My Uncle Anthony...The Don of Our Lady of the Holy Resurrection

 Hey everyone! Sorry I have been away so long, just real busy at work with lots of deadlines.... you know how it is! Anyhow, last time I started talking about my Uncle Anthony so today I am going to tell you more about him. I will never forget my first day at our new school, back in 1984. Tony were going into sixth grade
and Bruno into first.  We were starting a new school, because we had moved. It was called  "Our Lady of The Holy Resurrection", these long Catholic school names have always cracked me up! The bad thing was, our Uncle Anthony went there. He was going into his final year of elementary school. Little did we know what awaited us at this school...The teachers for one thing, were nuts at this school.  I think they got a cut rate on them because they had all been institutionalized or something, but that is another story for another time! Anyhow....Anthony told me and Tony to meet him in the boiler room after school, which immediately set off our radar for one of his pranks or frame-ups, but when we got there we were met by a sign on the door, "Private: Please Knock"   so we knocked and heard Anthony's voice say "Come In".When we came in to the darkened room, what we saw could have been mistaken for a scene out of"The Godfather". There sat Anthony at a make-shift desk with one of those green banker's lamps on it sitting with his hands folded and flanked by a bunch of guys, one on his immediate right side and the rest gathered behind him standing.  They were introduced to us as (I had to check my old diary for the names!) Ricky, Mikey, Paulie, Louie, Joey, Johnny and Sonny. Anthony was dressed in a suit. Yes, a suit like he would wear to church and he wore a gold pinkie ring (a gift from Nonno). We always knew this kid wasn't normal, and now we were sure of it.  I will tell you what happened next time...ciao!      

My Italian Grandmother...cont'd.

So, last time I was telling you the story of the day that Pops got stuck under his truck out back and Nonna was over at the house right?  Well anyhow, Pops was shouting and hollering thinking that Ma was still home and didn't know she had left to get Bruno.  Nonna heard him alright, but her response was to just turn up the volume on the television that much louder. She just sat there watching her show as Pops yelled for help, like nothing was even happening.  The only help for Pops came on four legs.  There was this stray mutt that had been coming around since we moved in, Tony and Bruno and I used to feed him the food we didn't like and we called him Scruff, but we knew Pops would not let us keep him.  Well, it was as if Scruff knew he had to get in good with Pops if he wanted to stay. He came up to him and licked him, at first Pops got even madder but then Ma came home and the dog actually went and brought her right to Pops. Ma got a neighbor to help her jack the truck up and off of Pops.  He wasn't really hurt luckily, he had just been trapped. A skinny person would have been able to slither out, but Pops was never skinny....Ma already had a soft-spot for Scruff, so she managed to talk Pops into letting us keep him and that is how we got our dog.  Ma told Pops that Nonna was there, and didn't understand why didn't he get her to help. Pops was not surprised. When she went inside to question Nonna, there was no sign of her anywhere!  The only evidence left was that the tv got left on the Italian station she had been watching.  Nonna could be so sneaky..really.  I guess that is where my Uncle Anthony picked it up from.  Uncle Anthony got away with things that would put most other kids in juvie!  I have a lot to say about him, so until next time....ciao!

Prosciutto, Antipasto,Cannoli and an extra helping of....Amarezza! - My Nonna

Hey everyone, sorry I was away so long...but this whole weekend was crazy busy because my litttle sister Baretta just got married..congrats sis and Mario!  They are honeymooning in St.Kitts, I am so jealous...Anyhow I said last time that I would tell you all about my little Italian grandmother, and I remembered a funny story about her so here it goes.  My grandmother, or Nonna as we called her, is a tiny woman, she never stood more than about 4 ft 10 and she always kind of reminded me of Dr. Ruth, only Italian looking. She was dark complexioned and dark-haired, but had gone mostly gray by her fifties. She had a prominent "Roman" nose which is something Pops has always poked fun at her about, that and the faint mustache on her upper lip. Like I mentioned before, Pops and Nonna HATE each other, always have and always will. Even now, Nonna had a stroke a few years back and now lives in a nursing home, she can't really speak anymore but when she sees Pops (Ma drags him there) she still shoots an icy glare his way.  Nonno when he was alive, used to say "Anna is full of amarezza !" In Italian that mean bitterness.  It's true too, Nonna has always been suspicious and jaded towards just about everyone for some reason, she has never talked much of her past so we don't really know why.  There are things she loved above anything though when she was well, those being: 1.The church-she always carried her rosary. 2. her son Anthony, Ma's younger brother-she always used to claim he would be a priest, but Anthony had other plans...a topic I will cover later 3. Bruno-because "he's a Bonzerelli", Bonzerelli is Ma's family name. 4. Angie-my cousin, because she is Anthony's daughter 5. cooking and baking -she was an amazing cook, I'll give her that! 6. opera 7. Nonno's homemade wine-the only thing she drinks. 8. Pinocchio-not the wooden boy, but this was a cat she had that I think lived for 20 years or something and when it died she blamed Pops because the cat also hated him.  And that's about it.  Nonna never really liked Tony and I , probably because when we were kids Anthony who is not much older than we are always did bad things and set us up to take the blame, that and the fact that we look more like Pops!  Nonna was very emotional and excitable and was prone to fainting when something upset her.  She would start hyperventilating and have to breathe into a paper bag, which she always had in her ever-present purse. I think she even took her purse into the washroom with her at her own house!  I just don't remember ever seeing her without a purse.  Anyhow, one day Pops was out back working underneath his truck when Nonna came over to see Ma. Well, Ma got a call from the school that Bruno had wet his pants...again...so she had to go pick him up, Tony and I were also at school.  That left Nonna alone in the house with Pops working out back, but he didn't know she was there. Next, I think Pops' foot slipped or something and knocked the jack out from under the truck, essentially pinning him under where he was working. He started to shout out for help, thinking Ma was inside still, but little did he know that Nonna was there. She was sitting on the couch watching the Italian Telejournal with the volume turned up, and a little knowing smile on her face....as Pops shouted out back for help. I will tell you the rest of the story next time....ciao!