Italian Language

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

I live with an Italian couple who has a few more years than I. Doria and Luca held a dinner party tonight with a total of eight people, including me. My Italian language skills are improving with the help of many friends, despite my horrible habit of daydreaming A LOT.

Still I just spent five hours at a dinner in which multiple people were speaking at once, each with subtly different styles, although Doria told me after they left that I had been hearing the Tuscan dialect. I told my hosts that at some point I tried desperately to learn the language as a child would, meaning that I stopped trying to translate words in my head. Instead, I tried to listen and piece together a few new words from the context of what I understood already.


Later, we were looking back at the newspaper to clarify times for the free events for tomorrow night’s Capodanno celebrations around the central part of Florence. And I read the phrase c’era (there was). “Oh, so that is what that means, Luca! I heard cera a lot during the night and wondered why everyone was speaking about WAX so often!” And he spoke the words so that I could hear the difference in the sounds. Still, I find this difficult for me and I wish that I had true musician’s ears.


Tonight I wanted to share with you a few images of Florence, Italy, decorated for Christmas: from the famous windows of dolci at Gilli’s and other window displays to illegal immigrants keeping an eye on the cops while they try to sell you their fake Gucci wares.


Enjoy – and please buy a raffle ticket from the Menu For Hope V fundraiser to help feed communities in Africa this year and for years to come (through education). You could win great prizes offered from European bloggers, including yours truly. (My Prize code of Giclée Images of Italy is EU25). But I do not care if you make a donation and try for another prize on the list. The cause is worthy and the deadline is 31 December.
Instructions below with a link to my own offered prize . . .

Buon Capodanno!

Donation Instructions:

1. Choose a prize or prizes of your choice from our Menu for Hope at
http://www.msadventuresinitaly.com/blog/2008/12/15/menu-for-hope-europe-prizes/ or Chez Pim

2. Go to the donation site at www.firstgiving.com/menuforhope5 and make a donation.

3. Each $10 you donate will give you one raffle ticket toward a prize of your choice. Please specify which prize you'd like in the 'Personal Message' section in the donation form when confirming your donation. You must write-in how many tickets per prize, and please use the prize code.
For example, a donation of $50 can be 2 tickets for EU01 and 3 tickets for EU02. Please write 2xEU01, 3xEU02 Kelly’s Prize code is EU25

4. If your company matches your charity donation, please check the box and fill in the information so we could claim the corporate match.

5. Please allow us to see your email address so that we could contact you in case you win. Your email address will not be shared with anyone.

6. Bids on prizes will be accepted from December 15-24th. The last day to bid on a prize is December 24th.

7. Check back on Chez Pim on January 12, when Pim will announce the result of the entire raffle. Sara Rosso will also announce the winners of European prizes here.

Street Painting in Florence, Italy

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

Buone Feste! as we say here in bella Italia. I have been sculpting, painting, and visiting friends during the past week. I stopped to say hello to some of my fellow madonnari (street painters) in Florence and include two of their holiday drawings on Via Calimala. Here are Giovanni and Tomo with their interpretation of a Christmas card and the Florentine skyline.


I liked how they added real ribbon and bows for the cornice (frame).

Then for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, Tomo created a Christian depiction of the meaning of Natale. The weather has been cold and while I wondered if I would come out to help them, I realized that I wanted my few hours of sunlight for my own projects. I applaud their tenacity – it has really been cold out!

The only way that my fellow street painters have been able to work since 1 December has been under the rules of holding a manifestazione to protest the Comune di Firenze. The Comune (City Hall) decided not to renew the permits for madonnari anymore because they want to have a concorso (competition).

This competition does not allow us the flexibility in scheduling that we have previously enjoyed and limits greatly the amount of time per day that we can draw – six hours is not enough time to create a substantial drawing of a large size.

I do not know what will happen to the street painters of Florence. I am happy that I have tried this work, but for now, I wait. And I work on my own art.

Menu For Hope V

This benefit raffle with great prizes from Europe has been extended to 31 December!!!!

Here are the rules again – please help us fight world hunger, one community at a time.

Donation Instructions:

1. Choose a prize or prizes of your choice from our Menu for Hope at
http://www.msadventuresinitaly.com/blog/2008/12/15/menu-for-hope-europe-prizes/ or Chez Pim

2. Go to the donation site at www.firstgiving.com/menuforhope5 and make a donation.

3. Each $10 you donate will give you one raffle ticket toward a prize of your choice. Please specify which prize you'd like in the 'Personal Message' section in the donation form when confirming your donation. You must write-in how many tickets per prize, and please use the prize code.
For example, a donation of $50 can be 2 tickets for EU01 and 3 tickets for EU02. Please write 2xEU01, 3xEU02

4. If your company matches your charity donation, please check the box and fill in the information so we could claim the corporate match.

5. Please allow us to see your email address so that we could contact you in case you win. Your email address will not be shared with anyone.

6. Bids on prizes will be accepted from December 15-24th. The last day to bid on a prize is December 24th.

7. Check back on Chez Pim on January 12, when Pim will announce the result of the entire raffle. Sara Rosso will also announce the winners of European prizes here.

Menu For Hope

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

We have only a couple of days left in the Menu for Hope V raffle. The prizes are incredibly tempting and wonderful. Won’t you please indulge? We participating bloggers who offer the prizes have not yet reached our goal to surpass last years’ donations of over $90,000.

While I am offering 6 giclée prints of some of my images of Italy, I will not at all be offended if you make a donation and try to win other prizes. The important thing is to help those less fortunate get a chance to help themselves through education, sustainable farming, and other choices.

Give the gift of a voucher

Donation Instructions:

1. Choose a prize or prizes of your choice from our Menu for Hope at
http://www.msadventuresinitaly.com/blog/2008/12/15/menu-for-hope-europe-prizes/ or Chez Pim

2. Go to the donation site at www.firstgiving.com/menuforhope5 and make a donation.

3. Each $10 you donate will give you one raffle ticket toward a prize of your choice. Please specify which prize you'd like in the 'Personal Message' section in the donation form when confirming your donation. You must write-in how many tickets per prize, and please use the prize code.
For example, a donation of $50 can be 2 tickets for EU01 and 3 tickets for EU02. Please write 2xEU01, 3xEU02

4. If your company matches your charity donation, please check the box and fill in the information so we could claim the corporate match.

5. Please allow us to see your email address so that we could contact you in case you win. Your email address will not be shared with anyone.

6. Bids on prizes will be accepted from December 15-24th. The last day to bid on a prize is December 24th.

7. Check back on Chez Pim on January 12, when Pim will announce the result of the entire raffle. Sara Rosso will also announce the winners of European prizes here.

Understand What You Need

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

Happy Winter Solstice! I have been “dumpster diving” since at least college. I cannot believe the scores one can find in the trash -- often of brand new items! And I am changing my Italian landlady Doria’s mind about finding things in the rifiuti as well.

A few weeks back I brought home the four-wheeled square base of a chair that I found in the trash on Via dei Mezzo, here in Florence, Italy. I cleaned it up, loaded it on my bike, and am now using it as a sculpture stand. Doria teased me when she saw this addition to my room, “Kelly, where will you sleep?” I responded, “Maddaiiiiiiii . . .” with appropriate hand gestures, of course.

But on the 12th, I was riding home with some of my drawings tied on the rack over my back tire and I saw a REAL Christmas tree leaning against a trash bin along the Lungarno. It was still wrapped up for transport. Incredibile! Fearing for my drawings, I left the tree there.

At home Doria was dubious, assuming I saw a plastic tree (or maybe that it was not truly in the trash). I did not have time to go retrieve it myself since I was meeting a friend at the Odeon Cinema soon. But I rode along the Lungarno again on my way back to the central part of Florence, and sent her a message that the tree was there and smelled fantastico.

When Luca arrived home, they took the car and had their first successful adventure in dumpster diving. I am a “proud parent”! And at least they know I did not steal it! They love the tree, decorating it the next day and remarking on how large it is and how unbelievable that someone just left it in the garbage.

All this to preface that while moving through town, I always keep my eye on the trash bins. I rode past this TV set (pictured here) by a bin one morning on Borgo Santa Croce. I turned back though because of the message someone had written on the screen. This is one of my favorite photos I have taken.

The profound in the simply stated: “Understand What You Need” has become a mantra of sorts for me. (And no, I did not want the Teh-Voo, as it is called in Italian.)

So, in the spirit of Christmas and knowing that most of us have more than we need (and even want), please think of buying a raffle ticket in the Menu for Hope V project. Prizes are being awarded by various bloggers (including yours truly).

What I like best about this particular fund-raiser is that the money goes not only to buy food for children, but also to help people to help themselves so they will have a more secure future. This type of giving is empowering! And everyone benefits.

Click here for prize list and donation information.

Towers in Florence Italy

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

Not only do I love exploring Florence, Italy, at night, but also I cherish her during the winter holiday season. The colored lights enhance the buildings and we have had so much rain lately that everything seems to glow.

I include some recent snapshots I took while riding Hafiza’s bike along the Lungarno (the roads that parallel the Arno River) after midnight. These two towers are situated between the Ponte (bridge) alle Grazie and the Ponte San Niccolò.

In this first image, the fuzzy white almost-circular shape on the right is the rising moon. Beside some of the still-remaining fall foliage, you may be able to make out some of the raging waters of the Arno, roaring over the dam.

This second photo is my favorite of the bunch. I love the patterns of the reflected colors created in the top and relatively calm portion of the dam. Some of them look like people to me.

And this third focuses on one of my most photographed landmarks in Florence. I love this tower and have seen how the light changes it. I hope you enjoy these images.

Please do not forget to look at the many prizes offered by the Menu for Hope program. Make a donation and possibly make out with a gift for you or your loved ones.

Click here for prize list

or here.

Menu For Hope - Stop World Hunger

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

I met fellow blogger Sara Rosso in Florence, Italy, in April 2008. Her blog is called “Ms. Adventures in Italy” and she writes beautifully about food and shares great images too. Sara is currently the “Host for Europe” for a special program to fight hunger around the world. It is called Menu for Hope.

This is a fund-raiser in the form of a raffle, with bloggers worldwide offering prizes for your enjoyment. I just found out about this project and decided to jump onboard.

My Prize for you (Code: EU25):
Art Images of Italy: 6 giclées of Florence and Venice
Printed on thick quality (Arches Infinity textured) watercolor paper using UV pigmented inks for longevity.
The long dimension of each image is 10 inches (about 25 cm).
Valued at over $200.
Plus, I will ship worldwide from Florence, Italy.

Details on how to bid are listed below . . . but hurry, bidding ends 24 December 2008!

The Programme

In the interest of time, I want to quote Sara:
This year’s beneficiary of Menu for Hope is the
UN World Food Programme. WFP is the world’s largest food aid agency, working with over 1,000 other organizations in over 75 countries. In addition to providing food, the World Food Program helps hungry people to become self-reliant so that they escape hunger for good.
With the success of last year’s campaign to support the school lunch program in Lesotho, we are going to continue our support to the same program. During the duration of Menu for Hope V, we will be posting updates from the kids and the farmers we supported this past year.
If you weren’t around last year for Menu for Hope 4, let me explain a bit about why we are supporting this particular program. We chose to support the school lunch program because providing food for the children not only keeps them alive, but keeps them in school so that they learn the skills to feed themselves in the future. We chose to support the program in Lesotho because it is a model program in local procurement - buying food locally to support local farmers and the local economy. Instead of shipping surplus corn across the ocean, the WFP is buying directly from local subsistent farmers who practice conservation farming methods in Lesotho to feed the children there.

Who Collects the Money?

NOT the bloggers! We use a very good online fundraising company called Firstgiving, who has worked with us since the first Menu for Hope years ago.

Donors can make an online donation with a credit card. Firstgiving collects and processes the payments and, at the end of the campaign, transfers the donations in one lump sum to the WFP. This is a win-win situation for all parties involved. The bloggers never touch the money. The WFP don’t waste overheads on processing mini-donations, the majority of which were between $10-$50, that’s a whole lot of tenners to make up $90K. Firstgiving does all the work and collects a small fee, which include the credit card processing charges.

Last year, Firstgiving gave back 1% of the total amount raised in lieu of a discount on their processing fee. Thank you Firstgiving, we appreciated it very much!

Donation Instructions:

1. Choose a prize or prizes of your choice from our Menu for Hope at
http://www.msadventuresinitaly.com/blog/2008/12/15/menu-for-hope-europe-prizes/ or
Chez Pim
2. Go to the donation site at www.firstgiving.com/menuforhope5
and make a donation.
3. Each $10 you donate will give you one raffle ticket toward a prize
of your choice. Please specify which prize you'd like in the 'Personal
Message' section in the donation form when confirming your donation.
You must write-in how many tickets per prize, and please use the prize
code.
For example, a donation of $50 can be 2 tickets for EU01 and 3 tickets
for EU02. Please write 2xEU01, 3xEU02
4. If your company matches your charity donation, please check the box
and fill in the information so we could claim the corporate match.
5. Please allow us to see your email address so that we could contact
you in case you win. Your email address will not be shared with
anyone.
6. Bids on prizes will be accepted from December 15-24th. The last day to bid on a prize is December 24th.
7. Check back on Chez Pim on January 12, when Pim will announce the result of the entire raffle. Sara Rosso will also announce the winners of European prizes here.

Portrait of a Banker - Donatello

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

The sculpture that always makes me stop and admire him in Florence’s Bargello Museum is “Niccolò da Uzzano” by Donatello. This portrait is a painted terra-cotta sculpture and he is simply arresting. He is regal in pose and execution. Niccolò was the banker of the Medici family, made famous during the time of the Renaissance for their incredible support of artists.

When I got the opportunity to create a charcoal drawing of a white gesso (plaster) copy of this artwork, I jumped at it. I referred to my drawing in an earlier blog entry before I left for Texas this summer, and am so happy that after returning to Italy, I can say he is finished and available for your viewing pleasure.

The type of drawing I am currently doing here in Florence, Italy, is very detailed and time-consuming. I have been working for many months on ‘Niccolò’, spending an average of twelve hours a week on him. I am using the sight-size method of drawing, which means that I am pacing the floor a lot as I view the work from about 3 meters away before advancing to make a mark on the paper.

This drawing is actually done on a light grey Roma-brand paper. I use Nitram charcoals for my darks and white Rembrandt pastels for anything lighter than the paper itself. The idea is that the white and the black will never need to mix. This makes for a more difficult tonal study since I cannot just smudge my tones around.

“Donatello's Portrait of Niccolò da Uzzano” is just over 64 x 46 cm. He is available for only $2600 (US). And I would be happy to ship him anywhere in the world for you. Simply contact me with a shipping address and I can get you a quote for everything.

Thank you for your interest in my work and thank you for telling others about it. And if you know any bankers who might like this original drawing for their offices . . .

Click here to see other original drawings in charcoal.