Behold, The Naked Lightbulb

Italians pay such attention to detail, their houses are perfect, except for one thing...

Naked Lightbulbs. Just hanging there. Like, everywhere.

I know why, and now I will explain. It is because they care so much, too much. Light fixtures are important.  You have to consider every characteristic: type of room, type of lightbulb, the look you are going for, hot or cold light, diffused or direct, etc.

So many things you can get WRONG. The best way to handle this monumental decision?

A naked lightbulb. This will work in the meantime until we find the PERFECT LIGHTING SOLUTION.

Babies in Lipica

I can't get enough of this picture. I even put it on as the background photo on my phone, much to my daughter's dismay as she usually chooses which pictures of HER I should put there. 

This was the area at the Lipica Stud farm where mares and their new foals hung out before being introduced back into the larger group. As you can see, the babies are black and become white when they are adults. For now that little one just has the white socks. 

There was one little baby who lost his mother during childbirth, which broke everyone's heart, of course. They were feeding that one every half hour with a bottle and working on getting him "adopted" by another mare who had lost a baby. In the meantime, that horse got some serious love from the human visitors. 

So sweet. So worth the visit.

Creating a Garden on my Porch

If you have been keeping up, you probably know that my family and I moved into a real live house last November after 14 years of living in an apartment half the size with a view of a cement wall located on the first floor (which we Americans know is really the second floor) with absolutely no natural light to speak of. We used to call it our little cave, and when we were really down we would say we lived in a wine cellar. There were some good things about it, otherwise we would not have stayed so long. First, it was cheap and we could afford it even when we didn't have much money. As the years went on and we earned more, the expenses magically stayed the same, allowing us to save more money and eventually buy the house we happily reside in today. Let's just say ours has been a slow, upward trajectory with low expectations and modest returns. It's the get-rich-slowly approach that appeals to few but has worked for us. Our daughter misses that apartment because she had access to the (dark) front porch through a door out from her room (there are perks to living in a bedroom that was converted from a kitchen), there were loads of busses near the apartment, so we could come home for lunch and check on the dog (R.I.P. Luna), and we had fantastic neighbors. 

The only thing that place did not have was light. This meant we did not have plants. Well, we did have a couple of flourishing ferns for a while, but then we somehow killed those too. Something about watering them the day of a big freeze or something. Ooops. 

Fast forward, now we have SPACE and LIGHT and SPACE and MORE LIGHT. As you probably know, it is every Triestino's dream to live in a house with a "Toco de giardin". We do not have that. Instead, we have something like a courtyard where we can park two cars, and a porch off of our kitchen upstairs. This is what I intend to convert to my very own Toco de Giardin.

I started with plants my mother-in-law and sister-in-law gave us around easter: Basil, oregano, cilantro (per my request), and mint. I have since added geraniums (un toco de color!) to a flower box that will hang over the railing. 

My newest addition is tomato plants, and, get this: LETTUCE! Dudes, I am growing salad. Apparently it will be ready for eating in one month, then I can replace it with autumn salad (really! Things can actually grow in autumn here?! Hello, we are not in Wisconsin anymore!) and then endives or some other winter greens (a whole new world!). Wooo hooo! 

It's so exciting. I will keep you updated on our progress.

Welcome to your new home, little Buddies!!

May Day May Day

Tuesday of this week was Labor Day. The day of the workers. It is a special day for the left-leaning Slovene minority of Trieste. In the villages of San Dorligo in the Breg, which is what the area is called (do not accidentally call it the Carso just because people speak Slovene here), there is a tradition where the best cherry tree of the village is chosen by a select group of people, usually the single males, in the village and chopped down during the night. Then, the next day, it is up to them (with some help) to secure it to a giant pole, decorate it with red flags and oranges and that sort of thing, then raise it up high in the sky and secure it while the rest of the village drinks wine and laughs at you. The reason it is so funny is because, even though this tradition has been around for years and years and years, putting it up each year is like doing it for the first time. Frustration, things going wrong, problems... But, in the end, the job is finished usually in the wee hours of the night, and the party continues. My daughter tells me that it is called L'albero della Cucagna. Sure, it exists on Wikipedia, but read it in Italian. In the English version it gets translated to "Greasy Pole" and that is an entirely different tradition. 

Today, in Ricmanje (San Giuseppe della Chiusa) there is a ceremony to take that bad boy down and a BBQ to accompany it. Apparently they go from one village to the next to take down the May Day Tree. I tried to find a good picture of this tradition online but couldn't find much. I will share my crappy phone picture of what I saw yesterday on my way home from the bike path. It was a little rainy, but I hope you get the idea.

I am hoping the weather holds out for the party tonight. Asking around today, I realized that not everyone in Trieste even knows about some of these traditions that are alive and well and living in the Slovene communities on the outskirts of Trieste and in the Carso. The Slovene minority loves to party so it is worth looking them up on May day, around Saint Martin in November (San Martin' Bevi Vin!!) and even for Carnevale. For historical reasons, Slovenes living in Trieste sometimes keep their traditions to themselves, but if you show a genuine interest in getting to know them, the doors will fly open and you will be welcomed in to experience some of the best of what Trieste has to offer as far as culture and folklore. 

Sometimes Slovene speakers are hiding in plain sight. If you are not sure, just ask! Sometimes first names can help. If you happen to know anyone who is named Boris or Igor or Stoyen or Istok (names I associate with extreme fun), start with them!

 

I Still Get Surprised Sometimes

I had a great long weekend! We spent Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday hopping on and off a big bus full of people from various Lutheran churches in Racine, Wisconsin. My mother was one of them. The tour guide, Sue, was kind enough to let our family join in the fun (there was space on the bus) for the last leg of their trip, which started in Dubrovnik and ended today in Venice. We rented a small studio apartment in Ljubljana that was a ten-minute walk from where the group was staying and hung out with them as much as we could. It was so fun being an American tourist!! We got to wear little orange receivers around our neck with a little earphone and everything!

We have been to Ljubljana several times, but this time we did the guided tour and went up to the castle. Very nice. The next day, we went on the bus to Lake Bled, where we have also been more than once, but this time we went to the island on the little boat and visited the church.

The next day, we went to Lipica Stud Farm, which is where the famous Lipizzaner horses are from. This is about a ten minute drive from our house but we had never toured the stables before. It was an interesting visit and everyone really enjoyed seeing the horses. I learned so much. Had no idea, for example, that baby Lipizzaners are born black but become white as adults. Also had no idea that they used to be many colors but everyone wanted the rare white Lipizzaner horse because Napoleon made it popular. Now they are 99% white.

The next day, we went to the caves of Skocjanske  . Now, if you have not visited this place, please promise you will do it soon. It's one of the most beautiful places I have ever been, and I am not a big fan of caves. It is incredible. Yesterday we did not go down in the caves (the others did) because it is a big hike and the elevator that pulls you back up was out of order, so we decided Grandma Mag could do it next time she visits Trieste. Instead, we sat outside and had a nice lunch and did some gabbing.

One of the interesting things about the Skocjanaske caves is it is where the Timavo river disappears underground and doesn't resurface until Duino 43.6 kilometers later. Talk about coincidence. After we left the Americans and went home, we got ready for work the next day. My school was going on an all-school field trip. I didn't really pay attention to where we were going (I wasn't driving, after all) so imagine my surprise when the FIRST STOP was Duino, where the Timavo comes out. Now, again, I had seen this area before, but what I had NEVER NOTICED was the very cute church that is right there!  The most surprising part is that INSIDE the church, there is a garden.

Have you ever heard of a church with an indoor garden? Some people say they get sick of visiting Europe because it's all the same. Churches churches, villages, villages, churches, blah blah blah. I never feel this way, however. I find it so incredible that even after fifteen years of living here, there are still things I haven't seen and it is still a joy to discover them.