“OPA’LIA, a Roman festival in honour of Opis,a which was celebrated on the 14th day before the Calends of January (Dec. 19th), being the third day of the Saturnalia, which was also originally celebrated on the same day, when only one day was devoted to the latter festival. It was believed that Opis was the… Read More Earth Mom, Roman Style
“First things first, but not necessarily in that order.” – Doctor Who Buenos Aires – There was much speculation, much buzz, much questioning… just exactly what were we going to do at Casa SaltShaker to celebrate 45 years since the pilot of Doctor Who aired – celebrating the longest running science fiction show on television… Read More Who? What? Where? When? How…?
“As Jupiter reached opposition earlier this week, it put on a spectacular show of cannibalism for anyone viewing with modest telescopes. Planetary specialists around the world have been watching with bated breath as a cataclysmic encounter between Jupiter’s Great Red Spot (GRS), Oval BA (Red, Jr.), and the newly discovered Little Red Spot (LRS) unfolded… Read More All Hail Jupiter!
Mrs. Adams: “Malena fell down the cellar stairs!” Virgil Adams: “Did she break any of our things?” – from Alice Adams, 1935 Buenos Aires – Though he appeared, and often starred, in more than one hundred films during his career, Fred MacMurray is probably best known as Stephen Douglas, the patriarch of the My Three… Read More Nice Guy Turns 100
“Romania has the majestic castles, medieval towns, great hiking and wildlife, and cheap skiing of much of the ‘undiscovered’ former Eastern Bloc…. Horse-drawn carts jostle for space against fast cars whose drivers are talking money on mobile phones; farm workers watch The Apprentice on satellite in their medieval farmhouses. No longer the weird kid of… Read More Dracula Romanticism
Please don’t retouch my wrinkles. It took me so long to earn them.” – Anna Magnani, actress Buenos Aires – You may have noticed that recently our Casa S themes have been getting more and more offbeat – moving away from various Republic Days and Independence Days and such. It’s only semi-intentional – part of… Read More Mamma Roma
“Light the candles and pour the red wine into your glass. Before you begin to eat, raise your glass in honor of yourself. The company is the best you’ll ever have.” – Daniel Halpern, Poet, from How to Eat Alone Buenos Aires – A group of local wine aficionados contacted me for a little private… Read More Red, Red Wine
“On July 14, 1789, an outraged group of Parisians stormed the Bastille, a fortress and prison in France where prisoners of influence were held, in hopes of capturing ammunition…. For the peasant class, the Bastille stood as a symbol of the hypocrisy and corruption of the aristocratic government – controlled mostly by nobility and clergy.… Read More Storming the Bastille