Celebrate!

This morning there was news from the Italian premier that the quarantine measures set to expire in the next two weeks would most likely be extended.  This is not at all a surprise as the number of cases and the number of new cases identified daily continues to climb.  It takes weeks for the effects of quarantine measures to show up as those people who contracted the disease before quarantine start to show symptoms.  So we continue as before and hope to see the results of our efforts soon.

The kids have school work to do and I have my classes to keep up with.  We try to have some fun every day.  Inspired by Pi day on March 14 we looked up some of the lesser known holidays for the rest of March.  We'll do something to celebrate each one.

 We started with Pi day, something we have celebrated for several years.  We celebrated with pizza pie on Saturday, apple pie on Sunday and beef hand pies on Monday.  We stretched this one out for as long as possible.

While reading a NY Times story about the complete breakdown and social isolation of European society, I heard cheering outside.  It was time for another balcony party.  This time 9:00 pm with cell phone flashlights.  I'm not feeling so isolated.  I'm seeing neighbors I've never seen before.  We smile and wave from our windows and balconies, but if you so much as sniffle at the grocery store you get the stink eye from behind the masks.

You may have seen the viral videos of people singing from their balconies during the quarantine.  Unfortunately we don't have an opera singer in the neighborhood, but we do have a neighbor with a great set of speakers.  For several days we had little balcony dance parties each night at 6:00 for about a half an hour.  Everything from Italian classics, the national anthem, classic rock, We Will Rock You, and YMCA.

Here are a couple of favorite songs that we recognized.

This one is unofficially called the Italian Gibberish Song.  It was written to sound like English but it isn't real words.  More about it here and here.  Apparently this style follows a medieval comic tradition.  Who knew.

Then the classic about a boy from Naples who tries to be too American, listening to rock and roll and drinking whiskey and soda.

You might recognize this one, Volare, officially titled, Nel blu dipinto di blu.

My girl also knew the words for the national anthem thanks to choir class at school and could sing along.

It was quite fun while it lasted.  Unfortunately this hasn't happened for the past couple of nights.  I think people were starting to gather in the street, a strict no no.  Maybe it will be back at some point.  It's a little thing, but I miss it.

View across the piazza.  You can see the the umbrella pines and the sunset reflecting off the buildings.

If you look carefully you can see people at their windows.

The kids on our balcony.  We are on the 3rd/4th floor depending on how you count them.

Sunday, March 15 was the Ides of March, as in "Beware the Ides of March."  In ancient Rome this was a traditional day for settling debts.  This date was made famous by Shakespeare in his play, Julius Caesar, when a fortune teller warned Caesar of this date.  The warning was for good reason.  Caesar was assassinated on the Ides of March in 44 BC at the spot we now call Largo di Torre Argentina.  This is a spot we might normally have visited, but not this week.  There you can find a cat sanctuary that the kids love to visit to pet the cats.  If you like Italian cats, you can do a distance adoption to support the old or crippled cats who live there permanently.  There is also a big book store, Feltrinelli's, with a small selection of English language books, and a fabric store that has been on the square since 1917.  My Girl's favorite store on the square is Flying Tiger, a Danish chain store that is the dream of many tween girls, full of cute little things.  None of it is necessary, but we always end up bringing something home.  It's a fairly reliable source of marshmallows, which is important when we go camping with the scouts.

We usually attend church on Sunday mornings.  A couple weeks ago our meetings were cancelled indefinitely and we were encouraged to have modified services at home with our families.    It takes 45 minutes to an hour to get there so quite honestly we're enjoying home church without the metro trip. This week we had a Sunday School class through Zoom.  It was nice to see people's faces.  My Italian isn't great so I didn't catch everything, but it was nice anyway.  During Sunday School I heard an amplified voice coming from the back courtyard. A priest was giving mass from one of the terraces.  It was a beautiful thing to see.  After he finished the service he talked to a few of the people who had come out to their balconies.  He clearly knows them and cares about them.  Since then Mass has been repeated every day at 5:00 pm.  Sometimes he plays some peaceful music while he sets up.  In the middle of the Italian songs I was surprised to hear a lovely version of Amazing Grace in English.

The priest saying Mass on the terrace to the left.  You can just see his purple vestments. 

This is the back of the bus stop sign with the advice I'm sure you have all heard by now.

The kids pulled out the musical instruments for a bit.  We need to do this more.  They had a good time singing Country Roads by John Denver.  I'm not quite sure why this is the song of choice for today, but it was great to hear them singing together.  My Boy has a lovely rich deep voice when he is willing to sing.

Monday we celebrated artichoke day.  I like them.  My boy will eat a bit if there is enough vinaigrette to dip them in.  It's a hard no for My Girl.  Artichokes are a typical springtime food here and quite traditional in the Jewish quarter restaurants.

We started Tuesday with a birthday party for Dad.  He is in California for tax season and timing was an issue.  So we baked a cake before breakfast and called him to sing and blow out the candles with a little help from the kids.  We played an online party game we could all join in on just to keep it festive and ate birthday cake for breakfast.  It was short, but we had a good time.  It also happened to be St Patrick's day.  We would usually have had a corned beef and cabbage dinner with the family.  Dad did that in California.  We did our best with beef pies,  They are more British than Irish, but we did eat beef pie in Dublin so I'm counting it as close enough.

Wednesday was another set of birthdays for my dad and brother.  I called my dad, but couldn't get through to my brother.  Disappointing.

Today is poultry day so we are having chicken for dinner.  Earlier in the week or was it last week we made mu shu chicken for the first time including making the little pancakes.  This is a Chinese restaurant favorite for us but I had never tried it before.  The super thin little pancakes aren't nearly as tricky as it seems.  It was delicious.

So, how are we doing?  Overall pretty well.  It isn't exactly a European adventure.  Or maybe it is.

It is interesting to watch the differences between the US and Italian experience with this whole pandemic thing.  I hear reports of empty shelves in the US as people buy up toilet paper and certain food items.  We have plenty of both.  People are buying more food, but mostly because they are cooking at home now that the restaurants are all closed.  California has shut down nonessential businesses in our area and encouraging the social distancing we've been doing here for a little while now.  I'm not sure why the distance is 1 meter in Italy and 6 feet in the US.  Kids are out of school across the country in Italy and increasingly in the US.  Everyone is adapting to a new temporary normal.

Holidays we are celebrating
3/14  Pi (pie) day
3/15  Ides of March
3/16  National artichoke day
3/17  St Patrick's day, Dad's birthday
3/18  Grandpa and Uncle's birthdays
3/19  Poultry day, Italian Father's day also St Joseph's day as in Mary and Joseph
3/20  Ravioli day, Kick butts day, Happiness day
3/21  Spring equinox, French bread day
3/22  Goof off day, Water day
3/23  Puppy day, Meteorological day
3/24  Tuberculosis day
3/25  Waffle day, Dantedi
3/26  Spinach day
3/27  Paella day
3/28  Cat respect day
3/29  Mom and Pop business day
3/30  Doctor's day
3/31  Backup day

Also National noodle month

Have fun celebrating the little things.