Under the Tuscan Something-or-Other

So, this Italy thing. At first I didn't talk about it because it was so, so far away that it wasn't real. Then I didn't talk about it because I had other squee and drama in my life.

Well, now it's only a couple of weeks away and very, VERY real. I'm going to Italy! Whee! I'm going to be in close proximity with my mother for over a week! Aiee!

It's the Tauk tour Rome/Capri/Amalfi Coast.

( Nattering about packing )

Although I've rented "Learn Italian" tapes, I have discovered from staggering through France and Germany that all you *really* need to know are the following. So I'm asking - how do you write/pronounce:

One
Two
Three
Four
Yes
No
Please
Thank you
Excuse me
I do/don't understand
I would like

Considering this is Italy, it might also help to know "Move that hand or lose that arm."

Also, we will have free time at the following places. We'll have guidebooks and I'll be looking online, but I would like to know the sort of thing that won't be on the guidebook Like yarn shops or where the guidebook will steer you wrong.

Positano
Isle of Capri
Rome (the hotel's at Via di porta, so wherever is suggested has to be walkable/transportable from there)

Sarah Jane Stuff

I thought they might and now they have - now that the show has (just about) gone on air, the BBC has unlocked the SJA Homepage.

The name I really want to give the SJA newsletter is only three votes from winning and the poll doesn't close until tomorrow morning, so go vote lipstick!

musings

There's no particular thesis to this post, and I know I'm spamming. But... thoughts in head.

So, I'm surfing the bento sites in my links, and they lead to more bento sites, and eventually one leads to Hillbilly Housewife, and I start clicking links there. Some interesting bread recipes, and some frugality info too. I like the make-your-own-yogurt recipe, although since I'm only buying for one I'll probably just keep buying it.

Now, Hillbilly Housewife is religious; it's a quiet, unobtrusive undercurrent on her site. As I clicked around her and her links, I never felt insulted or urged to convert; she and hers are the good ones who are making statements of their own faith without pulling a Falwell or a Phelps.

One of the links was to a sewing site. Hey, I like sewing, so *click.* It was one of those modesty clothing sites. What struck me, though (aside from the fact that their models were all completely flatchested, which is one way of dealing with the evils of cleavage) were their pictures and descriptions of their most popular "flattering, modest skirt," which they would either sell you in a variety of fabrics or send you sewing instructions for.

It was the basic 8-gore elastic waist skirt.

And I thought "Why?"

Not why were they selling it, but why would anyone need to go to a special Christian website to learn how to make a "modest, flattering" skirt that can be found anywhere? Simplicity sells the same pattern for two bucks. I just bought a skirt like that for $14 - not body-hugging, elastic waist, a fairly modest 4 inches below the knee (which seems to be the popular hemlength right now). Hell, two weeks ago I bought an ankle-length one at the rennfaire, as I did the year before. Same thing - 8 gores, elastic waist. They cost $55, but if you "price" a skirt by purchase divided by how often you wear it, last year's is down to about a nickel an outing now; nothing like a classic black, ankle-length skirt for maximum wardrobe mileage!

The elastic-waist gored A-line is the most basic, classic skirt EVER. It's pretty much been in fashion since the 1800s, except for the "elastic waist" part.

So what made those skirts acceptably modest and Simplicity's/McCalls'/Burda's/Just My Size's/Bullseye's immodest?

And why did the website outright say you could cover the elastic by leaving your blouse untucked? Are belts unChristian? Why? Is pointing out your own waistline immodest? What if it's a self-fabric belt that doesn't draw attention to the waist?

Further down the page they talked about teaching your daughters to sew with a standard apron pattern (again, as if long aprons couldn't be found in most cooking stores, and the patterns from not only all the standard suppliers but free online as well). And again, I don't get it. Not only are neck-to-knees aprons a dime a dozen, but isn't the standard starting point for teaching girls to sew doll clothes and blankets? (And why is it creeping me out so badly that there's a message that girls should start sewing with a symbol of being utilitarian, as opposed to starting to sew in the spirit of generosity - giving something to Dolly instead of making something that basically says "Put me to work, it's what I'm here for." [Do not even try to tell me that women working subserviently is more Christian than generosity. I have read the Bible.])

I grew up in Amish country. I understand the point of religious dictates to wear only certain clothing that is constructed in a certain way. I even understand - although do not agree with - Flylady's dictates to only wear shoes that lace up.

What I don't understand is the distinction being drawn between "modest" clothing and clothing that is exactly the same only without Holy Housekeeping's seal of approval.

I am also left clinging all the tighter to homekeeping, because so many of the frugal and organization sites out there are very conservatively religious. Which is fine, but my philosophy is not that I want to run an organized house as an offering to the Lord; I want to have an organized house so I can spend more time watching Doctor Who.