Birthday Celebrations in Italia

We drove to San Diego today to spend the day with Barry and Kelly, a joint birthday celebration for Barry and myself; our birthdays are 10 days apart. The day was set up by Debby and Kelly. It was originally meant to be a surprise train trip into Mexico, but that fell through. Then Kelly mentioned an Italian festival in Balboa Park and we decided to go there instead.

Kelly's big news was that she had survived the second mass layoff at her employer this year; an additional 40 attorneys and 80 staff were let go, including several that Kelly worked with. We congratulate Kelly for having established herself so well in her profession. She was also pleased that her younger brothers were established in permanent positions now in this tough economy. Barry's contract as Assistant Professor at UCI has been renewed for a third year; he will teach two Group Theory classes next fall while continuing to pursue his research.

After going for lunch at a sandwich shop near UCSD, we met friends of Kelly, from her Italian class, at the Balboa Park Organ Pavilion. We sat and chatted and then watched an a cappella performance of male voices: Il Coro degli Alpini or Alpine Soldier's Chorus. The songs were in Italian and Debby translated for me. She knew three of the songs. We also met Kelly's travel agent by chance, who has been arranging Barry and Kelly's trip to Italia in August (in conjunction with their other trip to Budapest and Prague the week before). Debby conversed with her in Italian, then spoke with some members of the Coro Alpini while purchasing their two available CDs. Debby loves to mingle with Italians and converse in their language, so it was a special day for her as well. The Italian Vice-Consul of San Diego and Consul General from Los Angeles were emcees and expressed great satisfaction at how warmly the Italian-American community of San Diego had welcomed the musical group.

After the concert, we wandered around the park exhibits for a while, visiting the Ansel Adams exhibition, but deciding not to go through the exhibit. We then ended up at the Desert and Rose gardens, before driving to Little Italy for evening snacks. At a small soup and salad place, I continued my vegetarian day with an excellent eggplant and mozzarella dish with chianti. The others fared equally well. Then we retired to a coffee and gelato shop up the street and enjoyed coffee and gelato to live music.

It was a wonderful day. Barry and Kelly presented me with gifts of wine, a bundle of firewood kindling tied with a big red bow, a math book, and a humorous card suggesting that I should barbecue myself a birthday cake. The kindling was a special gift; they were pieces of 1" boards that Barry has been breaking with hand chops and foot kicks as part of his Kung Fu training. I told him he would regret that abuse when he gets to be my age. But youth must find its own way. Debby suggested that I practice woodworking with the boards, since I have taken custody of her Dad's woodworking tools. I concur that the boards should not go to waste.

The math book is also a special gift. Barry says it is the only book he knows that has attempted to explain, in layman's terms, his field of algebraic number theory. The book is Fearless Symmetry (Exposing the Hidden Patterns of Numbers) by Ash and Gross. I love the thoughtful gifts that I receive from B & K.

Debby expressed how the sounds of Italian all day at the park and in Little Italy had whetted her appetite for a return visit to Italia. I sense we are as good as on our way.