Italian-language blog discovered

One of my favorite things, when I have the time, is getting lost on the internet...clicking on one link, then another, just to see where I wind up. Well, this morning, through one click then another, I discovered a blog by Dianne Hales called Becoming Italian Word by Word. For anyone learning Italian it's great fun...and even if you're not, it's interesting. Words are taught by association. One post has lots of expressions based on "padre" (father) for example, another with expressions around the word "pane" (bread). Dianne Hales is an author and journalist with a long list of credits. She has a book coming out in the May called La Bella Lingua and I have a feeling I'll be adding it to my collection.

In the early morning of Saturday, February 21, my father-in-law passed away. The Sunday before he had eaten lunch with us, as usual, but not his usual quantity, complaining of a full feeling in his stomach. On Tuesday he went into a semi-comatose state with two doctors disagreeing as to the cause. On Thursday we still had hope he would come out of it, but on Friday the doctor said to call his children in America. In the end, in his coma, he appeared to have difficulty breathing and swallowing. Was he suffering? We don't know. At 6 a.m. on Saturday morning he passed away, at home, a few hours before his daughter and son who still live in New York arrived. Perhaps it was better that way. May we all remember him as he appears in this photo from a wedding a few years ago, full of fun and life. Rest in Peace Umberto.