Ugh, I haven't posted in more than two months! I've started and abandoned several blog posts in that time, and so much has happened in the interim that I think I was sort of overwhelmed by the energy required to write about it all. Brief notes below!
Of special note, of course, was Sean's wonderful two-week visit in March, during which everyone here took to him just as quickly as I had expected! Second would be my trip to Milan to see Carin with Lakshmi. I'd never been there before, so seeing the Ambrosiana (Napoleon's gloves!), the Brera, and the fantastic cathedral (which Mark Twain really, really loved) was great. We spent Easter stuffing ourselves at the Academy; I made broccoli mac-n-cheese, Carla came over, we drank and ate giant chocolate Easter eggs.
I recently visited Orvieto, where I admired Signorelli's extraordinary frescoes in the Duomo and climbed down Sangallo's wonderfully geometric Pozzo di San Patrizio. I've also been Terracina and Sabaudia, where I climbed a 10-story tower to see the town the Fascists built in only 253 days.
I've spent time with my friend Cate, who has been in town for six weeks and is leaving shortly. It was wonderful to have a Temple friend in town, someone who knows me, someone I can talk to about early modern stuff, and someone with whom I don't have to do the scholarly dance of impressiveness. Sigh.
Other events: We had the traditional Academy soccer match, Romans (staff) vs. Barbarians (fellows), and the fellows lost terribly as expected, despite valiant sidelines cheering from non-players like myself. Stefania was the referee, which was hilarious in and of itself. Speaking of, she took us into the Inquisition archive this morning for her shoptalk, which was pretty cool. Her research focuses on probabilism, a branch of theological thought that began in the late 16th century and tried to explore all the gray areas of morality, very interesting stuff. The very private museum didn't have anything particularly shocking, though there was a 'Satanic' painting of Christ, and a creepy baby Virgin Mary doll that some 20th-century nuns had apparently been found worshipping.
The big news, of course, is that I am going home tomorrow, for a week!! This was a last-minute decision, and I was shocked to find a non-stop flight for a mere $800. I can help Sean wrap up some house-related stuff and attend Quinn and Nicole's wedding next weekend. We briefly toyed with the idea of making it a surprise, maybe for Jen--and then realized that there's a non-zero chance she could have a heart attack from the surprise, haha. Oh, and on that note--my dad's 15th anniversary passed a couple of weeks ago. I've officially now been alive without him for longer than I knew him. :-/