remember this?

last night after i imported the last picture into my blog posting, i deleted the entire entry by mistake. i was dead tired by that point, so i just left it. good thing i did. aliyah had a rough night. her back teeth must be coming in because she's drooling a lot and has a fever. for that reason, she and i stayed in today. it was a good day to stay in... rainy and coolish. it reminded me a little of the winters here i don't miss so much. it getting dark early, feeling damp all the time, inevitably getting wet from the knees down because your umbrella never covers your stride... another thing i remembered tonight was how tired i'd be sometimes going to feast, which starts at 9:00/9:15. tongight at 8:30 i was ready to call it a night, but i had to get ready for feast. of course, once you're there you're so happy to see friends that you forget... then the next morning you remember.
it was great seeing everyone.. in some ways it was like i never left. i was sad the community couldn't see aliyah, though... i guess that's a part of life with late feasts.









yesterday was a bit more exciting for mom and daughter. we went with my parents around some other parts of florence: piazza signoria, ponte vecchio, piazza della repubblica and finally the san lorenzo market. in piazza signoria aliyah was in heaven. she just ran and ran all over the place. there was no stopping her for a photo. the close-up of her was taken at about 15mph.
in san lorenzo we visited a good friend of mine and victor's, an israeli living in florence who owns a leather jacket store. his brother used to work in the bahji as a gardener. small world.
afterwards we visited my two favorite social butterflies of florence: silvana and aurora. the two of them used to be my english students and our freindship grew from there. they are the sweetest, funniest women ever. and are they active. when i was teaching them, they were studying english wtih me, taking university courses, meeting with a personal trainer, going on tours of sites in florence... and on and on... slivie used to call herself my "vice mother" because she'd sorta look out for me while i was here.
afterwards, my parents and i went with another friend (and former student), giorgio to the best ice cream shop ever. at gelateria di medici, one of the most beautiful, old-fashioned, complete with wooden interior and chandliers (not known to tourists because it's just outside the center), they have this flavor called crema di medici which is this vanilla - but more creamy - flavor full of bits of chunky toffee and crunchy candies that just melt in your mouth.... they also always have a gorgeous display of ice-cream-filled fruits and cakes. it was so nice to be back there and, moreso, to be with our dear friend giorgio.