Numbers

With the 45th anniversary of the day I reached legal drinking age in Ontario coming up I guess I've become a bit obsessed with numbers. That and the rather startling fact that according to Blogger this is the 1000 post I've put up since I started this blog on November 12, 2006. That means that for over 3 years now I've been subjecting the world to my bad spelling, copy editing, curmudgeonly musings and out of focus photos - Blog spot has a great deal to answer for.

A few more fascinating (?)numbers:

First entry was 1126 days ago:

Which means in the past three years there has been at least 126 days when I've posted nothing. Taking in to consideration that extended period when we first moved to Roma and didn't have Internet, time off in the hospital, blogger's block and just nothing to say and the good sense not to say it, I guess that's not a bad average.

32 drafts

Like my friend Sling I have a backlog of posts that all seemed a good idea at the time. They range from rants about the traffic in Roma to opera, ballet and concert reviews to a few personal observations about life in general (no doubt under influence of that brown liquor Sling favours); and photos - lots and lots of photos in fact a hard drive of photos. I really must go through them some day and maybe even finish off a few of those drafts. Anyone want to hear about an opera performed on a gigantic bisected diaphragm three months ago?

53,746 Visits

According to the Google Analytics plug in thingy that's how many times people have stopped by - that includes family and friends forced to because they were worried I was talking about them; people googling boxing and ending up on my page devoted to a bronze piece in Museo Massimo (Surprise!!!!); someone Googling teabag and ... well lets just leave that one alone.

148 Countries

Those visitors have come from all over the world - or at least their servers have - with the U.S. leading the group; I really must speak to some of my friends in Canada about loyalty. Vanuatu was amongst the more exotic with only 1 visit and that was long after Dan and Cam had moved back to Vancouver.

130 Visits

That was the most visits I've ever had in one day on July 21st of this year. Not sure why. The only thing posted that day was a video from Happy Feet. But then why not it was a fun little video!

Search Keywords

People have used keywords like: Roberto Bolle naked - I only wish!!!!; faggots - only to find a recipe for a disgusting dish using pigs innards but a very good onion gravy; and the most popular is past tense of fly which only leads to an article about catching the flu on a flight (get it "fly-flew-flu" god I can be witty, or at least half-so).

20 Comments

That was the most any one post received and that was back when I first introduced the Hounds from Hell. Just goes to prove that animals and sex sell. Guess my readers go for the animals more than the sex! And DF, Uncle Pervy, Dora - I am working on an new GPV - honestly!

1:05 Minutes

The average time spent by a visitor on the site. Not sure how that works out but it may mean the average person doesn't bother with the text - so much for copy editing - and just looks at the photos. Or it could just be those disappointed people who leave the minute Roberto Bolle doesn't show up naked - as indeed would I.

Uncountable

And that would be the number of friends I've made over the past three years through my blog and blogging. I won't start to list because I know I'd forget someone but each one has let me into their lives and shared so much with me and for that I don't have the right number of words to say thank you.

I'm sure that the Google Analytics could show me all sorts of other fascinating numbers, trends and patterns but they are after all only numbers. And as we know numbers can be manipulated to mean anything. Now that 45 number plus 18 number I mentioned at the beginning - that one's disturbing. And try as I might I just can't fiddle with it. Oh well its just a number!

07 decembre - Sant'Ambrogio

So Where The Hell Have I Been?

I was happy to see my blog buddy Speck (that would be she in younger days at the left) over at Worms, Puppies, Barbecue had posted a little item earlier today for the first time in about a month. I immediately added a comment telling her how much I had missed her posts.

Now I knew she had gotten into sketching and many of her posts at WPB were cartoons and sketches but somehow I had missed the fact that she now has a sketch blog!!!!! So a good deal of this morning was spent scrolling through all the goodies I had missed at Speck's Sketch Blog. She's a talented and a funny lady. I recommend taking a look in - and I've added her to my daily check list.

Sorry Speck don't know where the hell I was when you announced the new (?) blog.

13 lulgio - Sant'Enrico II del Sacro Romano Impero

Christmasy Things - Sharing III

So many wonderful things and stories are being posted in the days leading up to Christmas. I thought I'd just do a final little bit of sharing of things that have made me laugh or perhaps mist up or just smile with the joy of sharing with my wonderful blog buddies.

And I thought I'd also share the incredible frescoes that adorn the bedroom of the Cardinal in the Museo Romano at the Palazzo Altemps near Piazza Novona. We went in to see the Presepe of the King of Naples and stayed to view some of the most fascinating Greek and Roman sculptures in the setting of a Renaissance palace.

And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth ...

• Michelle over at Bleeding Coffee has posted one of my favorite Calvin and Hobbes panels: Christmas Eve. Bill Waterston always seemed to able to capture the honesty of childhood - warts and all. But in this one there are not warts, only love and tenderness. Thanks Michelle.

And Mary arose in those days, and went into the hill country with haste, into a city of Juda; And entered into the house of Zacharias and saluted Elizabeth.

• One of the great things about blogging, and there are many, is that you find out all sorts of things about people you love. My darling Dora tells us all about a Christmas party where the celebration reached a new high.

And they came with haste and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe laying in a manager.

• Every day since the first of December my friend Larry has been opening an new door of Rome on his Internet Advent Calender. Its been an incredible series of photo giving a peek into the history of the city. If you haven't been opening them every day from my sidebar might I suggest going over to Amoroma and opening a few doors.

... and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.

• Jeff has been posting a different sort of Advent Calender. First he revealed some of Santa's dirty little secrets and now he's leading us up to Christmas with music and dance. Again there are too many good things so just go over to World o'Jeff and click around.

The Madonna and Child

• And though its not a blog entry I came across a book review for The Man Who Invented Christmas: How Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol Rescued His Career and Revived Our Holiday Spirits by Les Standiford in the Toronto Star. Writer Hans Werner has had adverse comments from a few "devote" Christians for his slightly irreverent remarks but I enjoyed it. And looking around I realize how Dickensian many of our traditions are.

Buone Feste a tutti!
24 dicembre - San Giacobbe

Sharing

Though things have been a little off kilter here the past week or two doesn't mean I haven't been following my favorite bloggers. Though in many cases I haven't been commenting a great deal - imagine me keeping my mouth shut - I still found so much to enjoy out there.

• The doyenne - so young and she's a doyenne already - of Opera here in Italy if not all of Europe, the beloved Opera Chic has been featured in Classical Singer magazine. Interviewer Amanada White, rightly IMHO, calls her the world's foremost opera blogger.


• My darling Auld Hat is back in full force after a brief sabbatical and is as wise, witty and talented as always.


• Sageweb went on a trip and gets tripped up at Ikea. And then she goes and gives us the cutest damn puppy and puddy picture around. And you all know how I feel about puppy and puddy pics.


• RG has totally ruined The Wizard of Oz for me, I'll never look at getting back to Kansas the same way ever again.

• Once again Tater writes from the heart and reaches our hearts with a memory profile of his beloved Jimmy.


• Lorraine is touched by grace at a time and place she least expected. And in the telling proves that grace can be in the written word.


• And Elizabeth muses on the nature of friendships and the kinship of being an outsider.

And that just a random sampling of what I've been reading from my blog buddies - all of them more than worth a regular visit if they're not on your list already.

These pictures where taken on a back road in the Reiti plain in November. That old dog was very concerned when we separated him from the flock. The shepherd had given us the all clear when there was a break - but that old boy kicked up quite a fuss.

25 gennaio - Conversione di San Paolo

Sharing

Okay just because Christmas is over doesn't mean we still can't share things. And there's lot to share out there:

• Auld Hat has done a major redesign at The Voluptuary where the colours are seductive, the content saucy and the artistry superb.
• Over at Meanwhile Aaron shares another series of his beautiful photos.
  Field Trip: Flushing Part I
  Field Trip: Flushing Part II
  Mystery
• Joe, My God broke the news that our beloved Big Ass Belle is the co-winner for 2007's Post Of The Year for Piano Music. It is a touching and powerful piece that reflects the passion and compassion that is Lynette.
• Elizabeth looks at family as a mother and as a daughter.
• Dr Faustus got a rather decent preposal. And gave the right answer.
• And one place that I don't visit often enough but always dazzles me: Japonisme

And why the Carousel picture? Because I like carousels and I have all these pictures from 2007 that never got posted.

01 gennaio - Maria Madre di Dio

The Traditions of Christmas - Sharing III

Once again this year Joe - the blog father to many of us - retells The Dance of the Sugar Plum Lesbians. This wonderful New York vignette has become a blogdom classic and if you haven't already read it please do. It always makes me smile and get a little misty eyed. Thanks Joe.

24 decembre - San Delfino

The Traditions of Christmas - Sharing II

So many memories of Christmas - good and bad - are being posted on some of my favorite blogs this week that I once again must share them. If they aren't on your regular blog visits here are some wonderful additions to your Christmas reading and listening:

• Tony, our own EG, explains why "the worst Christmas ever" is really "the best Xmas Ever."


• Auld Hat both remembers and provides a gift of music.


• Lorraine and I find we are kindred spirits when it comes to wrapping gifts and she shares a recipe for Egg Nog Pound Cake.


• Over at World o'Jeff the Del Rubio triplets contrive to delight us and a request is made to share the season with Milly.


• Sticky Crows has some great shots of Montreal after last week's storm that almost, notice I said almost, make me homesick.


• Eric at Secrets of the Red Seven addresses envelopes and the sending of Christmas cards.


• Speck remembers a once unwanted gift that became a treasured tradition.

Thank you all for sharing.

20 decembre - San Macario

The Traditions of Christmas - Sharing

Sharing can take many forms and that is what blogs are about. We can share memories, stories, music, thoughts, opinions and observations. A few of my blog favorites have been sharing some great stuff the past few days:

• On his Jukebox Friday Eric over at Secrets of the Red Seven has a great version of the worlds most popular chorus by a group called the Roches - not roaches.
• Doralong's music choice is a bit more rock inclined with Brian Setzer giving Rudolph a run for his money.
• Elizabeth has two things to share: one a musical bombshell from the London Gay Men's Chorus and the other a personal memory and her thoughts as she looks back on it.
• And though it is not exactly Christmas, Lorraine speaks eloquently of sharing a meal at special times - happy and sad.

Thank you, my friends, for sharing.

16 decembre - 111a Domenica di Avvento

Happy BlogDay to Me; Happy BlogDay to Me

November 11, 2006 I posted my first entry to Willy Or Won't He* and as I explained then:

I wrote my first blog back in 2000 while working at the Warsaw Business Journal. I found my job there as web editor through one of my best friends, Bev Toomer. She, her husband Kev and Silver and Sobie - the real important ones - are family. Distant family at the moment as she is Afghanistan, he's in Sri Lanka and the pups are on Galiano Island. But that's a story for another time.

Back then I promised readers a daily update of ex-pat life in Poland. That promise was well-intentioned but more often than not it was a broken one. Blogging on a regular basis can be time consuming and lets admit it most of us don't have that much excitement in our lives that warrant a daily post. Basically I've started this blog to keep a record of our trip to Vietnam in December. We'll see how that works out.

Looking at what I wrote much has changed but much has remained the same. I wrote that entry sitting in our Victorian home - charming but a money pit - in Aylmer - now I'm in Rome and the William Irish House is someone else's concern. Bev and Kev are still in Afghanistan and Sri Lanka respectively but Sobie and Silver now live in Colombo with Dad - and I still haven't written much about them. Laurent and I are still together - but he was living in Beijing and we were a common-law couple separated by 10,000 kms. Now we are married - yes Mom he finally made me legal - and separated by a dog's width! And we have gone through much with that width of dog as witness the Reese Reports. I did keep a record of the incredible trip to Vietnam but had trouble updating because of slow Internet connections (I believe I still have 300 pictures that I always meant to share.)

And there seem to be a goodly number of unpublished drafts in my archives. Those fascinating subjects that I knew were just going to grab every one's attention. They were put to one side simply because I just couldn't remember those snappy phrases that went through my head when I first thought of the idea. Often what I've published is the off-the-cuff stuff - a photo taken during the day, an article just read in a newspaper, a comment by a colleague or fellow blogger, something on You Tube.

There are family and friends who I thought would read the blog but seldom visit, which is a disappointment. But that is made up for by a stream (okay trickle) of other family and friends who click by regularly and comment - sometimes I might add rather rudely and I am shocked (yeah right, not in the lifetime of the reigning Monarch!) But even the rude comments mean someone is reading - and that's always nice to know.

The one thing that has not changed is that a blog is a great deal of work - and even in Rome not that much exciting happens every 24 hours to warrant daily postings. Of course maybe if I didn't spend so much time blogging I'd get out and find some excitement. I'll just have to see if I can locate that happy balance.

*The title is not a piece of witty word play on my part but a nickname given to me years ago by a colleague at Air Canada - Sue McAllister. Thanks Sue.

12 november - San Emiliano

Parlo del Piu e del Meno - Internet Discoveries

• Our friend Larry, who's moved to Rome to be with his partner Vincenzo, is a recent arrival from North America. Like us he's experiencing that settling in process that can be exhilarating as much as it can be exasperating, as fascinating as much as it can frustrating. And like me he's writing about his experiences here in his blog: AMOROMA (I love Rome.)
  One of the frustrations are the number of stray cats in the city and one of the fascinations are the Cat Ladies - every neighbourhood has at least one. Normally older women, unmarried or widowed, they have taken it as their task to see to the needs of the street cats in their area. They put out food - water is not a problem as it is ready available from the constantly running communal pumps - and tend to the wounds that street cats are prone to. Often they are the only people the cats will let approach them - justifiably given the number of people I've seen kick at the strays. And in some cases the Cat Ladies set up Sanctuaries to look after the strays; Larry has adopted a blind kitten at the Torre Argentina Sanctuary, Emily Bronte, she's a beauty.

• A few weeks ago on one of the chats I ran into Paolo and he mentioned he had a website featuring his photography and video images. Since then I've made frequent visits to Light and Colors; his most recent update (October 6, 2007) includes some incredible photos of one of my favorite cities in the World - Venice. Paolo doesn't only love to capture Italy - though understandably it is the focus of much of his work - he obviously has a closeness to France and Paris. I enjoy his work immensely and find his black and white studies and portraits remarkable.



• I received a comment from Giorgia Meschini over at Opéra Bouffe on the Forza Nuova poster that appeared around town last Sunday. Like many Romans she was disturbed by both the content and the organization sponsoring the rally. I'm still not sure if the rally had a big turnout or not as I didn't see anything on television about it and I'm still struggling with reading the newspapers. Honestly I have a feeling I will struggling with Italian for the next four years - the old brain just isn't what it once was.
  
  Giorgia's blog is in Italian and I've warned her I'm going to use it as a learning tool. She combines classical music, a love of Robbie Burns, a big crush on Antonio Pappano, a love of English history (at least from what I can see on her Guy Fawkes post) and hot pictures of the cutest nephew this side Tiber. And she's promised she'll keep the local idioms down for the dumb Inglese (my words not her's) or better yet explain them.
  
  10 novembre - San Leone Magno

Rainy Day Reading

One of the frustrations of not having Internet for an extended period was that I couldn't keep up with all my favorite blogs. With today being a rain day I'm checking archives to see what I've missed over the past two months. The current postings that I've seen so far have reminded me why I wait so impatiently for new postings:

• Tater is in the middle of a three part posting: The Storm - Part 1 and Part 2; as always the writing is gripping - I'm waiting for the book Tater and Part 3
• I Need More Cowbell has a powerful piece on Columbus and the myth of discovery
• A book brings back memories of a family story of tragic times in America for Lynette at Big Assed Belle
• Joe My God , has his usual incredible mixture of political, gay, music, Broadway, New York Street scenes and Shelley too
• Aaron at Meanwhile has added Berlin to the places he has captured so beautifully and reminded me why its one of my favorite cities
• Eric at Secrets of the Red Seven recalls a childhood memory and a link to today


And on the music scene:


• La Cieca at Parterre Box has a great review of the Alagna Radames contributed by Gaultier Maldè - well-written and knowledgeable (a few critics should take notes)plus a pic of Bobby-Baby looking very fit
• Opera Chic continues her quirky, wild and wonderful observations of the European music scene that got her in so much trouble with the stuff shirts at La Scala. Plus it looks like New York got a taste of Chic's gimlet eye.

And I haven't even started to look at Sticky Crows (except for the video of Sara), Evilganome, The Voluptuary, Here's The Dish, We Like Sheep, What Would Jackie Wear? and My Favorite Intermissions. As I said thank god it's a rainy day here.

*If I've missed anyone it isn't intentional - I've got so much to get caught up on.
**Unfortunately my friend Bev has not been able to post regularly on her blog - but being in the thick of things in Afghanistan, its understandable. Enjoy the rest with Kev and my guys in Sri Lanka darling and we'll see you here in December. God Willing.
18 Ottobre - San Luca Evangalista

Postings

We still don’t have Internet at home and with Ferragosto (see below) in full swing it may be another two to three weeks before that happens.

That means that I can only post if I go to a “hot spot” or one of the very expensive Internet cafes. Since the apartment has to be cleaned, clothes washed and ironed, Reese attended to, shopping done and meals prepared (oh my God I should have entered Italy as a member of Laurent’s household staff!) I often just don’t have the time so postings may be erratic for the next little while.

As I’ll probably be putting up several posts written on different days all at once I’ll identify the day it was written; and because its Italy, because its Rome and because Big Ben, Father George and the Boys live just the other side of the river, I’ll include the Saint’s Day – and god knows there’s a Saint, sometimes two, for every day.

Sadly the lack of Internet means that I haven’t been able to keep up with my favourite blogs and I miss them. Once Fastweb comes through I’ll have a lot to catch upon.

15 agosto – San Alfredo

Mom! It's Not Fair!

My blogger buddies BigAssBelleand Red7Eric both got NC17 and I only got a PG - its not fair!



It appears my use of the words: "ass," "gay" and "hell" make me unsuitable for tots to view unless mom and dad approve of that sort of thing.

Maybe I should be running the voice over they put on before Law and Order SVU or Family Guy in the early evening:

Parts of this programme may be unsuitable for younger audiences. Parental Discretion is Advised.