New England Snow and Italian Ice
Winter in New England, Frozen Venice, Learning Italian, Public Domain Day, and other ramblings
My heart is with all those affected by the terrible fires in L.A. right now. I lived in Orange County for a summer and there is a piece of me still there. If you want to donate to help the victims, here are some recommended places.
On the opposite coast, winter is really here in New England, and over the weekend, we had more snow (about 4” in Boston) than I think we’ve had in years. The snow was light and puffy, and it was beautiful to walk in, especially in a place like Mount Auburn Cemetery. I recently reunited with a high school friend, and we took her and her husband to see what I think is one of the most beautiful places in the area.
We went to dinner later that night, but I couldn’t partake in most of the food, having just had a tooth extraction as the result of a botched root canal years ago. Now I have a healing hole in my mouth, and dang, if that isn’t the best way to lose weight after the holidays, I don’t know what is! But if you are in the Boston area, Talulla has an amazing parsnip chestnut soup on the menu right now.
As part of the whole tooth removal thing, the dentist put me on antibiotics, which reminds me of an article I read not that long ago about how they give drugs the weird names they do.
Frozen Venezia
I’m planning a trip to Italy in a few months, which will include a week in Venice, where I’ll be researching another book. So it was rather apropos that these images of the last time the lagoon froze over, in 1929, surfaced on Reddit.
A bit of further investigation uncovered this amazing video too!
Italian Language Learning
On the subject of Italy, I really need to bone up on my Italiano. After I took (and passed!) my language test for citizenship last year, I was so overwhelmed with how much studying I did that I just stopped studying entirely, which isn’t great for keeping the language in mind long-term. And of course, when I return to Italy, I don’t want to be embarrassed about my poor Italiano, so I’m studying again. I highly recommend Wellesley College’s free online Italian classes through edX. They have beginner, intermediate and advanced courses and they’re excellent. Every semester the courses change.
I’m also excited about a new tool that seems to have better selection and capabilities than my previous video learning favorite, Yabla. This one is called Lingopie. I love that you can watch Netflix movies! I discovered it while watching this hilarious video about an elderly Italian couple going to Costco for the first time.
Public Domain Day
January 1 was Public Domain Day in the U.S., and all works from 1929 and sound recordings from 1924 are available for everyone to print, remix, or do what they want with them. This includes William Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury, Ernest Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms, Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One's Own, and works including some Mickey Mouse, TinTin, and Popeye cartoons, as well as music by Ravel and Gershwin.
At least three of Salvador Dalí’s paintings have entered into the public domain. I wonder what people might do with them!
Thanks for Joining Me
If you love food and love Italy, and haven’t read THE CHEF’S SECRET or FEAST OF SORROW, click the links to learn where to buy your copy! And now you can order IN THE GARDEN OF MONSTERS!
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I forgot about public domain day! Always good to keep in mind.
Great tip about the Wellesley program. Thanks!