Monthly Archives: May 2023

………….Thinking about Mom………The year was 1927, the place Brooklyn……A Sunday stroll……Mom was born in 1910 so that would make her 17 years old……..This was not the Brooklyn we know today. From NYC it was like moving to the country!! My Mom is on the right and Sadie is on the left…..I don’t know who owned the German Shepard dogs,  but they look ferocious. I love the old cars on the unpaved boulevards, and the young trees lining them…..Cloche hats and chemise dresses were the fashions of the times!……….Things were simpler then, but the world,  and their worlds were about to change!

…………………A Sunday dinner in Settignano, Italy……..Since 1971 I have gone to Florence, Italy to develop sweaters for the three companies I worked for….Giorgini, Anne Klein and Dei Tre of Bergdorf Goodman….I worked with Giovanna Ciampini. Their offices were in an ancient building on the Piazza Santa Trinita…..There was a huge obelisk in front of their building…Armani, Ferragamo, and Gucci were on the same street…..It did have a very small elevator that was added many years later…..It only fit two people [three could squeeze in], but you took it at your own risk. It was known to get stuck!…..On Sundays I was invited to Marcello and Giovanna’s home in the hills of Settignano…They lived there with Giovanna’s parents, Gina and Enzo until they passed away….It had been Giovanna’s father’s home…..The view of Florence below was breath taking! Giovanna had one son at the time we met, Leonardo who was still an infant. Later another son, Lorenzo was to come. In the photo is Marcello with his two sons, and me at their front driveway gate. Their house is in the background. Sunday dinner was a major meal, always followed by two or three deserts…..We had plenty of red wine to wash it all down! They had olive orchards, lemon trees, and grapes on the hills in front of their villa……Their caretaker used to make fresh olive oil, Limoncello, and red wine every season, and Giovanna always gave me some to take home! After the enormous meal we all went for a walk in the country side……For 25 years I had dinners at Giovanna and Marcello’s home, until I stopped working for Bergdorf Goodman and started working for QVC. Unfortunately, the prices of sweaters from Italy were too high for QVC, and I no longer could work with Giovanna…..The boys are now married, and Leonardo has a daughter! ……Time marches on…….Marcello and Giovanna still live in their beautiful home in Settignano. We e-mail all the time………..She calls me Luigino………One day I will make the trip back to see my dear friends…..More than friends……….FAMILY!

………………………..This may not be something you think about often….but….the older you get the more you realize how many people have come into your life. Some were important to you…and some not as much……and many are gone for one reason or another……some are just footnotes…but many have become chapters……….I have so many chapters to my life.

……………………This warmer weather is bringing back memories of my family’s vacations……..Almost every summer my family and I would spend 10 days in the country……Here we are….I think the person taking the picture forgot to say “SMILE”! My brothers, Mauro and John look great, however I look like a refugee. My haircut looks like another one of my Dad’s specials, and don’t ask me what’s going on with my pants, and those shoes! I guess they didn’t have sneakers in the 50s??? The best word to describe me is….GOOFY!…The place we stayed at was somewhere in the Catskills? The name of the place is The Laurel House. I  remember I thought it was a beautiful place with very large rooms, and a very nice dining room……like a southern plantation…..There was a large pool that was located by a stream, but I don’t remember ever going into the pool even once…..it was dark and ominous looking to me…..The owners of the hotel always organized special activities and events. I remember a funny hat contest….How 50s is that!……I actually hated going to the country because I had terrible allergies, and I really suffered, especially at night….Usually we went with some cousins so I always had someone to play with. As you can see my brothers were older and BIGGER than me so we didn’t do much together…..I was the pesky little brother….There was a big baseball field, but I was too small to play so I would go exploring down by the brook that ended with a pretty steep waterfall…..There was a three foot stone wall outlining part of the driveway that my cousins and I used to sit on until one day we were hanging out there, and I was sitting of the wall. All of a sudden my cousins ran away!? I felt something tickle my leg? It was a snake that I guess lived in the wall and had come out right between my legs!!!!! I HATE SNAKES!!!! and ran like blazes. I never went near that wall again. After that everywhere I went I was on the lookout for snakes….This was not my first run in with a snake….They always seemed to find me!!!..I hated the country, and as an adult I never went on a summer vacation in the country………..Give me the water and the beach anytime!!!

………………..The FREE FORM DOUBLE PENDANT with CHAIN……..J421049…….sold out so quickly when I first introduced it a few months ago that we had to reorder it to keep up with demand! It’s once again available in the three colors…….STERLING SILVER……STERLING SILVER plated with 18 KARAT GOLD……and BI COLOR in the STERLING and GOLD…………..It makes a strong impression without being over whelming, and is the perfect “GO TO” necklace!…..Wear it with a tee shirt, a sweater, a tunic or a silk or cotton button down shirt……It will work with everything!