L'Infiorata di Spello

We woke up at 5 this morning for one of my favorite Umbrian traditions: the Infiorata in Spello. This event takes place once a year in celebration of the Corpus Domini. Basically, the people of the city of Spello line their town with beautiful tapestries made up entirely of flower petals!...



They start planning all the details of their designs the year before...

(see Andrea in the upper part of the pic talking to an old coach/Infiorata designer!)

And start picking and drying flowers months before...


They work setting down the design all through Saturday night...


Until they finish early Sunday morning and the judges come by...


It's something amazing to behold. All that beauty, the sweet-acrid smell of the petals, the glazed-over look in the eyes of those proud artists who haven't slept a wink in 2 days. And, the craziest (and, secretly, my favorite) part of it all is that by 11am on Sunday morning, it's all gone, quietly trampled over by the religious processions - and by the tired but happy tourists making their way through the town.



p.s. I had to add this one in for good measure...

Why????

The older I get, the more capable I become of controlling my anger. Except, and this is a big Except, when I'm driving along the streets of Perugia.

Why? WHY? Do you have to nearly kill me on principle? I'm *sorry* I didn't merge fast enough onto the highway! I'm *sorry* you sped up at the last minute so I couldn't turn left but I did anyway and so you had time to simultaneously give me the finger and honk your horn but apparently didn't have quite enough reaction time to ACTUALLY SLOW DOWN to avoid hitting me! Good thing I slammed on my freakin breaks.

Why? Are you really late for dinner? Is your wife going to kill you? Do you really have to get to work as soon as possible so you can manage to finish paying off your 5 trillion Euro gas-guzzling Mercedes? Or are you just an a**hole?

Well, then a**hole, I just have one final question for you - although I think I already know the answer: Why is my time/car/lane/life worth less than yours?

Rant completed (till I drive to work tomorrow).

Happy Mother's Day!

Wishing all the mothers I know - and especially my own! - a very happy Mother's Day! May you always all know how much you are appreciated and loved!

Kites and Labor

Spent May 1st, or Italian Labor Day, at the Castiglion del Lago Kite Festival as per tradition with Clare, Marcello, Chiara and Mary. Had a really nice time, despite a terrible onslaught of allergies (wow, like clockwork...May 1st, POOF: Jodi turns red, itchy, blotchy and cranky...TADA!!).

The Gang:



It was my first experience flying a kite - except for when my father accidentally flew ours from the top of our car driving across the Golden Gate bridge during a family trip back the early 80's...(you didn't think I forgot, did you dad?)

You can see I'm new at this from my intense facial expression...



Luckily the kite was categorized as "Easy to Fly"!

Andrea had a nice go at it too:



A fun time was had by all!