Seasonal Pictures - Fall

Things that are making me happy:

- mild temperatures that allow us to spend time outside without turning into popsicles

- blue skies

- the great big window next my desk at work that allows me to see the sunset over the hills every evening - I am still thrilled after being in our new office over 1 month

Thanks mother earth for being so lovely this fall!

**Excuse me for the not so fabulous quality of these pictures - I was trying to take them quickly and covertly. If someone would have seen me they would have thought I was nuts, for sure - just as they did the first day in our new office when at 5 o'clock I exclaimed, "we get sunsets now".**

Seasonal Pictures - Fall

I have often read about people expresing a desire to take part in a culture exchange with a person from a different country. This always made me think to myself, first of all, what would I exchange? I am American. What is our cluture? Hamburgers? Baseball? Then I thought even if I figured out what to share, how would I share it? Should I make a power presentation and bring visual aids? This idea of a cultural exchange was always intriguing, I want to learn about other people's cultures, but also daunting because I did not now what I would give in exchange. This weekend I found out.

I stayed on an olive farm in Tuscany this weekend where there lived a wonderful, little boy named Pietro. Pietro was very excited about Halloween. He talked about it all day Saturday and repeatedly chimed out, "scherzetto o dolcetto" (trick or treat in Italian), usually from the top of an olive tree. He also talked about carving a pumpkin. On the farm they grow many things but unfortunately not pumpkins. After we finished dinner that night, Christina, the farmer, brought in a butternut squash she had picked from the garden and offered it up to be carved. We, five adults, sat around the table thinking how to carve the squash. I must admit that at first I was skeptical. There are many differences between a proper carving pumpkin and a butternut squash. One of the adults suggested to cut the very hour glassly shaped squash into two pieces and at that suggestion the possibilities started to come to life quickly, followed by the jack-o-lanterns.

The squash was cut in two. The seeds taken out and the center cut away. Pietro drew the perfect face on each half with triangle eyes, a small triangle nose, and a sweet little smile. I carved out the pieces and then Pietro, who had the perfect sized hands to fit inside the small squash, removed the cut out pieces. We lit little tea lights and put the two squash faces on top of them and here are the results:

Notice how Pietro even drew nostrils on the two noses

Chocolate is back!

Yummy hazelnut chocolates at one of our favorite bars

One afternoon this last August, after finishing lunch with Andrea, I felt like a bite or two of chocolate would be the perfect way to end my lunch hour before heading back to the office. Andrea and I headed into the nearest bar and he asked the bar men if they had any chocolate. This seemingly innocent question was first met with confusion, then a look to me at which point they quickly realized I was (a crazy) American, then looks of clarity came over their faces as all the pieces fell into place. They began to crack up and explain that of course they did not have any chocolate because it was the height of summer. "Well yes", I thought, "I know it is summertime but I did not realize that summer and chocolates are mutually exclusive". We went to three other bars and tabaccherie and were met with similar reactions. That day, in August, I learned that when the weather gets warm the chocolates go away because how would they ever keep chocolates with the heat of summer.

As we are enjoying the very last days of summer here in Bologna and the temperatures have plummeted from the high 30s down to the low 20s, I have been slowly watching chocolates pop up around town. A small sign of the changing seasons.