Friday, September 30, 2011

Final picture from Italy

This is the last picture I'm going to post from my Italy trip. (I'm saving a half dozen or so for the magazine articles I'm writing).

This is Pesaro's fountain at night. We left six hours after this picture was taken.

The Streets of Italy

The thing that I really found interesting in this part of Italy was how narrow the streets were. This one was in Urbino...

The Streets of Italy

The thing that I really found interesting in this part of Italy was how narrow the streets were. This one was in Fano...

The Streets of Italy

The thing that I really found interesting in this part of Italy was how narrow the streets were. This one was in Loreto.

The Streets of Italy

The thing that I really found interesting in this part of Italy was how narrow the streets were. This one was in Pesaro.


Thursday, September 29, 2011

The Ceilings of Italy

After spending time in Italy, I realized that I've been wasting all the ceiling space in my home by painting them plain white.

This might be another way to go...

The Cubs on Catalina Island

From 1921-1951, the Cubs had their spring training on Catalina Island...

The Ceilings of Italy

After spending time in Italy, I realized that I've been wasting all the ceiling space in my home by painting them plain white.

This might be another way to go...

The Ceilings of Italy

After spending time in Italy, I realized that I've been wasting all the ceiling space in my home by painting them plain white.

This might be another way to go...

The Ceilings of Italy

After spending time in Italy, I realized that I've been wasting all the ceiling space in my home by painting them plain white.

This might be another way to go...

The Ceilings of Italy

After spending time in Italy, I realized that I've been wasting all the ceiling space in my home by painting them plain white.

This might be another way to go...

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Legless Torso Book Promotion

I just posted my weekly Suburban Dad contribution to Kim Strickland's City Mom blog at ChicagoNow. This week's column is about the unique way I handled the challenges of book promotion when my first novel came out.

You can read it here.

Bridget in Italy

In Pesaro at night, with her husband.

Bridget in Italy

At the old Roman wall in Fano...

Bridget in Italy

On one of Pesaro's wide streets. Yes, cars did drive here...

Bridget in Italy

Overlooking the Adriatic...

Catching Hell

If you saw "Catching Hell" last night on ESPN, you saw a moment in our history that wasn't exactly Cubs fans finest hour. I actually thought the filmmaker did a really nice (and fair) job of capturing the zeitgeist. One of the participants in the program was Fox 32's Dane Placko--and they asked him to participate because they saw this video on my website Just One Bad Century...

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Meatloaf

Happy birthday Meatloaf. He's 64 years old today...

Urbino

A 15th century city (and birthplace of Raphael) that is completely intact...

Acqualagna

Took this one during our truffle hunt (full story of that day to come).

Italian Roads, Take Me Home

Granted, we weren't exactly in the highest population centers of Italy, but this is pretty typical of the roads we traveled on the entire time we were there.

Mornings on the Adriatic

Took this one as we prepared to get on the bus for an excursion...

Pesaro, Italy

This is an outside wall, and no, it's not attached to a library...

Monday, September 26, 2011

Fano

An arch built by the Roman Emperor Augustus around two thousand years ago. The original etchings are still on the wall...

Loreto

The Basilica behind me was built around the birth home of the Virgin Mary, brought back to Italy during the Crusades. The church was only 700 years old. The fountain was only 500 years old.

An Italian Vineyard

We had an amazing lunch here last week in the hills above Fano, Italy. The food was delicious. The wine was incredible. Yes, that's right, wine for lunch. And lots of it...

The Italian Riviera

This was the view from my hotel room in Pesaro, Italy last week...

Rube Waddell


This is finally the last merciful week of the baseball season, so this is the last week of stories to come from Just One Bad Century.

The final Cubs Hall of Famer for the season is Rube Waddell.

Sunday, September 25, 2011

Father Knows Nothing

Just got back from Italy, and this week's Father Knows Nothing column is about the very strange circumstances surrounding the day I left Chicago. It's called "An Italian Birthday."

You can read it here
.