Final Arizona Postcard: Communing With Sparrows; Paying Respects

Always melancholy is the final day of my visit to Scottsdale.  I'm back in Chicago now, catching up on writing about events from the last day of our adventure.

Tuesday morning we decided to have a leisurely breakfast away from the condo. We had seen Arcadia Farms Cafe on numerous treks to Downtown Scottsdale, and even stopped last year.  The early morning sun, the delicately landscaped front garden, and the aroma of honeysuckle and orange blossoms invited us for a special morning.

While we sat at our patio table enjoying coffee and a starter strawberry shortcake (instead of the typical sweet roll), a small sparrow landed on the back of an unoccupied chair.

It boldly cocked its head in a brazen request for a handout.  Soon, two, three sparrows were on the chair or on the table, looking at us in silent animation, flying a short distance if we moved. 

The sparrows were tame, and used to taking handouts from softies like us.  They were cute and mischievous as puppies.  I broke off a piece of shortcake and dropped it.  All three dashed to the ground to get their share. 

One had a big crumb sticking on his beak, looking like as if to say, "It wasn't me!!"

All through breakfast these sparrows kept us company.  I talked to them. But I resisted any further feedings.

After the meal, as Mark went to wash up, one of the more colorful sparrows returned, landed on the edge of Mark's dish, and started taking bits of food!  Until the server came and took it all away.

A small, unimportant event in the scheme of things.  Still, I will never forget it.

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Later on Tuesday afternoon I paid my respects to Sam and Lucy, my grandparents.

Lucy died in 1985; Sam in 2001.  They rest next each other in St. Francis Cemetery, in a tranquil vault with a perpetually running fountain right in front of them.

(It's fitting that they are in a place named after the patron saint of animals, Italy, and the environment.)

It was an emotional, reflective, beautiful moment.

The two chairs sitting outside of the condo where they lived, and where we now visit, seemingly remain unoccupied, but in memory at least, they are still there...

And so, after a final dinner at our favorite Tortilla factory, and one last trip to the Gelato Spot, we were ready to make our return trip.

Many thanks to all of you who "accompanied" us on our trip, by checking in, enjoying the "Post-Cards", and even sending messages of your own.

Coming for the weekend: Final thoughts on the Arizona adventure; Sidney Lumet's most influential films (to me); "Source Code".

300

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Tomorrow, I will resume my exploration of King George, and Colin Firth.  For tonight, a few unrelated short takes: everything from a nice shelter adoption, to a birthday commemoration, to the passage of a law, to this year's film awards calendar.

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Lulu Found a Home! 

One of my favorite new arrivals at the Buddy Foundation has found a home. This adoption was meant to be.  The five-month old beagle was chosen by an older, widowed gentleman.  The man is retired and will be able to spend lots of time with Lulu.  He's had beagles his whole life.  When it came time to pay for the adoption, he took out his credit card....and on it was a picture of a beagle!  




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A Special Birthday Commemoration

Sam, my maternal grandfather, would have celebrated his 100th birthday yesterday, November 29.  (My grandmother Lucy commemorated her 100th on May 6th this year.)  Faithful visitors here recall that their centennial was my inspiration to study Italian.  Seems like they are still with us, in some way.  I can still hear their laughter, and good-natured teasing and banter. I can still taste the pizza, and the sauce.  This is their wedding picture, taken in August of 1928.

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Illinois House Passes Civil Unions Bill, Senate Expected to Pass, Quinn To Sign

Illinois took a step in a "good" direction today by passing a same-sex civil unions bill in the House.  The bill goes to the Senate and on to the governor for signature, if all goes as expected.  Chicago Mayoral Candidate Gery Chico organized supporters to urge their representatives in the Illinois congress to pass the bill.  I admire Mr. Chico for his support of equal rights for all citizens.  And yet, I bristle when I am told that "we must not let perfect be the enemy of good".  Good thing the architects of this bill are not designing our buildings and bridges.  Because what I hear is "good enough", and a silent order to take what we're given and stay in our place. 

To be sure, civil unions will provide some rights to same-sex couples that now are only available through costly estate planning.  But they do not provide all of the rights of marriage.  Separate but equal?  Not even equal.  Go to the back of the bus and enjoy the ride.  Throw a few rights to the gays and they will calm down..they may not even continue to fight for actual marriage.

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"All they do is give out awards!" (Woody Allen, "Annie Hall", 1977)

Movie fans still take great interest in the outcome of the Academy Awards, which will be handed out on February 27, about three months from now.  In the meantime, a different industry or critic's group will be announcing their award nominees or winners evey few days for three months.  Take a look at the following list and you will understand why, by the time the Big Night arrives, I'm practically wrung out by predictions. It's anticlimactic, and I feel sort of numb by Oscar night, as though I have consumed too much junk food for weeks.

And we miss the forest for the trees; we look at all the new films in terms of how they will be positioned for awards, rather than for the pure artistry or entertainment each work provides.

I wonder how possible it would be to avoid the outcomes of the interminable list of minor awards, and bring back the suspense and fun of the Academy Awards?

Well, anyway, here's the Awards calendar for those who follow all of it, on our way to spending Oscar Night with our talented and charismatic hosts, Anne Hathaway and James Franco:



 November
Nov. 30 Film Independent Spirit Award nominations announced


December
Dec. 2 National Board of Review announces winners
Dec. 3 British Independent Film Awards
Dec. 3 International Documentary Association Awards
Dec. 11 Boston Film Critics announces winners
Dec. 12 AFI honorees announced
Dec. 12 Los Angeles Film Critics Association announces winners
Dec. 13 New York Film Critics Circle announces winners
Dec. 13 Broadcast Film Critics Association nominations announced
Dec. 14 Golden Globe nominations announced
Dec. 14 San Diego Critics Association announces winners
Dec. 15 Toronto Critics Association announces winners
Dec. 16 Screen Actors Guild Award nominations announced
Dec. 18 Houston Critics Association winners announced
Dec. 19 Satellite Awards
Dec. 20 Chicago Critics Association winners announced

January
Jan. 3 Online Film Critics Society winners announced
Jan. 4 Producers Guild of America nominations
Jan. 4 Writers Guild of America nominations
Jan. 8 Palm Springs International Film Festival
Jan. 10 Directors Guild of America nominations announced
Jan. 11 National Board of Review ceremony
Jan. 14 BFCA Critics’ Choice Awards winners announced
Jan. 14 AFI Awards
Jan. 15 L.A. Film Critics Association Awards ceremony
Jan. 16 Golden Globe Awards
Jan. 18 BAFTA nominations announced
Jan. 22 Producers Guild Awards
Jan. 25 Oscar nominations announced
Jan. 27 Santa Barbara International Film Festival
Jan. 28 Visual Effects Society Awards
Jan. 29 Directors Guild of America Awards
Jan. 30 Screen Actors Guild Awards


February
Feb. 2 Costume Designers Guild Awards
Feb. 5 Writers Guild Awards
Feb. 5 Art Directors Guild Awards
Feb. 5 Annie Awards
Feb. 12 Scientific and Technical Awards Presentation
Feb. 13 BAFTAs
Feb. 26 Independent Spirit Awards
Feb. 26 NAACP Image Awards
Feb. 27 Academy Awards

St. Joseph's Day---Food, The Color Red, and Real Estate--A Humorous Saturday Journal

Buon Giorno di San Giuseppe!!

This will not be a devout history, but a lighthearted look at  St. Joseph's Day, a little-known holiday, always right after St. Patrick's Day, and its connection to my family of origin. 

Yes, I am continuing my brief series to commemorate my late Grandparents' 100th year.  Some might find this to be empty sentimentality.  To me, it's a way to keep the two of them alive, in the minds and hearts of new friends....perhaps the giddy sense of happiness they gave me will rub off on some unwary reader, who might come away with the same sense of energy they inspired in me...They would have enjoyed knowing that.

The custom, the devotion and the feast, originated in my Grandfather's country of origin, Sicily. It is not a totally solemn occasion, but one of much revelry, food, and gently humorous rituals. It brings to mind childhood feasts, relatives, the reminder that we need to laugh at ourselves affectionately, for keeping traditions long after we remember why (if we ever knew in the first place!)

BRIEF HISTORY:

The Italian community the world over celebrates St. Joseph's Day as ardently as Irish (and many others) celebrate St. Patrick's Day. St. Joseph is the husband of Mary, the mother of Jesus.

In the Middle Ages, the people of Sicily, faced with a severe drought and famine, asked their patron Saint Joseph to intercede with God to bring rain. When the saving rains came, the people promised to show their appreciation with a series of feasts, festivals, feeding of the poor, and the Wearing of Red.  Why red?   Some think it's the closest color to the vestments worn during lent; others claim it's a lighthearted challenge to the Irish and their Green. Again, we're not REAL sure, but it feels right, and the tradition is comforting, so we keep it.

LOOKING BACK ON FOOD:

Entering the Arizona Condo where Sam and Lucy lived their final years, one notices their absence, the unusual quiet in the rooms;  yet, the two of them are everywhere there.  They are at once there and not there, like the optical illusion of the goblet morphing into two silhouettes....

In my imagination, the air is still filled with the warm scent of tomato sauce simmering, pungent and sweet. My mouth still waters at the mellowness, owing to their secret concoction of garlic and onion, tomato sauce and paste, a heady blend of seasonings, tender neck bones, a pinch of baking soda to take out the bite and extra acid, and the pinch of sugar to enhance the sweetnes of the tomato.


Under that aroma would be the all-pervasive, summery scent of greens with a simple dressing of olive oil, sweet red wine vinegar, fresh lemon juice, and oregano.


Lucy, my grandmother was the Queen of sauce and salad, and the recipe known as bracciole, the rolled round steak stuffed with breading and hard boiled egg, wrapped in bacon and tied with string.

When Sam, my Grandfather, was in the kitchen (he spent a lot of time there), he was the Master of Baking.  Pizza crust made from scratch always had the warm smell of beer as the dough was being punched and kneaded.  He even ground his own sausage, and stuffed the casings, which looked like enormous condoms when they were strewn across the cooking table.  Sam was also known for his cream puffs, and all kinds of breaded vegetables, like squash, and mushrooms.  (Later I'll relate his experiences as a 30-year employee of Nabisco.)


Sam and Lucy didn't have to wait until St. Joseph's Day to celebrate its spirit all year. The fact is, they never went to anyone's house empty-handed.  They lived to feed the ones they loved, and those who loved them, and we were an army.

One of the Sicilian staples was (and is) fava beans, which are still used in the Minestrone and other dishes for this holiday.  (See?  even Hannibal Lecter is in the spirit of the holiday, wearing his red..... )  Fava beans were considered lucky because during the drought, they thrived while other crops failed.  Using bread crumbs on top of certain pasta dishes brings to mind sawdust, to commemorate Joseph the Carpenter.


In fact St. Joseph  is the Patron Saint of carpenters, house buyers and sellers, fathers, pastry chefs (appropriately), wheelwrights, and working people.

St. JOSEPH  and REAL ESTATE

Maybe due to his being a carpenter, home-sellers have asked for his intercession to bring on buyers.
One of the goofiest traditions connected to St. Joseph is the burying of a statue upside down in the yard of a home that is for sale. You can even buy a kit for this purpose!

"When petitioning St. Joseph for help in selling a home, a believer is expected to bury a small statue of the saint upside down in the ground, facing away from the house but near the "For Sale" sign....The statue is dug up once the home has been sold and then taken to the seller's new home, who then must place the statue in a location of honor, in recognition of Joseph's help in making the successful move possible. According to some, failing to take that final step will have future repercussions, making it difficult to sell the new home when the seller decides to move again."

What are St. Joseph's Pants?  Click on this link for a recipe for special cookies filled with ground sweetened chick-peas (fava beans), a St. Joseph's Day staple in Sicily and elsewhere. 


Next up:  Another St. Joseph's Day tradition that nature lovers appreciate...and how it reminds me of an old Academy-Award-winning Short Film.....

La Boheme, "Moonstruck", My Grandparents, and Arizona

A wedding picture from 1929. My maternal Italian grandparents, Sam Triolo and Lucy Salvati, occupy my thoughts lately. This year, both of them (had they lived) would be 100 years old.  Married at 19, theirs was a life filled with humor, roaring discord and passion, extended family, food (ah!---long, long tables filled with food), and fierce love for their grandchildren, especially me, for that is how it felt then, and now.


This photo was used on the invitation to their 50th wedding anniversary in 1979. My cousin Peggy and I, both of us creative, with dreams of stardom, presented a skit in which we played the roles of our grandparents on their wedding day.  Sam worked for many years at Nabisco in Chicago; in the skit, my wedding present to Lucy was a bag of Oreo cookies.


Some say that I resemble Sam in his youth, and share his restlessness and volatile temper and humor.  Lucy was regarded as a saint by those who knew her.  I had the good fortune to have been singled out by this quiet, good-natured woman as the "apple of her eye".


I want to remember them in all of their many ages and moods, all of the good sense of safe belonging in the fellowship of colorful and eccentric friends and relatives, the times when hearts were broken and losses were suffered, but mostly when laughter was heard, and everyone talked all at once, and loudly, to my youthful amusument.  I want to share Sam and Lucy with you.  In doing so, I will reveal more of myself, and chart the path from my origins to my chosen roads to reinvention.


This weekend I will travel to Scottsdale Arizona, and stay in the modest home thay made, which they gave to my mother on their passing.  Lucy and Sam's spirits are strongly felt there.  I can hear my grandfather teasing Lucy, making jokes, talking on the phone, and shouting at the television; and see my grandmother playing cards, wearing her sweater even in 110-degree heat, and laughing at Sam's antics.  Being there will allow me to remember them more clearly.

Many brief stories will be posted here in the weeks ahead.  My journal next week (all hand-written, as I am unplugging and leaving my laptop at home) will recall their presence, even as I record our activities and my impressions of each day.


It is easy to romanticize their lives, which had more than their share of hardship.  But whoever I am now, I owe to their genetics, their history, their example, and even their prejudices.  Mostly, I just loved them, and they, me.  Lucy was direct in her expressions, with hugs, or more food.  Sam, always on the go, always with friends--he had a lot of friends--showed his love in a teasing way. 

Their stories will also inform my new-found love of opera, my lifelong obsession with movies, and my attempt to capture and preserve my heritage as I study their native Italian language starting later this month.

Emotions...listening to the Metropolitan Opera's live broadcast of "La Boheme" on the radio on Saturday; remembering how it was used in the movie "Moonstruck" with such mischief, and loving emotion; and how the family portrayed in that film was so much like the characters in our family and myriad friends.  The music was so beautiful it made me cry...and the menories it invoked made those tears nostalgic, and tender.  I will soon review La Boheme, and especially "Moonstruck", one of my favorite films of all time.


And then I remembered with excitement that the trip would be soon....


Tomorrow...my Oscar pics, and thoughts on possible upsets.


In the meantime, enjoy the trailer from "Moonstruck", featuring Puccini's lushly romantic and sentimental aria: