Monday December 9, 2024

Spent the weekend decorating the Christmas tree and the house, and making two wreaths. The only things left are the lights on the front porch and the rest of the Christmas shopping. The list of things around the house requiring my attention seems to be abating, the bathroom faucet arrived today and Tom has graciously offered to install it later in the week. House issues under control!

Some great news, Ashley and her 2 daughters are coming to Atlanta Dec 20-25! I haven’t seen Ashley and Ashlynn in almost 2 years and Kenlee even longer. Very much looking forward to spending time with them.

Thursday December 5, 2024

The new WaterWise Filtration system arrived yesterday! I was anxious to set it up and start drinking “good” water again. It required that I do something I loathe: read the directions. But first, I had to get the big cumbersome box out of the ever so slightly larger big cumbersome box. Jiminey Crickets, it must have been vacuum packed, it was snug as a bug in a rug. I supposed I could have cut back the UPS box but nooooo, I did it the hard way. I’m so glad there is no video of me wrestling/prying/struggling/begging/cajoling/fighting/dancing around the room trying to get it out. I even called Kate but she couldn’t come right away and I didn’t want to wait. Sometimes I think I need a boyfriend or a 24/7 handyman, whichever can come first. After all that, then I had to read the dreaded directions. Could the day get much worse? Thankfully, setting up the WaterWise was easier and much quicker than getting it out of the godforsaken box. And yes, I have had my first glass of water, and yes, totally worth the aggravation.

Tuesday December 3, 2024

I saved my own life today. It sounds a bit melodramatic, I know. On my way to exercise this morning, I was stopped at a red light on the corner of Ormewood and Moreland. Mine was the first car. For reasons I will never know, I hesitated more than usual before turning left onto Moreland. I missed being hit by a car speeding through the red light. I never would have seen it coming. Phew.

After I got home, Kate and I worked on the lemon tree enclosure because it didn’t appear that the heater was doing its job. It’s going down to 29 degrees tonight so we adjusted the heater and added a second one, just in case.

I drove to Parkside Elementary to vote for an At Large City Council position. The voting took all of two minutes but getting out of the parking lot took about an hour. I was boxed in by a queue of parents lined up to pick up their kids. I considered walking home and coming back later to pick up my car. Next time I vote, I need to just walk there.

Friday Nov 8, 2024

My future grandson sent this to me last night, written by his friend.

“I had to put this down earlier. Maybe it resonates. If you’re bored… Ramblings of a mad man…

There will be much to say over the coming days and weeks about what just happened. While we lick our wounds and process this through the lens of historical American elections, it will be tempting to yet again introspectively search our souls for how people could be so misled, what we did wrong, and try to sort out how to come back from this. There will be plenty of blame and self-loathing to go around. “Biden set us up for failure,” “Harris was the wrong candidate and we didn’t get a primary” etc. There will yet again be olympic level gymnastic apologetics for the misinformed and manipulated electorate who were riled up by populist rhetoric, misinformation and social media. There will yet again be accusations of widespread racism, sexism, and that America “just wasn’t ready” for a black woman to be president. And there will yet again be post-mortem calls to listen more empathetically to the misinformed complaints about the economy, inflation, and misguided conclusions about the spurious correlation between current presidential leadership and widespread economic frustrations.

I find myself rapidly accepting that while all of those contributing factors may be part of the story, it misses the mark of the deeper truth that this outcome has revealed—American democracy is finally cooked. And you know what? Fuck em.

I think this is the culmination of a values shift that we should have known was coming when 2020 turned out to be so close. Not a shift in policy or moral values necessarily, but a wholesale shift in the way we relate to governance and power in America. When I say we’re cooked, I mean our democracy has failed under its own weight. The chaos prevailed. We had one candidate saying “there is more that unites us than divides us,” and the other calling for persecution and violence against “the enemy from within” and we chose the latter. At the end of the day what I believe was just clearly communicated is that most people in America don’t want a democracy, and they’d happily rationalize squandering their democratic agency in pursuit of a strong man dictator against all caution.

In 2018 I found myself in Beijing on the same day Kim Jong Un was visiting, by total happenstance. The Chinese secret police (thinking I was a reporter) pulled me aside at Tiananmen Square and questioned me. After they realized I wasn’t a “threat” they started asking me my opinions about  Kim Jong Un. I bit my tongue and expressed false neutrality but returned the question, “What do YOU think about him?” The guy told me that he liked leaders like him because you don’t really have to think about too much, things are just “taken care of.” I believe that’s what Americans just unapologetically declared they want.

One of the most prominent constitutional scholars alive, Erwin Chemerinsky, predicted blue state secession if Trump were to return to power, and I agree that movement is likely on the horizon. So perhaps we redraw the maps, take our toys, and build the progressive future we want without having to drag the red welfare states out of the mud in our pursuit of progress and the expansion of democracy. Maybe it’s time to let ‘em rot. We've historically flirted with this rhetorically and theoretically, but always thought better of sacrificing the would-be subjugated and disenfranchised within those states. It wasn't worth it. But at some point, ideological conflict becomes irreconcilable and it becomes necessary to game out and weigh the unintended consequences of secession against the desired end-state. I am struggling to decide whether we have reached the tipping point where we leave the red states to their own devices, or give in and accept our new Christo-Fascist overlords, but I know which way I'm leaning.”

Saturday November 30, 2024

Okay, it’s setting up to be an expensive December. I ordered a new WaterWise system today, not necesarily the Christmas gift I wanted but one I can’t live without. The old one had been running steadily since 2008 but recently started filling the container to 50% capacity. Where did the other 50% go? Also I noticed a burnt place where the container plugs into the filtering system which explains that burnt electrical smell in the studio. In addition, I need to order a new faucet for the upstairs bathroom as not having hot water in the morning is getting old.

On the positive side, the enclosure is keeping the lemon & calamondin trees alive, the furnace is keeping the house warm and the freezer is keeping food frozen and glacier free.

Katie, JB & Josh are coming over later for a simple, no fuss, post Thanksgiving meal. I really enjoy their visits.

Friday November 29, 2024

I thought I was spending Thanksgiving alone this year, instead I had a very lovely day with cousins Brad, Rebecca, Jimmy and grandson Josh. Made possible by a last minute change in plans. The menu was simple enough for me to prepare and soft enough for Josh to chew: pureed kabocha squash soup, roast chicken, mashed potatoes, dressing, greens from my garden and pumpkin pie. I carved a whole chicken for the first time ever (thank you, YouTube) and Josh made the mashed potatoes, also for the first time ever, exactly the way Charlie made them: smooth, creamy and with lots of butter. He would have been very proud of his grandson’s first foray into cooking.

Since the temperature will drop below freezing tonight, building the enclosure for the lemon/calamondin trees was kind of urgent. Miles and Kate came, wrapped the trees with new (clear!) plastic, and set up the heater to come on when the interior temperature drops below 50. It looks kind of wonky, sort of like Bilbao, Frank Gehry, eat your heart out. BTW I harvested a total of 18 picture perfect lemons, last year, there were a whopping 48 of them. Amazing.

Miles also put air in the tires, so I no longer have to drive with the goofy orange exclamation point that looks like this: ( ! ) on the dashboard. I don’t know why but it drove me nuts. He also leveled the freezer after the repair guy came. Another thing that drives me nuts: things that are not level. Peace of mind restored.

Francesco came with a fabulous lunch of homemade lasagne and a beautiful lemon meringue tart. such a sweet way to spend the day after Thanksgiving.

Josh put Max on my TV so I can binge watch Succession, a show about family dynamics that is simultaneously interesting and very stressful.

I thought my very productive week dealing with house/car/garden was coming to an end but today I discovered that I have to replace the Water Wise filter system. Right after I buy a new bathroom faucet.

Saturday Nov 23. 2024

I got up early and defrosted the freezer. It was physically harder and more time consuming than I expected. The bottom drawer was completely encased in about 2 inches of ice, and even with the freezer turned off, it was very difficult to pry it free. After several grueling hours, I was finally able to remove the drawer, chisel out the rest of the ice and put the food back. I waited another 6 hours to see if it still leaked. It did. It was sooooo much work. I googled the freezer’s model number hoping to access the troubleshooting page of the user manual. It said to call the repairman, argh.

I was so exhausted from the physical exertion that I took a hot bath in Epsom salts, then took a long nap. I really couldn’t do much for the rest of the day. I was soooo tired.

I did manage to eat the leftovers from yesterday’s lunch, a random act of kindness from a perfect stranger named Tony.

Another gift of sorts came today by way of my dear friend Mollye. She is undergoing chemo but found the energy and presence of mind to order a book for me that I had read at her house a year ago. I had asked her about it because I thought it would be a perfect Christmas gift for a certain someone in my family. She went above and beyond, and for the second time in two days, I was on the receiving end of a random act of kindness, right when I needed it most.

To my amazement, the repairman came on Monday, three days before Thanksgiving, and fixed the freezer. I am feeling very grateful.

Friday Nov 22, 2024

I have been home from my trip a month and a day and I have had one house emergency after another, especially in the last 10 days. First the faucet in the upstairs bathroom blew out, requiring a new aerator as soon as possible. I went to Lowe’s, Ferguson's and Ace to find a replacement. None of them could help me. Tom came to the rescue once again and ordered a new part from Amazon. Technically, it fits but it doesn't quite work like the orginal. There is no way to adjust the volume of water or access hot water. I may have to replace the entire faucet as I actually like hot water, especially in the morning.

Then one of the three recessed lights in the same bathroom went out. I drove to Batteries Plus twice and Lowe's once before I found the right light bulbs. All of which took far too long due to some exasperating road construction on Moreland Ave.

That’s 6 trips to a hardware store in case you’re counting.

I realized that the wheat grinder in the pantry stopped working just as I got ready to make cornbread, groan. However, I found the instructions behind the grinder and was able to Fix.It.Myself. OMG, I know!

The freezer in the pantry has been leaking water for quite a while. The inside of the freezer looks like a miniature glacier. We had the exact same problem with the refrigerator (they are both the same brand) a few years ago during the pandemic but Charlie was able to fix it. I need someone to help me with this, I can’t let it go on too much longer as it is getting harder to close the freezer door.

The tire gauge light for the Mercedes tells me that I need to adjust the pressure on three tires. Do I know how to do that? Nope.

For some time, my phone has been going to voice mail after two rings. It’s fine for spam callers but not for friends and family. I went to ATT. The technician who looked to be all of 12 years old, said it needed an IOS something or other to “fix the glitches.” He went to Settings, pressed a few keys, upgraded the system and went out to pick up lunch. He came back a few minutes later, restarted my phone and like magic, it was fixed. I wanted to kiss him. Or hug him. Or something.

The house alarm system announced that the motion sensors needed new batteries. Miles was here then so he got out the ladder and changed the batteries.

The power went out for most of the afternoon yesterday. Why I don’t know. If I had known, I would have stayed home and defrosted the freezer. Instead I had been out most of the afternoon trying to negotiate a Christmas gift for a family member. Mission sort of accomplished. It’s not exactly what I wanted the gift to look like but it will have to do.

Also I have no heat. Yes, I am cold. The HVAC guy is coming on Wednesday. I think I can manage until then.

After exercise this morning, I went to Summerhill to run an errand. It was close to lunch time so I went to Woods Chapel BBQ for a sandwich. But mostly I wanted a quart or a gallon of their divine potato salad. It’s the BEST! So they discontinued it! I was soooo disappointed and told them they need to bring it back ASAP and get rid of their cole slaw which is awful.

As I was about to enter Woods Chapel, a nice man rushed over to open the door for me. We stood in line to place our order and had a perfunctory conversation about the menu. When I placed my order, he whipped out his credit card and paid for it before I could. I objected and he said don’t worry I won’t ask for your phone number or anything. I couldn’t believe it. I said are you going to get in trouble with your wife about this? He said oh no, she trusts me totally. I said, well then can I at least have your name? Tony.

Thanks, Tony for your act of kindness. You will never know what it meant to me.

Saturday Nov 9, 2024

Grayson and I had a really good time at the Porsche Experience Center today. He photographed the cars and the building to his heart’s content while I followed him the same way I used to follow Charlie on his photo expeditions. I didn’t realize how much I missed the simple afternoons of just walking around and watching Charlie photograph. It was a big part of my life with him.

Grayson and I talked about returning to the Porsche Center during his spring break in 2025, and inviting Tyler and Lincoln to come along. They are all car enthusiasts and since Tyler is over 21, he can actually test drive a Porsche on the racetrack with Grayson as a passenger.

I invited the Kearns next door for Consolation Apple Crisp Dessert after last week’s election. They brought the vanilla ice cream and I doubled the amount of crisp on the apple crisp, just because. You can’t have too much crisp. We commiserated about the election but somehow segued to old photos of the girls with Charlie. Here’s two I had never seen before when Lucy was about 4 years old.

Thursday Nov 7, 2024

In the last 48 hours, I have made:

broccoli potato soup

banana bread

2 pans of apple crisp

ginger tea

roasted acorn squash

roasted kabocha squash

roasted turnips

4 jars of calamondin orange marmalade

roasted enough pumpkin for 3 pies

roasted pumpkin seeds

12 scones

a huge pot of lentil sausage soup

Tuscan bread

That should pretty much tell you my state of mind.

Wednesday Nov 6, 2024

God help us all. Fear and anger won. Ignorance is bliss but it is also a winning strategy. I removed the Harris Walz sign from my front yard because now I am the one who is fearful of ignorant voters, some of whom didn’t even know that Biden’s name was not on the ballot. Don’t voters have a responsibility to educate themselves about the issues and whom to vote for?

Changing the subject only slightly, I made marmalade with the calamondin oranges from my backyard. I would rather be making the proverbiai lemonade from lemons but can’t right now, the Meyer lemons are not ripe yet (add expletive of your choice here) and I still have not precessed fully what happened yesterday. i have no idea what to do going forward. I am fearful for the future of my family. My grandkids are texting me about moving abroad. What do I tell them? How do we move forward from this as a family, as a community, as a country?

Today my mother would have been 102 years old. I went to Honeycreek Woodlands to commemorate her and to have a heart to heart with Charlie. I thought our conversation was going to be very, very different. I wanted him to send me a sign about what to do. I needed to be near him, if only for a short while, as I am very upset right now.

Came home, baked a whole pumpkin. Tomorrow, I’ll prepare and freeze the pulp for pies later. Made scones.

I have cooked/baked so much food in the last 48 hours out of a manic need to fill every moment with activity. I have got to stop. I am running our of freezer containers.

Tuesday Nov 5, 2024

Today is Election Day, perhaps the longest and most nerve wracking day of the year. I did not make any plans so I need to find things to fill the day.

I went to exercise first thing, came home and started cooking and baking. I made apple crisp and banana bread. Charlie did not like banana bread so this is the first time I made it. I followed a recipe from today’s NYTimes that came highly recommended. And, yes, it is very good! Baked an acorn squash, a kabocha squash. ...and turnips. Picked the calamondin oranges from my backyard and will make marmalade tomorrow. Will bake the pumpkin tomorrow too. If it sounds like I am nervously baking, I am.

I alternated baking/cooking with adding photos to my blog thanks to clear instructions from my very capable granddaughter.

Monday, Nov 4, 2024

I had a very unexpected but pleasant surprise this morning. I noticed that the newly repotted bromeliad sitting on the picnic table had several holes in it created by an overly zealous squirrel. The bag of potting soil was conveniently still next to it so I decided to fill said holes before taking the plant indoors for the winter. As I was filing the holes, an Eastern Phoebe flew right towards me, turning away just inches from my heart and landing on the edge of the bag of potting soil. It stayed there several minutes, allowing me to talk to him/her. I extended my arm hoping it would hop on as I was only about a foot away. It was so close to me! I wondered if it was one half of the pair that created a nest on my back porch last spring and was looking to make its second brood of the year.

Friday Nov 1, 2024

There was an article in the NYTimes this morning about Padma Lakshmi and a St Christopher medal she always wears, given to her by her late lover. Here’s an excerpt from the article in which she talks about the grief she felt:

“Those first three years after he died, I didn’t date. I didn’t do much. I would just get all of my things done for work, and it was good to have work. And then I would come home and I found great solace in actually thinking about him. And I would just wrap my grief like a shawl, like a cloak around my shoulders. And I was comforted by his memory. And I don’t think grief is a bad thing. I think it’s an important thing for us spiritually, no matter what religion you are or subscribe to. I think grief is just love with nowhere to go.

And I am glad that I experienced that grief. My grief, I realized, was commensurate to the love that we had between us. My only regret is that I didn’t have longer to show him how much I appreciated him… And so for me, feeling his presence and living with him, it is a good thing. He still teaches me something. Time has given me a new appreciation for this astonishing, generous human being that was in my life.” Padma Lakshmi

I, too, have 2 pieces of jewelry I wear every day: a pearl bracelet my two cousins gave me after I finished chemo in 2008 and a diamond ring that Charlie insisted on buying in 2018 when we celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary in Paris. In my mind, the trip to Paris was the anniversary gift but he insisted he always wished that he had given me a diamond ring. I’m not much into diamonds, and resisted until we passed a tiny jewelry shop Apriati, 54 rue du Four 75006 Paris, www.apriati.com, with an imperfectly shaped diamond ring in the window. (Apriati, by the way, is the ancient Greek word meaning a strong desire for having beautiful possessions) We went in, ostensibly to try it on and I walked out with it on my finger. I think Charlie was happier that day than I was. We realized later that because we had been walking so much my fingers were swollen and the ring was actually too big. For several years I wore it with an Etruscan wedding ring and a ring of pearls, my other 2 favorite rings. Sadly, since Charlie died, the Etruscan ring and the ring of pearls can no longer get past my knuckle. I wanted to have them resized but resizing would have changed the character of both rings. I just couldn’t do it. They now reside beside C’s ring in a beautiful ring dish, a meaningful gift from my granddaughter. So I only wear the diamond ring and yes, It’s still too big. I wear it together with a simple gold band just to keep it from falling off. I decided that the gold band had to mean something, so it has come to represent the first year I lived without Charlie. I’ll get another sometime before March, 2025, to mark the second. In the meantime, the little diamond ring with its imperfections and irregularities reminds me everyday of how happy Charlie was that day in Paris.

Monday Oct 28, 2024

I had planned on ending the blog with my return to the US. but I have been encouraged to continue by my granddaughter and future grandson. I’m not sure I will have much to say since my life has gone from Technicolor to black & white in the first week since I left Italy.

I was concerned about coming home to an empty & quiet house so before I left, I made a list of things to do as soon as I got home. At the top of the list, voting and paying the property taxes. Check. Sign up for a sewing course. Check. Have sewing machine serviced. Check. Charlie had given me that sewing machine years ago after watching me be stymied by another sewing machine that worked maybe half the time. I used the one he gave me mostly for repairs and easy alterations with the idea that someday I would learn how to really sew. Well, that someday is right now. Especially after seeing an awe inspiring exhibit of the History of Jacket Making on the top floor of Printemps in Paris. Oh my goodness, who knew that an exhibit so beautiful could, at the same time, leave you with the impression that you, too, can do this? I have two projects in mind: upcycle a dress I have loved for many years and make a dress with fabric that once belonged to my Grandmother Maria. Stay tuned. Another thing I did to chase away those post-perfect-trip-to-Italy-blues is something I knew would work, since it worked the first time under much sadder circumstances: I binge-watched Ted Lasso, the feel good, pop culture and pun laden TV series that never disappoints, even on the second go around.

While I was sitting at the table with my morning coffee, a little wren poked its head in the window. He/she was perched on the back of the wicker chair outside, hopping from side to side and craning its neck to get a better of view inside, of me, I suppose. Who knows how many times he/she came when there was no one on the other side of the glass? I hope I can get a photo next time. Sweet.

Went with Jay to see a wonderful performance of Amelie the musical at the Horizon Theater on Wedneday evening. It was truly delightful in every way, the stage sets, the music, the story, and especially the actors, many of whom doubled as musicians. Very talented theater group!

Friday, Oct 18, 2024

Overslept, I had trouble sleeping last night, heavy rain, thunder, lightning, Had a weird dream that Giorgio brought along a snobby, wealthy couple and would not tell me who they were or why he brought them. Strange, because I rarely remember my dreams. Went for a walk after I finished packing. The valley is foggy and cloudy and I’m glad I did the Pavarotti thing a few days ago.

Stella was surprised that I am leaving today. I put my suitcase by the front door as reminder. Giorgio arrived early, we had lunch with Stella and Luca. All in all, I have to say It’s been a perfect vacation, no hiccups that couldn’t be handled, if not by me, then by a member of the family. And it isn’t over yet, there stil 2 days in Mantova with G and his extended family.

Giorgio is exactly the kid Charlie & I met 30(!) years at the Atlanta airport. Did I tell you how we met? My mother gave our name to a friend who was looking for 2 families to host a couple of 17 year old Italian boys looking to learn English. We said yes without thinking. Yeah, sure we’ll do it. How hard could it be? On the way to the airport, we began to have second thoughts. What if he is spoiled or rude? We don’t know him. We didn’t even know what he looked like. Within seconds, of meeting, we were in love with him: he was funny and smart, and we enjoyed his company the rest of the summer. We stayed In touch, met his family in Italy, went to his wedding. In fact, he introduced us to other wedding guests as his American parents. He was a big kid then and he is big kid today. Only now, he is also a mechanical engineer, a husband, and a father of 2. Otherwise, exactly the same.

I am at loss for words, right now, I am leaving as soon as Giorgio finishes his phone call with his boss. Stella is reading the newspaper, Luca is off somewhere else and I have already said goodbye to Arminda and Marco. Nothing left to do but leave.

_________________________________________________________

Laughed all the way to Mantova, Giorgio told me one incredibly funny story after another about his life, his kids, his job, and Sara. Since we made such good time, we went directly to pick up his son, Gabriele from karatè. Beautiful boy. Lovely evening together with their friends, Andrea and Elisa whose son, Alberto, and daughter Cori are the same ages as the Rossini kids. Cori, a tiny acrobat, is already the person at the top of a human pyramid in one amazing but scary video after another.

Top row: Sara, me, Giorgio and Daniele, bottom row: Cristina and Rebecca

Giorgio and his son Gabriele.

Tuesday October 23, 2024

Yesterday was Stella’s 81st birthday. Her son Luca and brother Francesco took her to a nice restaurant in Florence to celebrate. I know that what she wanted more than anything was to renew her driver’s license. A few days before I left, she tried to renew it online only to discover that she needed to scan a written certificaton from her doctor. She couldn’t remember her doctor’s name, not even after I suggested looking through her address book. She would have found it a few pages in, her doctor’s name began with the letter B, Bellandi. She decided to go anyway (without an appointment!) because she knew where the office was located. I drove her there, left her in the waiting room and walked around for about a half an hour.

When I picked her up she was still in the waiting room. She said let’s go home. I said did you see Doctor Bellandi? She mumbled that she would take care of it another day.

I left Pietrabuona on Oct 18th. I couldn’t write anything then about saying goodbye to her. It was really, really difficult to walk away, knowing that her son would leave at the end of the month and that she would be alone in the big villa once again. If I am lucky, I might see her again but I cannot hope to stay with her anymore. Those days are over. I just hope that she accepts her son’s help in making the transition to whatever comes next as smooth as possible. I hope he does it as kindly as possible. I did not ask about his plans, it's none of my business, but while I was there, he sold one of the farmhouses to the Dutch couple that has been coming there for years. He has several more.

I will miss my friend. I am happy that over the years we had a lot of laughs together, had some great conversations, shared common interests and many great meals. I am happy to have known her and that we totally enjoyed each other’s company, pure and simple.

Monday October 21, 2024

Giorgio and I left Mantova at 6 am and got to the Venice airport at exactly 8am. The night before, he showed me how to put the boarding pass on my phone as he didn’t have a printer at home (no one in Italy does!). I am just so technologically savvy! With a little help from my friends, of course.

On the way to the airport, I watched a spectacular sunrise in the east. I would have photographed it but G was driving too fast. I told him to just leave me off in front of the airport but he wouldn’t hear of it. He found a parking space literally right in front (he has the same Parking Karma as Charlie) and insisted he would carry my luggage to the gate. He was amazed I spent 5 weeks in Europe with just carry on. He tells me next time I must teach Sara how to pack light.

He, of course, could not carry my luggage to the gate so we said our goodbyes and went our separate ways. He is such a wonderful human being, generous with his time, smart and very funny. I miss him already.

The flight was pretty uneventful, I ate too much, I alternated between napping and watching 2 really awful movies. I had enough time to watch a third but decide not to risk it. It would be more interesting to just stare at the seat ahead of me. And think.

____________________________________________________________

I’m home, my plane arrived 20 minutes early, I was the first person off the plane(!) and there were no lines at Passport Control. I breezed out of the airport in record time and Kate was waiting for me. It was all too easy.

I texted my family in Italy that I was home and got some really sweet messages from them. Federico told me to start planning the next trip. Now.

Sunday, Oct 20, 2024

My last full day in Italy, and it began with fog and rain. The kids, including Giorgio, talked about making me pancakes this morning. I really can’t think about eating after last night but we’ll do what we must. I watched, mostly giggling and suppressing outright laughter, while 3 Italians, one with the precision of an engineer and the other 2 with the awkward and messy approximation of children, made pancakes. They were pretty good, all things considered. They were served with whipped cream and nutella since there is no maple syrup in Italy.

Took a shower while they went to Mass. G & S are not particularly religious but Rebecca will have a her first communion Nov 3rd. So.

We had lunch with Giorgio’s sister Cristina & her husband Daniele, hands down, two of the nicest human beings on earth. I just love spending time with them. Cristina told us that she has enrolled in a women’s defense class because she travels for work. If she feels threatened, she was instructed to first raise her hands in a defensive position and then yell forcefully Stand BACK! (Stai indietro!) She was nervous at her first practice run, so she yelled Stand THERE! (Stai la!) Giorgio said that a would-be attacker would have cracked up and not have been able to regain their composure before she just ran away.

Came home around 4pm, Sara, Rebecca and I went to downtown Mantova just to walk off lunch. Gabriele and Giorgio reluctantly went to catechism class. Yesterday, when Giorgio and I went to the Clock Tower, downtown was virtually empty. Today it was packed with people attending a Sbrisolona Festival (a specialty of Mantova, it’s a very large cookie that you break off into pieces to eat) A Sbrisolona, made by his mother, and a cake dish large enough to hold it, were the first gifts Giorgio gave us when he came to Atlanta. He also gave me his mother’s recipe. I should try and make it sometime.

Walked around lesiurely in spite of the crowds, went inside the Basilica of Sant Andrea, a Renaissance church designed by Leon Battista Alberti, so breathtakingly beautiful. Lit 2 candles. The last time I visited, I was with Charlie.

Need to get up at 5:30 am and hit the road at 6. I’m going to bed now.

Saturday, Oct 19, 2024

Giorgio and I woke up before everyone else so he took me to a nearby pastry shop. He introduce me to the owner, Roberto, as his American parent. Roberto gave us some extra cookies, wink, wink. His entire family works with him behind the counter. I told Roberto that the brioche and cappuccino were the best I have had on my trip so far. Giorgio ordered cookies to take home, even though he said they weren’t any good. HA.

Afterwards Gabriele, Giorgio and I went to the Clock Tower to see an exhibit called “Time”. The Tower is attached to the Palazzo della Ragione where Charlie and I saw a marvelous show of the works of Marc Chagall several years ago. The hall, which is quite spacious (and currently empty) had been filled with temporary rooms to display his works according to medium: a room of water colors, a room of book illustrations, a room of paintings, many of which came from the private collection of a resident of Mantova. I walked away from that show with a profound appreciation of his work that I did not have before.

The Time exhibit in the Clock Tower had a fascinating time line of the history of time as well as a video (narrated by a friend of Giorgio’s) explaining how the clock, from 1473 was built, and how it came to be restored. The history of time itself is fascinating, I want to learn more about it.

We had a low key afternoon as the kids had commitments and then all 9 of us went to a great seafood restaurant for dinner. The owner is from the Amalfi Coast, she knows seafood and I am stuffed!