GiuseppePingitore

We embarked Friday on another road trip, continuing with Karen's quest to hit as many cities as possible.  First stop was Noto, not too far from Siricusa where we went last week.  Noto is about a 20 minute drive inland, and you can catch glimpses of the sea from higher places.  We booked a place at very nice B & B called Marla Rooms.  Being here in off season, it is pretty easy booking last minute accommodations.  We were met at the door by a nice young woman, the daughter of the owner.  She introduced herself as Marta, the Italian version of my daughter Martha's name.  We asked if that was where the name of the B and B came from. She said no, her sister is Laura (name of my third daughter), and hence Marla.  The owner needed to work on a third daughter so he could have named her Sarah.  Noto is a beautiful town, known for its baroque architecture.   We were a short walk from the center, and spent the afternoon exploring the city on ...

Thursday night was fun.  Seems a bit strange to say on a night that began with an ordination mass at the seminary in Catania.  Alessandro is becoming a deacon, and this was the first ceremony in the process.  It also included an ordination of a priest.  The next ceremony is first week of February when Alessandro becomes a deacon.  We joined the family for the ceremony. Two masses in the last 3 weeks. My mom would have been so happy. It was a bit lengthy with the archbishop droning on too long for his homily.  It may have helped if I could hear him.  Vincenzo was nodding off.  I spent my time trying to get in trouble with the kids who were bored and making a bit too much noise.  The archbishop did have redeeming qualities as he stepped out of the procession out of the church to fist bump the kids and say hi to baby Tea. We heard the whole story of Alessandro as we drove with his parents to the ceremony.  He was pretty successful as a frui...

 I went for my second shave today.  I walked about 5 minutes from our door to a place Vincenzo goes to,  Barbiera D'Agostino.  Salvatore D'Agostino greeted me as he was finishing up with another client.  He told me I  could wait, so I took a chair.  After about 10 minutes, he ushered me to the chair.  I believe he's a sole proprietor and it's a small shop.  He had his price list posted.  A shave is 5 euro, and for the works (haircut, shampoo, and shave), it will set you back 18 euro. (about $20). I hadn't shaved since Saturday, just to get my money's worth.  Actually I'd planned on going Monday, forgetting they were closed then.   I can easily get used to someone shaving me.  Those razors must be super sharp, as you really don't even feel them.  He even clipped out some stray nose hairs for no extra charge.  We talked in Italian, and once I said a few words in Italian, he assumed we were good conversing that...

 I've now been told I'm a bad blogger.  I completely agree.  I'm just not inspired to write much these days, and can't seem to find anything that I want to say.  My life here in Biancavilla is good, and I have no complaints.  But, I really don't have much purpose here.  That is really not any different than my life back in Minnesota, except I'll take the weather here over MN winters any day.  I have struggled with life post retirement.  Life was pretty easy while fully employed.  You got up, went to work and had a full day of things to keep you busy, and that gave you the illusion that you were serving some purpose.  With the opportunity at age 62 to take early retirement and having the luxury of being able to afford to do so, I opted out of the workforce.  I always enjoyed my job, and never had issues with wanting out and counting the days until I could retire.  I know that that is something special, and not all can say the sa...