Bicentennial Bash!

That’s right, faithful readers. This is post number 200 on Casteluzzo. And you are here to see it. I took a trip down memory lane today and went back and read old posts (yes, I’m afraid I spend way too much time reading my own blog). I thought for today we’d go on a little treasure hunt through the archives and I’d let you know what are some of my favorite posts of various sorts.


I started this blog as an occasional outlet for the profound thoughts I just had to share with the world. After all, it had been only a few years since I was in college taking philosophy classes, and I was still full of profound thoughts at the time. Or at least I thought I was. I gave my blog the appropriately deep title Transfiguring Mirror, appended my favorite Nietzsche quote (can you spell Nietzsche?), and I was ready to go:

The same drive which called art into being as a completion and consummation of existence, and as a guarantee of further existence, gave rise also to that Olympian realm which acted as a transfiguring mirror to the Hellenic “will.” The gods justified human life by living it themselves—the only satisfactory theodicy ever invented.

Nietzsche has it all, no? Religion, existentialism, exotic metaphors, and the Greeks! At the time, it was a very occasional blog, reserved for special occurrences. Like a deep thought. Or the birth of a baby. In fact, you can read my peaceful hypnobirthing stories for Axa and Raj from that era. But other than that (and the time we evacuated ourselves from a flaming city), I never really had much to write.

Then we began to plan our move to Italy, and I decided to make a complete and detailed record of how to get Italian citizenship
jure sanguinis. A straightforward guide that anyone could follow with success. Well, I think I can claim to be complete and detailed. But the process turned out to be anything but straightforward. Success, it turned out, was a product of one desperate plan after another, punctuated by lots of prayers. For those who love a good little bureaucratic vignette (if you’ve never visited an Italian government office, at least vicariously, you’ve never lived!), there are plenty to be found if you click the “Italian Red Tape” label on the sidebar. Some few have happy endings, but most just lead to more bureaucracy.

However, along the way, we have had some fun extracurricular experiences. Such as the time our talents were exaggeratedly lauded in the local Italian newspaper. Or the day we were suddenly invited to a sumptuous wedding feast. Of course, there was the occasional hiccup in our bella vita, like the time we took the dreaded Ryanair flight that ended up even worse than anyone could have imagined.

For the homeschoolers out there, it was in Italy that I discovered Charlotte Mason, and we first experienced the delights of Nature Study. While in Fallbrook last year we started our first little farm, complete with chickens, goats, and even a hamster. We’ve also enjoyed picture study at the Uffici in Florence. But mostly I practice the fine art of Masterly Inactivity. For specifics on our curriculum, you can always check out one of the “Casteluzzo Term _” series.

What about you? What’s your favorite post on my blog? Or your blog, if you blog. Don’t be shy. Share the love. It’s the Bicentennial Bash!

One thought on “Bicentennial Bash!

  • November 3, 2010 at 12:14 pm
    Permalink

    Wow that fire story was crazy!

    Reply

What do you think?