Her Dad had British parents, and he was born in Idaho. He flew in the big war, Beaufighters and P-61s. In Reno this weekend; one of my best friends. Her Mom died 16 years ago.
Her Mom's parent's came from eastern Italy to Buffalo NY, the Gdad in 1900, and Gma in 1910. They were already married and had a daughter, but it took ten years for him to earn enough to get her over. Eleven more kids followed, and they built quite a place in the US, but it boggles the mind to see what people used to accept that they had to do to have a life. The Gdad was an ethnic Croat, Gma Italian. We're going to the village which still speaks Medieval Croatian, for two feast days in a row- St. Michael (RC), and St. Jerome (Eastern Rite).
We're taking a dozen reproductions of icons we've painted, as gifts. I'm way excited, plus we're taking little Miss Bondo too and she will get a good sense of her roots on that side.
So my wife is Croat/ Italian, and has a language that less than 2,000 people still speak.
I dream of finding some Italian model of an obscure flying boat that can't be found here, but you know how it goes. United will charge me an extra $ 100 for the thing.
Our time in Rome is a mix of business/ education/ pleasure. We have a week of business working on a program for the Dominicans to design churches. Then we are tourists for a week. And I bring the kid home to go back to school while my wife spends a week working on her Masters Degree at the Angelicum, which is the Dominican Provincial house in Rome.
The female dog of it is, and I've lived in Italy; the beer just sucks. I have no tolerance for wine, although I like it. But the food is of course great, I might go hunting if I can get invited and borrow what I'd need since I certainly can't take one of my own; for boar, and the women are beautiful. I'll miss you guys, but there isn't even an atm in this town never mind an internet cafe and I'm not taking the laptop.