Fleur-de-Famiglia

About two months ago I got an email from a fourth cousin.  In this year of 2020, Chris decided to update the Genealogia della Famiglia Marcon that his father, John, completed in 2002.

That first family tree, printed out and taped together, measured 12 feet wide and 6 feet deep. Quite the monster.  Chris, who is retired and living in St. Louis, is 48% finished with the update.  In the three-dozen or so emails we’ve exchanged, I’m learning more and more about my family.

The Numero Uno Marcon recorded on our family tree is Andre, born in 1690.  Nine generations span three centuries.  In those years, the Marcon family has seven sets of twins (the first ones, Luigi and Giovanni in 1837) and one set of triplets.

Top 5 Female Names:

1. Maria, Marie, Mary, Marilyn, Marylyn
2. Ann, Anna, Angel, Angela, Angelina, Angie
3. Elizabeth, Elisabetta
4. Patricia, Patria, Patriza
5. Rosemary, Rosa, Rosamond, Rose

Top 5 Male Names:

1. Michael, Michele, Micheal
2. John, Jonathan, Giovanni
3. Antonio, Anthony, Tony
4. Christopher, Chris, Christian, Cristophe, Christoforo
5. TIED:  Peter, Pietro and Robert, Roberto

As Chris goes along collecting and updating names, offspring, etc., he’s finding and attaching photos, obituaries, copies of passports, and other memorabilia to the final document.

While respecting stay-at-home orders in Missouri, he has traveled the world via Google Earth Airlines. He flew east of Hyderabad, India, around Australia, Canada and the United States.  Off he went to the roots and routes of the Veneto region of Italy. Then, to Belgium, France,  and the United Kingdom, finally heading south to Lima, Peru.

“Too bad I could not get frequent flier miles for those ventures,” Chris writes. Meanwhile, I’ve been helping collect and correct our limb of the family tree, traveling while staying in place, and getting to know mi famiglia.  Laurie Lynch

Read All About It! I immersed myself in a book of my father’s that I found at the house: “Unto the Sons” by Gay Talese. This is the biographical story of the author’s Italian ancestors migrating to the U.S. and those who stayed behind in Italy.  It is the perfect accompaniment to Chris’s family tree.  And, who knows, maybe the next project Chris tackles in retirement will be writing the narrative of the Marcon experience.

Settimio Pomodori:  On my grandfather’s side of the Italian side of my family (my grandmother was a Marcon) is Settimio Azzalini, a cousin of my father’s. I met Settimio and his family after Marina graduated from Vesalius College and she, Richard and I travelled to Venice, with a side trip to Treviso to meet the Azzalini family.

In the years since, Settimio sent me a selection of tomato seeds he saved, packaged in Barilla (the company he worked for) recycled teabag envelopes. Each was hand-labeled by Settimio: Pomodori Misti(mixed), Cuor di Bu(oxheart), Blu (blue) and Ciliegino (cherry). Settimio died a few years ago but somehow it seemed fitting to start his saved tomato seeds this spring during the world pandemic.  This morning, the plants went into our Central Pennsylvania garden.

Mangia:  When we ordered produce from Tait Farm the other day, we decided to try something new:  kale florets.

Dear Google, what to do with the buds and flower stalks of kale?  I found directions and a recipe, added a few of our favorite ingredients, and voilà, a current family favorite.

First, you need to blanch the kale florets (chopped to about 1” lengths).  Do this by adding ¼ cup salt to a quart of water.  Get your salted water boiling rapidly and then toss the florets in, boiling for one minute.  Immediately drain and place florets in an ice bath. This process keeps the green greens from turning gray.

While the florets are swimming, start baking the turkey bacon until crispy and heat a pot of water to cook your pasta in.

In a large pan over medium heat, add olive oil and sauté 5 cloves of minced garlic, 4 scallions sliced thin, and chili pepper flakes. Add cubes of bread cheese and stir until they melt, at which time you add your kale florets to heat them through.  Once the pasta is done, drain, and then add the yummy mixture and bacon bits. Stir, serve, and mangia!

Beware of Lyme:  We had quite a scare this week. Sandy 4.0 had an upset stomach and was lethargic. Off to the ER vet early one morning.  We figured he ate something that didn’t agree with him.  Next morning, he couldn’t stand.  I took him to his regular vet for blood tests. Turns out he has Lyme disease.  And … he had a Lyme vaccine and booster several months ago.

Within 24 hours we had our lovable, frisky, fluff monster back. I picked some flowers for the vet and helpers, placed a few limes in the vase, strapped on my mask and dropped it off at the pet hospital with a note:  “The only lime we like. Sandy 4.0 had an amazing recovery!”

Fleur-de-WeAre

My breakfast standards are coffee with cream, The Writer’s Almanac, and Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Day.

Today’s first and second definitions for quintessence intrigue me:  “The fifth and highest element in ancient and medieval philosophy that permeates all nature and is the substance composing the celestial bodies” and “the essence of a thing in its purest and most concentrated form”.

Going by those definitions, it is a word I’d like to use more often, although not too often.

Besides the words themselves, the thing that I like about Merriam-Webster’s daily email is that you can see and hear the pronunciation.  A few days ago, when I said, “ap-uh-LAY-shun” (appellation), being a Pennsylvanian I heard “App-a-la-chian.” Right then and there I decided in my next life Appalachian Appellation would be the name of my vineyard.  The quintessence of that wine could be heavenly.

Oh, the mind goes wandering …

I received an email from a college roommate-teammate inviting me to help with a pandemic hang-in-there message to the current PSU swim team.  I was feeling drained, like I had just swum 10 x 100 yards on 2 minutes. Would I be rude to decline?

I sought advice from my cross-town friend.  Jan told me what I wanted to hear:  “Say sorry, no can do!”  Then, she told me what I needed to hear:  “If you do it and send it off, you may feel good.  Like exercising for me. I HATE it until it’s over, then I’m proud of walking three little miles.”

Figured I’d sleep on it.

Well, I woke up in a much more positive frame of mind, and boy am I glad I did.  The mini-Zoom reunion made my week!

We had a flurry of emails. Sue, our grad assistant coach, took the lead in learning barebones Zoom recording.  Nancy scheduled the time for us to get together virtually. And Joan, well, she kept us waiting for a commitment … but that was nothing new.

Sunday morning we converged in Zoom-world.  We caught up with each other and then got down to business.  Our message was simple:  Sue leads off the relay with: “We.”  My mom (class of 1950 and life-long PSU sports fan) and I dive in with: “Are.” Nancy, also a former PSU cheerleader, is in the three-spot with a professional: “Penn.”  And Joan (aka Ponytail) anchors with “State.”

We had two false starts, but the third try was a winner.

And then, I slept on it.

I wrote to Sue, Nancy and Joan and told them how honored I was to team up with THREE career college swimming coaches to pass along well wishes to current PSU athletes.  We owe it all to coach Ellen Perry, Penn State’s first varsity women’s swim coach, the quintessential mentor.  Laurie Lynch

Fleur-de-StartaFire

It’s been a while since I’ve taken a class that was longer than an hour or two.  Making it through a 9½-hour course on my laptop was an accomplishment, and a joy. Penn State Extension’s free course offering during Pandemic April led me to Teach for Forests.

Wild Violet

Through written material, YouTube videos, printouts, and frequent quizzes I was introduced to forest ecology, silviculture, Pennsylvania habitats and species, forest management, and re-introduced to tree identification keys. Instructors are Penn State Extension specialists or University professors, including Margaret Brittingham, James Finley, Dave Jackson, Sanford Smith and Bryan Swistock.

Forests of my childhood surrounded Mountain Acres, a hunting camp my dad belonged to.  We’d walk the trails looking for the red berries of American wintergreen (Gaultheria procumbens) which tasted just like teaberry gum, and once, we found a kangaroo!  Actually, it was a whitetail deer leaping across the path but my sister was sure it was a kangaroo.  Decades later, at Hottenstein Road, the kids and I scouted for trout lilies along Mill Creek and stroked the trunks of shagbark hickories.

Mayapples in April

My favorite part of the online course is the discussion of “fire starters,” forest activities to capture the attention and imagination of young people.  It encourages adults to bring their personal passion into the woods to share with kids.  This can be anything from making crayon rubbings of leaves, to inspecting moss with a hand lens, collecting seeds, taking thematic hikes, creating a nature journal, crafting a walking stick, or just sitting quietly and observing.

The class got me away from the computer and into the April woods at my mom’s house  where I found native wild violets (Viola soroia) and discovered what Mayapples (Podophyllum) look like in April—and I took fire starter photos to share with all of you.  Laurie Lynch

Sign Up:  This class and others, from beekeeping to cooking for a crowd, are free if you register by May 10 at http://extension.psu.edu

Sign of the Times:  Narcissus poeticus var. recurvus ‘Pheasant’s Eye’ has got to be the most poetic of plant names.  The plant is native to Europe, but resistant to Pennsylvania deer and rabbits.  A bouquet, coupled with hand sanitizer, is our Timber Lane sign of the times.

Sign Politics:  This week marks my first bike ride since my November 2018 ankle surgery. Hip-hip-hooray!  One home on my route posted a sign testifying to the owner’s flexibility … and inflexibility.