Morning train through the Tuscan countryside. Fields of sunflowers are left to fallow, their seeds hardening. Dotting the dry, rolling hills are churches and towers, perched on top of a hill, surrounded by lesser, common dwellings.
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We walk south looking for the agencia to buy train tickets to Firenze tomorrow, but can’t find it before reaching Roma Trastevere. This is not the place we’re looking for, but of course it turns out to be. We buy tickets to Termini for a couple euro and take the train to Rome’s central transportation hub. Bathroom visits are one euro and worth every cent. Tickets to Firenze on Domenica are nearly sold out – we agree that we need to buy tickets to our next destination each time we arrive in a station.
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My eyes open at 5:30am; I’m wide awake. My body’s internal clock is uncalibrated but at least its working to my advantage. I rise at 6:15 and head to the lobby of Calisto6 with my laptop. I blow through nearly all of the 170 new emails, and I type up Day 1 of our trip from my notes the night before. It’s now 7:30.
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Massimo wore a plaid shirt and a red knit tie. He held my name on a placard, greeting us within a few minutes of our exit from Fiumincino, the international airport 25 minutes outside of Roma. The lobby was hot with money changers, taxi booths, hopeful family members and patient nuns. The tour groups coalesced as ever-expanding molecules, a mass of white sneakers, fanny packs and otherwise midwestern fashion sensibility.
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Irving Kaufman “may have been the most recorded singer between 1914 to 1930.” He was also my great-grandfather (father of my dad’s mother).
He recorded under a variety of pseudonyms, as the lead singer and backup vocals, working regularly on local and coast-to-coast radio. “He was paid a flat fee each time he recorded, never royalties.” Here’s a link to a lengthy Irving Kaufman bio.
My dad sent me a link to the Library of Congress jukebox, which has a number of Irving Kaufman recordings (and probably a number of his pseudonymous recordings too). Here’s a tune from April 7, 1914, entitled “California and you”:
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This is the second time I’ve made an albacore avocado salad. Really tasty, really easy and the cost is reasonable. All the prep time is done after you’ve started cooking.
Start lightly searing to medium the albacore in a non-stick pan. We use Nutiva Organic Coconut Oil, but butter or olive oil would work fine, and give it a bit different flavor.
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- fresh sashimi grade albacore tuna
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- albacore seared medium in coconut oil
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- albacore avocado salad
[continue reading…]
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Following are a couple shots I took at our new office yesterday… I only had a minute and snapped three photos. The light wasn’t great (bright in the sun, dull in the shade), but these came out ok. (Project 365: Day 20)
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- yellow office flower
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- red office flower
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I thought I took a photo on Sunday (as part of my Project 365 / daily photo), but I don’t seem to have anything on the camera that says I did. So I thought I would find something on the web and that I’m ok with this new rule… (Project 365: Day 19 – sort of)
blood orange
photo credit bluefaqs / no original citation
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Taken at the lower dip, where McNell meets Reeves Rd. I hopped out of the car, ran down to the stream and snapped a couple shots. This road was impassable a little over a week ago, but now its a gentle little flow over McNell Rd. (Project 365: Day 18)
symmetry at mcnell and reeves
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Today would have been a fantastic day to get out and take some photos – rain, sun, clouds, rainbows. But alas, I was in a three hour meeting, driving from that in Oxnard straight to dinner in Ojai. So I snapped a few photos while driving on the 33. Here’s a shot, to keep the streak alive! (Project 365: Day 17)
palm trees on highway 33
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