My cake

Thanks to all of you for the very kind birthday wishes. I spent a lovely day with my family and some friends, although the weather was cold and rainy!

I'd just like to show you the cake that my daughter made for me. It took her two days of work and secrecy and a bit of help from her dear friend next door but she did it! She was so proud to give it to me. Please not the little ant on the leaf, a little joke about how my friends abbreviate my name! Unfortunately I cannot offer you a slice, not even virtually, as it's gone completely !!!

As time goes by ...

So it's true. Since half an hour I'm officially one year older. Or maybe not. I was actually born at 4.30 pm, as my mum always reminds me, so maybe I'm still the same age for a few more hours...Who am I actually kidding? As if a few hours would make the difference...
Another year has gone. I don’t know what I have achieved in the past year. Probably nothing. Just another year getting along. Or maybe not? Maybe I did achieve something. Being alive!
I have to learn how to enjoy, or rather savor, my days one by one, as I am much luckier than so many people around the world. Unfortunately I don’t always realize how lucky I am. Why do we always look up at people who are wealthier, slimmer, better looking, more famous and never at the less fortunate than us?
This year’s resolution will be to try to be happier and to make the people around me happier too. Carpe Diem.

Quant'è bella giovinezza che si fugge tuttavia! Chi vuol essere lieto, sia:
di doman non c'è certezza.

Lorenzo de' Medici (1449-1492)

[How beautiful our Youth is That’s always flying by us!
Who wants to be happy, let him be so:Nothing’s sure about tomorrow.
Trans. A.S.Kline]

Happy Birthday, Rita!

Rita Levi-Montalcini, the greatest woman scientist (and probably the greatest Italian scientist of all!) that Italy has ever had is turning 100 years old today.

Born into a well-off Jewish family in Turin in 1909, she fought hard for her career from the beginning. First there was her domineering father, who didn't believe in higher education for women. Then there were Benito Mussolini's race laws, which ejected Jews from universities and forced her into hiding. And after that there was the scientific establishment, which refused to believe in the existence of nerve growth factor (NGF), the discovery of which eventually won Rita a share of the 1986 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, together with her colleague Stanley Cohen. Their research conducted while members of the faculty of Washington University, was of fundamental importance to the understanding of cell and organ growth and played a significant role in understanding cancers and diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.

Despite her age, Rita still works every day, exquisitely dressed, hair stylishly coiffured, hands perfectly manicured. In the mornings she shows up at her namesake European Brain Research Institute (EBRI)–Rita Levi-Montalcini, on the outskirts of Rome. In the afternoons she goes downtown to the offices of an educational foundation for African women that she created in 1992.
Now hard of hearing and nearly blind, she is the grand old lady of the Italian Senate, where she became senator for life in 2001, an honour bestowed on former presidents and prominent figures in social, scientific, artistic or literary fields.

“The body may die but the messages that we have sent in life remain. Mine is - believe in values”. she said a couple of days ago during an early birthday party hosted by the Italian President.

Buon Compleanno, Rita!

Granddad is 75

My dad's birthday was actually on 20th December but my parents arrived from Italy late at night so we could not celebrate. And next day he was ill so we had to postpone until yesterday when he felt better. My dad is a special person and the only man in the world I really trust 100%. He had some tough time in his life and we almost lost him four years ago when he had a massive heart attack. But he is a tough fighter and he keeps on going on with his pacemaker, always helping people and cheering us up with his jokes and good words.

Here is my dad with his proud grandchildren ….and his delicious cake made by my friend Lesley….

And here is grandma as well.

We had a little party with just the six of us but we had a serene and happy time together. It is so nice to be all together again! It is really like Christmas :))))