Happy birthday Jennine!

You see! How could I forget?!
Happy birthday Jennine! I wish you the best, and good luck in the USA.
See you in March
Love you!
Andrea

I wish you enough

I WISH YOU ENOUGH
Recently, I overheard a mother and daughter in their last moments together at the airport as the daughter's departure had been announced. Standing near the security gate, they hugged and the mother said, "I love you and I wish you enough." The daughter replied, "Mom, our life together has been more than enough. Your love is all I ever needed. I wish you enough, too, Mom." They kissed and the daughter left.
The mother walked over to the window where I sat. Standing there, I could see she wanted and needed to cry.
I tried not to intrude on her privacy but she welcomed me in by asking, "Did you ever say good-bye to someone knowing it would be forever?" "Yes, I have," I replied. "Forgive me for asking but why is this a forever good-bye?" "I am old and she lives so far away. I have challenges ahead and the reality is the next trip back will be for my funeral," she said.
When you were saying good-bye, I heard you say, "I wish you enough." May I ask what that means?" She began to smile. "That's a wish that has been handed down from other generations. My parents used to say it to everyone." She paused a moment and looked up as if trying to remember it in detail and she smiled even more. "When we said 'I wish you enough' we were wanting the other person to have a life filled with just enough good things to sustain them". Then turning toward me, she shared the following, reciting it from memory,"I wish you enough sun to keep your attitude bright.I wish you enough rain to appreciate the sun more.I wish you enough happiness to keep your spirit alive.I wish you enough pain so that the smallest joys in life appear much bigger.I wish you enough gain to satisfy your wanting.I wish you enough loss to appreciate all that you possess.I wish you enough hellos to get you through the final good-bye."She then began to cry and walked away.
They say it takes a minute to find a special person. An hour to appreciate them. A day to love them. And an entire life to forget them.
TAKE TIME TO LIVE!

wear sunscreen!

summer!

Today: good literature, a nice poem by John Keats (1795 - 1821). To find more stuff about him, go to http://www.john-keats.com/

Written on a Summer Evening

The church bells toll a melancholy round,

Calling the people to some other prayers,

Some other gloominess, more dreadful cares,

More harkening to the sermon's horrid sound.

Surely the mind of man is closely bound

In some blind spell: seeing that each one tears

Himself from fireside joys and Lydian airs,

And converse high of those with glory crowned.

Still, still they toll, and I should feel a damp,

A chill as from a tomb, did I not know

That they are dying like an outburnt lamp,

- That 'tis their sighing, wailing, ere they go

Into oblivion -that fresh flowers will grow,

And many glories of immortal stamp.

John Keats

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Auld Lang Syne

The most popular Scottish New Year song ''Auld Lang Syne'' with its melody and swinging quality has been regarded as the most apt song for greeting the new beginning. Hope, dream, aspiration and desire laces the song and is an eloquent utterance of the poetic excellence of Robert Burns who composed the Scottish New Year song. Let us greet this New Year with the melody of the Scottish New Year song.

Auld Lang Syne (Scottish Dialect)

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,

And never brought to mind

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,

And auld lang syne
And surely ye 'll be your pint' stowp

And surely I 'll be mine

And we 'll take a cup o' kindness yet

For auld lang syne

We twa hae run about the braes

And pou'd the gowans fine

But we 've wander'd monie a weary fit

Sin' auld lang syne.

We twa hae paidl'd in the burn

Frae morning sun till dine

But seas between us braid hae roar'd

Sin' auld lang syne

And there's a hand, my trusty fiere

And gie 's a hand o' thine

And we 'll tak a right guid-willie waught

For auld lang syne

[CHORUS]For auld lang syne, my dear

For auld lang syne

We'll tak a cup o' kindess yet

For auld lang syne

Times Long Gone (English translation)

Should old acquaintance be forgot,

And never brought to mind

Should old acquaintance be forgot,

And days of long ago

[CHORUS:]

For old long ago, my dear

For old long ago,

We will take a cup of kindness yet

For old long ago

We two have run about the hillsides

And pulled the daisies fine,

But we have wandenavy many a weary foot

For old long ago

We two have paddled in the stream

From noon until dinner time,

But seas between us broad have roanavy

Since old long ago

And there is a hand, my trusty friend,

And give us a hand of yours,

And we will take a goodwill draught

For old long ago

And surely you will pay for your pint,

And surely I will pay for mine

And we will take a cup of kindness yet

For old long ago

I'm sure you've heard the song before, in case you don't remember it check here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSFk50qdYO4&feature=related

Idiomatic expressions: Crocodile tears

To weep crocodile tears is to pretend a sorrow that one doesn't in fact feel, to create a hypocritical show of emotion. The idea comes from the ancient belief that crocodiles weep while luring or devouring their prey.

This story seems to have been taken up by medieval French and English writers and that's where we get it from. For example, in 1565 Sir John Hawkins wrote: "In this river we saw many Crocodils .. His nature is ever when he would have his prey, to cry and sob like a Christian body, to provoke them to come to him, and then he snatcheth at them".

The first example known in English seems to be in a travel book of about 1400, "The Voyage and Travail of Sir John Mandeville" (I've modernised the spelling a lot): "In many places of Inde are many crocodiles - that is, a manner of long serpent. These serpents slay men and they eat them weeping". One version of the story says that the beast weeps over the head after having eaten the body, not from repentance but from frustrated gluttony: the head is simply too bony to be worth consuming.

The story was taken up by Edmund Spenser in "The Fairie Queen" and then by Shakespeare. Having such authorities on its side made it almost inevitable that the reference would stay in the language. For example, in the story of how the elephant got his trunk in the "Just So Stories", by Rudyard Kipling: "'Come hither, Little One,' said the Crocodile, 'for I am the Crocodile,' and he wept crocodile-tears to show it was quite true".

My naturalist friends tell me that crocodiles can't cry, because they have no tear ducts - they would be useless in an animal that spends so much time in the water. The eyes can produce secretions to moisten the lids if the animal is out of the water for a while, but these are hardly tears. They might have given rise to the idea, though.

World Wide Words, Issue 317, Saturday 23 November 2002

World Wide Words is copyright (c) Michael Quinion 2002.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Surfing the net I found this story which was written by Tomie dePaola in a book entitled 'Tony's Bread', and tells us the story of panettone. I hope you enjoy it!

THE STORY OF PANETTONE
Once, in a little village in the hills above Milan, there was a baker named Antonio and a very good baker he was too. He made bread for all the people in the village. Good coarse country bread that kept the villagers from going hungry when they worked in the fields, ploughing and tending the grapes.
Now the baker was a widower and he had one daughter a beautiful girl, but spoilt. Because her father was so very fond of her, he wouldn’t let her do any work. Not in the bakery or anywhere else. He wouldn’t even allow her to help with the housework. All poor Seraphina had to do each day was sit in her window and watch the world go by.
She spent most of her time looking out into the street and the market square - and eating sweets! So she wasn’t only spoilt and bored, if truth were told, she was getting sadly fat!
One day in November, not long before Christmas, there was great excitement as a group of young huntsmen rode into the village looking for something to eat and drink. As Seraphina leaned out of her window, her eyes met those of one of the young men and 'pouf!' it was love at first sight!
Luckily it was love at first sight for the young man as well and he gave her a big wink! He then sat down to talk to the old ladies who are always to be found in Italian village squares. He wanted to find out about the lovely lady in the window. They in their turn were eager to know who he was. Tt turned out the young man was called Angelo. He was the son of the Duke of Milan and a very important person. Between them, Angelo and the old ladies hatched a plot so that Seraphina and Angelo could meet.
Angelo called for ink and paper and wrote two letters, one to Antonio and one to his daughter Seraphina. This is what they said. To Seraphina he wrote,"Dear Seraphina, I love you. Soon we will meet and I will hold you in my arms".To Antonio he wrote,"Dear Antonio, I like your bread. Please meet me at the Market Square after Mass tomorrow. I have a plan that will make you rich and famous!"He asked the old ladies to deliver the letters. Next day they all met and Angelo told Antonio of his plan to set him up in a bakery in Milan and for him to marry Seraphina. Both Seraphina and Antonio thought that this was a good idea and the next day they left for Milan.
Once in Milan, Antonio and Seraphina spent the day going round the bakeries of the great city. They tasted Torte, Pane and Biscotti and found them delicious. The biscuits were sweet and crisp and the bread soft and white, and scattered with wonderful seeds.
While they walked and nibbled at the bread, Antonio became more and more sad. At the end of the day he went to Angelo and said, "I cannot make bread here, my bread is good bread but it is bread for the workers in the hills. Your friends would not buy my bread". "Oh", said Seraphina, "if only you could make bread as sweet and rich as these dried fruits and candies". "Yes", said Angelo, "and as rich and sweet as this punch fortified with eggs and milk and honey". "THAT’S IT!" said Antonio, "I'll make a bread that tastes like all of these things!". And soon Seraphina and her father departed back to their village with wagonloads of the biggest eggs the sweetest honey and the plumpest raisins and fruit.
All the next day Antonio experimented and muttered to himself in his bakery and at the end of the afternoon, he put all the dough into bowls to rise overnight. The next day he filled every baking tray and tin in the bakery with the dough. There was still some dough left over so he put what was left into clean flowerpots and baked it in them.
Soon the whole village was filled with the delicious smell of baking bread. Antonio, Seraphina and the people of the village, plus Angelo (who had ridden up from Milan), could hardly wait for the bread to be cool enough to be cut and tasted. At last Antonio took his first bite and everyone waited with bated breath, "YES!" he shouted, and soon everyone was munching and laughing. And then Angelo loaded up the cart and took what was left back to Milan.Everyone in the village waited and within the week, a cartload of new supplies came up from Angelo with a note, "My friends loved your bread and please can you make lots more? Also, make it all in flowerpot shapes because my friends liked that best. Bring it to Milan as soon as possible and Seraphina and I will be married the next day".
As soon as he could, Antonio with Seraphina set off for Milan with lots of the new bread. As they approached the gates of the city, Antonio could hear the bells ringing and he thought it was because it was Christmas Eve, but as he abecame nearer, he could hear cheers and the people calling "Toni, Tonio we love your bread, 'Pane', Panne, Panettone".
And that’s why the Italians always eat Panettone, 'Tony’s Bread', at Christmas and why the best Panettone comes from Milan.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Celebrations

Last Monday the 4th year adults class and I celebrated the beginning of the holidays with a nice dinner at Peperoncino, we had a great time and we ate a lot!

And on Wednesday, 5th year junior class invited me to Il Popotte and we had great pizzas and a great time.

To tell you the truth, this has been a tough year, I had a lot of work and a lot to study, but I had such wonderful groups that I enjoyed it deeply.

I want to thank them all, in Necochea and in La Dulce for this wonderful year and let's hope that 2008 will be the best year in all our lives.

Love

Andrea

A story with a moral

A tale is told about the Buddha, Gautama (563-483BC), the Indian prince and spiritual leader whose teachings founded Buddhism. This short story illustrates that every one of us has the choice whether or not to take personal offence from another person's behaviour.

It is said that on an occasion when the Buddha was teaching a group of people, he found himself on the receiving end of a fierce outburst of abuse from a bystander, who was for some reason very angry.

The Buddha listened patiently while the stranger vented his rage, and then the Buddha said to the group and to the stranger, "If someone gives a gift to another person, who then chooses to decline it, tell me, who would then own the gift? The giver or the person who refuses to accept the gift?"

"The giver," said the group after a little thought. "Any fool can see that," added the angry stranger.

"Then it follows, does it not," said the Buddha, "Whenever a person tries to abuse us, or to unload their anger on us, we can each choose to decline or to accept the abuse; whether to make it ours or not. By our personal response to the abuse from another, we can choose who owns and keeps the bad feelings."