's Via dei Fori Imperiali. This architectural masterpiece was designed to hold approximately 50,000 spectators.  Underneath the original wooden floor a series of storage rooms and passageways were added later. In this confined space, a range of animals, fighters, slaves and stagehands worked in almost total darkness.  I was able to briefly see the Colosseum up close the next morning before heading out to the airport but next time in Rome it will be first on my list of things to do and see!

The Roman Colosseum

Below is a view of the huge Victor Emmanuel Monument completed in 1911 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the formation of the Kingdom of Italy with Victor Emanuel II as its emperor/king.  The northern side of the Capitoline Hill was chosen as the site.  To clear the site, many churches and ruins that stood there were first destroyed. That fact, and the mass of white marble used, make it not a popular addition to the neighborhood.. 

The Victor Emmanuel Monument

Off in the western distance is St. Peter's Dome and the setting sun.  In a few hours AD XXIII May MMXI will become part of history too.  What a spectacular way to finish up my 3 day whirl through Rome. 

By the way, in the lower right quadrant of the photo above is a building on the Via dei Fori Imperiali where Mussolini lived and used the large open window to greet the public and watch passing parades.

Dinner on the terrace with Dana, Tom, and the boys was wonderful.  Vegetables and pasta from the local markets were a treat.  It was so good to catch up on what's happening in their lives and to see the boys thriving in all they do.  Michael, the 11 year old, has decided he wants to be a pope so he can take the name Sixtus -- and be Sixtus VI.  Why not, he would live just down the via!  

After hearing that, there was not much else to do but take the following obligatory photograph and bid everyone arrivederci.  It was a very special evening that I will never forget.  Molte molte grazie, Dana and Tom.

Dana and Tom K.

Next Week - Off to Firenze and Other Fun Places

 
This will be our home away from home next week.  A villa just a few kilometers outside of Florence.  Debbie Meyers, her daughter Emma, and sister Charlie, 3 other guys (Scott, Rob, and Tom) and I have rented it! 

We'll have a chef who will give us cooking lessons, using goods from the local Tuscan markets, right there in our own kitchen.  

Side trips to Portofino, Lucca, Siena, and perhaps other food hotspots should round out our Tuscan food experience.  I'll report back on our culinary exploits before I go off to Rome on the 21st of May where I'm excited to be seeing the Vatican Gardens and old friend Dana English and her family.

Figs Are Here

First figs were picked today.

They seem a bit early.

But, they are ripe and soooo good!

Sorry, birds, I got there first!



Easy Roasted Tomato "Sauce"

When you can't keep up with your tomato plants' producing -- this is so easy to prepare ---

Pick 35-40 firm ripe tomatoes, remove stems and cores.
Scald in boiling water for one minute. 
Run under cold water and slip off the skins. 
Cut in half, place in a strainer and let some liquid drain off.
Arrange in 2 large flat pyrex or ceramic baking dishes. 
Sprinkle with a bit of sea salt, ground pepper, fresh oregano and parsley; and minced garlic, if you wish.
Drizzle with local olive oil. 
Mix it all up a bit but keep in a single layer 
Bake in 375 degree oven for 67 minutes.

Serve over pasta or on rustic bread with shaved Parmesan. 

It also freezes well and can be a summertime treat on a rainy mid-winter day.

Figs Will Be Ready for Thanksgiving

One of the things I look forward to every fall is the fresh crop of figs.  The trick is to pick them the day you think they're ripe, which, hopefully, is the day before the birds think they're ripe!

These still have some growing to do but will surely be ready for the annual Pecan-Fig Tarts on Thanksgiving Day!

Artichokes of All Sizes

Artichokes!

Artichokes!

Come git yer

fresh Artichokes,

Folks!

Persimmon Time

This morning when I pulled up the shade and looked out the window at the rain, there "they" were. THE BIRDS, that is. On the very day the persimmons' ripeness is optimal, all variety of birds descend on the persimmon tree. There were robins, blue jays, sparrows, and all sorts of other little birds flitting in and out of the branches. All were feverishly pecking away on the ripe orange orbs weighing down the branches.

The tree has way too many fruits for me to use, so I don't mind feeding the birds. But, if I expected to have any persimmons at all for my Christmas Persimmon Puddin' I had better get out there in the rain and stake my claim.

This is some of what I was able to get.

Peppers, Peppers

By tomorrow these will be part of GramMa Lynch's pepper relish.

Yum!

Tomatoes (a veritable plethora of)

This is one day's pickings from my three plants.

Three plants are two too many, it seems.