October 2018 – Dr.Franny and Mrs.Myself

Aaaand they’re up!

Last minute as usual, but done nonetheless!

I love Halloween, as you know, and I love putting on the decorations. Maya has been excited all day as well!!!

This year I tried etching my pumpkin for the first time and I used a model as well.

To be my first attempt, it’s not bad!

Useless to say, you know already the topic of the next posts!

Bear with me, my dear readers!

Let’s begin!!!

Maya is on holiday for the Halloween break and I decided to take some days off too.

I hope I’ll be able to relax during this week.

Of course I’ve done my to do’s list, as usual.

However, my priorities are relaxing a bit and stay with Maya!

You can tell from the picture we started with the right foot!!!

Thanks, my dear readers!

I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw it!

500 followers!

Thanks a lot to each and every one of you for reading me and following my blog!

It means a lot to me!

Thank you!

I hope not!

If I don’t do something soon, one day I’ll end up like this fellow here…

Halloween in the office…

And this is just part of it!

No caption needed.

Wanna see more?

Scrumptious dish from my childhood

Connected with yesterday’s post!

This is something only people from some specific parts of Italy might appreciate and miss.

I remember those Easter lunches when I was a child.

I was in Naples, with my mum’s family, almost 40 people; more than one table was needed in the big dining room, covered in mismatches linen.

We ate for hours, everything you can think of. One of the main course was huge legs of lamb roasted in the oven for hours with onion and peas.

But the best thing ever was the midnight snack: boiled spaghetti sautéed in the roasted lamb sauce.

So whenever I cook the lamb like this, I alway prepare some spaghetti for me, in honor of the old days.

How things have changed since my time

Here with one of my dearest and oldest friend.

I don’t want to sound necessarily like an old lady, but sometimes this is exactly the effect I’m getting when I’m talking.

Lately, I’ve started to appreciate and, also, missing with pain the old days. Despite the fact that I faced many difficulties, I genuinely believe things were easier when I was younger.

Relationships were easier, there were less distractions, there were no smartphones or computers or internet of the sort and everything seemed brighter.

If your mom was in late to pick you up you didn’t go and check her status on WhatsApp or tweet that you felt lonely. If you went to eat with your family a pizza you won’t post a picture on Instagram. And you didn’t chat on Facebook with your friends, you just dialed the phone number and politely asked your friend’s parents whether you could speak with them.

Then after you finish the call, you hung up and won’t see them again until the next day in school or the next lesson of ballet or karate.

Also, in the afternoon you could go and play in the yard or in the neighbor’s garden, until it was time for your afternoon snack. You ate it with quickly washed hands and then resumed your play.

My favorite snack, I remember, was fresh bread with a juicy tomato brushed over it, olive oil and salt.

You watched only half an hour TV, you had homework from school you did alone. Food tasted good, even the simplest one.

Actually, the simplest the better.

It was nice to meet friends, you always ended up playing football in the street or a yard and then, eventually, scratching your knees but being damn happy about it.

Whenever you were tired you would start to play hide and sick. Of course, there was always the one easily found, like me, or the one that you’d have to bribe with food to let him or her out.

This means that usually things would be treated simply as they were. Such as a tooth falling. It fell, you put it under the pillow, the little mouse would give you the money and that was it.

I got the idea to write this consideration after what happened with Maya’s tooth. This event for her was so big, even my mum, who really allows her to do things my brother and I couldn’t even have dreamed of, was shocked.

Maybe today, with a technology driven society, kids are surprised and even involved in anything that is simple or natural.

I cannot find any other explanation.

It’d be terrific if we could go back in time and show Maya what we used to do, and how we used to play.

Technology helps our lives and make them easier, but, at the same time, this facilitation, joined to the lack of time and the speed of our daily lives, doesn’t let the kids appreciate the small things.

Here you go, I have a personal project now.

What do you think? How you keep your kids grounded?

Please let me know in the comment below.