Red Pants Club

There just isn’t much more fun or a satisfying time than to people watch. I did it all over the place in Italy. One of my favorite spots was in the village of la Mercatale, where spouse-man’s bread school was taking place. The "school" itself was located in an out building beside a thousand year old farmhouse, which was one of many, on an olive estate owned by a noble family with the last name of Montescarpicino…2 km outside la Mercatale, or rather at the road on the left at the "blue shrine". So, at some point while in the village waiting for my friend from South Africa – who’s own spouse was also baking bread - to make a bank run, I sat on some steps at the intersection of 3 roads and commenced to observe. It’s amazing the activity. A woman steps out on her 1st floor balcony (it’s the second floor to us) and stirs a hot pot of something on a chair while the cat attempts to get a good sniff. An old man road by on a bike. Two people stopped in the middle of the road to chat. A motorcyclist came through and somehow found an alley and came out at another part of the intersection. And, mostly drivers looked around as if wondering why in the world I was sitting in the rain on a step at this intersection.

In Rome people watching is real juicy. In front of St. Peter’s Square a production company of sorts was filming a model in various poses next to a herd of white pigeons with wind machines and water hoses. The pigeons came equipped with pigeon herders carefully staying out of the view of the camera’s eye.

While guzzling wine and eating some sort of "fast" food morsel consisting of bread, cheese, tomato and arugula at a 2 person table I tuned into the fact that a lot of men wore red pants. What’s up with the red pants? Denim-like, dungaree-like and Capri-like. Seriously, Italian men in red capris. And other nationalities too. And other shades of red like orange, or pink or mustard yellow. I started taking pictures. It became a theme…an obsession. Me yanking the camera from spouse-man to zoom in on red pants. You guessed it; I got a lot of hineys, because of course they were either walking past or away.

After 5 days and carrying my red-themed obsession on into Venice, spouse-man was getting tired and I was getting tired because there were just so many red pants. He offered me a challenge: get two red pants in one picture. Would you believe in about one hour I got one? It was my last red pant picture. Here is a sampling:

Comments

[Scott]

If it were a red Speedo I'd be all over it . . .

[Joel's friend Kathy]

Donna,
This Red Pant blog entry is a hoot! Boy, the Europeans certainly have a different sense of fashion than the Americans, don't they? And no, you are not wierd because you people watch. I find that it is an interesting diversion when there is nothing else to do.

BTW, I really like your blog and I read it on a semi-regular basis. This is the first time I have left a comment for you because it sounds like you need encouragement to keep on writing. So please keep on writing your funny, witty and amusing observations of life. ;)

[J]

That is hilarious. I love how you tiled these...very artistic, so Italian!

[Tulip Girl]

People watching can be very interesting, especially in a foreign country. I cannot wait to see your Spouse-man in the red pants you bought him! Ha!

[Stephanie]

Hilarious on the red pants front! And? I had no idea that there was someone on earth whose sole job in life it was to herd pigeons. Fascinating. I think I'll have to Google that!