Another rag-tag marching band has been making its way through the narrow streets of Naples lately. They’re not playing Burt Bacharach this time, but according to Angelo, ‘It’s the same melody every Easter.’

Is it just me, or has anyone else noticed that Easter is a bigger deal in the southern United States than up north? When I lived in Virginia, Easter was a big hoop-de-doo. (And don’t go telling me that Virginia ain’t south enough to be south: I once saw a playground fight over the Civil War, no lie!) Once we moved up north, the holiday was all about the Easter bunny.

Guess I’ve got all things southern on my brain today because I transcribed a couple files in which folks had thick southern twangs and said things like, ‘he up and came at me,’ ‘I done hollered at him,’ and, when asked to describe the weather conditions, the word ‘pretty’ was pronounced, ‘purty.’ Plus, we ate polenta for the first time since I’ve been here (it’s a northern Italian dish) and it reminded me of grits - yum!

There’s no Easter bunny here in Naples, Italy, but I have seen a lot of chocolate for sale. Italians don’t eat devilled eggs, so I plan to make some for Angelo and his family. Speaking of eggs, this hen must have one hell of a publicist, because she managed to make news simply for laying green eggs. Um, yeah, some chickens lay green eggs. That’s considered newsworthy? My step-daughter had a flock of hens that laid green eggs years ago. One of her hens ate a purple crayon right around Easter time one year. Now those were some newsworthy eggs!

And lastly, here’s a link to Rev. Jesse Jackson reading ‘Green Eggs and Ham’ on SNL. I’m posting it as my first-ever Flashback Friday contribution. Enjoy!