Stet

First they came for the verbs and I said nothing, for verbing weirds language. Then they arrival for the nouns and I speech nothing, for I no verbs.

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Linguist with wanderlust,
From the hills of New Guinea to the halls of the Sorbonne,
From the beaches of Bassam to the fields of Friesland,
From the catacombs of Rome to the Blue Mountains of Jamaica.
From the heather of the Veluwe to the dust of Dakar ...

Currently resident in the Land of Sea with a small tribe of kids and Mr B.

Grazie Madonna

Those whose prayers have been answered (see previous post), can show their gratitude at this ad hoc shrine in via Trastevere. The slot at the bottom of the wall for donations for “bread for the orphans” has been crowded out by a hundred or so plaques dedicated to the madonna. The oldest plaques are closest to

Continue reading Grazie Madonna

3 comments to Grazie Madonna

Mathieu

August 30, 2005 at 1:29 pm · Reply

Grazie ma donnina!

(diminutives work so well in Italian :) )

Sorry I can’t help with the roll-over…
Ria

August 31, 2005 at 3:02 pm · Reply

Diminutives abound in Dutch too, with people adding the wee-making marker, “-tje”, to almost everything.

Example:
- Biertje? (a little beer?)
- Doe maar ‘n kleintje (just a little small one)
urban gypsy

September 1, 2005 at 3:07 am · Reply

I like it.

Please please me

This statue is in Santa Maria in Trastevere. The hundreds of slips of paper are requests for saintly intervention. Note how the more enterprising supplicants avoided getting their requests lost in the mess at his feet and stuck Post-its on his cassock.

Although I forgot to note the name of the saint, it is almost certainly Saint

Continue reading Please please me

5 comments to Please please me

Jane

August 19, 2005 at 10:22 am · Reply

Well, that is certainly nothing to be cheerful about! followed all you links, uuh. Very frightening stuff.
Ria

August 19, 2005 at 10:40 am · Reply

Au boulot, toi!

En tot straks :-D
Zinnia Cyclamen

August 19, 2005 at 12:40 pm · Reply

That’s Catholicism for you. Ten per cent submission, ten per cent ambition, eighty per cent superstition.
kenju

August 20, 2005 at 2:50 am · Reply

I love what Zinnia said!

And following the link: How nice of them to strangle a penitent before burning him to death. Really thoughtful.
Mathieu

August 23, 2005 at 1:01 am · Reply

OOooh, new look for the site, i like, i like…

who’d be the saint of blogging, dyu think?

Last exit for Italy

Someone once wrote that war was composed of long periods of utter boredom punctuated by moments of sheer terror. That pretty much sums up my trip north from Rome to Friesland. The moments of terror came when an overloaded and swaying lorry suddenly swung out in front of me to overtake another slow-moving lorry. I can

Continue reading Last exit for Italy

7 comments to Last exit for Italy

Zinnia Cyclamen

August 14, 2005 at 8:25 am · Reply

You made it! Well done! I enjoyed reading this post, especially the interplay of text and photos; and oh how I sympathise about the long-distance driving diet and its side-effects. Hope all is going well now you’ve got there.
rachie

August 17, 2005 at 1:31 pm · Reply

Fantastic photos – especially the mountains. And kudos for making long distance driving interesting reading!
urban gypsy

August 17, 2005 at 11:11 am · Reply

Yeah, that sounds about right! lol
Ria

August 16, 2005 at 4:13 pm · Reply

To be fair, it only rained twice last week: once from Monday to Thursday, and then again from Friday to Sunday.
urban gypsy

August 15, 2005 at 11:06 pm · Reply

Long distance driving diet is sort of the same one that I use whilst blog hopping :-). Can tell you’ve reached Northern Europe in the summertime… rain, rain and rain. You landed safely which is all that matters.
Bluegrass Mama

August 13, 2005 at 10:13 pm · Reply

Here via Michele. It’s hard to imagine a Eurpean trip being boring, but I guess any drive can be.
Willard Curtis

January 11, 2010 at 12:59 am · Reply

Hi there. I ran across this site by accidental and was excited that I looked a bit. My wife and some others have recently started a significant amount of online research to locate apartments in Italy and where to go and what not. By the way, thanks for the scoop – excited I searched it by accident and will share with my friend. After the research I started putting together info about Italian apartments for my blog.

Place your bets @ popebetting.com

The odds-on favourite for a papacy prophecy double: Francis Arinze (Nigeria) will choose the name Benedict. For a long shot, try Cardinal Polycarp Pengo will choose the name D’Wayne, oh not on the list. Damian, then, at 100-1.

Hold on! Haven’t any of the Cardinals seen The Omen??!

Of course, as Paddy Power points out,
According to prophecies, we

Continue reading Place your bets @ popebetting.com

5 comments to Place your bets @ popebetting.com

Ria

April 19, 2005 at 11:32 am · Reply

*double groan*
omykiss

April 20, 2005 at 5:49 am · Reply

*triple groan* .. double was taken!
Zinnia Cyclamen

April 19, 2005 at 11:17 am · Reply

If you ask me it’s all a load of papal bull…
Ria

April 19, 2005 at 11:01 am · Reply

popeful … popeful … oh … *groan*

I still hanker after Polycarp Pengo, but have to confess to a certain weakness for Telesphore Placidus Toppo, but only if he gets to keep his name.

Pope Toppo. I LIKE it!
vit

April 19, 2005 at 10:55 am · Reply

well, I haven’t a clue, but if there’s a popeful (arf arf) out there that you DOn’T want to win to win, tell me, I’ll bet on him, cos I have never won a bet or lottery in my life… it’d be a sure thing.

Sexy :: Saintly

I didn’t manage to get a photo of these two posters side-by-side in our street before they peeled off and fell to the ground in a soggy mush.

It was quite a striking juxtaposition.

Still, by the “miracle” of Photoshop …

Thank goodness they never met wearing the same outfit.

FYI the original and far more impressive photo of

Continue reading Sexy :: Saintly

4 comments to Sexy :: Saintly

Tim

April 15, 2005 at 9:03 pm · Reply

The Gabriel Bouys photo is great.

It looks a bit like an Anton Corbijn, the guy who does all U2′s photos, amongst other things. He goes for all that moody iconic rock posturing too. But you already knew that, I’m sure.
vit

April 19, 2005 at 10:54 am · Reply

those are fab… I think I may have to go and get out the tripod… I’m inspired!
Ria

April 18, 2005 at 11:12 am · Reply

uhh … no.

Ta for the link. His self-portraits are a hoot.
Tim

April 18, 2005 at 9:03 pm · Reply

Yes, I think so too.

Not sure if you’ve noticed, but I’ve sent you an email. If you’ve not got it, it means I got your address wrong.

Stet

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