I went downstairs and talked with him,told him about the leak at the studio. “No problem for you to stay, Kristina. If you need two nights, it is not a problem.” I told him if he needed to switch me to a different room that is fine with me. Looked at the computer.... not necessary. Yeah baby! Free nights in a luxury hotel. Party in my room. Kidding...
Left the hotel when Mister Man left to go home around 8AM. I told him that his mother had given me keys to their house and warned that I was going to use them today.
“Okay. For what?” I wanted to go to the grocery store and prepare some food for when Mamma comes home tomorrow. Want to fill the fridge and get started on a pot of soup and a pot of sauce. I also wanted to make something for Halloween.
“What? What do you make? Pumpkin faces?” No, I didn't want to carve anything.
“Grilled cheese and tomato soup.” I told him that in my family we always have grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup on Halloween. Before my mother and her siblings went trick or treating my grandma would make them all this meal. It was quick (Campbell's soup) and filling and warm on an autumn night. My cousins and I got the same thing when it was our generation's turn to go out into the night. Even though I don't have kids I still eat GC&TS every October 31st. It's even more poignant now that my uncle is gone. He was always the first one to post out on the family's yahoogroup posting board about making it, whether for himself or his grandchildren.
“Okay. You make me some too and then we go out into the night.” Wow, you're going out somewhere? You might go and actually participate in having fun?
“Shaddap.” His pronunciation kills me. “Today we have fun because after we both work to get her better.” Yes, that's true. Off to the hospital.
The doctor confirmed on our arrival that she would definitely be released on Tuesday. One more day Mamma, only one more. Te abbiamo prometto. We promise. We both stayed until lunchtime and her friends came in. I told her I was going to fill the fridge and make soup and sauce. What else does she want to eat? Anything as long as it is in her house. That's right, Mamma.
Marco & I separated at the San Basilio vap stop. I needed to stop at the store before dropping everything off at the house on Giudecca. I promised not to wake him up with noise in the kitchen. He promised not to wander in half-clothed. Uh, thanks for that. He would wake up at eight and we would eat and go out afterward.
Okay, to the grocery. I'll make a big pot of pasta sauce with sausage for some baked ziti, and pot of tomato-basil soup. Sundried tomatoes for an extra flavorful punch. Bread, cheese, breakfast stuff too. On the way to the house I stopped at the florists. I was going to buy flowers but I remembered there were flowers and plants coming home with her. No need to brighten the place up. We will already have a lot of foliage on the boat back from the hospital.
Let myself in, dropped things off. Went back to the Rialto studio to pick up the rest of my makeup and the clothes I would wear out tonight. Jeez, I'm spread out across three sestiere now: San Polo where the apartment is, San Marco at the hotel and now on Giudecca at their place. Back to Giudecca now.
Let myself in again and got to chopping for the pot of sauce. It was going to be thick like a bolognese ragu, but with sausage. It smelled fantastic. Started on the soup. Fresh tomatoes, canned tomatoes, a jar of sundried tomatoes. Basil, basil, basil. Oh wow, this was going to be good. Took a nap on the couch for about an hour.
He was rather impressed with the soup too. I told him this was not the soup we had when I was a kid. This is about ten steps up from Campbells condensed tomato soup. And since we didn't have cheddar cheese, the asiago and fontina grilled cheese was fancier than what I had as a kid too. “It is good. No matter when you had it. Good, Kricka. Buona!” So happy it meets with your refined palate, buddy.
Now I had thought I would would be celebrating Halloween with clients, so I had brought along some stage makeup. I had planned on doing myself up Day of the Dead style. Oh well, no matter. I think there are more people “celebrating” Halloween in Venice than in other parts of Italy anyway. It's not an Italian thing, but people in Venice will find an excuse to dress up and go out no matter what. Halloween is becoming more known here, but as an excuse for adults to have a party. Kids may wear masks and have a small celebration at school, or possibly go to a small party, but there is no trick or treating. Moreover, since November 1st is a religious holiday, and Halloween falls on a Monday, a lot of people aren't working today. They call it a ponte – a bridge – when a holiday falls close to a weekend and they take the day in between off as well. Judging by how many people were out and about on Sunday night, there are bound to be a lot of people out tonight as well, I suspect.
November 1st is when they all go not only to church but to the cemeteries to tend to the graves of their loved ones. I hadn't even thought of how we were going to work that out tomorrow. There's no way Mamma can go to the cemeteries tomorrow, but I don't see her wanting to sit home while her son tends to the resting places of his father, sister and niece. I got very sad at this realization he would be expected to take care of this on top of her homecoming. This family just breaks my heart at every turn. Maybe if I went with him it would go faster and he could return sooner to her at home. We would need to discuss the plan of action.
So while I had the tools to do a full face of makeup, I didn't. I dressed up one eye and that quadrant of my face in swirls of blues, greens and purples and added glitter. He laughed at me. So I walked up and pushed a thumb of turquoise glitter smack dab on his brow. Everyone knows, once the glitter is there it is not so easy to remove. Take that. Had a couple of glasses of wine with dinner so he was in a festive mood. I can't believe he didn't run to wash it off.
“Okay okay, non battagliamo. Let's not fight. Let's go.”
I about fell over in a faint. Mister Man is going out of the house with an eyeful of glitter. If only I could take aim and shoot a false eyelash across the room at him too.
Going anywhere with him is an exercise in patience. So many people know him, being in the hospitality business for so many years and having lived here his whole life. You can't walk a block without someone stopping to talk or shake hands or at least wave as you pass. My best friend is the unofficial mayor of Venice. Truly.
We ended up going to Piazza San Marco, Rialto the Strada Nova and Campo Santa Margherita. It was a lot of fun. There were a lot of drunken college kids in costumes, but there were some older folks (yes, our age is actually older folks) too. We didn't linger in one place too long. We saw a lot of people he knows. Many asked how Mamma was doing – this is such a small town – and they all wished her well and a speedy recovery. Almost everywhere we went someone bought us a drink. I think it may have been from the shock of seeing him out and being festive. Hold on to your hats, folks, Marco is out on the town. We saw people from the hotel, a lot of them, and we would have a toast. Yay. They would see me and we would have a toast – yay American holiday. Yay. Yay. Yay.
Called it a night after Campo Santa Margherita and a late night piece of pizza at 2AM. Back to the hotel for me.
Happy Halloween, Venice. You'll figure out how to incorporate it into your tourism eventually.
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