The reason for my smoking this Tuscan cigar in Piazza Mazzini in Macerata is the occasion of the birth of my grandson Luca. It was a beautiful Palm Sunday in Macerata, and after church and lunch, this is how I chose to celebrate.








Filiberto returned from the U.S., and we bumped
into him later in the afternoon. He had not visited his "house" over the past couple of weeks, so we took a drive 15 minutes outside Macerata to go. Actually, this is his house, but not one that he occupies (it's in pretty terrible shape). He hopes someday to have the money to be able to restore it, but for the time being it's his olive plantation. On the property he has more than 400 olive tress, and he makes his own oil. It's actually a pretty expensive habit. After paying for all the trees and the land (plus taxes), he still has to pay people to help with the pruning and harvesting the olives. I have to believe it would
be cheaper just to buy oil, but I know it would
not be the same quality. It also wouldn't give him the satisfaction I know he gets from the grove. It was a pleasure to walk around with him and watch him as he "visited" with his plants. He also described other fruit tress and wild herbs that grew there.








I thought I ought to include at least one picture of my students at work. Here are Callie (Oregon) and Clark (Ball State) editing her package about cheese for our documentary on food. This is in our apartment. It was the most convenient place to set up the "editing station."








I wanted to talk a little bit about graffiti. It's everywhere. This figure must mean something - I see it a lot.

That's a point to make about the graffiti: some of it is political, some of it is about love, some of it is quite artistic. I'm sorry I can't include some of the best stuff I saw because it's painted on the sides of trains and in railway yards, and I see it when I'm in a moving train, usually from a pretty dirty window.



I wanted to include this wall. Although not very artistic it shows a variety of styles. Freddy is evidently in love with Giulia. "T.A.T" stands for "ti amo tanto," or "I love you so much." The clearly stated political comment needs no explanation. The bottom has what looks like gang signs to me. The upper right translates to something like "Sept. 11, 2001 makes me happy." It's a reminder that not everyone likes America. Clearly the majority of Italians do like us, but it's worth remembering that some have a very strong opinion that we are not their flavor of the month.

Stencils are also used. I assume this was sprayed by someone who supports the Massachusetts- based punk band. This picture is only about 1 foot across.










Speaking of stencils, here's one for travelers to learn. It indicates a location where you can get a wireless connection. Someone nearby must have an unprotected transmitter, so you can connect here. This, too, is rather small - probably only about 8 inches high.