The Good Life | Valentina Expressions

Letter To The Parents | Valentina Cirasola | Author and Designer

30 Dec 2018 2 Comments

by Valentina in The Good Life Tags: #ChristmasCelebration, #ChristmasDinner, #ChristmasLettersToParents, #ItalianChristmasCustoms

Certain gestures are like fleeting moments to which we pay little attention, but the memory of them is sculpted forever in our mind.
I was enjoying a tasteful Christmas dinner when in a small moment I had a vision of a custom of my childhood, which repeated every year until I was 10 years old: the Christmas letter to the parents.
It was a letter all the pupils in elementary schools wrote for their parents in class with the aid of the teacher. Everyone wrote his/her thoughts, just one-page or a paragraph that expresses all the gratitude to the parents for raising us the best they could. Some letters were funny and comics and some others were very serious, they followed the kid’s character and personality. The teacher only corrected each letter and had no part in composing it, basically, we forced ourselves to find something good to write that made us look good with our parents.
In this letter addressed to both parents, we promised not to do the bad things we did during the year (often it was an empty promise, we forgot it as soon as the holidays passed), we promised to bring home good grades and keep the parents happy with good behavior. Mainly we praised them for all the good things they did for us, and we thanked them every five words.

Both parents knew about the letter but acted as if it was a surprise. Here, I recreated the table in the simplicity of the era: two plates, two glasses, and the necessary dinnerware, no Christmas decorations on the table, nothing spectacular, not even close to how we decorate holiday tables today. It was an essential table, real food and conversation took all our attention.

The letter was hidden under the father’s set of plates. After the first course, generally, a pasta dish, one of the women in the family removed that plate and pushed the letter out to make it more visible. The father accidentally pretended to see the letter and with a surprised voice exclaimed: “It’s Christmas and the postman came!” Then, he checked whose signature was and invited the author of the letter to come closer to him to read the letter out loud. Followed applauses and compliments from the members of the family sitting at the dinner table. In richer families, the kid who wrote the letter received some sort of gift or money, in less rich families, the kid received lots of kisses and hugs.

I have not had this vision in my life before this past Christmas. The scene was so vivid, real and all the people in it, now gone from this world, appeared the same, immortalized to the time I was ten years old.
It was my film, nobody saw it, I had slid through time, it felt like I had stopped there for a long time, but it was a brief moment and I was happy. A voice in my house brought me back to reality: “Can I take your plate and are you ready for the second course?”
Has this ever happened to you? Ciao,
Valentina
http://www.valentinadesigns.com

Valentina Cirasola is a storyteller by nature. Stories are very important to her design career to convey ideas because making someone’s home or personal images is not only about building around shapes, lines, forms, and colors. It is about the story one can create around their spaces and how they want to appear to others. She is the author of four books, all available on
Amazon – http://goo.gl/xUZfk0
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w
The latest book just published is The Road To Top Of The World – https://tinyurl.com/y7tuyfh8

One Day In Albuquerque | Valentina Cirasola | Designer and Author

15 Nov 2018 4 Comments

by Valentina in The Good Life Tags: #AlbuquerqueArchitecture, #AlbuquerqueHistory, #AlbuquerqueMemories, #FilmingInAlbuquerque

I arrived in Albuquerque, New Mexico on a Friday of last year for a speaking engagement the following Monday. I arrived earlier to be a tourist, get to know the area, take some photos, do some shopping and discover food. Discovering food in the world is my original thing to do when I go to new places, I want to know how and what people eat.
I discovered a cozy coffee shop where I could get my Italian style espresso coffee every morning for the time I planned to stay in Albuquerque. The day for me doesn’t start unless I have a couple of shots of electricity from the espresso. The coffee shop was next to an original French bistro and I thought it was well planned. In one establishment I would take espresso, in the other, I would have a nice French crêpe breakfast.

Albuquerque is a quiet town, not crowded even on working days, I admired the silence and totally enjoyed the colorful mural on city walls. Weekends are even quieter, not much goes on downtown, but something funny happened on that Saturday. On the opposite corner from the coffee shop, I noticed a white Gothic Revival architecture, a bit odd building to find propped there among the heavy South-Western style architecture. It is very white and stands out among all the brown and terracotta buildings. It is the Occidental Life Building, a historic 1924 office building. In that quadrilateral between the coffee shop and the odd white building, I noticed women in the streets wearing black burqa and men wearing either turbans or Keffiyeh. In the French bistro, some men were hanging pictures of the Ayatollah. This was so odd and very weird, but I kept minding my business.

(Photo Wikimedia by Camerafiend)

Something funny happened on that Sunday. I left my hotel and directed myself to the cafe’, but only a few steps away from the Occidental Life Building, I saw men in military uniforms with machine guns in their hands, the streets filled with a lot of women wearing a burqa, more men in turbans and streets blocked by militaries. I was so scared, I thought a coup d’état had happened overnight. Frantically, I took my iPhone, searched on Google and nothing, I searched on Facebook and nothing, I checked most of the news and no mention of war, no coup d’état, nor a military operation. Timidly, I approached one of the militaries to ask what was going on… I never have drawn such a deep sigh of relief like that moment. All those people in costumes were actors filming one of the TV episodes of The Brave, a show never knew existed.

(Tobias and Marcos – Actors)

I was told that the landscape of New Mexico and especially Albuquerque is so generic that makes a good place to film any subject. Hollywood, in fact, has had a good presence there for many films through decades and still continues.

I had never heard or seen The Brave TV series, I was curious to learn about it, and perhaps see in action my two new friends, Tobias and Marcos the extras in the film. I watched it a couple of times and soon forgot about it. The series is too violent for my taste, but the picture with my friends in military clothes remains a good memory.

I can still remember how I felt that day, the sun was high in the sky but my heart was very dark, I felt the agitation inside of me, I feared to lose my freedom, I felt helpless, I felt trapped, I was restless for three-four days after this episode and a year later, I am still talking about it, I will never forget it. Often, we take for granted what we have, our freedom has no price, let’s keep it that way.
This post is dedicated to my friend #TeaganGeneviene https://teagansbooks.com who is trying to relocate to New Mexico, maybe she will find some movie set to write about it. Ciao,
Valentina
www.valentinadesigns.com

Valentina Cirasola is a storyteller by nature. Stories are very important to her design career to convey ideas because making someone’s home or personal images is not only about building around shapes, lines, forms, and colors. It is about the story one can create around their spaces and how they want to appear to others. She is the author of four books, all available on
Amazon – http://goo.gl/xUZfk0
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w
The latest book just published is The Road To Top Of The World – https://tinyurl.com/y7tuyfh8

Ready For Tonight | Valentina Cirasola | Designer and Author

31 Oct 2018 2 Comments

by Valentina in The Good Life Tags: #HalloweenCostumes, #HalloweenCustoms, #HalloweenFashion, #HalloweenFood

Halloween night tonight. I will make it fun, I am already dressed in my costume and doing the daily work activities.
I must admit that coming from a different country, I never understood this custom of going house to house asking for candies, wearing a “scary” costume. I will receive a herd of kids at my door tonight, some of them are not kids anymore, with a white sheet hanging from the head and two holes for the eyes, they mix with little kids and do what they do, but their height gives them away, they are teenagers or even young adults. I can’t hide the feeling of being skeptical of their intentions or even a bit scared.

A long time ago, when I was still new in this country, I wasn’t yet familiar with all customs and traditions. I noticed all the houses decorated with tombstones, skeletons, and gruesome things, but I didn’t pay much attention. The evening of Halloween, as I passed one of the homes, a tombstone opened up, a real looking dead person came out, a macabre music started and flickering purple, yellow, green lights got turned on. To say I was scared is very simplistic. I turned the car around and went to sleep at a hotel.

In my neighborhood, there are no kids. One year, they came by the busload from surrounding towns and were dropped off at each block. That was surreal!

Anyway, my candies are ready, I am too, and will make it a pleasant night. I will open my doors as a Renaissance woman of the 1300s. I think the costume fits well with my character and spirit.

I will make this rustic food. They are pâte brisée packets filled with Italian prosciutto and gouda cheese.

Happy Halloween everyone. Will you do something special tonight? Ciao,
Valentina
https://valentinaexpressions.com

Valentina Cirasola has been in business as an interior designer since 1990 improving people’s life by changing their spaces. Most often she designs kitchens and wine grottos; outdoor kitchens and outdoor rooms; great rooms and entertainment rooms. Her deep interest in food led her as an autodidact in the studies of food in history, natural remedies, nutrition, and well-being. Finally, she wrote two books on Italian regional cuisine and one book on color theory, in which she included one recipe for each color.
Her fourth just published is ©The Road to Top Of The World – https://tinyurl.com/y7tuyfh8
Amazon: http://goo.gl/qNxXrB
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w

My Personal View Of A Far Away Place | Valentina Cirasola | Designer and Author

27 Sep 2018 Leave a comment

by Valentina in The Good Life Tags: #BooksByValentinaCirasola, #PugliaArchitecture, #PugliaHistory, #TheRoadToTopOfTheWorldBook, #TravelPuglia, #ValentinaCirasolaAuthor

With the release of my new book, I feel obliged to talk a bit about my hometown and offer the audience an unfiltered view of the city, just as I have always known it. Bari is a large sunny city in the South of Italy, located on the Adriatic Sea, six hours South of Venice and four hours East of Rome. It is the major city of the region of Puglia and it has been named the “Milano” of the South, without the fog and industrial smokestacks of Milano. Bari is lined with palm trees, embraced by warm weather, scorching, by some people’s standards, fresh fish, colorful people and a life of “dolce far niente” (sweet do nothing life).
(Click on each photo to view it larger).

People of Bari are warm, affectionate and sociable because the warm Mediterranean weather affects them. They know how to enjoy life, too much I say.
Their mornings start at the last minute when the notion of being late to work is a known fact. Too much traffic is always the excuse. Once they arrive and get briefly situated in their work post, it is already time for coffee. Around 10:00 am, coffee shops are brimming with people indulging in espresso, they like it hot, short and to the point, standing up at the bar counter, shooting the breeze with other colleagues while passionately tasting a fragrant cornetto (croissant). The talk during the coffee time is either the latest news on the local soccer team, politics, or the juicy romantic conquest from the night before and not necessarily in that order!

Via Sparano – Bari – Photo: ©Valentina Cirasola

On the way to school, students bite with enjoyment into savory focaccia made with Puglia olives and tomatoes (this is after they have already had a breakfast at home: caffe’ latte and biscotti). At 1:00 pm, on the way back home from school, they will go through the same ritual… they will have another slice of that savory focaccia that makes the dead come alive again.

Work in Bari takes a different twist. All businesses, stores and schools shut down at 1:00 pm every day to allow people to go home and have lunch with their family.
If you are a smoker, consider yourself lucky, as only tobacconist shops are open during this time to help feed your vices.

Between 1:00 and 4:00 pm people do whatever they like for relaxation, but having lunch with one or two glasses of wine is the most important part of that relaxation. In fact, lunch is the biggest meal of the day and no one will ever think drinking wine for lunch is a sin, you will never hear anyone say: “No wine for me, I must return to work” and they do return to work, alive and kicking more than they are in the morning.

At 4:00 pm, activities resume until 7:00 or 8:00 at night, the streets get clogged with cars and people crawl. Contrary to those who must return to work in the afternoon, there is a category of people who have full-time jobs whose hours are only from 8:00 am to 2:00 pm. Yes, people who work for the government are considered full-time workers with only six hours of work!
In the afternoon, students, independently wealthy, housewives, and teenagers stroll along Via Sparano, Corso Cavour, Corso Vittorio Emanuele, Piazza del Ferrarese, Piazza Mercantile and Lungomare arm-in-arm, like lovers, because Italians are touchy-touchy and kissy-kissy people and those are just a few of the most elegant places in the city, where to see and be seen.

The night stroll in Bari Vecchia is not completed without a cone of yellow butcher paper containing piping hot fried “sgagliozze” meaning triangles of salted fried polenta, fried in caldrons set in the street, outside the home of the woman who makes them. You must burn the palate with hot sgagliozze, otherwise, they are not good, say local people.

View of the Adriatic Sea from the Fortino – Photo ©Valentina Cirasola

Bari is composed of Bari Nuova (new city) and Bari Vecchia (old city). The charming old city is mysterious and magical, especially at night. This part of the city has the most character. Centuries ago, this was the heart of the city called “Muratti” quarters where a treasure trove of millenary arts, history and culture developed.

Bari Vecchia looks over the balcony of the Adriatic Sea like a lady waiting for her sailor. The aroma of algae and salt water mixed with the delicious smell of food coming from homes and restaurants lined up along the bank will fill your nose and permeate the air. On the spur of the moment, you might find yourself going to a seafood restaurant as if some magic spell has been played on you. No, you don’t need a reservation as restaurateurs will welcome you at any hour of the night as if they were welcoming you to their own homes. The people of Bari are night crawlers, so when I say any hour of the night, I do mean any hour. It is very common to find restaurants working at their full capacity at 3:00 am.

Castello Svevo

In Bari Vecchia “Castello Svevo”, a Norman-Swabian castle stands tall. Emperor Frederick II built it in the Byzantine-Norman-Swabian style. The Cathedral of Saint Nicholas is another important historic landmark, proud of its presence in the city. There, celebrations of Christian Mass for Italian people and Orthodox Mass for Russian people downstairs in the Crypt happen together.

Barese people love to exhibit themselves while going to the theatre, dressed up to their teeth and competing with each other, it’s like going to the Oscar, they will show up with the best designer outfits and wonder who wears it better. The theatre Petruzzelli is the fourth largest in Italy for its dimension and stature, where many famous opera singers and international actors have marked the stage. Herbert von Karajan, Rudolf Nureyev, Frank Sinatra, Ray Charles, Liza Minnelli, Juliette Greco have performed there, along with the unforgettable Italian comedians, dancers, opera singers, poets and cabaret singers like Eduardo De Filippo, Riccardo Muti, Carla Fracci, Luciano Pavarotti, Piero Cappuccilli, Giorgio Gaber.

Bari was founded by the Greeks and later became a Roman municipality. In 840 AD, Bari was attacked and dominated by Saracens pirates, an attack which lasted many years. The city was saved by a Venetian fleet and remained under the Byzantine’s power for some time. In the 12th and 13th century, Bari changed the ruling power and soon, the city passed under the possession of the Normans and Swabians (today’s Bavarians). The Swabians rebuilt the city, Emperor Frederick II revitalized all activities, the city port and remodeled the castle. In his court, arts and culture flourished. “Stupor Mundi” he was surnamed, meaning amazement of the world, attributed to his high taste for refinement. The history of Bari is so much more interesting than one short paragraph, this is a city a city with a rich heritage which continues to thrive and renews itself as civilization evolves.

Due to the favorable geographic position with easy passage to the East Road, the Middle Eastern countries, and the vicinity to the Mediterranean, Bari has been the main center for trade and commerce with Levantine countries. Modern Bari today is also an active economic center, with the second largest population in the South of Italy. It has become the principal center for technological research with the Polo Universitario and Technopolis, in addition to the annual Fiera del Levante, the international trade show where many countries exhibit their specialty and products.

The Road To Top Of The World, my fourth book, full of my photography and a lot of interesting stories is done and well cooked, it is available on Amazon https://tinyurl.com/y7tuyfh8
Ciao,
Valentina
https://valentinaexpressions.com/trips-to-puglia-2/

As a writer and cultural promoter of Puglia, her native land, Valentina’s intention is to let readers feel and experience a new ”wheel of emotions”. She wants to encourage them to visit areas of Italy not beaten by massive tourism. Through stories of local customs, art, architecture, fashion, food-wines, shopping, she wants them to create their special adventures and live it up in Puglia! Check out her books on
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w
Amazon: http://goo.gl/xUZfk0

A New Colorful Dish | Valentina Cirasola | Author and Designer

04 Sep 2018 Leave a comment

by Valentina in The Good Life Tags: #ColorfulFood, #EasyToPrepareFood, #FreshFood, #ItalianAperitif, #PartyFood., #SummerFood

This Summer, I have worked very hard on my new book, my business, new study courses I attended and my right hand recovering from an ergonomic problem. Do I need an excuse to celebrate this Labor Day? Not at all. I am preparing a new dish after I saw someone eating it at a Mexican restaurant. People were sitting outside on the sidewalk of the restaurant, enjoying an early September weekend.

I don’t really know what they were eating, I just imagined and came up with my version. I bought corn tortillas, put them in pans with a star shape and baked them briefly, just enough to bend them. I filled the cavity with roasted chicken chopped up, October beans, tomato concassé (finely diced), pieces of Parmigiano cheese, chopped dandelions, olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper. It could not make up a dish any easier than this. My need to see colors in my food everyday is satisfied.

(Click on each photo to view it larger).

For a drink, I always go a tasty Italian stiffener. It’s not hard alcohol, it’s an apéritif drink, Campari that is, pleasant, smooth and easy to drink.
It prepares in a split of a second: crushed ice, freshly squeezed lemon juice and Campari. Some people add fizzy mineral water to it.
This is a social drink to sip not to get drunk.
I have more tasty social drinks stored in my repertoire. Before the holidays, I will write about them.

For my American friends, I hope they enjoyed this Labor Day and 3-Day weekend. I hope they celebrated achievements, hard work and greatness. Ciao,
Valentina
http://www.valentinadesigns.com

Valentina Cirasola has been in business as an interior designer since 1990 improving people’s life by changing their spaces. Most often she designs kitchens and wine grottos; outdoor kitchens and outdoor rooms; great rooms and entertainment rooms. Her deep interest in food led her as an autodidact in the studies of food in history, natural remedies, nutrition and well-being. Finally, she wrote two books on Italian regional cuisine and one book on color theory, in which she included one recipe for each color. Get your copy of Valentina’s books on
Amazon: http://goo.gl/xUZfk0
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w

Your Face Immortalized | Valentina Cirasola | Designer and Author

16 Aug 2018 2 Comments

by Valentina in The Good Life Tags: #iPhonePortraits, #ModernPortraits, #PortraitPhotography, #Selfies, #SittingPrettyTVShow, #ValentinaDesignUniverse

Shooting a portrait these days is so easy, especially doing selfies with iPhones. Knowing a few photography rules, everyone can turn a good photography product.
In most photographs the background is not so crucial as it is in a portrait. Doing a portrait photo session in a studio, might intimidate the subject looking at all the cameras, the lights and the equipments, but doing the portrait session in an open space where a field of greenery accentuate the skin and color of the subject, and the view leads the eyes in the background is a better solution. Depending on the goal the photographer wants to achieve, a portrait done against a beautiful colored building, or against something that creates a shadow behind the subject will add much more interest than a portrait taken in an empty field.

This is a bad portrait of me in Barcelona. I look as if I was leaning on one side and I was not. The background is too busy, the taxi car, the busyness of the Sagrada Familia construction, my hair, scarf and top matching the color of some parts of the building, all work against me, plus I was wearing dark sunglasses, no one can see my eyes.

(Click on each photo to view it larger).

This is a better portrait of an Italian woman. She is smiling and we can see her dark eyes, however as soon as we look at her face, we are drawn immediately to her two balls necklace. The background tells us what she does in life, she is a shop keeper.

Clothes play a big role in a portrait. Wearing something cutting edge, might tells the viewers the subject is in the arts. Wearing something conservative, a suit or dark colors might be indicative the subject is a professional. If a portrait will be seen quite often, such as on dating sites or social sites, one might want to consider doing a new portrait every six month to keep the clothes look up to date with fashion and the face always new with a new hair style or color.

The man making mozzarella shows happiness for the piece he just created for me before my eyes. His face to me is very expressive and sincere. His eyes invite to smile.

The idea of a portrait is to let your character or quirkiness come out through the image that will immortalize your face, not to stand in the photo frame like you were doing a chore. The man above is doing just that. He likes to imitate statues and puppets in their poses, a quirkiness which lets him out of his serious profession for a few minutes. I immortalized him when he least expected.

To extract the best details of your personality, a good photographer should keep the subject distracted from the photo shoot with talks and laughs.

If you want to watch the episode Sitting Pretty in my TV series Valentina Design Universe, my guest, a renowned photographer will reveal some of his secrets on how to shoot a portrait.

Have fun immortalizing yourself and make some remarkable memories changing your face, your colors, your style. Ciao,
Valentina
http://www.valentinadesigns.com

In my 28th years of design business I am having more fun than ever, experience eliminates stress and dictates the pace of work. I am evolving in different directions while still helping people realizing their dream spaces in homes, offices, interiors and exteriors. Colors are the main focus of my business today, changing people’s energy and life force just by introducing them to colors they would have never imagined. I am on TV once a month, that is my TV show produced under my label Valentina Design Universe, bringing fun topics to my audience.
Check out my books on
Amazon: http://goo.gl/qNxXrB
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w

Dwellings Of The Myth | Valentina Cirasola | Author and Designer

08 Jul 2018 Leave a comment

by Valentina in The Good Life Tags: #DwellingOfTheMythExhibition, #MateraItaly, #MateraSassi, #SculptorGirolamoCiulla, #TravelItaly

My trip in the South of Italy finished before I could visit the opening of “Dwellings Of The Myth” an historical personal contemporary art exhibition by the sculptor Girolamo Ciulla, a Sicilian artist transplanted in Tuscany. His art composed of travertine, bronze, iron, ceramic, wood and marble sculptures has been placed in the Sassi, caves of Matera, between rocks and ancient churches, in a mystical land, where earth’s vibrations are high and can be felt on the skin. This exhibition is a modern reinterpretation of classic divinities in the Mediterranean culture. He sees Demetra, a goddess of harvest with flowing hair and the Aurigae, the charioteer constellation as modern, poetic interpretation of today’s life.

I remember when going to Matera was almost an impossible task on impervious winding roads, especially in the winter with snow on the ground. People who didn’t own a car, couldn’t even find a convenient train to reach the town. Usually, in the largest cities nearby, private car owners organized themselves as taxi services, collected people at a conventional corner, that they established as their stop and took people to Matera back and forth.

(Click on each photo to view it larger)

Today, Matera is a modern town, bustling with new ideas, energized by Hollywood producers who chose this site to film many famous productions, the European commission has declared the town the European cultural centre for 2019, and despite the rolling events and happenings, Matera so far has managed to preserve the ancient look of that town I used to know.

(Photo: Girolamo Ciulla – http://www.sassilive.it)

Sculptor Girolamo Ciulla has dedicated a stone to Matera as a symbol of distance between his native town of Caltanissetta, Sicily and Matera. In his imagination distances do not keep people apart but make them closer. Girolamo Ciulla’s exhibition will be open until October 14, 2018 and I missed it. I am wondering, other than local Italians, how many travelers will visit the Sassi just to enjoy this exhibition.

Photos Source: https://www.arte.go.it)

Girolamo Ciulla Book – Dimore del mito – Euro 23.75

In my mind, there are two kinds of people trotting the world: the tourist and the traveler.
The tourist roams aimlessly the streets of foreign countries, takes meaningless pictures and eats tourist food. The traveler wants to learn, enquires, listens to local sounds, appreciates local folklore, ventures in unusual places, tries out new things, writes notes, talks to people and eats local food.

Next year will be fun to be in Matera again, a lot will happen due to nomination of the town as cultural centre for 2019, and I want to be part of that fun. Ciao,
Valentina
https://valentinaexpressions.com/trips-to-puglia-2

Life Happens | Valentina Cirasola | Designer

09 May 2018 4 Comments

by Valentina in The Good Life Tags: #DealingWithPain, #Ergonomic, #FoodTherapy, #Inspirational, #LifeIssue

Being surprised? I don’t like it at all, especially if it disrupt the regular course of my life.
Six months ago, I woke up with locked fingers on the right hand and no pain. What the heck is this I thought with stupor? I wanted to take a hammer a beat it to get it open, but I did not. I massaged it instead until the finger warmed up and opened. I didn’t think anything was wrong and went on doing the usual. The next day, I woke up and there it was, a locked finger again and for the next three days it happened every morning. Irritated enough I visited a doctor. The diagnose was Dupuytren’s Contracture, a shortened of a tendon that commonly happens in men from the North of Europe. What does it have to do with me? I am a female and from the southern Europe. It wasn’t it. Apparently, computer work, a load of hours on the computer can trigger this ergonomic problem and I am culpable of that, I admit it.

I refused any medication and decided to go with natural medicine. Six months later, many essential oils applications, a new Contour roller mouse at a whopping $265 that I can use with both hands, acupuncture, hand therapy, a costly splinter, and a lot of natural remedy, I am still at the starting point. The finger hurts like hell, the splinter is in the way (of course, the idea is to prevent the hand from closing and grab something) and my life seem to have taken a sabbatical. I put on slow motion writing blogs and other things I do. Cutting with a knife is difficult, my cooking has been affected.
I drive a stick shift car, thus driving has become challenging. At a young age, I learned to do my manicure and pedicure, which I used to do in about an hour for both, now with this ergonomic problem I enjoy the tears more than the manicure itself. Drawing for my work, knitting and sewing is totally out of the question. My garden….is growing, but in the wrong direction. It’s so hard to believe one finger can cause all of this and it is so uncharacteristic of me to write about it.
(Click on each photo to view it larger).

In Europe when someone is incapacitated, even temporarily, there are all kinds of home services one can draw from, such as hairdresser, manicure-pedicure, doctors, nurses, cooks, tailors, even a daily grocery arrives at home with only a phone call. They are convenient home services that alleviate small and large problems. In America if life happens we are on our own.

Life sometimes plays tricks on us when we are the least prepared. Just six months ago I was like a train going at a 1000 mile per hour. Now, I have to be thankful for all the activities I can do even in slow motion.

However, it is not the end. I am stubborn and pain resistant.
While I am repairing my finger, I am editing my studio and my house heavily, something I have wanted to do for a long time. Getting rid of things no longer needed is important to breath, feel free and allow a new energy in my spaces.
My clothes are a hard to eliminate. I have unique and original clothes, it’s very difficult to get rid of them, of well… they will go under a heavy chop as well.

By the time this blog is published I will be on the plane going to far away lands.

I will be roaming on cobble stones again.

I will eat spectacular seafood dishes every day.

I can smell the sea from here.

Tasting food is my primary goal during my trips, I will meet nice people in beautiful panoramas and will discover new things. I will stay away from emails, social sites, no blog, no phone calls, no computer, only me, my camera and occasional travel notes. Forgetting the world will be one way to forget my painful finger.
“Loving myself is my magical wand” ~ Louise Hay.
Life happens…..the only way to cope is to deal with it. Ciao,
Valentina
https://valentinaexpressions.com/trips-to-puglia-2/

Saint Nicholas Of Bari Is Loved In Russia | Valentina Cirasola | Designer

04 May 2018 2 Comments

by Valentina in The Good Life Tags: #BariPuglia, #BariSaintNicholasBasilica, #BariSaintNicholasCelebrations, #HistoryOfSaintNicholas, #SaintNicholas

Last year part of the Saint Nicholas relics, a fragment of about 7″ of his left ribs to be exact, was packed up in a glass case, enveloped in a fabric decorated with precious embroidered reliefs and shipped to Russia with a pompous ceremony. Orthodox chants, the sound of church’s bells and an escort of high ranking Italian state police saluted the relics on the Italian side. The fragment boarded a private Russian plane and was received on the Russian side with the same formality and high government officials. The relics went to Moscow then to St.Petersburg and remained until the end of July. The guests of my trip visiting Bari last year didn’t get to see it in the Basilica.
(Click on each photo to view it larger).

Photo taken by Valentina Cirasola, from a private lithograph.

930 years ago mariners from Bari took Saint Nicholas’s remaining and transferred it from Turkey to Bari, where it reposed in the Basilica of old Bari.
Saint Nicholas is one of the most venerated saint in the Catholic, Orthodox Churches and in the Christian world.

The Venetians, during the first Crusade in 1099, also subtracted the rest of the bones from Saint Nicholas’s tomb, that the mariners from Bari missed to take and are are now kept in San Nicolo’ Abbey of Lido. Saint Nicholas became the protector of Venice’s fleet.

Why Saint Nicholas is so important to so many religions? He was born in 270 a.C. in Patara of Licia in Turkey from a wealthy Greek family. The plague struck both of his parents and he was left with an enormous patrimony at a very young age, which he distributed among the poor. He moved to Myra in Turkey, became a priest and later bishop of Myra. He lived his life as the benefactor of the poor and defrauded. Due to his commitment he was persecuted and imprisoned under Emperor Diocletian, freed years later under Emperor Constantine.

One of the many legends says that Nicholas heard about a rich man who lost all his wealth and could not marry his three daughters anymore with a decent dowry Due to the new social status, the man wanted to start his three daughters to prostitution. Saint Nicholas took a good amount of money, wrapped it in a cloth and, on three consecutive nights, when nobody was watching, threw the money into the man’s house. Nicholas made sure the three daughters had the dowry for marriage.

(Above: Russian Orthodox praying in the Saint Nicholas’s Crypt – Bari, Italy)

Bari – Vaults at San Nicholas, Bari

(Above; Exterior façade of Saint Nicholas Basilica, Bari, Italy)

The city of Bari, by lending the relic to Russia and through many previous actions, has demonstrated through the centuries to be a good bridge between the East and the West. With this gesture Bari is sending a message of peace between the religions.
Today Saint Nicholas Basilica in the old Bari welcomes the Orthodox pilgrims that want to venerate its relics, both Orthodox and Catholics share prayers in the crypt and the space in the Basilica with various ceremonies.

Photo found on Bari Today

May 8th will be a huge Saint Nicholas celebration in Bari, it will go on for 2-3 days and the statue of Saint Nicholas will be taken on the boat at sea.
Many fishermen will compete in a hard city selection to determine which will be the best boat that will take the statue at sea. It’s an impressive celebration, a long suggestive historic procession to celebrate the patron of Bari. Pilgrims come from far away places, some even on foot and a year of preparation for concerts, vending kiosks, organization of city traffic, processions and street prayers will be finally over.

When I was 5 or 6 years old, my brother and I lost our parents in the heavy crowd of this festivity. A policeman found us and took us in the police station, propped us in front of a TV, gave us some munchies and waited for our parents to claim us. Two hours later, maybe earlier, it sure seemed a long time, our parents came all distraught and preoccupied. We were disappointed to see them, we had to go home and no more TV, but on the way home, inside of us, we felt safe and loved. That night nothing was going to bother us. I will always remember that San Nicholas’s Day.

If you are in Puglia at this time, do not miss this May 8th historical event. Ciao.
Valentina
https://valentinaexpressions.com/trips-to-puglia-2/

Traveling With A Brain | Valentina Cirasola | Designer

01 May 2018 2 Comments

by Valentina in The Good Life Tags: #ItalianProducts, #ItalyandTourism, #ItalyExperience, #TravelItaly, #TravellingTips, #TravelPuglia

The article I read today on traveling to Italy didn’t come as a surprise, I had heard the same news in a program on the Italian TV station a few months ago. The article talks about Venice, Capri, Lake Garda, the Emerald coast in Sardinia and more sites which tourists stumble upon mindlessly and carelessly. Read the article here.
https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/953108/venice-tourism-italy-crackdown-capri-lake-garda

Tourists have targeted some historical Italian cities, partly because of the activities Hollywood brought to Italy, such as filming in certain locations, actors buying beautiful Italian properties, or vacationing on Italian territory, but also because with the increase of low-cost air fares, anybody can afford to discover far away lands. Although Italy likes and wants tourists, the nation can no longer bear the influx of millions of tourists a year. The streets are small, the infrastructures frail and the onset of B&Bs, hotels, restaurants with tourist menus and Chinese low-cost souvenirs, did nothing more than uproot the local people. Local people can no longer buy goods of ‘prime necessity’, such as bread, pasta, milk, fruit, meat, medicine, clothing, go to the doctor or send kids to schools. They have been forced out of the city for other living accommodation in neighboring villages and small towns, leaving Venice in the hands of tourists, who are only interested in taking the usual boring photos in Piazza San Marco with the pigeons, eat power bars, or disgusting food in tourist restaurants, buy souvenirs of no value in Chinese shops, go to the bathroom, choke the city sewers and go away to the next destination.

The Italian city officials want to set up check points, crowd control measures and limit the daily entry to the most popular cities to a certain amount of tourists.
I don’t blame them for wanting to adopt such drastic measures, local life of natives has disappeared, natives need to return and regain their cities.

(Venice crowded streets)
(Venice crowded canals)
Crowding the most famous cities in the world is not a way to travel. This is not smart traveling using the brain, this is some game travel agencies and tour operators want to play to the detriment of the historical Italian cities.

People of the world only move from country to country as fast as they can, vacation time is short and want to see as much as they can, so they can say to have been there. However, when they return to their home base, don’t even know what they have seen and where that thing was. This is not traveling, this is moving a heard of people like cows.
Traveling is a different thing all together, is experiencing how people live and what they do in their daily routine. Traveling is about learning history and discovering what tickles the locals, what they eat and what excites them, what the nation produces and how is produced. Traveling is also helping a farmer and learn some agriculture technique, then plant something from that country in your own backyard. Traveling is learning a language on the spot or improving the knowledge speaking with the locals. Traveling is experiencing a theatre representation, or do some different culture activity that generally one wouldn’t do at home.

Do these travelers in flip-flops, short pants and stupid t-shirts know how a Ferrari is produced and where the factory is? Do they ever go to a fashion show, visit a fashion industry, or fashion school and hold a piece of fantastic fabric in their hands? Do they know the difference between a “culatello” and a “prosciutto”?
Do they know that a prosciutto made from the left leg of the pig is better and tastier than the prosciutto made from the right leg? Do they know what is a Parmigiano made from the red cow, or what is a “chianina steak”? Do these travelers know how balsamic vinegar is made and do they know how to taste olive oil, balsamic vinegar or wines? Three different ingredients for Italian food, three different ways to taste them. Do these travelers know that gnocchi and gnocco fritto are two different things?
Would they know how to play soccer with beer caps, if they saw kids playing in the streets? Do they know that in San Gregorio Armeno is Christmas every day and can buy Christmas art made by skilled local artists to take home? Do they ever know that chocolate made with a filling of Parmigiano and balsamic vinegar is an explosion of taste buds and an experience they would never forget? How about picking some white berries, which I am sure they have never seen before?

Flocking only to the most popular cities is not the way to go. If travelers would take a detour and go visit some of the places where Italians make products, they would love the experience of traveling so much better and they wouldn’t face any crowd at all.
It has been said “Travel is the only thing you buy that makes you richer” and
“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but having new eyes.”

I don’t go where the mass go, I totally dislike crowded places and bad services.
I find my way outside the beaten path and I take smart travelers with me, those people who can live it up, learn new ways, new things, have fun discovering and become better people. There is so much to see in the world, why go where everybody goes? Go to Italy, select one not publicized area and discover all there is to know in that area. Vacation time is precious, don’t waste it with bad food, irritable people, long lines, high prices and tourist traps. Ciao,
Valentina
https://valentinaexpressions.com/trips-to-puglia-2/

As a writer and cultural promoter of Puglia, her native land, Valentina’s intention is to let readers feel and experience a new ”wheel of emotions”. She wants to encourage them to visit areas of Italy not beaten by massive tourism. Through stories of local customs, art, architecture, fashion, food-wines, shopping, she wants them to create their special adventures and live it up in Puglia!
Check out her books on Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w