obama us and tattoos

Sigh. Here I come. Back from Italy and thoughts of Italy.

Well, no. Ix-nay on the thoughts. They will always be with me (help here from Sargent's Street in Venice).

But life goes on.

Real life.

The kind with students in it who say and write funny things. The euphoria in the air at this time of the semester is palpable.

To quote one of my former students, not everyone has the lechery of sitting around all day and not working. I certainly do not. So, dear reader, what do we have to be happy about?

The Red Sox are in that time of year when they trade away the people who could really help us and get in the people who will not. Goodbye Jason Bay. Spring training is always hopeful. But we're a long way from that right now.

Sigh. So what else?



The weather?
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

New Englanders keep one eye on the TV during all of January, February, and March. It's either snow or severe cold. Take your pick, baby!

Well, I know! It's a good time of year for reading. I have read a pile of books that I haven't reported on, including Homer and Langley by E. L. Doctorow, which was excellent, That Old Cape Magic by Richard Russo (my new favorite writer) and This is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Tropper, also very good. If you can't put a book down and have to stay up way into the dangerous hours, the ones that keep you puzzled and bewildered during the day if you're not sleeping during them (what did I just say?), then that book is by definition really good.




As promised, here is a shot of Ostia Antica, an ancient port city near Rome that has been excavated to a very surprising and large degree. You pretty much have a chill down your back every moment. We made friends with a guy from Sicily who took our picture.




And back in Rome, via a fun subway ride where we got to see how Italian teens make out, here is the Bocca della Verita, the mouth of truth. Legend is that if a liar puts his hand inside, it will be bitten off. We didn't have time to stand in line for a pic here, but I would have put my hand in, no problem
I have known one or two who should have been very afraid to do it.

Onward, dear reader.

(this is me espying a lemon tree)
A rivedercci con amore,
becky