daily life

Render unto Caesar when in Rome

Sarah Bringhurst Familia
Pussycat, pussycat, where have you been?
I’ve been to London to visit the Queen.
Pussycat, pussycat, what did you there?
I frightened a little mouse under her chair.

I’ve been asked to teach Axa’s Primary class at Church today. The lesson is on obeying the laws of the land. One of the activities is to tell the story from Matthew 22 when the Pharisees and the Herodians go in to trick Jesus with a question about whether they should pay taxes or not. On another tax paying occasion when His disciples were worried about having the needed funds, I remember Him sending them out with their nets to catch a fish with a coin in its stomach.… Read more

Plaid skirts and Rubber Boots

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

I have one great regret about homeschooling. School uniforms. I would love to dress up Axa in plaid skirts and sweaters and Raj in ties and knee socks. And they would love it too. (Really, they would. In fact, for her school the other day, Axa dressed both herself and Raj up in dresses, crowns and veils. My fantasies are much tamer.) I have considered dressing them up in school uniforms even though they don’t go to school. But the way we do school is so messy. It involves bread dough, mud, snails, and other things incompatible with starched white collars and shiny black shoes.… Read more

Romantic Interlude

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

Just around the corner from the Palazzo Uffici in Florence, on the road by the Arno that leads to the old bridge (Ponte Vecchio, the one with the houses built all across the bridge), is a railing with a dozen or more small brass locks fastened on it. They are fastened in a disorderly clump, the first few around the railing, and then when there is no more space on the railing, around each other. At first glance, it is incomprehensible what purpose they might serve.

To me, at least. But not to Tony. I’m afraid that I am not the only incurable romantic in this relationship.… Read more

Spring Fashions in Florence

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

As we walk through the streets of Florence, we play the “is that a tourist or an Italian” game. Of course there are plenty of blatantly obvious tourists. But some of them try pretty hard. These are the subtle signs that give them away:

Sheer hose (or none at all). Florentines are wearing opaque tights, leggings, or pants.

Scarves outside coats, blowing in the wind. Florentines wear them inside, tied in a loose but exacting manner.

Brightly colored clothing. Florentines wear black or dark brown. Colors are for accessories.

And my favorite: Ugg boots. Nearly every Florentine is wearing smart leather boots, usually almost knee-high.… Read more

Spring is the mischief in her

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

We have two goats. Sweet Betsy, as her name implies, is a patient, gentle creature who trip-traps tidily to the milking stand and back. While Sweet Betsy is the intelligent one who jailbreaks them periodically from every fastener we put on their gate (she’s currently working on a combination lock), she does sedately allow herself to be returned to her pen when discovered truant.

Not so Hershey. Her flighty mind is not fitted for the painstaking care of opening fences. But once she has escaped, she prances like one possessed. I amble in her general direction with my rope, speaking to her calmly as if we were friends.… Read more

A magical thing, and sweet to remember

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

It’s so beautiful outside these days. We do have an autumn here, contrary to popular belief. It’s a little more subtle than in other places, but you can see it if you are looking. The wind is a little crisper, a tree every once in a while turns color, and flowers have turned to berries and pods. The goats are getting friskier and their coats have begun to get shaggy. The beaches are less crowded than they were.

Autumn to me is the season of change, of excitement, of passion and possibilities. That first nippy breeze feels like driving up to the airport, luggage in hand, with a ticket to the most exciting place in the world.… Read more

Casteluzzo Academy

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

My first Charlotte Mason term during October-December of last year was not what I would term a great success. Perhaps I was overambitious. But that’s not such a bad thing. I learned some important lessons about nearly every subject we attempted. We began a new term this week, and I’m quite pleased with the results so far.

We’ve worked out family scriptures quite well. Raj quietly looks at pictures in the Friend magazine with Daddy while I read aloud two or three verses from the Book of Mormon. Before we start, I ask a brief question to recall what we read yesterday, and one of us answers with a short recap.… Read more

Christmas Blessings

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

We had our little Christmas play at Family Home Evening on Monday. Tony had Axa do the casting. She cast herself as Mary, and Raj as Joseph. Raj’s baby doll Rachel (named after Benjamin’s fiancee) was baby Jesus. Grandma was the angel, and Grandpa was a wiseman. I was given the role of narrator. And Tony? He was a sheep. His costume was the best, though. He wore Raj’s special snuggly sheepskin. The play proceeded according to script until the sheep crawled in with Raj’s sheepskin laid over his back. Raj turned his back on Mary and the baby, climbed on top of the sheep, and began sucking his fingers and twirling Tony’s hair.… Read more

Chocolate Chip Pancakes

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

Blogging time’s been hard to come by lately. I don’t blog about our business, or I would have plenty to blog about. We’ve all been sick this week. However, we did go out to lunch yesterday with a lovely lady we met while campaigning for Proposition 8. Actually, we met her the day of the election. When we went to vote, we noticed that outside the polling location there were only people passing out flyers for No on Prop 8. Tony got in trouble at the polling place, because he wore his Yes on 8 T-shirt, and no biased material (including clothing) is allowed inside a polling place.… Read more

Cookies

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

Today was Giorgio’s birthday. Being American Mormons, we decided to make him cookies. We made thumbprint cookies, but instead of filling them with jam, we filled them with, yes, you guessed it. Nutella! On Carla’s birthday last month, we inadvertently crashed her party when we stopped by with cookies on our way down for our nightly walk. So today we took Giorgio’s cookies at lunchtime.

It appears that we successfully pulled off a social encounter in Italy! Carla told me that Giorgio was very touched, and that he had asked her to invite us to his party in the evening! She is making what she describes as a “very unhealthy” chocolate cake for him.… Read more