Constipation of the brain and diarrhea of the mouth...

Minori, Italy, June 12


Minori, Italy, June 12

Weather has cleared up, clear skies and sunny. It's Sunday so the church bells are extra excited today on account of calling the masses to mass. Yesterday was a fun day. Since we had 11 people in our group it made more sense to hire a private boat for the day. Unfortunately, it was overcast and sprinkling before Rocco even picked us up at the dock right here in Minori. Our plan was to head directly to the island of Capri (west) then stop on the way back at a few of the various villages (Amalfi, Positano, etc). The coastline was gorgeous from this perspective. The water is a beautiful dark-green turquoise. Sheer cliffs drop straight into the ocean. The boat can go right up next to the cliffs because it's super deep. It reminds me of Big Sur a bit but with houses, roads and ancient ruins hugging the impossibly sheer cliffs. Whereas Big Sur is literally falling into the Pacific, the coast line here is much more stable. There are also these little rocky islands with inhabitants just offshore that you can buzz right next to. Luckily, 30 minutes into our boat ride the sun popped out and things started looking really great.

We puttered around the island of Capri, jumped in the water and swam in the Green Grotto, and drove through a cool sea arch. Blue Grotto was closed on account of rough seas. Rocco dropped us off in the town of Capri right next to these HUGE yachts with uniformed staffs. We headed for the funiculari which is a cable car train thingy that takes you up the steep cliff to the town of Capri. The first thing we were all struck with was how touristy everything was. First time since we started our European trip that we saw large tour groups of Japanese, English, and American tourists. And the shops and restaurants couldn't get any worse with their piles of knick-knacks, t-shirts, and wranglers trying to get you into their restaurants. And interspersed between was Prada, Brooks Brothers, and way over the top jewelery shops. Cindy found us an overpriced restaurant were the food was decent, but we all decided to get back on the boat. This was my second trip to Capri and I must say I have no need to ever return. Way, way too touristy. Nothing authentic about this Italian village except the views which are epic. On the return trip we stopped off in Positano. A cute town nestled in a narrow alley with a small beach. The alleys/streets have overhanging wisteria and bougainvillaeas which look to be 100 years old, gorgeous. But once again, I was surprised how touristy everything was. We had toyed with staying here and I am glad we didn't. The streets were filled with every nationality except Italian. 30 minutes was more than enough to see the town and get back on the boat. Unfortunately the rain had returned and the kids huddled together trying to stay dry while the rest of us couldn't break away from the epic views. My personal favorite part was the ancient towers that could be found on almost every peninsula that jutted out into the sea. It reminds me that this land has been fought over since the dawn of civilized man.

We pulled into Minori and headed back to our apartment. Turns out vilagers were just getting ready for the celebration that they had been setting up for the day before. The square below our house and front of the church filled with people. And when the church tower bells struck 8pm, they unfurled a very old banner painted with their patron Saint Trophimenae, the priest came out with his entourage, made a speech in Italian, the band started, and fireworks launched from the beach. So cool! Especially since we weren't exactly sure of what was going on. The one thing that was very apparent was that it seemed that we were the only tourists watching this celebration unfold. That is what I love about the town we are staying in, there are very few international tourists here. Most of the tourists are Italians. The shops are filled with locals shopping. Yes there are cafes and souvenir shops that cater to tourists but it feels much more authentic than Capri or Positano. So glad we stayed here, I have a great travel agent (Cindy).

A beautiful day is a wasting, the kids are up and now fed. I am planing to head up to the medieval town of Ravello which is up on top of the steep hill behind us and then walk back down the ancient trails which will bring us back to Minori. Looking into going to Pompei tomorrow. Not a bad summer so far...

Minori Italy 2011

Minori, Italy, (Amalfi coast), June 10

Sitting out on the back veranda (huge) listening to the sound of the village as it wakes up. Cindy and I are the first up. The kids and Doug are all still asleep. The apartment Cindy got is amazing! 3rd floor but the ceilings are at least 15-18 feet tall, enormous doors/windows that all open to small decks. We have windows and views on all 3 sides so there is always a nice breeze. Temp now must be around 68, so shorts and T's are the order of the day. Our front balcony looks out onto the the beach. We are just across from the beach so we can keep an eye on the all the beach happenings. Our large veranda on the back has a million dollar view of the Basilica San Trophimenae and the square below. I've noticed that they are setting up lights and decorations for some kind of celebration or festival tomorrow.

We had a great time in Venice (3 nites). Our apartment was in a great location on this tiny narrow alley. We ran into our resident alley rat each morning to the delight of the girls! Explored, got lost, and just enjoyed the city as we were constantly surprised by the unexpected scenes that we happened upon. Had an enjoyable day over on the island of Murano. Hung out in the evenings at Campo Santa Margarita where all the young kids sat around drinking and smoking way into the evening. Listened to a young man and a couple of his friends practice a song on the guitar that he was getting ready to go serenade his girlfriend with. We did have some intermittent rain but it's summer rain and not so cold so it never slowed us down. Lance and Tigg (friends of ours from Cambria), were easily found. Lance is a riot to go on vacation with. He will talk to everyone and anyone so we made friends wherever we went. The kids have been really easy to travel with so far. Sam is one of Harper's best friends whom she has know since preschool. Sam is an amazing photographer and I am so grateful that he is constantly shooting everything and everyone we come across. Can't wait to get his photos up online for all to enjoy. Autumn is Harper's other friend who has been her bff forever. She is super easy going and has been attracting the eyes of every Italian we pass. And Kale of course is Mr. Easy, he is game for anything. The kids were excited to find out that on Swiss Air drinks were free and the drinking age was only 18. By day 2 we had to sit them down and talk about being more responsible with the booze in Europe and this trip isn't Cabo San Europe!

Yesterday was kind of a difficult day of travel. Bus to plane to bus to train to bus to here! We couldn't find my brother Doug in Naples so we had to ditch him and hope he could make it down to Minori (Amafi Coast) by himself. We were having a hell of a time using the pay phone to make an international call but luckily figured it and low and behold, Doug showed up. Turns out his plane was delayed in the US.

Everyone is down at the beach today, Cindy rented an umbrella and the kids are cooling off in the Mediterranean Sea. It's about 72 now. Got to get off this computer and head down too, ciao for now...

15 Things I love About Europe

My family went to Europe recently and I found some things there pleasantly different and unique.  We were in Italy, Croatia, Greece, Spain, and France. There were a few differences that i took particular note of. This being the list I compiled while there, in no particular order, just the order in which they moved to the front of my brain...

1. Beautiful European women.  Wow... Italian, French, Greek, they were all muy excelente... someone asked if I had a favorite and it was hands down the Italian. Gorgeous...

2. Topless beaches... need I say more!

3. The toilets have a button for poo (mare water) and pee (less water)... absolutely brilliant.  And 2 years later I have yet to run into one here stateside?

4. The prices include taxes... no 2.8% bullshit like America.  Everything 1.50 euros or 6.00 euros.  The price on the label is the exact price you pay at the register.  I know they must be charging some tax, but they bury it in the price.  Why don't we do that here?  Oh.. that's right... corporate America... no way they would agree to actually putting the exact price you will have to pay right on the product.  Makes too much sense...

5. Everyone dresses well...  and I don't mean they get dressed up... everyone dresses very stylishly... you can tell they care about what they wear... no sweats and Ugg boots...

6. Hand signals... people in Europe generally talk much more with their hands... I mean, it was very noticable... You don't barely need to speak the language if you can master the art of the hand signal.

7. Restaurants stay open late... never a problem getting a meal at 11:30pm at night... over here I'm stuck with Carl's Junior drive-up window and a late night 99 cent menu.

8. Naps are a way of life/culture in Europe...  Naps rule! -we all know it, so it's nice that the Europeans embrace it...

9. P.D.A. - people aren't afraid to neck in public. We're taught that making-out/kissing/necking in public is a bad thing.. "Get a room!"... we've all heard it before... but I found it refreshing... love rules!

10. Fast food / chain stores are missing... they suck and fortunately you rarely see them.  Europeans embrace fresh food.  Fast food is a crepe made to order on the street (a take away).

11. Coffee... cheap and delicious everywhere i went.  Expressos for 1 euro... need i say more...

12. Old shit everywhere... cool old shit.  Even the curbs look 500 years old.

13. Pedestrian friendly... America is the land of automobile... it was nice to visit the land of people over vehicles...

14. Efficient Public Transportation.  We rode mass transit everywhere we went and it was always simple to figure out, cheap, and super easy.

15. Sexy nail-beds and attractive earlobes...

joe

lips or cheek?

 

Leaned for a kiss from my 16 year old daughter as she left the house tonight and kissed her on the edge of her cheek and the edge of her lips.  And it got me thinking... Harper and I have always been cheek kissers with each other.  But her mom and her are lip kissers.  So who do I kiss on the lips? Lovers... lips are for lovers in my book.  Mom, dad, aunts, cousins, children, friends, are all checks for me.  Now don't get me wrong, I've had my share of lips kissers go straight for the lips... I was OK with it, I'm not a prude or anything.  I usually use the slight hesitation, head-bob technique and that usually lets people know that I'm heading for their cheek.  I, for whatever reason, feel that lip kissing is sensual.  And I can't think of any worse combination of thoughts in my head but my mother Josie and a sensual lip kiss.  Maybe the reason I associate lip kissing as something more intimate is that I am such a great kisser.  I truly believe that I am superior kisser.  Yes, I haven't kissed that many girls total in my life,  I was married at the ripe young age of 23. But i have only had people compliment me on my kissing... no complaints here.  My friend Jim is a lip kisser.  He's a silver fox and the women all love Jim and think he's great.  So maybe he's on to something.  Maybe I should think about dive bombing for the lips.  Maybe I'll start out with one of my buddies wives.  you, know, that cute one, yeah... that could work... we're great friends... maybe next time we do that greeting hug, kiss on the cheek thing, I'll head straight ahead and sneak one on her lips... try it out... see if it's doable that I can become a lip kisser... who knows, she might enjoy it!  

No, bad idea... what am I thinking... who am I to think that I capable of changing.  I think I'm going to keep my lips for my lovers, not smear them around on every one I greet.  And now with all that H1N1 swine shit going around, what a horrible idea to rub lips together...

Nope, none of that for me.

A nice smooth cheek will be more than better for me.

joey

What is the proper way to unfriend someone from Facebook?

 

ok so it happened to me.  someone that i hardly knew (or remember) that well, stalked me on Facebook, and asked to be my friend.  and I of course thought "how funny it that, my old boss from 15 years ago actually found me on Facebook. Who da thunk".  Well my old boss turns out be a real asshole.  Not the rude, crude, and in your face  asshole type but the opinionated, right-wing, ignorant asshole type.  now don't get me wrong, I don't hate republicans (there is a higher chance although).  My parents are Repubs, friends of mine are as well, and we get along perfectly fine.  Well, the problem is that Mr. Bossy-Pants takes his political party's word as gospel.  He isn't open to honest dialogue.  He's right and I'm wrong... and not only am I wrong, but I am an idiot to even think there might be another side to the story.  So I find myself getting angry at his posts, he's pissing me off, and he's an idiot.  I can't believe I'm wasting myprecious brain time for this bonehead I haven't seen in 15 years who I was never friends with to staart with, I just accepted his friend request without really thinking, so now I've just got to get rid of him, he needs to go away, he must be unfriended...

So there in lies my dilema, how does one go about unfriending someone?  Is there a messege sent to him? Joe doesn't like you anymore?  You sit at the wrong lunch table? 

Are ther boxes to check off?

  • rascist pig
  • unwanted advances
  • way too many posts
  • too many comments
  • asshole
Does he have a chance to respond to my action? I just want him to go away and pretend like he never found me.  I was perfectly happy before he became one of my "friends" on Facebook.  So I'm going to do it...  I'm going to unfriend someone... if he's hurt or pissed off or insulted... oh well... I guess i'm going to have to be OK with maybe hurting someone's feelings.  I'm sure he'll start questioning what he might have said that would have caused me to break up our friendship.  But far more likely he say, "See those liberals from Calif. are afraid to hear the truth and they all couldn't even see the truth if they wanted to because they've been blinded by the liberal media."

joe


(And that brings up another question (to be blogged another day): Are those really your friends on Facebook?)