It’s “Hey Rene J” Today!

My sister and I were wishing our Mom was here today as we needed to split a stick of gum into thirds. She is the only one we know who would accommodate our whimsical habit. We also know she would split a meal with us, making “thirds” the portion we would find appropriate to our dining needs at 9 pm. (Thankfully, our local establishments now know us and smile when we suggest we are “sharing.”)

Speaking of “thirds,” we’d also like to suggest that there is no need to use an entire cutting board when serving your guests appetizers.

Back at the appartamento we have a faded wood cutting board, neatly broken into thirds. Perhaps it’s so that it would fit in the tiny cupboard housing it? Otherwise the cutting board intact would have to find another space to live life. Much to our delight, we have found a third of a board works just fine. It’s “charming.” And when we needed to cut the carrots for salad, we still had a third left! Perhaps two-thirds of a board is all that is required for fine dining.

The new normal is at least 14,000 steps per day – well, half day! We seem to find ourselves walking more than we have planned, even when we manage to get going around 11:00 am each day. No catching any worms here!

However, after another foray into Italian dining and testing different dishes, a person can feel compelled to burn off a few calories on the exercise bike, conveniently located in the hallway by the door. There is one drawback to that plan; you may lose your most comfortable pair of shoes!

Along with frames for glasses, there are plenty of Italian footwear choices to solve that problem.

There is a “frame frenzy” abounding. It is nearly impossible to walk more than a block without finding an optical frame store in the shopping districts. My dollar store readers and sunglasses are feeling inferior. My daughter broke her sunglasses today, so perhaps she will be shopping for a replacement?

With that in mind, last night on the table next to us at dinner, the most unusual pair of frames yet stared at us. Look carefully at the photo. Now we have a new mission – find them, purchase them and give LensCrafters a challenge!

Well, we are learning quite a bit on our adventure. I accidentally wore my floral crocs (height of sophistication) out and about today. Only on the subway did I notice that I wasn’t in my walking shoes, but rather my shower shoes! And it’s the first day I was mistaken for an Italian. Lesson: Don’t wear tennis shoes and you’ll blend in. Oh! And if you have one foot that is tired and needs a break, and you happen to have a sister with you who wears the same shoe size, just trade a shoe. Lesson: No one is looking at you anyway.

Have a young child in a stroller with you? Need entertainment for the child? Hand them a pack of cigarettes and they will pretend it’s a phone! Those clever grandparents! Lesson: Make do with what you have.

Got some hawkers asking you questions in English? Then Italian? Suppose you answer them in German, a native tongue of sorts, and they return the reply? Lesson: Don’t show off your command of a foreign language unless you are prepared to answer further than, “Nein.”

It’s always good to have an open mind when dealing with fellow human beings.

Just a little bit…we are all broken! You can’t walk around admiring ruins without seeing their beauty, even in the brokenness. If they were perfect, they would have little appeal to us. We honor them by their “test of time” durability, acknowledge the history they give us. We recall the battles and eras that changed them. We call them “amazing,” “beautiful,” “awesome,” “spectacular.” You get the drift.

It would be pretty wonderful if we could see our own aging that way. Deep thoughts on a Sunday evening.

I blame it on the pasta.

With all of these late night calories weighing on my mind and elsewhere, I moved the exercise bicycle from my bedroom to the front hall. I fully intended to use it as I watched “Little House on the Prairie” every morning – which is another question I have for a local.

Television shows do not seem to have a set time for their airing, or at least they are not “on the hour.” Things just change when they change, apparently! However, commercials are far between, so sometimes you forget they exist. A welcome respite.

Anyway, after 17,000 plus steps yesterday, I forgot about my exercise plan. Sorry, Mom. I know you get your bicycle workout in every evening, but apparently I can’t get on that “cycle!” Ciao!

The science of good eating has become my study. As a hip chick from the Midwestern region of our country, I am accustomed to the evening meal at 6 pm. Quite frankly, I would skip the entire thing and eat a rather large meal at noon every day if I could! This is not how we operate today.

We waken, have our coffees, a little nibble, head out for an adventure late morning. “Lunch” is around two, but always before three, since most food establishments close from three to five. We continue to try new cuisines and dishes in this food-driven culture. Therefore, one is not remotely hungry until around eight in the evening. Thus, we have learned the Italian way of dining. We are so fashionable, we almost blend in.

We just need to ditch the white socks and tennis shoes – at least for the evening meal.

Rule number one: Do not fold your metro ticket. It will malfunction for the rest of the week.

With two week-long metro tickets, we have enjoyed flitting about wherever and whenever we want. It is so efficient and convenient! However, upon the prompt purchase of said tickets, one of us folded it in half. After one day of use we have been relegated to one working ticket and flagging down a metro official to let us through with our bum ticket.

Then, we meet Fabio, the ticket master who spoke English, French, German, and Italian! He greeted me with a “Wie gehts!” He thought I was German! I guess I look pretty continental when my skirt isn’t around my ankles. Anyway, because he spoke English, we asked how we could remedy our unfortunate metro card dilemma. There is no way. However, he told us to do what one Italian guard tried to get us to do via pantomime – two go through the gate on one card at the same time! You just have to squish together. We have found that the handicapped electronic gate works best as it’s wide enough for a wheelchair – and us!

We have successfully done this all day, and the armed guards do not even blink. I guess two gimpy people with backpacks, baseball cap, and a map are not threatening to the Italian transportation association. I recommend this costume for your travels!

When was Google started? Who entered everything into Google? What was the first question asked of Google?

These queries were what my inquisitive husband asked upon our waking from afternoon siestas. How was he to know that today is the birthday of Google? I guess it was in his brain as we used our “Google maps” app to get us to our destinations. And now that we have uninterrupted time together, we are free to ask such powerful questions, provoking those deeper thoughts.

My powerful retort to him? “Are we heading out for dinner soon?”