My Book!

My book has finally been published! It is available from XLibris.com, amazon, Barnes & Noble, bookdepository.com, etc. 

Growing Up in Mussolini's Fascist Italy 

The Story of Andrea Marcello Meloni

CHRISTINE FOSTER MELONI

My dear friend JPK sent me a photo of himself with my book as soon as he received it!

Some photos from the book

Andrea, third from left, with Balilla classmates

Andrea and I on our last visit to his birthplace, Acuto (Provincia di Frosinone)

Zoomed Grad

Christian is an official high school graduate with an Advanced Studies diploma.

Arthur

Indian shirt, Thai pants, and Japanese geta shoes.

A New Man

My grandson Christian has reached two very important milestones.

He is now legally an adult. He is now 18 years old.

He will soon be a high school graduate.

Hip hip hooray for Christian!

May

Today is May Day. A new month. What will the Merry Month of May bring to the world? My neighborhood here in Springfield is looking beautiful with the blossoming trees and bushes and flower beds and lush green lawns. It is deceptive because the global situation is not beautiful. It is deadly and depressing.

Stay safe! Try to be happy! Remember the beauty in the world.

A Sad Holiday

Today was a holiday, Easter.
💝😞

I had my Easter dinner on a TV tray in front of the TV.

My Menu

 tortellini with spinach and ricotta

 green peas

tangerine

 a slice of colomba 

sugared Jordanian almonds in Easter colors

a glass of grape juice

A close-up of the Easter Dove, a traditional treat for this holiday

Thank you, Florence, for providing a ray of light on this otherwise sad Easter Sunday.

Special Birthday

Today is Andrea's Birthday.

Blue Hats

May the blue hats win!

Make America Intelligent Again!

These hats are available from the Garrison Keillor Foundation

https://shop.garrisonkeillor.com/products/make-america-intelligent-again-hat

Thai Three

Tina organized our Thai Three luncheon and we three met for lunch at Yindee Thai in Springfield. 

Marie, Pillar of the Washington SON lodge, and Tina, Award-winning Rosemaler

Christine, Reading Circle Facilitator

We started out with the crispy spring rolls. Then we all had Pad Thai with different toppings.: Tina - chicken, Marie - shrimp, and Christine - tofu. We all enjoyed our choices.

We had a lively conversation, not only limited to things Scandinavian!

Fun with the boys

Another Game Night

First dinner - pizza for the boys, different dishes for the adults provided by Barbar

Then we tried out the new game sent by Katie: Beat the Parents!

Florence tired but cheerful 

Saying Good-Bye: Florence and Christine 

(Barbara declined to be included in the photographs.)

Chipo, Florence, Perry, Christine

Catching up

Gertraud and I had lunch at my favorite Afghan restaurant in Springfield. We talked for three hours before we left the restaurant. We should get together more often so we wouldn't have so much catching up to do!

Fascinating exhibit at my favorite museum

  At the entrance to the Phillips: Janet, Christine, John

 Janet absorbed in looking at a painting

John checking a photo he had just taken

[more photos to follow]

From A to Z

Janet came over to my house and helped me organize my collection of Italian books. We had fun doing something very useful. We also had lunch.

Extraordinary French Lunch

Carol, the sister of my dear friend Mary, invited three of us to lunch at the wonderful French restaurant, L'Auberge chez Francois, in Great Falls. What a special occasion! Good food and good company.

L'Auberge chez Francois

The delicious meal consisted of four courses. Pictured above my entree: Harvest Bounty

Carol, Christine, Judy, and Lynn

Another concert

          The February 25 Concert featured the Heimat String Quartet with Patrick Shaughnessy, violin; Aubrey Holmes, violin; Iva Mendoza, viola; and Brendon Phelps, cello. 

          The wonderful program consisted of the following: Variations on a Theme by Frank Bridge (1879-1941) and String Quartet No. 2 in A Minor, Op. 13 by Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847).

The Heimat Quartet was founded during the fall of 2014 in Boston, Massachusetts. The members now live in Winchester, VA, and are currently affiliated with Shenandoah Conservatory. 

Wefollowed the concert with lunch at Au Bon Pain. (Above: George and John)

Stimulating Lecture

George, Marie, and I met at GW to hear a lecture by Tyler Anbinder to introduce his book City of Dreams, the 400-Year Epic Story of Immigrant New York. He was an articulate, knowledgeable, and often humorous speaker. We each received a copy of this interesting book.

Above: Marie in her lovely sweater and George in his elegant hat and scarf

Tuesday Concert

Sleep, Dreams, and Awakenings

Today's concert featured the soprano Barbara Hollinshead and lute player Howard Bass. 

The program consisted of the following works:

• Hark, all you ladies by Thomas Campion (1567-1620)
• Rest sweet Nymphs by Francis Pilkington (c. 1565-1638)
• Night Watch by Anthony Holborne (1545-1602)
• Sleep, wayward thoughts by John Dowland (1563-1626)
• A Dreame attributed to Dowland
• Sweet exclude not me - Campion
• The cypress curtain of the night - Campion
• Weep you mo more sad fountains - Dowland
• Beauty sat bathing - Pilkington
• Come Heavy Sleep - transcribed by J.M. Bertram (1943-1997)
• A Fancy, P 6 - Dowland
• The dark is my delight - Anonymous
• Care charming sleep by Robert Johnson (c. 1583-1633)
• Think'st thou then by thy feigning? - Dowland
• Awake sweet love - Dowland

A birthday party

We celebrated Chipo's birthday. Florence brought all of the food. All of it extraordinarily delicious!

Orzo with apricots and feta cheese

lentil dish

After dinner we had "Game Night."

Perry and Chipo

We began with our favorite card game, Old Maid.

Barbara made us all laugh uproariously. She is quite the character when she plays this game. She goes from intense to exuberant!

                                                           Florence was lovely, as usual.


Christine in comfortable clothes over her cast and untamed hair and the perpetually cheerful brothers

Thai

Indra and I went to Yindee Thai for lunch. Good company and good food. 

Chris and Indra

Always enough food left over for two more meals at home!

The Break

Double Celebration

I took Dona to my newly-discovered Italian restaurant, Osteria da Nino, to celebrate her birthday.

Chris and Dona with their shared dessert, Tiramisu 

The Birthday Girl

Instead of the delicious spinach ravioli with three cheeses that I had had on my two previous visits to Nino's, I ordered the beet salad. Very unsatisfactory - much too skimpy. The bread was not very good and, after Dona complained, we were brought a basket of bread fresh from the oven and a definite improvement. The tiramisu and the espresso coffee were both very good.

We also exchanged Christmas presents so it was a double celebration.

The Double Museum

Marie and I went to the combined Smithsonian museums: American Art and Portrait Gallery.

We first saw the wonderful exhibit of Japanese art by Chiura Obata.

My favorite, a dramatic painting of a powerful snow storm raging through a forest

We had lunch in the fabulous courtyard.

Christine and Marie

In the Courtyard after lunch 

We spent almost four hours here today!

A museum outing

I met my friend Kathy at the Phillips Collection to see the marvelous Nabi exhibit.

Here is one of my favorites:

La Manifestation by Vuitton (1893 in Paris)

After viewing the exhibit, we had lunch and a long chat in the museum's Tryst Cafe. I had a squash and goat cheese frittata with a mixed greens salad on the side.