Thank you from "Helping Fathers to be Dads"

I've been back from Italy for five days. Still exhausted. Unpacking. Taxes are due. Been through 30 days of mail. Jet lag. Watched my grandson yesterday, along with granddaughter Rosie today, which Kathy and I were happy to do. Yard work needed on two houses and I've been working on my book release--coming April 28th. Soooo, I don't have a decent post ready for Dadhood. Yet I want to keep my blog schedule. 

Since this blog is sometimes written around photography, I am therefore going to tell you my 10 favorites of the photos I shot in Italy--and why I chose them. I'm sure most of you would have chosen some of the other 200+ photos published in this blog over my ten, and I'm happy about that! Please enjoy, and comments, good or constructive, are welcomed.

Even with the Leaning Tower of Pisa and its Duomo to choose from, I chose this photo taken in Pisa as one of my favorites. I love the architecture, the colors, and the way the street curves. I took a similar photo in Nice, France that I really liked so when I saw this scene, I knew it had potential.


There are so many photos of the Leaning Tower, it is difficult to find something interesting that is new, especially those of all those folks holding it up. (Yes, I took some myself). On the other hand, not too many will take a photo of a Pisa thoroughfare, which I found more interesting because of its lack of notice by the "leaners".

This may seem to be an unusual choice. The scenery is not beautiful. But I like two things about this photo.
 
1) The roof and railroad tracks converging on the left portion of the photo which, in turn, lead you to the one person in the photo.
2) The absence of any people except for the girl with her hair falling on her left side, large purse, and one bent knee. This photo captures a point in time in March of 2015 in Lucca, Italy and tells more of a story than being a picture of beauty.

I had to choose a photo of Positano, on the Amalfi Coast of Italy. There were many photos that were equally pretty because this town is so photogenic.  This one shows the coastline, the beautiful mountainside homes and the wrought iron bench and fencing that frames the town. No talent is required for good photos on the Amalfi Coast!

This may be my favorite photo that I took in Italy. It is from the town of Pienza in the province of Tuscany. First of all, my favorite landscape is tranquil, rolling green hills, not totally forested. This is Tuscany to a 'T'!

I had taken a photo of this same scene at midday but knew it would be even better near sunset. We left Pienza to tour more of the Tuscan countryside and returned before sunset.

This photo with the sun low to the west, lit up the olive trees and better defined the shape of the hills. The signature cypress trees put the exclamation point on the scene!    

This is another photo of Tuscany taken at sunset. 

The road, lined with cypresses, leads to a small farm. The sun defines the crests of the hills. The scene stretches for miles from the nearby foliage to the distant mountains showing the depth and peacefulness of the area.

This is The Church of St. Francis in Assisi Italy.  It is near the top of this mountaintop city. Also, this church is actually two complete churches, one on top of  the other. 

Many tourist never reach this level because of the climb and the mistake of only visiting the lower section of the building. I was lucky to find it.

I positioned myself so the sun was behind the bowed head of St. Francis. The horizon is distant and low, giving away the altitude of this beautiful church.

No way could I pick a top ten photo of Italy and not include Cinque Terre! This is the first of two photos I chose from there, this being the second village from the south of five, named Manarola. I framed this shot from a low trail using an evergreen and interesting clouds 

The rock structure and the multi-colored homes make for a unique picturesque scene that can rarely be found anywhere in the world.

Another location where it is a challenge to take a bad photo!

This is Vernazza, the middle of the five villages of Cinque Terra. 

I love this photo for the water, the boats, and all the colors.

The scene behind me was just as beautiful with magificent rock cliffs, lapping waters, and small waterfalls.

One day after travelling, we spent a rainy day in Florence. The rain didn't deter many tourists from coming out. I had many photos of people with their multi-colored umbrellas walking the streets of Florence. I almost picked one of those umbrella photos as a top ten.

I settled, however, on this photo with no colorful umbrellas and few people. It has a feeling of a movie from the 40's, 50's, or 60's. 

The rain beautifully reflected the streetlights, which merge in the distance from both sides of the street.

A single lady holds her umbrella as she begins to cross the street. The two balls of light in the upper left corner balance the photo and can be found on the first building on the right as you walk onto the world famous Ponte Vecchio bridge over the Arno River. The cross on the right is green and signifies a 'farmacia' (pharmacy).

This is the tenth and last photo, taken on my last day in Italy. I worked very hard to get this photo. First I  took the wrong bus on a very nasty morning and wasted a hour or more while hacking all day with a bad cough. I then found the correct route and waited 45 minutes in the rain for a bus. I had another issue which will remain mysterious.

But my delays paid off! Despite the forecast the clouds broke, they were dramatic, and the sun shone on Florence, including the Ponte Vecchio bridge, the Duomo, the tower of Palazzo Vecchio, the Arno River and much more. Taken from the Piazza Michelangelo, this is where many young men propose marriage to their chosen one. It is a classic scene and one of the few places where you can see the sky and mountains surrounding Florence. This is because of the narrow streets and many buildings in the city that obstruct those views.

As wonderful as this trip was, and despite how long we were there, we failed to make it to Venice, Lake Como, and the Matterhorn in the Swiss Alps. I can't imagine the beautiful photos that would have been possible in those locations. 

Thank you!
Mike

This will be another break from fatherhood, Dadhood, parenting, etc.  After 23 days in Italy, we are returning in two days and I must get to work marketing my book. But the trip has been great and exhausting! I’ve logged 130+ miles walking and climbing in Italy. History here in Italy is beyond compare! There is so much to learn! But photography is my hobby and I loved the Amalfi Coast, the Tuscan countryside and finally…Cinque Terre!

The Cinque Terre, "The Five Lands", is a rugged portion of coast on the Italian Riviera. It is in the Liguria region of Italy, to the west of the city of La Spezia and comprises five villages: Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore , from north to south. My wife Kathy and I stayed in a very nice room in Manarola with a fantastic view as you will see in the photos. Paths, trains and boats connect the villages, and cars cannot reach all these town from the outside. 

The towns were built in coves where, naturally, water flows from streams down from the mountains. Walking streets were built over the streams and you can hear rushing water in most areas of Manarola, Venazza, and Riomaggiore. Houses were built on solid rock and those rugged mountainsides that have soil are terraced for growing grapes, olives, lemons, etc.

The variation of house colors is due to the fact that while fishermen were doing their jobs just offshore, they wanted to be able to see their house easily. This way, they could make sure their wives were still home doing the wifely duties (or so it is said). Most of the families in the five villages made money by catching the fish and selling them in the small port villages. Fish was also their main source of food. Today, tourism is their bread and butter (pane and burro).

These days the towns are connected by trains along with the trails. The ride on the train from one town to the other may take from ninety seconds to three minutes. There is not much to see on the trains in Cinque Terre because they travel through tunnels. If you hike along the coast, when they are not closed due to landslides, you can walk between towns in a short amount of time. If you hike over the mountains, it can take five hours, sweat, and lots of steps to go to all five villages!

My hike from RIomaggiore to Manarola took me an hour and twenty minutes with breaks for breathing and taking photos. My iPhone health app said I climbed 86 floors and I think it was a mile or two. In a day and a half, we visited four of the towns, missing Corniglia, but I did see it from the trail (photos) and I visited the train station late one night when I was coming back to Manarola from Riomaggiore. I missed Manarola because the stop came so quickly and the train stopped shortly in a pitch black tunnel (a standard procedure, the entire train is too long). After 20 minutes in Corniglia, I made my way back to Manarola on the next train back.

I hope you enjoy the photos. It’s a very beautiful place!! Bellissimo!

USA: A Strong Country, Weak on Children’s Welfare

In Italy, you see families walking together quite often, pushing strollers. You see this in the US too, but in my experience, it is usually at the zoo and not casually walking about town, at least with dad. As I wrote my book on Dadhood, I wondered how the USA compared with Europe in raising children successfully. This is the latest I could find.

An excerpt from my book, “The Power of Dadhood”

“In February 2007, the United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) released a report that said, among the twenty-one wealthiest nations, the United States was the worst place to raise a child. The United States ranked low on the scale regarding children who eat and talk frequently with their families and had the highest proportion of children living in single-parent families. Single-parenthood was associated with “a greater risk of dropping out of school, of leaving home early, of poorer health, of low skills, and of low pay.

Conversely, the study revealed that children in the Netherlands, Spain, and Greece “were the happiest,” and children of the Netherlands, Spain, and Portugal “spent the most time with their families and friends.” The evidence in the Netherlands and Spain supports the obvious: children’s welfare—their health and happiness—is greatly enhanced by involvement with those they love.

A partial explanation of the report’s low ranking of the United States is the competitive nature in the job market, making adults less available to their children. Jonathan Bradshaw, one of the authors of the study, stated, “The findings we got today are a consequence of long-term underinvestment in children. They [the United States and also the United Kingdom, which ranked next to last] don’t invest as much in children as continental European countries do.” (Farley)”

SO the US and UK were in last place. Not anything to brag about. We may have bigger homes, fancier cars, and larger bank accounts, but our parenting may suffer for it. It is a shame that when your children need you most, in their early years, it is also when parents are struggling in the workplace, spending time moving up the ladder instead of bouncing kids on their knees. It is important to be able to provide properly for your children, but it must not be forgotten that your attention trumps private schools and things.

We are competitive people and that is a good thing. But if we keep in mind that our children are more important sometimes than a little more overtime, then we have the proper perspective. On the other hand, those of us that are not competitive don’t always use our extra time in the best of ways! Balance is always the key to parenting!

Tuscany is a large region on the west side of Italy, halfway down the boot. It includes Florence, Siena, and Pisa. But the Tuscany many people think of is the place of mountain hugging villas, rolling hills, and vineyards. That’s the Tuscany these photos are about.

My favorite towns are Montepulciano and Pienza. Both are on hilltops with amazing views and oozing with character! The surrounding area can only be described as very comfortable, but heart-stopping beauty. Unlike scenery in the Alps or big cities, this area has a calmness about it that makes this a terrible place to make a living as a psychiatrist. One exception to sanity is the local Italian drivers. They will ride your tail like they want to crawl in your trunk, then pass you whenever the road straightens for 3-4 car lengths. There are, quite often, “unofficial” pull-over areas. When you see one, you can bet the view is spectacular! As you pull in, any driver behind you will be grateful that he can do his normal 100+ km/hr (60) mph) in a very twisty 60km/hr zone (36 mph).

I found out the hard way that the soil in the southern regions of Tuscany is mostly clay as opposed to the Chianti region, which has better soil for wine. For one photo, I walked to get the best shooting angle of a tree in a field. When I got back to the car, I felt like I was wearing lead shoe and two inches taller from the clay. It was very difficult to remove and the rental car got a little messy. Every so often, the clay hills are dotted with rocky protuberances where villages clung tightly--reeking of charm.

This wasn't Tuscany’s peak season of beauty. The trees were still barren, as were the vineyards, but some fruit trees were budding. The grass, however, was a bright green! Very lush looking. And I can’t forget the signature cypress trees that say to you, “dude, you are in Italy”!

I hope you enjoy the photos!
Mike

* The report is based on a literature review with a main focus on existing fatherhood research in Europe. The review only includes literature written in English and the Scandinavian languages. All 67 relevant articles were located through searches in databases for medicine and social sciences.

**(Plantin, 2001, On men’s perceptions and experiences of fatherhood] [dissertation]. Göteborg, University of Göteborg, Department of Social Work.).

While this blog is mainly about Dadhood--fathers and their kids, I occasionally fancy it a photography blog. I’m taking advantage of that fact while on vacation in Italy to provide a few (no, a lot of) photos. 

However, I just heard from my publisher that my book, The Power of Dadhood, has gone to press! No free copies for friends or family, except my mom! I will, however, reimburse any friend or family member that asks, but then we are through!!! (Just kidding). If you don't need a book like mine, I guarantee you know someone who CAN use it!

Now, enough of the advertising. These photos are of Sorrento, Positano, and Amalfi Town on the Amalfi Coast. These towns are just above the boot of Italy on the west side and just south of Napoli. Mountains slide right into the sea and the road from Sorrento down the Amalfi Coast is narrow and very winding. Until the 1800’s the only way to reach Positano was by donkey or sea. The people who settled in this area had no problem building right into the mountains and making use of any space available. You won't find any lawn mowers or boring scenery here!

Today, tourism is THE economy in this area. The beauty of the area is the attraction and many Italians are either bus drivers, waiters, or shop keepers. Most are very nice, but some are offended by our ways of doing things. One waiter turned sour when Kathy wanted to use Parmesan cheese on her seafood pasta. He said, “we don’t do this is Italy. We only use Parmesan on pizza.” He didn’t smile or talk to us after that. Most waiters, however, are used to the habits/customs of tourists from other countries. After all, we are the customers, but we don’t mean to disrespect their culture...and we are learning.

There are 70+ photos in this slide show! But I took many more than that of the beautiful scenery. I couldn’t stop taking photos, but you can’t stop looking at any time.

Ciao until Monday.
Mike

Buongiorno,

Before some sights of Italy (slideshow at the end) and before I talk about European fathers (next post), a little travelogue of our time here thus far with my wife Kathy, and friends, John and Vickie.

I didn't have a good title, so I did a takeoff of my book's title, The "Power of Dadhood", to keep in your head.

I come to you again from Florence, the city of art, history, science, ad scooters. As crowded as it seems to be in the streets at times, the tourist season never ends. It is amazing how ‘old’ seems cool here. Buildings in disrepair seem charming. Some streets are in nice neighborhoods that you would be afraid to walk at night, in the US, given how they appear. The Italian people are very nice and helpful, even though they have to bow to our language in their country. But they understand that Italy is a small country and Italian is not a major language. Plus they like the Euros we leave behind!

Yesterday we went to Pisa and Lucca. I was surprised we could climb to the top of the Leaning Tower of Pisa, where amazingly the top was, or seemed, to be level! The first floor, nor the stairs definitely were not level and it felt a bit awkward. Surprising to me, the tower is hollow. It was a beautiful day with amazing views from the top. The walk from the train station to the “Field of Miracles” (where the Leaning Tower and Duomo can be found) was fun and we found the best Gelato there (see name in slideshow) in Garibaldi Square!

Lucca is a walled city with many shops and restaurants and, of course, many piazzas. We had dinner at ‘Locanda da diBacco’. After a few questions, we kinda knew what we were ordering. It was delicioso! On our walk back through town, we found a piazza ( don’t read pizza) with some kind of chocolate festival going on. Lots of samples, yum! My favorite were little balls of Nutella chocolate covered with a candy shell. I bought 7 Euros worth!

I took photos of fathers and their children on the Sunday we were in Pisa and Lucca. In that small sample size, they seemed very warm and loving to their children, carrying them on their shoulders, feeding them gelato, and playing with them in the piazzas. There were many families with their strollers walking about.

The train ride back was relaxing, especially for our feet and legs. We have been averaging over 8 miles and 20,000 steps a day walking. We’ll take the next day off from ‘maxi-touristo’ activities tomorrow before heading to the Amalfi Coast and Sorrento.

In Florence we went to the Uffuzi Museum, which has a never-ending and magnificent display of art and sculpture from the days of the Medici family. We also toured the Palazzo Vecchio palace where they lived and ruled. See photos of the palace in my last slide show and this one. The food in Florence has been great! The pasta and pizza are reasonable considering the touristy places we have eaten. The one thing that has surprised me is the amount of graffiti in Italy. You will find it everywhere outside the main tourist areas, on trains, on the side of otherwise beautifully painted buildings, on bridges, etc. But the countryside is charming.

It has been cool and windy most days but sunny outside of the first day. We all enjoy being able to see so much while walking. And we’ve just begun! Here are some photos of what I’m talking about.

Ciao for now!

Mike