Writing, researching, learning . . .

Our plan has been to take advantage of the normally rainy February weather to focus on our indoor projects, and though the weather has actually been much nicer than anticipated, we are pretty much sticking to the program. I hope that my research will tell me more about the conditions of life that my ancestors in Italy faced, so I have been reading and taking notes. Lucy has set up her sewing machine and will start her quilting projects soon. Both of us have re-started our language studies.

Because of this, we will have few adventures to post on the blog for the time being. Tomorrow I will post some of my research about the 14th and 15th centuries, just to give myself a sort of intermediate writing goal. 

Meanwhile, I have come across some advice given in a guidebook for travelers to Italy published around 1912 that is worth sharing, especially for all people who have dared to put their lives in the hands of an Italian cab driver, or for that matter, pretty much any Italian driver.

“On public transportation: The donkey-drivers have an unpleasant habit of inciting their animals to the top of their speed when passing through a town or village, and it is as well to warn them beforehand that their ‘mancia’ (tip) will suffer if they do not go quietly through the streets.”

It seems some things never change.