Continuing the "read all the library's new books about Italy" theme

When I was on Study Abroad in Italy in 1993, I hadn't done much research ahead of time. I'd taken a few semesters of Italian and a short prep class required by Study Abroad, but I didn't know much about the art we were studying (or Italy in general).
On our first night in Florence, our professor -- Madison Sowell, who was the head of BYU's French and Italian department and later was president of the Italy Milan Mission -- took us to the Ponte Vecchio and told us about how it was the only one of the city's bridges that wasn't destroyed by the Germans as they retreated during World War II.
I remembered that discussion -- and a lot of similar ones from that summer -- as I read The Venus Fixers, which is about the Allied military operation to save and restore Italian art during and after the war.
It's a great book, although a lot of my interest in it was based on having seen the actual works of art. But it also would be interesting reading for people who will be coming to visit us in Milan who plan to take side trips to Florence. Hint, hint.
Another book I read recently was The Bicycle Runner, which is one man's memoir of being part of the Italian Resistance. Although I didn't find it as compelling as The Venus Fixers, it was an interesting look at life in Rome just before and during WWII.

Stepping back in time

Because South Carolina was colonized fairly early, I always took "old" buildings for granted. There was an antebellum home almost within sight of where I grew up, and there are historical markers all over the place. Added to this was the fact our family's Indian tribe had been in the same area a lot longer, although there isn't much physical evidence of it lying around.
When I went to college in Utah, that all changed. Even the oldest buildings in Salt Lake City were young by comparison, and the ones in Provo are even younger.
I was thinking about it all this morning as I read a sort of guidebook to Abruzzo (a region in Italy) that Kevin picked up at a conference a few weeks ago. It mentions Fontecchio, at the foot of Mount Sirente, and its "typical 14th-century fountain."
It'll be fun to return to the Old World, even if it is just for a couple of years.

The Art of Power: Royal Armor and Portraits from Imperial Spain

This exhibit is only at the National Gallery through Nov. 29, so I knew we needed to hurry and go see it. But I'd sort of forgotten about it until I went to the museum last week to meet Kevin's Italian class for lunch and a movie.
But yesterday Laura, Owen and I made the trek. It's a great exhibit. Laura's always been a big fan of suits of armor, but the paintings and tapestries in this all are awesome. And since many of them are from Spanish museums, I hadn't seen them before.
This image is from the National Gallery Web site, and it's not even the best thing. (Laura much preferred the armor that was made for Philip III when he was 7.)

The anatomy of a Halloween costume

Being a baby, Owen's Halloween costume needs were quite easy to meet. We decided he was going to dress up, we bought him a costume -- dragon or dinosaur or some other reptile, we're not really sure -- and carried him around at various parties and trick-or-treating.
Being an 8-year-old, Laura's Halloween costume needs were a little more complicated, although not initially. For a couple of church parties early in the season, she wore the Indian princess costume she got last year. (This photo was taken through a giant spider web at a party at church.)
But that was way too easy, and she decided last week she wanted to be Harry Potter (or Hermoine Granger) instead.
I knew my sister Laurie had a Harry Potter cloak she could send us; my nephew Jonathon was Harry Potter for a few Halloweens. Party City had "deluxe" wands, and I printed a Gryffindor patch off the Internet and laminated it. But there was the little issue of a tie.
Enter Goodwill, which also was the source of the sheet that became the spider web mentioned above. I found a red tie there and used fabric paint to add yellow stripes.
So, overall, not as painful as it could have been.

Random childhood memory

I was an international news junkie growing up, which probably is what led me to a career in newspapers. I realized Friday that it was the anniversary of the 1983 attack on the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut, which I remember seeing on NBC Nightly News.
I was 10 at the time, and the Middle East wasn't an area I thought a lot about. But I still remember details of the attack and its aftermatch all these years later.
The U.S. State Department's statement on last week's annversary is here.

A visit from the Nater Tot

My best friend, Deirdre, and her son, Nate, came to see us Monday. They'd been in Philadelphia for an American Copy Editors Society board meeting, and Deirdre's sister lives across the river in New Jersey, so we were part of an East Coast adventure.
We went to the National Zoo, and it was a lot of fun. Unfortunately we didn't get any photos of us all together at the zoo -- we were too busy discussing our tendency as copy editors to be rule-followers, I guess -- but Kevin snapped this one after we got home.

More fun with ridiculous signs

Is crane really that hard a word to spell?

Bad hair week

Owen woke up one morning last week with his hair like this, and it hasn't gone back to normal since. Of course, maybe this is the new normal, in which case I guess it's a good thing he's a boy.