If you're from Cleveland, it's inevitable that you'll root for a losing team. Oh sure, you'll get your hopes up at the start of the season, but in the back of your mind you know it's all for naught. You just get used to annual sports disappointments. Washingtonians know that traffic is as sure as death and taxes, especially if the President is out and about. For me, monthly chocolate cravings are inevitable. Not just a little desire for a piece of chocolate, but a ravenous *need* for cioccolato (the darker the better).
And in my family it is inevitable that the minute my mom steps foot on an airplane to travel away from the cold, snowy, frigid winter of northern Ohio for a milder clime, the weather in said clime will go to pot. Every. Time.
Cleveland Lighthouse encased in ice
We had been enjoying sunny, spring-like weather for a weeks. The almond tree in the garden below us was in full blossom. The barista had a nice spray of mimosa, the traditional flower for the upcoming festa della donna. We were taking walks in the countryside and went so far as to have a picnic one Sunday, with gelato afterwards.
Then. Mom arrived at Cleveland airport, and at the exact moment that she crosssed from the jetway into the plane the weather went to hell in a handbasket and a frigid cold descended. We had a nice dusting of snow with a thin, slick layer of ice crystals nested on top. In fact, some of the white stuff even sprinkled its cold fairy dust on Naples, a nearly unheard-of happening.
It's now windy and finger-numbing cold. Not the kind of lake-effect, bone-penetrating cold of northern Ohio, I'll grant you. But enough to make Mom an unhappy camper.
Snow on the village
But what can you do with the weather and Murphy's Law? We'll muddle through it, see the splendors of Matera, the unusual formations of Aliano, and some other unknown hill towns. We're sure to eat some wonderful local fare to give her a sampling of our region. We'll just have to indulge in cioccolata calda instead of gelato as a daily treat. And, as is our tradition whenever we get together, we're sure to go shoe shopping. Because, after all, some things are inevitable.
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11 comments:
oh si, una cioccolata calda, bere con un cucchiaio (had to look up spoon)
Evey - Si, che buona, specialmente con la panna montata sopra! La nostra barista mette un pochino di Strega nella cioccolata calda. :)
Typical! I do hope that the weather improves while your Mum is here with you, although I know despite this bitter cold you will have a wonderful time.
Have a wonderful time with your mother!
I don't even like cioccolata, but I want what is in that cup NOW!
Oh Valerie I feel sad for your mom. I know how she feels since I live in the NE....Enough of the weather already. Anyway not for nothing but can you send her home before I get there...I have 8 more days until my trip to Verona...LOL only kidding...enjoy your time together. It's so precious.
You also have someone in your family that brings the bad weather with her? And I thought that I was the only one.
Sorry to hear about the colder weather you are experiencing, but I hope you have a great visit and enjoy the cioccolata calda together.
Murphy's law...ugh, poor mom! She'll have to come back in April or May next time! Have fun shoe shopping, what fun!
hi. I live near pisticci and have a studio in the village. been here 6 years now. just started blogging recently . thought i was the only person from basilicata blogging. really good to find someone else. I am at http://moltobrava.blogspot.com.( am scottish)
Hi Anne! Glad you found me. It's great to see someone else blogging in Lucania. Pisticci is lovely.
The Indians have the best record in baseball. Maybe the Earth's axis has shifted.
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