Now, I could be wrong, but something tells me the owners of this apartment I’m renting might be cat lovers.
Clue Number One: there are many books about cats in their library.
Clue number two: the state of the arm on this otherwise lovely chair.
Most cat owners will recognise how a cat has loved this arm to pieces with its little claws.
This morning, under a benign sun, many Babbi Natale (Santas) rowed down the Grand Canal. The number of participants seemed fewer than previous years, but they all looked happy to be out there rowing.
Hello World 
Very unusual! 🙂
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Yes, highly unusual, Marc-Andre! 🙂
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Love it though! 🙂
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Nice Santa photo. It makes a change from the usual sleigh and reindeer. I hope you’re not allergic to cats.
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No, no cat allergies, thank goodness, et.
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Lucky!
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Now that is a priceless photo of Venice! On the other note some bad kitty behavior!
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Bad, bad kitty! Now, I have to go and look under some of the slip covers to see what is revealed, Sue.
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I love the rowing Santas. They seem to be rowing more dragon boat style than Venetian.
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Huh! I thought I had replied to your comment, sorry. I’ll put a photo of a couple of Babbi doing the proper Venetian rowing style on the next post, arlinglass.
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I have a chair very similar to that one…very well loved by Lili and now Diavolo is adding his touch….no matter how often I say “basta!”.(He’s learning Italian too) and I have a lot more cat books than that.
Was that the Pink Lionesses Dragon Boat? Was Karen on it? I know lots of ladies participate in the regatta…I have pics to prove it from 2013…although that year Karen was on the Fondamenta with me.
Be thankful for your mild weather….2012 was well below zero Celsius for many days. But we didn’t have as much fog that year.
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No, the Lionesses weren’t taking part. There were several dragon boats in the mini-regatta.
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You can’t fool me – I know that not a single one of those dragon boat paddlers is the real Father Christmas.
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What do you mean “real Father Christmas”? What are you trying to tell us?
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The real Father Christmas is not there because he comes in a sleigh with reindeer and not in a dragon boat!
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In Hawaii he comes in an outrigger canoe and wears a “lava-lava” (the male version of a sarong)….I know as I have seen it with my own eyes and when you have seen a rather portly gentleman dressed like that the image is burned forever into your brain…no matter how much you’d like it to go away.
I’m not sure exactly how Babbo Natale arrives in Venice, probably by gondola, but I do know since there are no working chimneys there he uses a ladder and comes in the window. You can see images of him doing this all over town about now.
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You have to trust Bruce on this, Yvonne, after all, his birthday is on Dec. 6, the feast of St. Nicholas, who was the first to be involved with putting gifts in shoes and stockings for good children. When he became unpopular (?) people renamed him Father Christmas (UK), Kris Kringle (Germany et al), Père Noel (France) and Santa Claus(USA). In Italy they still had La Bufana, the old woman named after their word for Epiphany, who distributed just rewards to good and bad children….but after Christmas, (Jan. 6), because they are all about Natale and babies and lullabies and such at Christmastime. “A Visit from St. Nicholas,” the poem by Clement Moore, sealed the deal in the USA, that the jolly fat man with beard, in a red suit, who meted out the just desserts was St. Nicholas morphed into Santa Claus. The whole reindeer and flying sleigh thing, landing on the roof and coming down the chimney, was from the imagination of a poet.
My brother and I plotted, when I was six and he was five, to get up after our parents went to bed on Christmas Eve, and wait and try to see Santa when he came. We fell asleep and missed him.
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I saw him once for real one Christmas night. We were camping and I lifted up the edge of the tent where my camping bed was, and looked out. Santa was talking to a man while he was leaning on his aeroplane. I can still see it, and it was the noise of the plane landing that had woken me up.
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Wow! So, he arrived by plane wherever it was you were camping? Did you get lots of pressies?
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I can’t remember. I was only 3.
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If you’re very good (and I know you are, Cynthia), I’ll probably show some images of La Befana, Venetian style. I’m sad that you and your brother didn’t stay awake. 🙂
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Oh good, Yvonne. I drag out my children’s book about the legend of La Befana (in English, by Tomie dePaola) at this time every year.
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Definitely recognize the chair condition. 😉
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You can spot the cat owners by their furniture, Anneli!
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Yup. My cats have been in heaven for over 20 years and I still see the marks they’ve left in my special chair that I can’t part with. But I loved my cats so I don’t mind.
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The apartment must have a good “vibe” with all of that wonderful cat energy in there! I’m sad to have missed the Babbo Natale race this year, but there is always next year!
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It does have a good feeling, Susie. Yes, those Babbi will be here for you next year. Oh, I’ve got a lion for Marco, I’ll put it on Facebook, subito. Baci, S, M and I gatti di SF. ❤
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Ah yes, we used to have chairs with that “unique finish” One cat in particular was a repeat offender – we still miss him!
Loved watching the rowing Santas last year. and seem to recall watching a sort of floating nativity procession starting from the Rialto fishmarket, and going down to the bridge area as well. Your picture brings back memories – we’ll have to get over there again, soon – but prefer the cool wintery months, less crowded.
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Those tiny claws are SO sharp!
It’s been so mild, so far. I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop.
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I knew “babbo” from “O mio babbino caro …” one of my favorite arias…most Italian that I know comes from Opera, I guess. And I recognize the “love” on that chair only too well. I’m still thinking about Venetian rowers….now these Santa guys are seated, and doing more what I would call paddling than rowing….
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OK, I chose only one photo, and those fellows were in a dragon boat. So, false photo alert! I’ll put a true Venetian Babbo on my next post.
PS I’m now humming (beautifully, of course) that aria. 🙂
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Ah, I suppose Babbo Natale translates literally as Father Christmas …
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Exactly. I was going to put “Fathers Christmas” but chickened out and put Santas. 🙂
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Yep, it’s a cats’ home. Found one in there yet Yvonne ? 😀 ❤
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Umm, found one what, Ralph-o?? 🙂 ❤
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Oh, now I understand! No, no cat in here. But, there’s a gorgeous one next door. I love it.
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I was going to say cat, but am biased towards an elephant in the room now 😀 lol
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I’m sure that there are cats. You are very clever.
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The folks in the apartment next to me have a lovely cat, her name is Fulmina, which is sort of like lightning. So, you know how she moves, John.
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So, do you rent when in Italy?
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I sure do Derrick. A young fellow I know always finds me something interesting. I put my faith in him. This time, there are many stairs to climb, but it wasn’t as bad as I thought it might be. It’s like combining a gym memberships with a visit to Venice!
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Love chairs – love traditional festivals – great photos
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It’s a wonderful time to be in Italy or, I suppose, most of Europe.
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