Non(na) e Nonno di Wayland

So, in one of the stranger twists of irony (or just scheduling), while Martello e Trofie Wife were in Boston, le non(na); (“non” usually means “not” in Italian or “no” in French, but our aim here is to appropriately abbreviate “grandma”) e nonno di Wayland (that’s near Boston) were actually in Europe, en route to Italy! Thankfully, they were able to rearrange their plans so that we could meet in Arenzano after we were fully recovered from our transatlantic crossings.

In our short visit, we were able to enjoy a lovely outdoor lunch of pizza e birra, una passeggiata around town while Martello worked (poor Martello), and a delicious cena di pesce by the seaside. Non(na) e Nonno di Wayland were troupers climbing up and down the Arenzano coastline’s often unforgiving trails. Of course a visit to Arenzano wouldn’t be complete without stopping by one of our favorite gelateria. Non(na) e nonno di Wayland were hip to local trends in gelato intake, with Nonno di Wayland opting for the always sublime pistachio e fondente (dark chocolate!) and Non(na) di Wayland enjoying a refreshing lemon granite, a frozen delight that Martello often enjoys during the hottest summer days (it must be genetic!).

We can blame forgetting to bring a camera along on the jet lag, but we think that our guests at least managed to snap a photo or two. All in all, it was as sweet as a short visit could be, and we’re so glad that we were able to make it happen.

Baci e gelato,

Martello e Trofie Wife

Feste in Stati Uniti

While Italia is lovely, the one thing that it’s sorely lacking is Martello e Trofie Wife’s friends and family. As we all age, we seem to spread beyond our initial post-college backyards. In the case of Martello, he’s one of three of his close college pals in recent years to end up on Columbus’s original side of the Atlantic (when you throw in the California contingent, the pack stretches for nearly a dozen time zones). While most of Trofie Wife’s friends have stayed along the eastern seaboard, what used to be short weekend jaunts from Brooklyn to points north or south have now morphed into major long-distance excursions. Needless to say, we’re grateful that we live in the Internet age!

So when the opportunity presents itself to actually see people in person, we like to take advantage of it. And it just so happens that on the second week of July, we had the good fortune to land in Boston for the aforementioned feste grande, the wedding of old college pals. Friends from all those time zones gathered on Cape Ann for a memorable weekend.

Lovely rehearsal dinner sunset

The Dudettes

Wait, Liguria or the Mass. coastline? *photo actually taken by Trofie Wife!

The Dudes

Fun with friends was bookended by visits with Martello’s Boston-based family plus i genitori, up from New York (Trofie Wife survived the slight of not personally visiting her beloved home state as she had last been there in May). We each also caught up with friends not part of the big feste, in Trofie Wife’s case, one from high school whom she hadn’t seen in several years’ time.

Our trip was capped off by Martello's transatlantic return flight birthday celebrations, with captain and crew bursting out in song and cheer (well, maybe in Martello's airline meal-fueled dreams).

Publish Post

Baci e gelato,

Martello e Trofie Wife