Seattle's Festa Italiana

Yesterday, Dom and I went to Festa Italiana at the Seattle Center.

It is held annually at the end of September and celebrates the Italian community in the Greater Seattle area. There are a variety of activities and exhibits including cooking demonstrations, a grape stomp competition, a bocce tournament, an Italian car show, children’s activities, booths selling Italian food (pizza, pasta, sausages, Italian sodas, gelato, coffee, etc.), and Italian products for sale (food, Venetian masks, ceramics, baked goods, olive trees, paintings, tours, Festa memorabilia, etc.). There are also a variety of Italian heritage and cultural groups with information booths. These include the Sons of Italy, the Italian Interest Group of the Eastside Genealogical Society, the Seattle-Perugia Sister City Association and the Dante Alighieri Society of Washington. Dom and I have been members of “Dante” for a long time (Dom at least 10 years longer than me!) so we volunteered at the booth for an hour or so. Above is a picture of us working the booth.

One of the most interesting exhibits at Festa was a photo and artifact display that detailed the internment of Italian immigrants during World War II. While the interment of the Japanese immigrants is well known, this is a little known chapter in our history. Some people know that Italian merchant seaman and others were interned but few people know that many long time Italian immigrants were also sent away. All were subject to registration with the government and heavy travel restrictions. For a time, most areas of the West Coast were off limits to these people and this forced many families to move inland. It was a well-done, informative show that we both enjoyed.

It had been nine years since we attended Festa and it was great to be back. We saw a number of people that we had rarely seen in the intervening time. Before buying our place in Italy we worked the “Dante” booth every year. For many years Dom ran the children’s bocce pit which consisted of teaching bocce to youngsters and their parents and organizing practice games. We were usually there from set-up Friday afternoon until cleanup on Sunday evening. This year we purposely delayed our departure for Italy so we could be there once again.

We really love the “Dante” group and even though it is a long haul from Whidbey Island we still attend a number of meetings when we are in the U.S. There are “Dante” groups, or similar organizations, throughout the country. They celebrate all things Italian and help Italians or Italian aficionados keep in touch with the language and culture. Our “Dante” group has meetings twice a month on the second and fourth Wednesdays. Both include presentations with the first being in English and the second in Italian. The topics range from Italian art and literature to raising bilingual children to Italian food and wine to members’ travelogues. Before the English meetings, there is a communally prepared dinner of pasta, salad and bread. Antipasto is served before the Italian meetings. The members are a fun, diverse group of people. Some are immigrants, some have Italian heritage and some just love Italy. The “Dante” also sponsors an Italian language program that holds classes on campus at Seattle University.

The next meeting on October 8th is a demonstration of making your own fresh mozzarella. I am really sorry to be missing it as mozzarella is one of my favorite foods. For more information on the Dante Alighieri Society of Washington visit the website at http://das.danteseattle.org/index.html.

Tomorrow we are finally on our way to Italy. Our plane does not leave until 9:25 p.m. so we have a rather leisurely day in which to prepare. I am curious to see if I sleep any better on the flight since we will actually be flying during our normal sleep time.

I will be posting nearly every day while we are “at home” in Italy. Make this page a favorite and check back often.

How We Spent Our Summer...

Here is photographic evidence of our major summer projects.

The first two pictures show the spectacular renovation of the steps and patio approaching our house on Whidbey Island. The path from the parking area to the front porch used to be made of large slabs of broken concrete. They led to a concrete patio and a large wood deck front porch. As you can see, we took out all the broken concrete, the concrete patio and half of the wood deck. In its place we put in Montana slate flagstones, a planting bed alongside the house and a gravel path from the parking area. Dom also rebuilt the broken concrete walls by the patio to give them a softer profile. Last Wednesday we put in the sod that wraps around the porch. There used to be large gravel in this area and it was a miserable spot for weeds. This project took us about six weeks. The bulk of the work was finished by the end of July (in time for the annual party) but we still have a few details to finish up when we find the time—a small planter in one corner and painting the new boards on the porch. Piano, piano as the Italians say—slowly, slowly.

The other big project was painting our large (700 s.f.!) deck. It turned out to be a really horrible job. Rather than the week I anticipated, the whole thing eventually took three weeks. Luckily, we had our only really wonderful extended stretch of good weather while I was working away at this. The prep work was the worst of it—scraping and sanding. Luckily power tools helped but it was still a tough, dirty job and most of it was done on my hands and knees. The paint had to be scraped out from between every board and later I had to hand paint between every board. Dom also had to replace at least twenty boards due to damage from rot. It was interesting to watch the edges of the decking just disintegrate when the pressure washer stream hit them. Still, it all looks wonderful now and hopefully it will last for a while. Painting a deck is nearly always a bad idea so when it needs to be done again we just might tear the existing decking off, replace it and stain it. Oh, so much easier to maintain!

Dom also spent time working on the car trailer and his shop. Right now he is trying to get the little shed (where he has his race car body mold) spruced up so he can get some work done in there over the winter. I still have plants to get in the ground this week (mostly from existing pots) and some cutting back of things that are on their last legs. Today I picked about 5 cups of blackberries to freeze and our apple tree is covered with fruit that I want to do something with before the end of the week. Not only has fall arrived but next Monday we are off to Italy again.

We have already decided that next summer we are only going to do maintenance—no big new projects. Things are looking really good outside and it will be fun to just keep it that way. Having said that, there are two bathrooms inside that need updating…

Cruise and Snooze

Dom and I joined my parents last weekend for Seattle Yacht Club's Cruise and Snooze. About twenty sailboats met off Shilshole Bay Marina on Saturday morning to participate in a fun race around Puget Sound. Afterwards everyone rendezvoused at the Port Madison outstation (see photo below) where there was a "greenbox" (SYC speak for drinks and potluck appetizers) followed by a potluck dinner and a pancake breakfast on Sunday morning. At noon on Sunday there was another race back to Shilshole. Saturday the winds were not especially strong which meant Flying Eagle (Mom and Dad's boat) was at a serious disadvantage. However, we managed to eke out a second in our class. On Sunday the winds were stronger. We were well in the lead until we could not find the first mark. It turned out the buoy had drifted almost a mile south and a little east so the yachts behind us were closer to it than we were. By the time we rounded it three or four boats had passed us. We made up some time on the next leg but then had a disappointing last leg to fall further behind. It was a disappointing turn of events but still fun. It takes quite a bit of wind to get Flying Eagle to really fly but she zipped along pretty well. Afterwards we dropped Mom off at Shilshole and then went through the Ballard Locks on our way back to Flying Eagle's slip at Seattle Yacht Club. There is nothing quite like going through the locks on a sunny, Sunday afternoon--kind of a like a floating party sometimes with more than a little drama. We watched one sailboat coming out of the locks do so backwards. It's not too difficult to get turned around as many of us know from personal experience. Dom and I loved having the opportunity to get out on the water and the rendezvous at Port Madison was especially fun since a number of the couples there had been with us in Croatia two years ago.