LINDA SAYS, HAPPY NEW YEAR!

MERRY CHRISTMAS ON PALM 2012

FEAST OF HOW MANY FISHES?

ARE YOU HUNGRY YET?

A PSALM OF THE LAZY

The Government is my shepherd,

Therefore I need not work.

It alloweth me to lie down on a good job.

It leadeth me beside still factories;

It destroyeth my initiative.

It leadeth me in the path of a parasite for politic’s sake.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of laziness and deficit-spending,

I will fear no evil, for the Government is with me.

It prepareth an economic Utopia for me, by appropriating the earnings of my grandchildren.

It filleth my head with false security;

My inefficiency runneth over.

Surely the Government should care for me for all the days of my life!

And I shall dwell in a fool’s paradise for ever.

~ Anonymous ~

THE PLANT OF OUR SEASON

ON A HILL FAR AWAY STANDS BELLA COLLINA

SIERRA WINTER 2012

MOTHER AND SON AT BELLA COLLINA

HAPPY HOLLOWEEN 2012

Bucca di What?

WORLD PASTA DAY

At world level the collective promotion in favour of pasta received a powerful impulsion thanks to the outcome of the World Pasta Congress held in Rome on 25th October 1995.
Delegations from various countries discussed together the theme of the collective promotion in favour of pasta consumption, exchanging their ideas and experiences.
Account was taken and stress was laid on the importance of spreading to the utmost the knowledge of pasta among consumers throughout the world by means of collective initiatives of promotional nature and institutional information campaigns.
The countries with greatest experience in this field made available their know-how for the benefit of those countries which have only recently come to realise the virtues and merits of pasta. The ambitious project of organising on a world-wide basis World Pasta Day on 25th October of each year, for the purpose of recalling and enhancing the first event that saw the gathering of the international pasta community was successfully carried through, thanks to the efforts of the Steering Committee, consisting of representatives of the National Pasta Association (United States), of UN.A.F.P.A. and of the Associations of Venezuela and of Turkey, set up to co-ordinate the organisation of this important event.
UN.A.F.P.A. carried out an important task of co-ordination of the initiative and thereafter saw to the collection and spreading of information on the various initiatives undertaken for World Pasta Day in the various countries of the world.

These are principles based on the idea:

• On 25th October of each year, the world over, World Pasta Day is celebrated in the form of events and promotional initiatives in different countries of the world.
• The objective of World Pasta Day is to draw the attention of the media and consumers to pasta. Communication should underline the fact that pasta is a global food, consumed in all five continents, having unquestionable merits, appropriate for a dynamic and healthy life style capable of meeting both primary food requirements and those of high-level gastronomy
• Every country celebrates World Pasta Day in absolute autonomy, while respecting a global strategy, and making use of the official logo of the event;
• The key messages, recurring in the various communication initiatives, emphasise the economic feasibility, gastronomic versatility and nutritional value of pasta.

For further information about the different promotional activites carried out by the various EU member states, please contact the respective Associations Members of UN.A.F.P.A.

Mary Pledges Allegiance

Lamborghini Gallardo on Palm

ART FOR TODAY

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY

TO STRONG AND LASTING MARRIAGES!

Today's featured article, Do You See Me? reminds us how important it is to try to see our spouses' hidden sacrifices, and to say thanks. The article's author learned a lesson when she realized how much she wanted her husband's appreciation.

For a biblical reminder that It's the Little Things That Count, join Rachael Phillips as she recognizes some of the unsung spouses of the Bible and nominates her own husband for an Unsung Spouse Award.

Mob rat squeals no more

Dies in protection

By JAMIE SCHRAM, JOSH MARGOLIN and DOUG AUER

Last Updated: 3:58 AM, January 25, 2012

Posted: 2:36 AM, January 25, 2012

A mob turncoat whose testimony helped doom the New Jersey crime family that inspired “The Sopranos” has died while hiding in witness protection, The Post has learned.

Stool pigeon Anthony Capo, 52, dropped dead Monday after suffering a heart attack.

“There were more people celebrating this on Staten Island than the Giants’ win,” said one source.
The death of Capo, who once stabbed a mob rival in the eye with a fork at a Staten Island club, was confirmed by his onetime lawyer, Joel Stein. Read more......

Death, Italian Style

It’s not quite as final as you may think.
by Judy Bachrach

Death has an interesting character in Italy. It’s not always evil. For example, if you die anywhere in Italy, which I highly recommend, you get to lie in state in either an embellished hospital room or else the prettiest room in the family house, often air- conditioned, which for your benefit will be converted into what they call here “una camera ardente.”

What this means is that the room, starring you in your best outfit, will be stuffed with little candles, placed elegantly all around your body. Hundreds of chrysanthemums, the traditional flower for the dead, will be settled in large vases, brought by scores of grieving visitors, all of whom will say they remember you fondly because it is polite to do so.

Debbie Collins, a British acupuncturist whose father-in-law was laid out within minutes in just such a companiable way, recalls her grieving mother-in-law “alternately slapping her husband’s face, berating him for dying, and weeping over him and telling him how much she loved him and was going to miss him.”  This is normal behavior in much of Italy, a country that reveres its dead a whole lot more than it admires the living.

(Note to tourists: About the most vulgar and offensive thing you can say in Rome is “Mortacci tua!” which means basically “Damn your dead ancestors.” I know it doesn’t sound like much, but trust me, it is incendiary. So if you hear it, don’t repeat it.) Continue >

JANUARY 2012 IN VERMONT