Columns

When you’re buying a home, waiving your rights to a property inspection if often recommended with a couple of notable exceptions. A home inspector protects your investment and reveals potential issues that might not be visible to the naked eye. Look at it this way: How happy would you be with your property if you only discovered it needed $10,000 worth of immediate repairs AFTER the sale was final. Inspectors look for health and safety concerns, and can usually uncover such issues as faulty electrical wiring or heating-and-cooling systems, and even structural defects that the average person would never notice. …

Christmas is a time for celebration, but how we celebrate has changed over the centuries. How do you celebrate Christmas? Do you embrace the more secular version embodied by Santa Claus with his big bag of presents, or the more religious one in which gifts are given in recognition of God’s gift to us of His Son Jesus Christ? One tradition I embrace is the Christmas story told by Mario Avignone, the founder of this column. Fr. Pierini asked him decades ago to start writing Petals as a way of keeping Roseland alive in our hearts. In my 12 years …

Fra Noi readers are nothing if not devoted. You demonstrate that every month in the remarkable rate at which you renew your subscriptions, the little notes of thanks and praise you send with your payments, and the inspiring number of gift subscriptions you give. In the last several weeks, you’ve taken that devotion to a whole new level, responding to our fundraising appeal with a tidal wave of generosity. Nearly one in every five of you answered the call with contributions ranging from $5 bills to a mindboggling $2,000 check. With donations still flowing in at press time, the wave’s …

Prendere  most commonly means “to take,” but can also be translated as “to bring,” “to pick up,” “to get,” or “to buy/acquire.” The past participle preso can also be used to describe liking someone or something a lot. This use stretches the meaning of prendere a bit, but there is a similar expression in English — being “taken with” someone — that also expresses the same idea. In its reflexive form, prendersi is used to convey how a person can “catch/come down with” an illness. When you are able to visit Italy, use prendere when ordering food in a restaurant …

November is dedicated to the men and women of the armed services who have played a role in protecting our nation and safeguarding its future. On Memorial Day, we remember all of those service members who gave their lives for our country. On Veterans Day, we honor all those who served in any capacity. All veterans have stories about their time in service. I invited the readers to share those stories and I got numerous responses. This column is the perfect opportunity for me to present some of them. As you read these stories, I encourage you to think with …

I have more than a decade of experience in real estate and I honestly had no idea how the industry would be impacted when COVID-19 hit. I had several concerns at the start of the pandemic. Here are the five things that took me by surprise. The first thing I wondered was, “Are people really going to be selling or buying a house during all of this?” I was shocked that the answer is yes! Houses are flying off the market right now like never before. Some even being sold within 24 hours of being listed. The second thing I …

I’m ceaselessly amazed by the ingenuity and tenacity we show in the face of adversity. A half year ago, the coronavirus had us against the ropes, sending us scurrying for shelter and forcing us to cancel every blessed event we were so blithely planning. Yet here we are today, with COVID-19 still bearing down on us, back in the middle of the ring bobbing and weaving as we find ways to celebrate community and culture while keeping the pandemic at bay. For the past 16 years, a cavalcade of authors and scores of enthusiasts have gathered in the Florentine Room …

How do I say, “TV show” and “movies” in Italian? The programs we watch on a television set (il televisore) or on a screen (lo schermo) are referred to most commonly in both English and Italian as “TV.” The pronunciation, of course, is different in each language. In Italian, the abbreviation “TV” is pronounced as an Italian would pronounce the letters “t” and “v,” which sounds like “tee-vooh.” Notice from the table below that there is an Italian word for TV programs in general (la televisione), and therefore the Italian abbreviation TV is feminine as well, and takes the feminine …

Buying property is one of the biggest investments you’ll make in your entire life. To get the most out of that investment, you need to find the right broker. You’ll need to do a lot of research before you make you decide, but all the upfront effort will be well worth it in the long run.   One thing you want to pay attention to when picking a broker, is how much experience they have. Ask them how long they have been in the business and which areas they usually work in. Getting referrals from friends, family, neighbors, or anyone …

The beauty of life in Roseland is that, as varied as it was, it had happenings that were so dependable as to be practically traditional. That memory endures even in a pandemic world where everyone’s events have been curtailed, cancelled, downplayed, postponed, simplified and placed in a downward spiral. Roseland’s traditions make reminiscing easy. Since this is my October column, we have plenty of events to recall. The Pullman House Tour, which has take place every year on Columbus Day weekend for the past 46 years, has been cancelled for the first time ever. I recall when I first bought …