Italian language

Tripped up by life?

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Am reading a very interesting book entitled The First Muslim by Lesley Hazelton. Who would have thought, that in a book about the life of Muhammad, I would find this interesting Machiavellian quote (and the whole class knows that Machiavelli did not conceive of these ideas as an expression of his own world view, but that he rather recorded what he observed around him, right?  Good work, class!).

Hazelton writes, on pp. 180-81:  “As Machiavelli would put it, ‘There is no doubt that…greatness depends on…triumphing over difficulties and opposition.  So fortune finds…enemies and encourages them to take the field against…[you], so that…[you] may have cause to triumph over them and ascend higher on the ladder…[this misfortune] provided.’ ”

I definitely think a little Italian is called for here:  corragio le persone!

A turtle sunning on the first day of spring.

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A turtle sunning on the first day of spring.

Wednesday, March 20
The First Day of Spring (Spring Equinox) 2013. If you look very closely, you will see a turtle sunning itself on a rock at the Seattle Japanese Garden on this sunny afternoon.

The weather today was fickle. One minute it was sunny, the next minute a cold wind blew by, the next minute it was raining. This turtle was very optimistic and caught a sunny moment.

You can see the turtle on the rock in the water in the lower third of the photo, about in the middle.  And here is our italicized Italian word for the day: tartaruga (turtle)!

Also above, if you look very closely in the left vertical quadrant of the photo, towards the top, you will see a puff of pink.  This is a blooming plum tree and such pink clouds are blooming all around the city right now.

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Look at this large camellia, blossoming away in the shady background at the Seattle Japanese Garden.

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This isn’t the world’s best photograph, obviously, but the camellia blossoms on this shrub are two-toned: hot reddish/pink with white.  There seems to be no end to these camellia variations and I love them all.

Ciao for now, tutti!