Rick Bailey's Blog: Stuff happens, then you write about it, page 2

Don’t Forget

I read an article about dementia in the New York Times this morning. The title was something like “the ten things you should do to minimize memory loss.” The author was a famous neurologist or brain doctor. His advice: get enough sleep, eat good food, get a lot of exercise, be sociable, watch your cholesterol.…More

Saint Stuff

And there he was again. A week ago in Urbino, at the National Gallery of the Marche, we saw a portrait of San Rocco. He’s leaning on his staff, casting a slanted glance at the painter, at the viewer—at me and Tizi—daring us to look. In appearance he seems disheveled. He wears no shoes. He…More

A Foot in the Farberware

Piscialetto. It’s an odd name for a restaurant. A compound word: piscia + letto. Read piscialetto as a verb, wet the bed. Read it as a noun, bed wetter.  If it’s a joke, naming a restaurant that, I don’t get it. But I’m interested. We’re walking by this new restaurant in Rimini when Tizi notices…More

A Walkabout

We park by the mercato coperto in Rimini. It’s a Sunday morning. We’ve come in search of wine, chocolate, and cookies or pastries to take with us to lunch at Tizi’s cousins down the coast.   In the five-minute walk to the wine and chocolate shop, we pass half a dozen coffee bars that are open…More

Want a Slice?

I knew I was supposed to like it. I wanted to like it. But the whole experience left me wondering–What’s the big fuss? Is this all there is? No, not first sex. I’m talking about first pizza. It seems unthinkable that I could have reached the age of 12 or 13 and never had pizza.…More

And for lunch . . .

Major thanks to Alba Montanari for taking us to lunch in Novafeltria yesterday. It was a day full of delectable surprises, sights, and delights.  Alba drove, Tizi rode shotgun, and I took the backseat, which was fine with me. Tizi and Alba go way back, I mean WAY back, to single digits, to pre-school and…More

Beyond Baloney

At the half-way point in our stay, we make a pilgrimage to Bologna.  From San Marino it’s about an hour by car. We plan to arrive a little after the morning rush hour. At the airport we turn in the rental we’ve been driving for three weeks and pick up another car for the rest…More

Here Boy!

The sign in the front window of the Marchi store in Santarcangelo is small and succinct: “No pipí. Grazie!” An arrow at the edge of the sign points down, at the brick wall, the side of the building, immediately below the window.  At first I thought, That’s kinda cute! There’s something about the word pipí.…More

Getting Verbal

An incident. At the Rimini Autostrada automated drive-through pay station. Tizi and I were driving back to San Marino from Pesaro. At the Rimini exit, my ticket was repeatedly rejected. Three times a gentle automated female voice told me to introduire il bigletto, that is, introduce (insert) my ticket. I did, to no effect. But…More

Hey, Siri–Take a Note

A while back I went to a friend’s book launch. It was at a public library. She read a few passages from her book, we had coffee and cookies, then, seated at a table in the back of the room, she sold and signed copies of her book. For each reader, on the title page…More