A to Z April Challenge C - Nothing Common About It

Nothing Common about it.

My mother and father picked my first name because apparently it was a very popular name at the time.
So, therefore, in school, there were always a couple of girls with the same name as me.   My mother, knowing that the name they picked was going to be a common one, decided to make the spelling of my name just a tiny bit different.
So to this day, when asked my name, even though it is fairly common, for my generation at least,  I say it first and then have to add, that’s with a Y.

Or sometimes I just spell it out L Y N D A.

But,  Lynda, with a Y was just the beginning of the problems I had with my name.

My maiden name is Ciafarone.   That’s not an easy or common one to pronounce or spell.

The common attempt most people would try would be: “Cee af a rone”

I don’t speak Italian, but I believe the Italian pronunciation would be:
“Chee af a ron a”

But our family pronounced it this way:

“Shef a rone"

There are not a lot of Ciafarone’s in this country. It is not a common name.

When I google the name, of course, my brothers, sisters, nieces and nephew’s names come up.

But I also found this video with a Marco Ciafarone in it.   I wonder if he is a relative?

I found a Francesca Ciafarone’s Facebook page here.   She is from the town that my grandparents are from…Pescara, Italy.  Apparently she is an actor, director.  I’m sure we must be related.

So, when I married, my last name became only four letters.  Common enough, but I still had the Lynda with a y situation going on.

My current name, after my second marriage, is also one that is pretty common and easy to pronounce.  But again it’s the Lynda with a Y thing.

Now I really shouldn’t complain, I guess.  My grandparents named my father
Romeo.

Romeo Ciafarone.  I suppose after getting teased unmercifully  in school, he decided that the more common name of Ray would make his life easier.

Later on in life, he went back to Romeo.  To tell you the truth it suited him much better than Ray.  There was nothing common about Romeo Ciafarone!

A to Z April Challenge B is for…

It is the second day of the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge.

Today’s letter is:

B

Ross is only a few years older than me, 4-1/2 to be exact.  But sometimes it seems like we are a generation apart.  He has knowledge of and interest in music, books, movies, etc from a time before he was born or at best he was just a child.
For example, if he gets control of the remote, he will flip over to TCM - The Turner Classic Movie channel.  It seems like whatever movie is playing happens to be his all time favorite.
Wait a minute what am I saying, he is a man, he always has control of the remote!
Anyway, just to test him, without telling him why, I went to the TCM website and asked about these 10
movies.

 So This Is Africa (1933)

 Duck Soup

 The Woman I Stole Aloha (1931)

 Under a Texas Moon (1930)

 Estrellados (1930)

 The Sea Bat (1930) Nina

 The Bridge of San Luis Rey (1929)

 The Desert Rider (1929)

 White Shadows in the South Seas (1928) 

 He knew them all and the year they were made.

We dabble in the antiques and collectibles business.  One time we picked up a box of old, old sheet music.
He knew the words to many of the songs.

He comes from the small town of Nyack, New York, as do several generations of his family.
He is quite comfortable and knows his way around New York City.
But, most of the places he talks about are no longer there.   I call them the Use2b’s.

Some of the slang words and phrases he uses are unfamiliar to me.
He “frogs” around, which I finally figured out means “just hanging out, not doing much.”

Sometimes he will notice the puzzled look on my face and will say to me, “Don’t pay attention to me, I am just blathering.”

So now we finally come to it.  My B word for today is:

blath·er·skite  

/ˈblaT͟Hərˌskīt/

Noun A person who talks at great length without making much sense. Foolish talk; nonsense: "politicians get away all the time with their blatherskite".

A GREAT BIG DISCLAIMER:

Even though, at times, Ross can blather with the best of the skites, (AKA BS’ers I guess),  his extensive  knowledge of an incredibly varied number of subjects is certainly not trivial, is never foolish,  and is always impressive!
Besides, how else would I ever have known that Rosie O’Donnell once lived in Nyack in Helen Hayes’s old house?

A to Z April Challenge “A" for Anonymous

Today is the first day of the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge.

So, of course, today’s letter is:

A  

Anonymous

In the real world I am a quietly shy and introverted person.
In the real world people tend to feel uncomfortable around the quietly shy and introverted.
Here, in the blogosphere, I am anonymous.  Well, somewhat anonymous, that is.   Some readers do know me personally.  But, I suspect that before I began writing this blog I was anonymous to them too.   I hope, by now, they have gotten to know me a little less anonymously.

Here, I communicate freely and most often without censorship.

When I read another person’s blog, I try to imagine what it would be like to meet the writer in person.   Is he or she the persona that they present in their posts?   Does their anonymity allow a different voice to be heard?

I wonder what it would be like to actually, not virtually, or anonymously, stand up in front of the members of this community  and read one of my posts?  But the mere thought of doing such a thing makes me quake, shake, and turn a deep shade of red.

In the two years I have been writing this blog I have been slowly peeling away the layers of my anonymity by revealing bits and pieces of myself.

It made me realize that I was holding on to my anonymity.

It has been an emotional and surprising journey getting to know me.

You will find other interesting posts here: A to Z Participants.