Stuff

Italian Phrase of the Day: Sa Lei pattinare? Do you know how to ice skate?

My comment on this: No, non so pattinare. No, I do not know how to ice skate.

Now, for those interested, in the book Pasta per due, Minni {from Thailand} arrived in Rome safely but Libero was late in meeting her. She looked for someone wearing yellow and red {giallo e rosso} but saw many people who supported an arriving soccer team wearing those colors! She sat waiting for Libero studying the conjugation of the verb "to wait!" A cab driver approaches her and tells her his cab was free. Now, pay attention here! Your first Italian pun coming up! The italian word for "free" is libero! Aha! Of course Minni who does not speak Italian well, thinks he is her friend Libero! This gets sorted eventually out and the cab driver asks her where her friend lives. She, of course, has left his address in her bag but she does remember that the street he lives on has the name of an animal. So, the cab driver, tells her there is a "Street of the Bear" in Rome. No, it is an animal who lives in a hot climate. Ok, a lion or a tiger? No… but then here comes Libero and he lives in the Via Serpenti!

Well, it is amusing me, anyway! I have reached the end of chaper two and will try the little comprehension  test tomorrow.

This morning I did not walk with Leslie since she had a doctor appointment but I decided to walk down to the post office later in the afternoon  with a package I have been promising my son’s girlfriend for a long time!  I usually walk on the roads in this snowy kind of weather because the sidewalks are slushy but it is not very sensible to do this on Main Street if you want to live! So, I slogged down in the slush. On the way back, I noticed a "Give Blood Today" sign and the Red Cross bloodmobile at a bank. So, I went to see if I could give blood almost on an impulse. I was delighted to find that now I am seven years past the last cancer, yes, I can. I used to be a regular donor before I got renal cancer since my blood type is AB positive. In fact, I got the last call to come in and give blood while I was in hospital having my cancerous left kidney removed.   Anyway, today I gave a bag of blood , drank a bottle of water, ate a rather nice chicken sandwich and walked home!

QUOTATION FOR THIS MONTH: If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself, but to your estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment. — Marcus Aurelius

Until later….