When I was little, my grandfather (who is a bigger kid than I am) got a big kick out of bringing my sister and me rock candy – you know, the candy that looks like pebbles.  It took us a couple of times to realize that we could actually eat the present.  Even so, I was never super comfortable with the idea.

This weekend, on a trip to the Gorge with friends, I ran across a gem and rock show at Cascade Locks.

Among the bins of polished rocks, strings of beads, and great chunks of amethyst, we found this:

Yup.  That’s one gumball machine filled with, you guessed it, gumballs, and one filled with rocks.  It seems the person who set up the machines sensed the inherent danger in this situation.  If you look closely at the label on the rock machine, you’ll see “do not eat.  is not candy.  it’s rocks.”

Yeah.  Good call.

Today’s vocab word is “è piovuto,” which means “it’s raining.”

Here it is in a phrase.

è piovuto uomini.  Hallelujah!  è piovuto uomini.  Amen.

Happy translating!

I’ve taught myself a number of things over the years:  guitar, Microsoft Access, html.  Right now I’m learning how to meditate.

Every day I try to take some time with my dog Libby and we sit in the park in our neighborhood.

This is the view from the bench we sit in.  Meditation has a steep learning-curve for me, but ‘m willing to give it time.

Today, on our way to the park, we happened upon the evidence of someone else’s self-training.

These books were scattered next to the sidewalk.  It’s so awesome I had to go back to get my camera…

Along with the “Teach Yourself to Play Guitar” book was another gem:

Yeah, that’s how enlightened I am.  I had to walk back to the house to get the camera to take a picture of the word “orgasm.”

You see what I mean about a steep learning-curve.  I think maybe I should try a little harder with the meditation.

I walk past a number of things every morning on the way from the lot where I park my Prius to the cube where I park myself.

I walk past folks witout homes, past a garden someone has created on the side of the freeway…and this.  (Avert your eyes, Mom.)

Yes, evidently I’ve been walking past this twice a day for quite some time.  I have a vague notion that I’ve seen it before, but this week it caught my eye for real.  So I thought I’d share.

Yeah, that’s what it says alright.

Well, we all do our part.

The word of the day is eccita.  It means excited (in the after dark kind of way).

Here it is in a sentence:

Il salame non mi eccita.  Sono una vegetariana.

Happy translating!