melted smoosh

after living in Rome for over a year, i had walked past the church of Sant'Agnese in Agone in Piazza Navona dozens of times, yet for various reasons had never gone inside until October. i got the gentle nudge i needed in the form of a friend's daughter who was writing a report on St. Agnes for her religious education class. i must confess, i'm typing this up far after her report needed to be submitted, but just in case any of the rest of you undertake to write a paper on this early Roman martyr, here is what i discovered! even if you've never been to Rome, you've probably seen the exterior of this church captured in the background of shots of Bernini's famous fountain in the center of Piazza Navona. the church as it stands now was built in the 17th century by the Pamphilj family, who had come to Rome in the 15th century and promptly skyrocketed to the highest echelons of Roman society. in fact, Giovanni Battisti Pamphilj was elected Pope in 1644, cement

1) The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo , by Taylor Jenkins Reid. i found myself instantly immersed in this story of a journalist who meets with an aging Hollywood starlet to write her biography. an easy read that made me think about the role media plays in our culture and how that has changed (for better and for worse) over the decades. 5/5. 2) Beartown , by Fredrik Backman. oh... my... goodness. this has immediately catapulted itself onto my Top Ten list of books. Backman has populated the fictional place of Beartown with characters who feel absolutely real. a com passionate but laser-focused examination of culture in a small town obsessed with hockey. i still feel as if i could walk past any one of his characters on the street and recognize them instantly. 10/5.  Difficult questions, simple answers. What is a community? It is the sum total of our choices. 3) The Gunners , by Rebecca Kauffman. a story about six friends who met in childhood and how their relationships with

today, the mountains were calling ... and we answered. Nick picked up our teeny tiny Fiat 500 rental car that morning and we loaded up with the girls' travel booster seats (so much easier than lugging their huge carseats around!) and plenty of snacks. the weather could not have been more perfect for our drive out east on the highway to the province of Abruzzo. we made a pit stop for coffee and the bathroom at a gas station which offered something for everyone: antiques and collectibles for sale inside, and a brand new playground and covered picnic area outside! as long as I live, I will never tire of umbrella pines the Apennine mountain range stretches off in the distance as we drove on, the roads grew steeper and curvier, leading us alongside the calm waters of a forest green river that reminded me of the topography of the Cascade Mountains in the Pacific Northwest where I grew up. my meditation on the beauty around me was, of course, interrupted by certain children who shall not