New Tenants

After practically turning into a hotel during the summer, my apartment experienced a low period throughout the fall and early winter. No visitors! However, this sad state was recently turned around upon the arrival of Doreen and May, who stayed with me for about a week in mid-January.



They look really tourist-y and adorable in the above photo. But does your impression of them change if I add that they were marveling at the Fountain of Neptune in Piazza Maggiore, especially the fact that the "fountain" function is represented by water squirting out of mermaids' breasts? (Would a US city ever allow this? In the name of art, maybe.)

While Doreen is a beloved old friend from NYU - literally, from the first day - I had never had the chance to get to know May, and this was a great opportunity. Considering that Do and I haven't had the chance to spend much time together since I moved to Bologna, it was really as if I was exploring new friendships with both girls. And they were sooooooo good to me! See below:

Pancakes (somewhat like crepes) for breakfast with honey, yogurt, apples, bananas and nutella.


Polenta, tuna, baked tomatoes, salad with pears, salmon spread.


This is only a small example of their culinary generosity. Not to mention their cleaning skills. And the fact that Doreen gave us an amazing private yoga lesson. But the real best part was just hanging out with these two terrific women and enjoying a full, warm, sweet-smelling apartment.

Love! (And they have the cutest haircuts.)


I am trying to convince them to come back. I wish the Atlantic were smaller.

New Friends

It's still too strange and sad for me to think about writing a memorial post for our beloved, deceased cat Dinkie. However, it feels much more cheerful to introduce our new kitties to Blogger. These two new entries to the Gilmore-Valenze household probably weigh a collective 10 pounds, but they're already wreaking havoc. Thankfully; we need them!

This is Lulu, who's a female between one and two years old.


And the oddly-named Carrot - who knows why the shelter gave him this name - who is a male around 7 months old. His name is subject to change. (Suggestions?)


HOW CUTE ARE THEY???????? I wish I could import them to Bologna - or visit them in Cambridge. My apartment really, really, really needs a cat.

High Line Hijinks

This is a post that I've wanted to put up here forever and I kept putting it off because it required a search through old photos. Done, finally! I am becoming much more proactive in 2010.



This year I visited the new and amazing High Line, a park in New York City that has been created out of an old stretch of railway line. The line was above-ground on the west side of the city, and it was closed for years. Now it's been refurbished and replanted and there are wild plants, amazing wooden benches for sunbathing, art installations - basically it's the best park ever.



To all Glee fans, PLEASE NOTE THE BILLBOARD! How could I not have taken note of this earlier? I would've started watching much sooner.



I learned on an educational Jet Blue flight (TV watching can teach you things!) that the plants were specifically chosen because they can grow wild there. And many of the railway pieces were added to help with authenticity.



And the traffic observation deck (above) is genius.

One of the reasons I was so excited about this park is that I visited the High Line before it was re-done, while I was still a student. In the company of two creative, adventurous friends, I snuck through a fence and onto the tracks. At that time everything was gray and deserted, and probably pretty hazardous. But it was totally enchanting. We were above some of the city's most busy streets, walking over traffic and pedestrians and stores, peering into apartment windows. We were exposed, but felt totally hidden.


(I took this photo on 1600 ISO film, which is why it's so grainy. Ah, the days of real film!)

It's wonderful to see the new park but I have to admit that there was a tinge of something bittersweet. I'm so glad that I saw it "before" - I think that the experience really enabled me to appreciate the current "after". The place in the photo above doesn't exist anymore - but now it can be appreciated by everyone. I guess I'm just barely unselfish enough to be happy about that, and still pleased that I got to be an explorer there, once upon a time.

(Sorry for the cheesy blog title. Couldn't resist.)