November 2010 – Casteluzzo

The Syria Files: Secret Rebel at the Embassy

November 30, 2010July 14, 2011Sarah Bringhurst Familia

On the surface, the Foreign Service seemed like the perfect career for me. After all, wasn’t it right up my alley to have an excuse for moving to a different exotic country every couple of years? When I was taking Arabic classes in college, the Foreign Service (and other more bellicose elements of the U.S. government) loved to proselyte us. What better thing than to explore the world while serving your country and making a comfortable (and unbeatably secure) living? What better thing indeed.

I thought about it. I was still thinking about it when I went on a semester abroad to Syria.… Read more

Our First Snowfall

November 29, 2010November 30, 2011Sarah Bringhurst Familia

The long-awaited snowfall finally came yesterday. We woke up to a thick white coverlet over the whole yard, and large flakes drifting slowly into the stillness of a Sunday morning. It was picture-perfect, except for the fact that it was Stake Conference, and we had to drive all the way to faraway Alessandria for church. We already had our breakfast and lunch packed, and we woke up the children and piled everyone into the car at 7:45. The Conference began at 10:30, but they wanted everyone in their seats by 10:00, so we had planned an early start. As we pulled out, our landlord was shoveling the inch of snow off the driveway, and shook his head over our lack of snow tires.… Read more

Happy Saturday

November 27, 2010Sarah Bringhurst Familia

Here’s some exciting news for you. I have been featured as a guest blogger on Latter Day Homeschooling! So you’ll find today’s post here. Happy reading, and have a lovely weekend.… Read more

Philippines, Part 8: Please Don’t Feed the Sharks (Anilao)

November 26, 2010January 14, 2017Sarah Bringhurst Familia

Welcome back to our Friday in the Philippines. Last week we battled the cockroaches for possession of our new apartment. You can find that episode (and any others you’ve missed) here:

A Few Thanksgiving Thoughts

November 25, 2010Sarah Bringhurst Familia

It’s Thanksgiving in the United States today. Last year we had Thanksgiving with Grammy and Pampa and Uncle Curt on our back porch in sunny Fallbrook. I was sick and depressed. Tony was between jobs again. Grammy mostly cooked the whole dinner herself. I don’t remember if I even did anything besides feel tired. This year things aren’t quite back to normal, but they are better. A lot better. At least I can picture them getting back to normal, which was hard to do last year. So this Thanksgiving I feel thankful for some really big things, and a lot of little things.… Read more

Gardening for Dummies

November 24, 2010Sarah Bringhurst Familia

We have snow forecasted for this week. Every day we watch the snow march a little further down the mountain towards us. Tropical birds that we are, it is all an adventure for us. Axa and Dominique have been wearing their snowsuits for days in anticipation of the big event. They were thrilled the other day when our neighbor Beatrice invited them over to help her prepare her yard for the snow. They knocked down leaves, each got a ride in the wheelbarrow, and helped to wrap her twelve-foot banana tree in plastic. Yes, our province is statistically the coldest in Italy, yet in Beatrice’s yard live a banana tree and a palm tree, which have both obviously been flourishing for years.… Read more

“Repent, Harlequin!” said the Ticktockman 

November 23, 2010May 24, 2011Sarah Bringhurst Familia

For those of you now under the misapprehension that I spent all my time at college studying in the library, here is a story of my secret double life. A story of crime, intrigue, and ultimately, wretched embarrassment. It’s so bad, in fact, that even though I graduated almost ten years ago, I don’t believe I’ve ever told anyone but my husband the story. I figured he should know the full truth about me.

(By the way, if you are looking for literary commentary on the Harlan Ellison story “Repent, Harlequin!” said the Ticktockman,” you will find it here. If, on the other hand, you want to hear about the time I came closest to being Harlequin myself, by all means read on.)… Read more

Philosophical Parenting

November 22, 2010Sarah Bringhurst Familia

As a starry-eyed freshman philosophy major, I dived heart and soul into my first three-hundred-year old epistemological debate. Had I not spent the first seventeen years of my life as a weird unsocialized homeschooler, perhaps I would have been painting my face blue and jumping up and down in a crowded stadium, screaming for my team to grab the ball away from the red team. As it was, instead I was centuries away in the library, reliving the enlightenment by reading Locke and Descartes, and on pins and needles over what would turn out to be the true source of human knowledge.… Read more

Philippines, Part 7: Revenge of the Cockroaches (Manila)

November 20, 2010January 14, 2017Sarah Bringhurst Familia

It’s time again for our Friday in the Philippines. Last week we ended up nearly freezing to death in the tropics. If you missed that episode, or any of the previous ones, you can find them here:

Chinese Buns

November 18, 2010Sarah Bringhurst Familia

You know you’ve been in Italy too long when your daughter’s copious drawings suddenly all consist of huge psychedelically decorated depictions of candy. Is she attempting to visually portray the sensation of a sugar high? Her latest covert source of caramelli is our next-door neighbor, who in all fairness does gift her seed pods of various sorts as well. They seem to have a special understanding. Who else would have intuited that the offering Axa would appreciate most (aside from those caramelli, of course), would be random yard clippings?

Yesterday we also inadvertently netted birthday cake, syrupy baked pears, and chestnut cake.… Read more

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