fire eyes

You may know Rock Lee.



When he gets mad, he gets fire eyes, like this:



Or even like this:




... I just thought it was funny...

Il Campeggio

La casa e' molto silenziosa perche' Matteo sta facendo il campeggio con la scuola. E' la prima volta che non dorme a casa per due notti. Ecco un video del suo primo pomeriggio sotto gli alberi della foresta.

good vs. evil

These peaches are organic, ripe, delicious, well-behaved and good-natured with sweet dispositions.

I think it's how all our agriculture should be. Farming should be done responsibly and we should encourage kindly plants that get along well with others.

But now, the headlines say: USDA Poised to Approve Widespread, Risky Field Trial of GE Trees

"The biotechnology firm ArborGen has asked the USDA for permission to conduct 29 field trials of genetically engineered “cold tolerant” eucalyptus trees in the U.S. For the first time in history, this massive experiment, which is on the verge of being green-lighted, will literally be using nature as the laboratory to test more than 260,000 genetically engineered trees. Scientists across the U.S. are voicing concerns over this proposal."

The comment period ends tonight at 11:59 pm. If you don't like the idea of GE trees contaminating native forests, then now would be the time to act. Why do we need GE trees? Why do we need GE crops? Why can't we be satisfied with keeping our food supply untainted?

Even the bankers say that in trying to feed 9 billion by 2050, "two frequently cited solutions — raising productivity through large investment in fertilizers, irrigation and mechanization, and extending farming to degraded, abandoned or pasture lands — would still leave food and energy supplies falling short of demand."

It's something to think about.

Those truly passionate about the matter would appreciate the folks at the Global Justice Ecology Project, who run a Stop GE Trees campaign. I don't care for the design of their site, but the content is what matters most, right?

Here's a little blog archive from Civil Eats on eating and the environment, amongst other things. Personally, I enjoy reading those kinds of things and try to be food literate, even though it means my kids actually enjoy eating dense, extremely healthy, homemade brownies full of whole wheat flour, plain yogurt and non-GMO tofu - there I go, far against the advice of baking pros.

With the USDA Organic label under discussion lately, it's enough to inspire one to join WWOOF or go on a Mexican retreat with Via Organica and get educated in responsible, successful farming. Well, minimally, I might go to Common Ground in Palo Alto and talk to the nice people there, after I took action against those GE trees and while I enjoyed a sweet, fresh peach.

Mom's Garden

We spent the 4th with my mom and other Bay Area family at my mother's house. She used to have a pool in the backyard, but filled it in and planted a garden there, instead. It's a nice place to display some of her pottery creations, and the bamboo grows in the old hot tub area so it can't spread all over.


After one of her artistic retreats to Wisconsin a couple years ago, she started making totem poles.


I think the bird on top of this one is really sweet, especially sitting on the teapot.



I think some of the totem segments were made deliberately and some of the other pieces she put up after they didn't turn out quite right.


The kiln where it all happens - inside can get up to 2000 F when it's running.


Manuel's had this shirt from Italy for years but this was the first time he wore it. My mother said it's a very special and famous kind of print fabric made only in one city in Japan. That made me like it better.


My sister in the pottery studio.


Paul taught Daniel a magic trick with cards and guess what? ...


At summer camp today, someone bet Daniel $50 on this trick. After the magic proved to be real, Daniel generously declined to be paid. :)

caro filippo, cara laura e viareggio

Questi fiori sono per te, per Laura e per Viareggio.

Meno male, voi state bene e la vostra casa non e' crollata. Ho ricordato che ci avete detto che la vostra casa nuova e' abbastanza vicino la stazione...

Io scrivo qui' a California, tranquila, pensando di Laura (probabilmente dormendo a casa) e Filippo (probabilmente dormendo sulla barca). Domani, forse vedrete questi fiori che Matteo ha dipinto. Spero che vi danno un sorriso. :-)

Ciao e Buona Notte.

Un bacione anche da i ragazzi:

Tabitha's Tail

Oh my goodness! Look who finally uploaded!

Let their sweet song send you to kitty daydreams of catching your tail...

Short List of Likes

A few things I've liked today:

1. Tables that chase each other around the house.



2. A funny poem.

... When I think about you

I Google myself ...

3. Another poem called Famous.

... The bent photograph is famous to the one who carries it

and not at all famous to the one who is pictured ...

4. A boy that remembers his past life without any help from anyone.

5. Eye trickery. Crazy, doubt-inducing optical illusions and puzzlers.

Parents' Day

Parents' Day is our big celebration at the end of the school year. Planning it and all the performances takes up most of my April, May and June. Here we shall review only a few quick photos of some of the highlights, though I will say in advance that one of the highlights was Trina coming to see the show and I don't have a photo of her. But thank you, Trina, for being such a true friend! :)

The first portion of the event is Student Awards. Here we see Matteo on stage with his certificate and some classmates. His awards were in Art and Reading. Daniel received awards for Sports and Math Facts.


After the awards, each class gives a performance. Matteo's class recited a poem about living the free, wandering gypsy life. That's Matteo in the hat.


Daniel's class and two others combined together to put on a musical called The Mad Adventures of Mr. Toad, a story based on The Wind in the Willows. Daniel played the part of the Judge and following this serious bit that the photo shows, put on sunglasses and rocked out singing solo with the jury on back-up. The audience went wild and he was happy to get so many surprised compliments afterwards, "Wow, I didn't know you could sing!"


Someone else likes to sing in the family. Here's Michelle belting out a Journey classic after the dinner and speeches when the karaoke mike was opened up.


All together here. It was a fun event and nice way to end the year.

I Nipotini

Blogging break time is over! So let's give our family overseas (either a nine hour flight east or west of us) ancora piu' foto to make up for lost moments without us.

Everyone else, non-family, by now realizes that this blog is largely made up of photos of us and can understand that these sorts of obligations must come first, even when, perhaps, other additional subjects of conversation could be easily appreciated, and so are not surprised - indeed, they know what to expect here - and are not shocked by such persistent focus on ourselves.

For those far away, let us begin.

Most beloved, naturally, are the grandchildren. In this post we offer a few quick glimpses as to what each one was up to early this month:

Matteo went to the San Jose Museum of Art with his class.

Matteo (sulla destra) fuori il museo d'arte moderna di San Jose.

Daniel goofed off at the park for a graduation party with his class.

Ecco Daniel al giardino con gli amici della scuola per una festa.

And Michelle is seeing someone new (but hasn't introduced us yet) so here she is, ready to go out for the evening.

"Ciao!"

May's Happy Ending

And with this blog post, we officially end the May-June-end-of-school-frenzy-causing-required-blogging-hiatus of 2009!

But May was really fun and we can't just let it go without acknowledging its lovely finish.

First of all, Daniel completed all the requirements and graduated into Form 5, which is Middle School - 7th & 8th grade. He was very happy to finish his program, immediately became very close with the students in his new class, adores his new teacher (my dear friend Nita) and thus, all is well.

Daniel gets his certificate and flowers,

presented to him by his teacher.
May 29th

We decided to celebrate this monumental event with an incredibly packed weekend. On the 30th, we attended the Maker Faire in San Mateo. There was so much Stuff being Made that despite spending seven hours of our day there, we still did not see it all. I've condensed the story down into a 3 minute video for those who might be curious.



Music in the video is credit to The Albert Square, and for that I'll thank Cooper for introducing me to them. Maker Faire Story Synopsis: we'll definitely go again next year. :-)

For the final day of May, we traveled up to San Francisco for the fun of seeing the tallest man in the room sit in the smallest chair. Indeed, that is my friend Tim crunching down to sit next to his son.


After 22 years, we still recognized each other very easily and it was so pleasant meeting up at a small bookstore, entertained by Mike and Andy singing (and Mike signing) Mike's new book "A Curious Collection of Cats".


I have been trying all day to upload the most adorable video of Mike and Andy singing "Tabitha's Tail" - or was it "Tale"?- with no success. Too bad for now, but at least now you have something special on the horizon that you know will come one day when I find uploading success. On that May day, when the ukulele songs were over, Mike and Tim's friends from Camper Van Beethoven then took the stage and entertained us with further song. It was the best bookstore in the world that afternoon, and became even better when Trina showed up!


Long ago, back when it was timely and appropriate, she already posted news of this meeting with her own pic at the gelato shop where we hung out together, happily chatting, resting, licking (ice cream), purring and becoming friends anew.

Daniel & Cosimo check out Trina's iPhone.

And that, dear friends, was how May ended happily ever after.

Sunday

Fun day at the park with our good friend, Eddy.

Grazie Michelle!

Michelle e' una brava figliola. Ha aiutato suo papa' con il suo lavoro e dobbiamo proprio ringraziarla!!

Thank you, Michelle, for taking the long trip and helping unload all those boxes!! xoxo