Mamma Americana

Beach Baby

We've been at the beach since July 18th, and even though I have a laptop, the wireless connection is a painfully slow 53.3 KBPS. So I haven't even bothered trying to update my blog. Just to darn frustrating!

Here's a look at a perfect Sunday afternoon spent at the beach...

My, what a lovely ice cream mustache you have! Chocolate and vanilla!

The future's so bright, I gotta wear shades

Time to head home

Roseola and a round up of wooden toys

Eleonora came down with a high fever on Weds. that lasted until Saturday evening. It scared us by reaching 40°C (104°F) a few nights in a row. Then a lovely rash appeared this morning and the doctor said she had roseola or sixth disease as they call it over here. So were confined to the house until the rash disappears. Fun! 

I thought I'd share pictures of some of Eleonora's favorite wooden toys. Think of it as show and tell.

Butterfly puzzle we bought in Paris

Black ant pull toy by Brio

My old "Little Snoopy" pull toy from Fisher Price. It makes me really happy to know that he's loved by Eleonora too.

Push cart by Eichhorn

4th of July, Italian style

A proper 4th of July celebration was in order this year. Saturday morning we went to the weekly market in Tonfano and bought an American flag. Back in the garden I attached it to a broom stick and we put it up on the trellis. It looked pretty good. 

That evening, Lorenzo got the BBQ going, which was no small feat. The charcoal had been in the storage room all winter long, sucking up moisture and was rather damp as a result. It was too late to run to the store for more, so Lorenzo used newspaper and a fan to get things burning. 

Here he is grilling up some porcini alongside my mother in-law. It's odd to find porcini this time of the year. I usually see them in the fall, but it's been raining so much lately that they seem to be coming up early.

The lovely rosticciana (pork spare ribs) piping hot from the grill. We also had hot dogs (I felt it wouldn't be the 4th of July without them) served on hamburger buns because the supermarket was out of hot dog buns. All in all, I'd say it was a great evening.