They said it couldn’t be done to get my car from the US registered in Italy. The car was too far from Italian requirements for emissions; the government is very slow and it would take forever and a day to get it accomplished; even if it ever got registered, it would have the lowest level…
Read MoreIt is SO SO SO much better to be in Italy than in the U.S. on a Marian feast day! The Feast of the Immaculate Conception is such a joy. The Italians have such a passionate love for Mary, as they have for their own mothers (usually the most important people in their lives). Last…
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My good, good husband offered to stay home this weekend with our two youngest kids and our dog, while I went into Rome with our oldest girls plus one of their friends. Rome is on a “fire sale,” with rock-bottom deals on hotels and such, since there is no one there. So we found…
Read MoreHere’s a short clip of our family Thanksgiving in Italy–as Ron said, “Party in a Box”
Read MoreI am taking Christology at the Angelicum this semester. Right now we are reading Thomas Aquinas’ Summa Theologiae. One passage struck me as one of the most amazing texts I have had the privilege of seeing in a long time. ST III. 8.3: Whether Christ is the head of all men? …
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First grade in Italy is notoriously hard. I had not idea what to expect, but taught Sebastian all his letters and a little early reading this summer. I thought we might be adequately prepared. Oh how I was wrong. The class is doing a cursive-intensive. They are not taking a letter…
Read MoreI can now zoom through razor-thin lanes and not even hold my breath as I pass cars. I can understand the basic gist of most conversations and news reports on the radio. I already alerted our landlord that we will want the heat turned on soon, since I know it takes 2 weeks to get…
Read MoreSebastian is learning to read now that he’s in first grade–and it’a all in Italian. His little primer is about a baby bird, Pitti, and his mother. The first page says: Ciao Mamma La mamma è buona That’s it! That’s the first page that Sebastian has ever read in Italian. He…
Read MoreMy husband has been traveling for 10 days with the University of Dallas through southern Italy and Sicily. While he was giving sight lectures at historical and holy sights, I was wrangling 4 kids at home. Our fifth who still lives at home was on a trip in Texas–lucky girl!–and our sixth is in college….
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This is the season of the grape harvest. The strapping, burly Italian guy hired to do our property’s harvest is always smiling, waving, and exudes joy all day long. Then as I drive down the main road in Frascati, I sometimes find myself stuck behind another tractor such as the one in the photo below….
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