I love Halloween- getting the costumes and candy ready, visiting neighbors, welcoming them at our door. This year was extra special because it was LuLu’s first Halloween parade in pre-school! She marched around the circle for 20 minutes while me, the Little Man, Nonni, and Grandma beamed with pride. Michael couldn’t leave work, but was [...]

Live: Adding chicken meatballs to the escarole soup from Sunday. Eating it on the porch while watching the rain and waiting for the family to return from their shopping trip. Love: LuLu and Little Man’s excitement for Halloween. They bought plastic pumpkins when they went out with Daddy and Grandma (amongst a car full of [...]

Yesterday the air was cool. We all wore thermals, my husband lit a fire, I woke up and baked zucchini muffins, later in the day made escarole soup, and for dinner, we had a hearty vegetable stew. We sat on the porch in the evening, and the smell of the fire filled the space. Lu [...]

LuLu asked me if she could begin ballet classes. This made me recall an incident in a coffee shop years ago where I overheard some mothers talking in front of their daughters about ballet photos. One mother warned the other, “Make sure you pay the extra $10 to airbrush your daughter’s fly-away hair and skin. [...]