Happy Pi Day!

Because today is March 14 (i.e. 3.14), my advisees and I celebrated Pi Day by having a huge pie-fest in my apartment.  Last month I hosted an advisee birthday party because between the last week of January and the second week of February, nearly half of my advisees were celebrating a birthday.  Sadly, I accidentally erased all of those photos before downloading them to my computer :-(.

Not to worry, I knew I'd be able to snap a few more photos on Pi Day!  So three of my advisees were in charge of bringing Pi Day to life.  After school, they walked up to my apartment and, from scratched produced a cheesecake (okay, not technically a pie I guess but made in a pie pan) and another "cookie" pie that were out of this world!  Furthermore, two of them brought two apple pies they had made the night before.  Throw in 7 more advisees as guests, some milk and coke (their idea, not mine), a deck of cards and some music (of course, don't forget the yummy pies), and voila, it's a Pi Day party!

In the picture above, are my three pie bakers!  From left to right we have Jacqui (Massachusetts), Momo (Hawaii) and Tatiana (California) holding their prized cheesecake with the "Pi" symbol in the center.  Well done, ladies!  In the picture to the right we have 10 of my 13 advisees waiting with anticipation for the cheesecake to cool.  From left to right we have Momo, Tatiana, Jacqui, Corynne (NJ), Victoria (CA), Nico (DC), Rhyan (NH), Rachel (CT), Albert (PA), and Nick (CA).  Not pictured are Reggie (CA), Akbar (CT) and Roman (CA).

This last picture isn't showing a pie either, nor was it made on Pi Day.  But in the spirit of it being circular and the fact that it's a Unit Circle cake (with Nutella frosting, made by one of my honors precal/trig students), I thought I'd include this one as well.  Actually Emma (VA) was the student and she got me in our Secret Santa Gift Exchange.  This was my gift!  Cute, mathy and quite creative, don't you think?

The Doors of Viterbo

When Mike was here back in the fall, we were walking around a neighborhood called San Pellegrino and snapped a bunch of residential doors.  It made me think of the iconic "Doors of Ireland" I recall seeing a few decades back and got me thinking about making a "Doors of Viterbo."  So here's finished product of that idea. Enjoy!

Ash Wednesday (March 5)

When I was a study-abroad student in Granada, Spain 25 years ago (wow!) I remember how cool it was to celebrate Lent and Easter in a different country.  La Semana Santa (Holy Week) in Granada was a series of processions honoring many saints, the apostles and, of course, Jesus.  How the community rallied around these processions was quite amazing!

Two days ago, I got a little glimpse of a tradition at one of the churches in Viterbo, Santa Maria di Verita (Saint Mary of the Truth) that, in all of the Ash Wednesdays back in the States I've gone to never have I seen The Burning of the Palms.

In the picture you see the congregation filing in with their saved palms from Palm Sunday 2013.  Yvonne, my Italian buddy, who went with me to mass, told me that the brittled palms symbolize that while we want to be close to the Lord, we sometimes fall short through our sins (we are human after all!).  By bringing the palms to Ash Wednesday of the next year and adding them to the cauldrons to be burned, it is an offering to God in hope He will forgive our sins.  Burning the palms down to ashes also is hope that over the coming 40 days of Lent and the coming year we will make sacrifices in our lives and refrain from sin in an effort to be drawn closer to God.

I'd never heard Ash Wednesday put quite that way but it certainly makes sense.  As you can see in the picture, the small cauldrons of dried palms lit up like a match box in a church that dates back to the 12th century.  Don't worry, the church ceiling was (and still is) plenty high!  Once the cauldrons were lit after a short prayer, they were put outside the church doors as mass proceeded!  Happy Lent Everyone!

                             "In life, that which you do not need weighs you down"

                                                       ~ Mother Theresa ~