Yesterday was Festa Delle Madre, mother's day. There's also a Festa Della Donne in Italy which celebrates womanhood, however there is only one father's day and no additional day to celebrate men. My mom always told me that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach. Feed him well and he'll treat you like a queen. In Italy women really know what to do with food, and the men celebrate them not once but twice a year. Plus, the women get to eat too! This is a great country.
Yesterday morning Doro and Cece were with us. We picked edible flowers from the garden (they're purple!) and helped Sergio cover the cherry trees to protect them from the birds. Doro of course conducted a lesson for me on which caterpillars and bugs I should touch and which ones I should "place to the side." I'll just take this opportunity to mention again that she's 6. And my role model. (My other role model is George Burns, and he died at 102. If we average those two ages that makes my amalgamated role model 54 which is almost normal, right?)
In the afternoon, Sergio and Lorena took me and Emily for a "little car trip." As my dad would say, we went on a Sunday afternoon noodle ride, a Friedman tradition! That just means that I got into the car without asking where we were going. I have a hard time knowing what would be considered rude here, so I just get into cars and go places. It turned out that we were driving through the Crete Senesi, which is an area just south of Siena where the landscape is like nothing I've ever seen before - I'll add a link to the wikipedia page below since I didn't have the chance to take any pictures. I thought that Crete Senesi meant "Sienese craters," because the terrain looks a little bit like what I imagine land hit by craters might look and also because my brain sometimes takes small vacations. In fact, it means "Sienese clays." Sergio explained that this area is where the clay for Sienese pottery comes from. A lot of the land in that area is pretty unworkable but people live there nonetheless in beautiful, castle-like villas. I'm not sure what they do when it rains because it definitely looked like a drizzle would make their houses slide down the slopes in their backyards, but I gather that they have somehow arranged for that not to happen. Along the way we stopped at Monte Olivieto Maggiorre where there is a famous and beautiful monastery with frescoes depiction the life of St. Benedict.
The next stop was at a town nearby, I don't recall the name because the town itself was nice but there was nothing specifically notable there and it was very small. HOWEVER, I did have my first gelato of the season during this stop. Sergio suggested it and bought it for me very sweetly. Gelato. Mmm.
After that stop we went to Lorena's mom's apartment for dinner. That was interesting: it turns out that Lorena's mom is only 82. Which is a surprise because I thought until now that Lorena and Sergio where in their 70s, but I was mistaken. Also, Lorena's mom is an excellent cook but she's very traditional and her food tastes nothing like Lorena's although Lorena told me that she learned everything about cooking from her mom. It was a very nice dinner, and when it was over we walked into town where there was a celebration for S. Isadoro with fireworks. We watched together and then returned home around 11.
Today I worked in the vineyards in the morning, and at noon Lorena asked if I wanted a pasta-making lesson! So, I learned how to mix dough for pasta, how to stretch it, and how to make tortellini and ravioli. Sooo cool.
Lunches are usually pretty quiet but not today. Today Lorena explained to me that she has a friend who owns a hotel in Sorrento, and her friend would like to sell the hotel and invest in a place in Latin America. She asked what I thought. I explained that I am the last person to be able to give that kind of advice but that her friend sounds like an interesting person. We started to talk all about life. Yes, an emotional conversation on the topics of life, living life, liberty, confidence, and love. It was a fantastic lesson in communicating in Italian because no matter how good my language was getting for everything farming related, it has been frustrating not to be able to communicate on a personal level. My thoughts and feelings don't revolve much around fennel or gardening tools. And although I've been happy to just be among people who are kind and seem to prioritize their values so respectably, I have found it challenging to be without the ability to connect on a deeper level. How many times can I tell Lorena that the food is delicious and everything smells terrific? It's nice to be able to talk about more complex issues. Among other things, Sergio and Lorena told me that when they decided to give up their lives in cities and buy La Gavina, they were without a lot of support from family and friends. People were sure that it would fail and that the two of them would starve. They were persistent, and they have managed very well.
OK - this is important: Snake watch:
Nothing yet, but this morning Emily asked if there are snakes in the grapevines... She didn't know the word so she drew and 's' shape with her finger. Why are snakes so gross? I actually had a moment of feeling bad for them this morning because they have to live with themselves, but then I remembered that snakes are not people and they don't have to look at themselves in mirrors. Anyway, I haven't seen any snakes in the grapevines yet but I do think it's funny that Emily and I both seem to be checking under our beds for snakes before we go to sleep at night. That's right. Every night the covers come off before I climb in, I shake my pillowcases to see if anything will fall out, and I check the bathroom and the closets. And I live on the second floor.
Also, Sergio told me that the snakes are dangerous to Lana, the little dog (see her picture in the slide show on the upper right of this page). Apparently the little devils bite at dogs's noses when they are sniffing around the ground for food. Well, my new strategy is to carry around a bottle of water AND a machete everywhere I go. Snakes don't like water right? I figure if I see one, I'll squirt him first, then run, then if he catches up with me I'll throw the machete at him...
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