Archive for 'Uncategorized'
Ottobre – A Poem Posted by Serena on Oct 21, 2016
Every season has its own beauty. Autumn brings exhilarating colours, the smell of must and wine, and the miracle of the sun ‘that can’t bid us farewell, returning every morning like a new miracle’. These are the thoughts expressed by the poet Vincenzo Cardarelli (1887-1960) in his poem Ottobre, which he wrote in the autumn…
Home made Italian Limoncello Posted by Serena on Oct 20, 2016
Oh dear, not one of you noticed the lemon! I was expecting a deluge of comments to the tune of “what on earth is a lemon doing amongst a bunch of DIY tools?” And yet there it is dear readers, right in the middle of the photo that appeared in my blog Attrezzi Fai Da…
Attrezzi Fai Da Te Posted by Geoff on Oct 12, 2016
How do you remember the Italian names of the various tools that you use for your DIY jobs? Here’s a useful tip. Labels Labels are a very effective way of memorising the names of objects. It’s a little trick that I used to use myself when I was beginning to learn Italian many years ago…
Prima E Dopo Posted by Geoff on Oct 10, 2016
When I published my article Fai Da Te last week, I never imagined that my little patio would be so popular! Well, you know how it is, when you live with something every day you begin to take it for granted. So I decided to delve amongst my old photos and remind myself exactly how…
Fai Da Te Posted by Geoff on Oct 7, 2016
The sweltering heat of summer has finally passed and I now have a window of opportunity to get some of those outdoor jobs done before the rain sets in. Fai Da Te (D.I.Y.) I have a long list of such jobs: carteggiare e verniciare la carpenteria esterna (sand and paint the external woodwork) far portare…
I Navigli Di Milano Posted by Serena on Oct 6, 2016
Last weekend I went to Milano for the first time in over twenty years to meet up with a group of long lost friends from my African childhood (thank you Facebook!). My friends and I spent most of our time reminiscing over the past, and didn’t have much time for sight seeing. We did, however, manage…
My Mother And The Italian Sculptor Posted by Serena on Sep 30, 2016
I recently wrote a couple of posts about my mother’s encounters with famous Italians. The first was Beniamino Gigli, the operatic tenor, then was Mario Tobino, psychiatric doctor cum writer. Well, those two were just casual meetings, but there was another famous person in my mother’s life, with whom she shared a proper friendship, in…