Simple thoughts

Not that bad, but I thought I could do better................

1 - State of Fear - by Michael Crichton

2 - The Lodge of the Lynx - by K. Kurtz & D. Turner Harris

3 - Airframe - by Michael Crichton

4 - The Black Arrow - by R.L. Stevenson

5 - Gomorra - by Roberto Saviano

6 - The map of bones - by James Rollins
7 - Kafka's soup - by Mark Crick

8 - The Mud Bible - by Julia Navarro

9 - The third secret - by Steve Berry

10 - The Egyptologist - by Arthur Phillips
11 - Gentlemen & Players - by Joanne Harris

12 - Double Life - by Charlotte Link
13 - P.S. I love you - by Cecelia Ahern

14 - The cold moon - by Jeffery Deaver
15 - Another kind of life - by Catherine Dunne
16 - Ireland, a novel - by Frank Delaney

17 - The Quest - by Wilbur Smith

18 - The Seville Communion - by Arturo Perez-Reverte

19 - The Chalice and the Blade - by Riane Eisler

20 - If you could see me now - by Cecelia Ahern

21 - The footprints of God - by Greg Iles

22 - A maiden's grave - by Jeffery Deaver
23 - Dio ci liberi dagli inglesi....o no? - by Antonio Caprarica

24 - The Flanders Panel - by Arturo Perez-Reverte

25 – The devil's teardrop – Jeffery Deaver

26 – About a boy – by Nick Hornby

27 – Talisman: Sacred Cities, Secret Faith – by G. Hancock and R. Bauval

28 – The Official Fahrenheit 9/11 Reader – by Michael Moore

29 - Praying for sleep – by Jeffery Deaver

30 – Tutto il Grillo che conta – by Beppe Grillo

31 – Two little girls in blue – by Mary Higgins Clark

32 - The Count of Monte Cristo – by Alexandre Dumas

33 – I Segreti di Roma – by Corrado Augias

34 – An inconvenient truth – by Al Gore

35 – The mask of Atreus – by A.J. Hartley

36 – The Templar legacy – by Steve Berry

37 – The curious incident of the dog in the night-time – by Mark Haddon

38 - Dreamcatcher – by Stephen King

The way of saying is true, the world goes on, no matter what.
Sad but true, life has a way to win every tragedy, every difficult moment. Caterina, my cousin's daughter, three and a half years old, two days ago said to mom "Don't cry, uncle Mario is up in the sky, you see, up there near the moon and the stars, and he's smiling" How can you reply to a thing like this? Maybe children see things we don't? Maybe they are closer to the misteries of life? Anyway, these words put a smile on mom face, and that is what's important.
It's a strange feeling knowing I won't see him again, never. The other night I dreamed about him, without seeing his face, it was a strange but peaceful dream, we were in his beloved mountains, the sun was shining, and I knew nothing could hurt me.
Maybe there was so much love, it can't simply fade away just because of death.

Dad passed away early yesterday morning. I really hope he can be in a place full of peace now. He surely will live in my heart forever.

  
For lunch on Christmas Day, we can really exagerate!

 We start with the traditional local first meal, "anolini" in meat broth

  Then a mix of various boiled meats (beef, pork and turkey)

  with red and

 green spicy sauces

 and the ever present "zampone" with lentils and potatoes purea

We finish the meal with the traditional italian Christmas desserts, 

  pandoro

 panettone

  torrone

After all, we live in Italy, a country everyone associates with food, right?

So, what is the food you eat on Christmas days?



Every part of the world has its own traditional food, very different from each other, sometimes it changes from one place to the nearest one. Here it seems that each family has its own tradition, especially for the Christmas Eve dinner, but one thing is clear, the meat is banned from the table.

At my family dinner table, usually you can find

 prawns in pink sauce

 tarts with chhese and salmon

 penne with salmon sauce

 tuna fish in olive oil

  grilled capesante

And at the end you can't miss the very symbol of italian Christmas, the panettone



See you tomorrow for the table on Christmas Day.

....another bad one, the third in a row, but still......Christmas is on its way.



Even if I don't have so much time, and I don't really feel like celebrating, on the other hand I know I must be grateful for what I had in the past, still have today, and I'm sure I will have in the future. And Christmas it's a time for soul renovation, to feel the love and the friendship you have around you, for family and friends. So I bought gifts to give away to the ones I love, to let them know that I care.
It's jewels, books and cds, dvds, perfumes, wool items, chocolates, foods and wines. They all are gifts choosen with the heart, so I hope they will warm up the hearts of the recipients.


  

Tonight is Santa Lucia (Saint Lucy) night. This is a night for children, when Saint Lucy arrives on a donkey, bringing gifts and candies to the good ones, and coal for the bad ones.



Usually the children go to bed after a little rite: they put on the kitchen table some water and apples (or fruits in general) for the donkey and bread (or cookies) and milk for the Saint. At their places the morning after, they find some gifts, according to their behaviour.



In Italy there's even a website with the letters the children write to her, asking for the gifts they'd like.

In many places it's an old tradition to eat some fortune cookies in her day, to bring happiness and prosperity to the house



I bought a gift for Marty, even if she doesn't believe in Saint Lucy (or Santa) any more, but it's hard to let go old traditions, right? And no, I won't tell you what it is, just in case......

I had a very nice sunday yesterday. We met with two couples of friends at the restaurant of a country farm. We had very good food as you can see.....

lasagna



black olive ravioli



roastpork



roasted pork with apples



chocolate and almonds cake

 

Then we took a little walk to visit the local old church but it was too cold and foggy. So we decided to go back to one of the couples' home. We just sat there, before the fire, drinking some good wine (Giovanni is a pro on the subject) and talking. It was very warm and relaxing, sitting there, with friends, while outside was dark, cold and rainy. It was just what I needed (sorry for the blurry pic, blaim the wine for it!).

Saturday afternoon, I was with dad at the hospital. It was fixed that I had to stay there until 8.30pm, when my aunt would arrive to spend the night caring for dad. She had my car (she drove it many other times, so no problem), she would park it in the hospital parking lot, and I had to come home with it (another aunt would come in the morning to pick her up and bring mom there). This has been fixed so not to bother hubby bringing my aunt there and picking me up.
The problem was that my aunt arrived, we talked a little bit about dad conditions, had to wait outside his room coz nurses were changing diapers and distributing medications, so half an hour passed. When I got to the parking lot, my car was there with all the lights on. I knew I was in deep trouble........the car wouldn't start! And this was exactly what happened, or better, what didn't happen!



(This is not my own car, but it's alike)

So, I had to call hubby, he came with his car (very angry I have to admit, not to be there, but worried about the fact that maybe the car was out, and we had to buy a new battery), with some caves he gave electricity to my car battery and finally (at the third try) we managed to go home.
In the meantime, our friends came to visit us (mom was alerted to look out for them) they waited a little and when we came home they were almost freezed! (Mom invited them up, but they said they would wait for us). I went upstairs with them, while hubby was in the garage, putting some device in, to charge the battery all night long, and crossing his fingers.

Finally, we were all home, warm and relaxed, drinking some white wine and eating some almond biscuits our friends brought home from Alberobello, one stop of their little trip to south Italy.



We had a nice night, after all, and it was about time!