A month ago I was given a hot lead from a girlfriend in Seattle about flea markets in Firenze. What I uncovered through some digging was that the “hottest” market happens on the last Sunday of the month, in the Piazza dei Ciompi, just a few blocks’ walk east of the Piazza del Duomo. OK. [...]

It was as a Camp Fire Girl in fifth grade that I learned to sew by stitching along the lines of binder paper. I’ve been sewing by machine and by hand ever since and fabric is one of the things that makes my heart rate pick up. (Literally.) So, put me in a place where [...]

If you haven’t been to Firenze (Florence), put it on your “life list” of must-see places in the world. Really. Two years ago I spent a couple of afternoons exploring Firenze, but I hadn’t been back since I returned to Italy last June. So I hopped on the train late last Friday morning, and less [...]

As I was returning home from Firenze and taking the metro from the train station, this couple was practically “doing the one-two” on the subway! That’s quite a git-up they’ve got going there. (No. They are NOT typical, which made them all the more unbelievably laughable.) They sat across from me and I just couldn’t [...]

Winter has been long and gray and holding tight, unwilling to give way. But it’s late March now, and winter goes grudgingly, allowing spring to tip toe in. It’s rained much of this last week, and I haven’t been out on two wheels for too long. So in spite of forecast rain and the questionable [...]

There’s an ingenious citizen taking action along the frontage road that borders the canal and leads to the bike path. Why wait until the city gets around to patching chuckholes on this minor road? Fill them with ceramic tile scraps! It may not be a perfect solution, but it’s an improvement.

They call it “Cavolfiore” or Cauliflower here, but Americans call it “Romanesco Broccoli”. Either way, it tastes great, it’s absolutely beautiful, and it’s math on your plate. The Romanesco is a clear example of fractals and the fibonacci number sequence. See how the whole head of Romanesco is made of smaller heads that mimic the [...]

Would you let 30 random strangers eat off your plate? Would you, in turn, eat off the plates of those 30 strangers? The Uovo Performing Arts Festival included one “performance” yesterday of 30 individuals, by reservation only. “Mangia che ti fa bene”, “Eat that you will feel well.” For 10 euro, or about $13.50, I walked [...]

Last June, just a few days after I had arrived here in Milano, I went to the Cimitero Monumentale – the Monumental Cemetery - to look around. It is, indeed, “monumental” and every bit worth an afternoon of strolling and looking. As they say, it is WAY over the top! One can study architecture, sculpture, typography [...]

When here in Milano in the summer of 2008, I stumbled upon a Zucchi Store just a half block north of the Duomo. They sell lovely household linens (sheets and towels) and they had a curious display in the window. I didn’t understand what I was seeing, so I had to go in. Emerging up [...]

The other day I noticed the section in the meat department at the grocery store where they sell the “ends” of the prosciutto, mortadella, salami and other meats. I bought a prosciutto end for just a couple of euro; it was about the size of my fist. Much of the meat was pretty dry, so [...]

JUST as they were on a crane removing this billboard ad for high-fashion lingerie, I was walking by with my camera and had mere moments to shoot. What will they put up next to keep the construction workers inspired? This is a large, new complex being built at the north edge of town, right around [...]

Yesterday morning I went to the local Saturday market on a mission: gather as many different citrus tissue wrappers as I could find. From each stall that had some of the paper-wrapped fruit, I bought two oranges, and mandarins if they were also wrapped. After cruising the whole market, I ended up toting home a [...]

Milano is a fabulous place to do a “design intensive” exploration, and I’ve stepped up my voracious visual consumption of the rich details around me. What a place to study typography, graphics, signage and advertising! Everything captures my mind. Even a toothpaste ad. “The green has all our respect, the red is the passion we [...]

It’s March. It’s 3:00 in the afternoon and it’s snowing. Crap. I’m so ready for the Springtime that Seattle is having right now! Enough of this COLD! My Seattle neighbors called the other day to tell me how much they’re enjoying looking out to the flowers blooming in my yard. Flowers? What flowers? It’s still [...]

“Excuse me. Where are the eggs?” On my first grocery shopping trip last June, I searched all over the refrigerator section of the store to find the eggs. Where were they?! I finally asked, and was directed to the shelf across from the cereal, below the scotch tape and coffee maker parts, next to the [...]

It’s been great fun to get to know the group of women from the schools here. Now and then, when a few of us are available, we’ll go out for aperitivi. Here, from left to right, are: Keryn, from Australia Ashley, originally from the U.S. (but recently London) Anna, from Iceland. Now her parents are [...]

When I rounded the corner and saw the wall of red and cream damask patterns, I skipped both a breath and a heart beat. These are the textiles I came for. These are the fabrics I prowl and lurk for at the antique fairs. “The Thread of Dreams – Il Filo dei Sogni” is a show [...]

Snow predicted for Sunday? They’ve got to be kidding. Please tell me they’re kidding. With a predicted low of 32 degrees and a high of 37, snow is certainly possible. In the meantime, my neighbors in Seattle called to tell me how warm the Spring is and how beautiful the flowers are in my yard.