Pottery the 9th century way

Yes, I took this picture- it looks pretty good for an iPhone huh?

In this town high on the hill nearing the Amalfi Coast are many Italian artisans who make pottery and tiles from mud excavated from out of the hills and manipulated and fired and painted to make amazing works of art. I was privileged to go and visit one of these manufactures who has had this as a family art and business since the 9th century and are still using the same fire kilns and many of the same processes that their ancestors have used.

This is the pile of mud it starts out as

This machine is not as old as some of th others, but it helps form the mud and press the excess lumps and water out.

This is the same machine from another view

Once it comes out of this machine it is disks of clay at the proper consistency.

This "newer" machine helps them wrap it into cubes that they sell to other artisans .

This is what a flat of cubes to be shipped off looks like.

Since the days of their Grandfathers, these men have learned the near for larger production of the Italian Tericotta. Instead of just making clay for their own use they are producing more raw materials including fired tiles for artists to create their own designs.

These are tiles that have been hand cut drying 

After being dried the are lines in the kiln that is from the 9th century and burns real wood fire with straw between the tiles.

This gentleman is glazing each tile by hand to prepare for paint and re- firing.

I wouldn't believe it if I hadn't see it myself.

The tile goes into the kiln larger than it needs to be because it shrinks a little bit, but then still needs to be trimmed to be the right size, and also give a rough edge for grout and mud to adhere to for setting. This man does this by hand and tile after tile is 100% square. UNBELIEVABLE! 

I tell you what my house is has a ton of tile, Floors, walls all over! Most of the houses here are. My house is one of the few that has more modern tiles most likely manufactured by machine, but most are not, most are made like this. I can not believe how each piece has been made . It is amazing.

Traditional patterns that have been around for centuries.

Artisans painting tiles

We were given the opportunity to try our hand at the painting part of making an Italian tile. the first step is to use a velum sheet that has been pierced on the lines that the design was drawn. With a  ball of black charcoal tied with a rag you pounce the powder through the pierced holes and it leaves a paten for you to follow.

I had some help prepping my tile

The glaze rubs off very easily and so does the charcoal so resting your hand is not an option. The paint is made of more colored chalk and is just mixed with water. It settles quickly so either move fast or mix it up a lot. 

getting instruction

It was a beautiful day to sit out under a tree and see the views and learn to make these old Italian designs. After words we had a lovely lunch and a trip into town where they sell many of the finished products. It was a great day of learning and fun! 

Buona Pasqua

We spent our first Italian Easter or Pasqua weekend (yes they use the word weekend ) by taking a drive along the beach which looks inviting although still very cold, and also antique shopping. We had hoped to eat at a pizzeria we had enjoyed back in October with out the kids and wanted them to try it, but it was closed for the holiday weekend. 

Paige an I bought these tin etched pictures. Mine is a woman cooking and Paige's is a woman painting.

While we celebrate Easter Sunday, The Italians celebrate all week, from Palm Sunday through Picnic Monday. Saturday, Sunday Monday are the biggest celebrations with family. The schools, Shops and restaurants are mostly closed. 

We did our traditional American eggs, and baskets and enjoyed the better European chocolate in them! The best of both worlds.

Saturday night we went to a farewell party for Our friend Daniel C. He is a Armenian young man who has grown up here in Italy and was converted to our church about one year ago along with his cousin who is about the same age. These two young men who are the only believers in their family are so valiant and dedicated we have been so impressed with them. Daniel is headed to BYU Idaho on Wednesday for a big American Adventure. We enjoyed wishing him good luck and safe journeys. 

We didn't want to ignore the fact that we are in Italy on this beautiful holiday so we did go find an open restaurant and grab a bite to eat. This is Bisteca con arugula e provolone. It comes on a sizzling platter and is very tasty!




We also went and saw two movies at the base theater. One was Batman Vs Superman. Kind of predictable and as expected. The other was "Risen" of course about the resurrection of Christ. It was actually very good. Not 100% accurate, or inessential order but we enjoyed it and it topped off our Easter weekend. Remembering that we have been blessed and given so many opportunities to live well and to live again because of his love for us.

Our kids  and the teens of our congregation joined with the the small children and sang to us during our Easter service and I thought I'd share the words of the song with you. It was very moving and completed a wonderful Easter weekend!


Jesus climbed the hill to the garden still.
His steps were heavy and slow.
Love and a prayer took Him there 
To the place only  He could go.

Gethsemane. Jesus loves me. 
So He went willingly, to Gethsemane. 

He felt all that was sad, wicked, or bad
All the pain we would ever know.
While His friends were asleep He fought to keep
His promise made long ago.

The hardest thing that ever was done
The greatest pain that ever was known
The biggest battle that ever was won
This was done by Jesus, the Fight was won by Jesus.

Gethsemane, Jesus  loves  me.
So He gave His gift to me, in Gethsemane 

Gethsemane, Jesus  loves  me.
So He gives His gift to me, from Gethsemane. 

In the Mission Field

Keep this address for letter or packages : 

Hermana Victoria Strode

Mission El Salvador , Santa Anna

Apartado Postal #142

Santa Anna, El Salvador CA.

(Packages seems to mostly arrive intact with in 2- 4 weeks according to the mission president) 

Naples propper

Dan recently posted some pictures on Facebook about a weekend trip we had made and a friend commented on how she wish she had his life for a day. It is true, he is a very well traveled guy. Other than our adventures around Italy, He has been on two TDY (military talk for temporary assignment elsewhere) trips since mid January when we go here. One to Prague and one to Germany. Both places I love and was also jealous, but two places who also have there own problems, homeless, or underage drinking and smoking and smog and so forth. When you vacation some where either you are in the polished up tourist part of town, or you are only taking pictures of the spectacular views. I can not remember a time I took a picture of the man n the side of the street selling tiny eiffel towers 3/1 euro in order to buy he's evening bread. 

I took this picture because of the reference to my daughter

 However, this weekend trip into explore naples proper we decided to take pictures of it all, the good the bad and the ugly. the weather wasn't great so we did our exploration via double decker tour bus. Which honestly is a great way to see a lot of one town and get the history. Here it is about 20 Euros and there are two tours you can get for that. The inner city with all the land marks and historic statues (be they graffitied or not) and then the coast and the trade history.

This is a Vesuvius pizza. The bottom is a calzone to represent the Mountain and the top margarita pizza is the explosion.

It is beautiful, no matter how you look at it, its amazingly old and it has its own culture and style and it is naples! 

Take a 20 minute walk

 If you take a little stroll around our town, you'll find some interesting things.

This is

 Some pretty amazing gelato!

Ancient Spartans Amphitheater ruins.

Santa Maria Capua Vetere- Our home town for the next few years!