forioscribe

Such a beautiful photograph, John! I wish you a Happy Christmas! And many thanks for the lovely card :) I sent you a card, which I hope will reach you before Christmas! Have a wonderful day!

♥

Lo and behold your beautiful card arrived this morning! And I'm glad to hear mine arrived as well. Maybe 2006 will be a good year. I hope so!

buon natale anche a te! that's a beautiful photo. i hope 2006 is a very good year for you.

And all the best to you, too.

Thank you!

Such a breathtaking photo....

:) Enjoy the season....

Peace, Deb

Merry annd Happy to you!

grazie tante!

Feliz navidad, y espero que tengas un buen año nuevo. :)

Thanks for the holiday wishes, and the same to you. Always look forward to seeing your posts. Have a wonderful New Year.

Merry Christmas and happy New Year to you, John!
(That's from snow-covered and chilly, but very friendly Moscow!)

Ah, so you have returned to Mother Russia! When I was visiting New York last January I met a guy by the name of George Iosifyan, who is a VP/Adviser to the CEO of Allianz-ROSNO Insurance. Small world, eh?

Happy new year to you. I'm honored you are always in Forio, in our beautiful community. I always read your live-journal since I met you in year 1999. I'm interesting about your Ischia's comments and I hope you stay here for a long time. Gratefully for your friendship, I hope to drink a coffee together in Internazionale Maria's Bar.

Greetings, my friend! Here are a few excerpts from the book "Wystan and Chester," a personal memoir of W.H.Auden and Chester Kallman, by Thekla Clark, first published in 1955.

Evening life in Forio [in 1951] was centered on The Caffe, where The Table was reserved for Wystan, Chester and their friends. The owner of The Caffe was the famous Maria, who rated a column in the national newspapes when she died many years later. Its official name was Caffe Internazionale, but I never heard it called anything but 'Maria's'. Maria was square, both in body and face, and her hair was shoe-polish black, cut short with a centre parting often showing white on either side--a friend came from Naples every few months to 'do the colour'. Her caffe was a large, windowless room with two doors, one leading to a side alley and a huge one opening on to the square where the tables were set. What, I wondered, was it like in winter? 'Dank,' said Chester. 'Cosy,' said Wyston. She served the local white wine in glass decanters. For her favourites there were glass reproductions of Victor Emmanuel and Queen Elena. There was also a supply of soft drinks, beer, coffee made on the stove--no espresso machines in those days--and, for the very brave, Italian brandy.

Hi, my friend.
Maria was more than this... I passed my young age near the bar and I knew a lot of story about Maria's life. These were the stories you don't find in the books. These were the stories I can't write here, in a public place, but I can tell you someday near a good cup of coffee, the stories of an old Forio you don't find anymore today. Now we've the progress, the TV, the press, Internet, and it's very difficult to know the truth... soon, my friend.