Passport’s Language Guides--Italian for Beginners

Learning a Language is a lot easier and more fun than you think.

Buon giorno, come ti chiami? (What is your name?)
Connie, e tu? (Connie and you?)

Tonight’s lesson will be
translated
in a gondola on a Venetian canal.

Ionithermie at the Spa on Holland America Line

The forecast says fair weather blue skies.
It’s Friday, another beautiful day at sea.
I’m on the spa phone talking to my husband
and signalling Vittorio, my spa attendant,
to please get me an Evian—
Dear, you should see him leering?
I swear all they do is flirt.
I’m early for my appointment, papers to fill out.
They want to know if I’ve ever had a hot rocks treatment
it is the latest in their line of relaxation treatments.
Yes I know I took the tour!
They also have teeth whitening.

I ask, Cassie, my clinician, about something
I’ve seen in the brochure
I noticed something here
about detoxification and cellulite reduction,
what’s that all about?

Oh it’s non-invasive!
We use electricity
at a low voltage
and we steadily increase it to detox
your cells
thereby breaking down
your fat cells and
reducing the appearance of cellulite.

First you have to take off everything.
we supply you with paper panties.
Then we slather you with mineral treatment
and finally we attach the electrodes.
You feel tiny shocks on the designated areas.
The treatment lasts for about twenty minutes
and requires you come back two more times.

How do you know how many watts to use?
It's as much as you can take.
We guarantee at least a four inch
combined fat reduction
from your hips, stomach and thighs.
Okay sign me up for the works.

Hello dear,
Yes I’ve signed up
for the electric shock treatment,
only they call it something else
Ionithermie.
What’s that?
Oh thanks dear,
he said, Good Luck!

The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls

The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls
A remarkable memoir of
resilience and redemption

A diamond
formed from
the blackest coal.

An Inspired Christmas Tree

It
stands tall
in the corner of my
garage all decked out
for Christmas, with hooks and
different colored skirts hanging from
its fake branches. Mr. Blue Marlin swims
at the top, sticking his nose up,
avoiding the tempting banquet
all around him. Not
today, Captain
says he, not
today!

Cruising to Serenity

I spent the better part of today
decorating.
Christmas is coming
two weeks sooner.
My husband is designing
something unique
so up the artificial tree went
a canvas ready for his artistry.
I love his enthusiasm
the way he dives into a new project
and I figured while I was at it
I might as well put up my Christmas village too
and create something of my own.
It was a nice diversion
took my mind into a new direction.

The hours sailed by
and my cruise ship
took me to a place I hadn’t
been to in a long time.
The food was fresh
the hot tub a piping 102
the treadmill hummed
the lounge comfortable out on the deck
as I listened to my favorite music

in today’s port of call—Carefree.

Tonight the tempurpedic mattress beckons
although there isn’t a chocolate mint on my pillow
I grin at my reflection and gaze at tomorrow’s
schedule. Lunch with my writing friends
at another favorite port
tonight we sail to Serenity.

On A Mission

The news trickles in
calls, from Outer islands,
Skypes from Saipan
and the Mainland

What’s next—Oprah?

Get that white woman,
she will be our Mom beacon
careful don’t look directly at her
her message is strong.
It will change the way you look
at addiction.
It will shake loose the lies
and deception that we’ve been fed.
We’ll put her on our network
between Judge Judy and The Doctors.
The families will get their wake-up call
soon enough.
Quick get the warden on the line
I think I have the angle we need.

Acceptance

We met

on level ground
and saw that we were
the same
that we had always
been that way
and that it was okay
I reached out my hand and
you accepted it.
You accepted it
knowing that this
leg of the journey
was just beginning.

Thunderous applause
from men and women
who needed a leg up
who got lost on the way
to their day job.

Took a left
and got stuck in quicksand
trying to understand the reasons

why she could and they couldn’t.

Listening intently and then
asking the tough questions
as if she were their Mom
looking for that common bond
finding instead their old selves
that could still relate to the world
still had some wonder left
that wanted more
and weren’t afraid to go after it.

Who was that person
who shined?

I liked her.

She exuded confidence
and she wasn’t afraid to
show her flaws

now that’s real strength.

She was as transparent
as glass
evoked tears
from calloused hearts
and struck solid gold
on their hit
parade.