Churches--Rice Chex and diamonds

Wandering the pedestrian district of Alghero's Old City I found some of its churches. without the help of maps or apps. I'd been admonished against walking around with a big doofus tourist paper map. My phone with Google Maps and I are still getting acquainted. So I just moseyed around trying to be observant of my surroundings to build a sense of direction and location, and to not twist my ankle on the cobblestones. Very old school, and not terribly efficient, but I did not fall of the edge of the earth or into the Sea of Sardinia.


Speaking of old school, do kids get to make salt/water/flour maps any more? That would be a good for extra credit on my Sardinia report. I would also like to make a model of the Old City out of boxes, tp tubes,  and three-penny school milk cartons! Thanks to Wikipedia for the map idea...

As soon as I passed the final exam of Medieval and Renaissance Art History my brain erased everything about cathedrals except a few vague hints for crossword puzzles. In my defense, it was a very early morning class in a cold, dark basement lecture hall with machine-dispensed ten-cent coffee in paper cups.

My room at the Hotel San Francesco had "sober furnishings" according to the website. It was perfect! The very helpful Franciscans at the desk 24/7 were never surprised when I dropped off my key to leave, or found my way back to retrieve it for shower and sleep. Wish I could have heard a concert in the cloister as part of the Musica & Natura 2016 series.

 

Just imagining the cloister accoustics!  

Church of Saint Francis

The Cathedral of Saint Virgin Mary was the setting for the religious ceremony, so I was too preoccupied to properly study the architecture and sacred art. The Cathedral has a diamond floor and a Neoclassical facade (narthex for crossword folks). It was the only Neoclassical architecture I saw in Alghero, and it felt out of place. We did not throw rice at the newlyweds, although it is a Sardinian custom.

 

It also had a section to the right under reconstruction, and some challenges for wheelchair-bound visitors.

 

 
It took a long time to catch on that the Gothic bell tower was part of the same church. I could still be wrong. This is the portal to the bell tower, approached up a shaded narrow street in the early evening:

I liked the wooden doors of the entrance to the Orthodox Church of Saint Barbara:

The dome of the Chiesa di San Michele is a stunning, colorful landmark of Alghero. The dome has a diamond pattern of tiles, but the floor inside is checkerboard. The polychrome dome tiles may date from the 1950s, if my translation is correct.

Barrel vault

Happy wandering!

© 2013-2016 Nancy L. Ruder

Death by Webinar

There are still a few bugs to research before I write my murder mystery. Like how did the murderer do it when the door was locked from the inside??!!  

The trainer/host had a smiling caricature avatar in the upper right hand corner of our screens, but a severe upper respiratory infection on audio. His review of interlibrary lending procedures in the consortium was frequently interrupted. A participant with an unmuted mike had a more fun-loving office.

Resistance is futile

Since we've built up resistance to Power Point presentations, our captors have created the next ring of hell -- Death by Webinar. You want to sleep. You need sleep. But you must not sleep in the office. The scratchy audio makes your skin itch, your nose run, but you can't move. You can't move your mouse. In fact, to do so would be sure death. You are trapped by inertia and duct-taped into your swivel chair.

You must watch the screen with the invisible hand moving the cursor around in vague motions. There are no facial expressions or hand gestures to help you interpret your captor's utterances. Questions devoid of grammar and punctuation appear in the chat box. How long can this go on? You've been signed in for, what, 98 minutes already. There is no chocolate anywhere.

So let me offer some reading suggestions to relax after your killer commute:

• Death by Downloadable Audiobook
• Death with Scheduled Upgrade
• Death Created an IT Ticket
• Your Password Expired and You Ain't Lookin' So Good Yo'self

© 2013-2016 Nancy L. Ruder

Pronunciation team-building and ergot in amber

This blog is only read by the most erudite and informed sort of folks who are all up on the Oregon State ergot dinosaur news, ergo we must consider the pronunciation of ergot.

Put me in any conversation group, and I struggle to fight back my pronunciation anxiety. Scarred as I was at an early age over putting the emphasis on the wrong syllable in "trombone", embarrased by ancestors who couldn't say "Bahamas", and rated deficient by library patrons whenever names of composers were required, I need the Epi-pen equivalent of a mispronunciation antidote. Just jab it into my thigh!

Students of the Eleusinian Mysteries seem to disagree whether to say ur-guht or ur-got when discussing a disease of rye and other cereals caused by fungus. Ergot is not part of the ecstasy induced by including Rye Chex in cereal krunch.

Stepping out of my car onto somebody's Valentine chocolate caramel did not fill me with ecstasy, either. In our staff meetings this week, pronunciation did not appear on agendas, but showed up anyway. Smart phones were consulted over the pronunciation of "caramel". Who knew workplace diversity meant including people who say it with three syllables?

Kraft car-mels

And then there's the "pecan" divide! I thought Billy Crystal was the only person who partakes of pee-can pie.

Oak Point peh-cahns

Inclusiveness means just smiling and not drawing knives when coworkers pronounce "Bowie" like David instead of Jim.

I hope the staff will accept me for who I am, the only person on earth who says "caramelled apples" instead of "caramel apples".


© 2014 Nancy L. Ruder