Italy On My Mind

     Most of you who know me know that I love to travel.  The travel bug bit me early on in my childhood when we got our first camp trailer when I was in the fourth grade.  But then it really attacked me my junior year in college when I spent a semester in Reims, France.  While there I was able to travel to Italy, Switzerland, Belgium, Luxembourg, Holland, England and Germany before coming back to the States.  It wasn't long after my return that I graduated and began teaching French.  And three years after I began teaching I took my first student group to France. 
     I have been very blessed over the years to have led fifteen student/adult groups to over ten different European countries.  I never grow tired of travel.  And now I am so looking forward to our trip to Tuscany which leaves on September 17! 
     I think my favorite quote about travel is this one from Mark Twain:  "Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts.  Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime."  Travel changes one for the better, especially if that travel takes you outside of your comfort zone and into an experience that presents different languages, foods, traditions, religions, daily routines, environments.
     So with that said, I will leave you with more views of Tuscan towns and landscapes.  Arrivederci!

A frescoed ceiling in Florence

The village of Greve

A Tuscan spice market

The walled city of Lucca

La Bella Italia!

     In less than four weeks, I, and my group of 13 other travelers, will be in Italy, specifically in Tuscany - some of us for 13 days and some of us for 17 days.  This is a trip I have been planning for almost two years!  And now it is almost time to fly over to one of the most beautiful countries I have ever visited.  (Of course, I'm always partial to France, but Italy comes in a very close second!)
     I have loved reading Francis Mayes (Under the Tuscan Sun, Bella Tuscany, Every Day in Tuscany) for years.  I thought I might share some of her insights into this glorious region of the world.

          "Festina Tarde was a Renaissance concept: Make haste slowly.  Often it was represented by
     a snake with its tail in its mouth, by a dolphin entwined with an an anchor, or by a figure of a seated
     woman holding wings in one hand and a tortoise in the other."

     Mayes writes this in the chapter about how slow everything is taking to get their house in Italy finished.  The Italians have a completely different concept of time than we Americans do.  We want everything done NOW!  We will often skip meals or skip engagements or appointments in order to get things accomplished.  Italians will have none of that.  Two hour lunches are sacred!  The local soccer team playing on the television is never to be missed!  The "passegiatta", evening stroll around town, is looked forward to like Christmas!  These are the important things in life, not getting a wall painted or a ceiling repared.  This will happen eventually.  Don't worry signora!

     Another Italian concept is "Dolce far Niente":  the sweetness of doing nothing!  How lovely that the word "dolce" means both "sweet" and "dessert"!  To Italians, sitting in the piazza watching the world go by, is like having dessert after a wonderful meal.  It is something to look forward to, and after having had it, one is full and satisfied and very happy.  The Italian lifestyle appeals to the dessert-lover in me! 
     And yet how many times have we Americans felt that having "time on our hands" was a reason for guilt?  We seek to fill up that time with as much stuff (often quite meaniingless) as we can think of.  Or we sit there saying, "I should be doing . . . . ", instead of realizing what a sweet moment we have in doing nothing.  It is good for us to not fill every waking moment with things to do. 
     I remember a phrase from many years ago, "Stop, and smell the roses".  The Italians are quite happy to do that - ahhh, the sweetness of doing nothing!   Here again, let me share with you some of Mayes writings as she lists her joys on a particular day:

          "*  Green lizard flying from the rim of one geranium pot to the next
           *  To see the perfume of a handful of wild strawberries
           *  To feel the greeny translucence of a thin slice of fennel
           *  Golden October leaves sticking to a marble statue in the park
           *  Three ancient ladies in dark print dresses, their backs to the view of Santa Maria
               Nuova, visiting in the winter sun.  Immortal.
           *  Rolling fields of late June with clumps of late red poppies amid tawny wheat.  I noted the
               purple-black Maltese cross printed inside a few of the thousands of red poppies
               volunteering for service.  Years of seeing poppies and now I discover the magical hidden
               cross in the center of the blood-red petals.  How life continues to open and amaze."

     Since I can not paint or sketch I shall use her example of "painting with words" - simple observations
which I can capture on paper and then can recall many years later that sensation of living in the moment on a lovely day in Tuscany.
      And now I shall leave you with some photos of some of the villages we will be walking to next month.  I probably will continue showing photos of Italy for the next few posts as I am getting ready to spend 17 glorious days in La Bella Italia enjoying La Dolce Vita!

Chianti countryside

Chianti countryside

Piazza in Cortona

Beautiful Florence - home of the Renaissance

The hilltop town of Greve

A Peaceful Parting

     This post is late and will be short and sad.  Andy and I said "goodbye" to our sweet dog, Huck on Saturday.  I knew the time was close last Wednesday morning as my poor 13 year old baby could hardly move when I woke him up to go outside.  I really thought I was losing him on that day, but he was still with us Thursday morning, and on Friday morning, and on Saturday morning.
     It's so hard to determine when the time should be to have your fur baby put down.  I had decided that if he lingered til Saturday that I would call the company called "Peaceful Partings" recommended by my vet whom I had called on Wednesday to see what advice she had for me.  Huck had stopped eating and had drank very little so I knew it was kinder to have him put down.  I didn't want him to starve himself to death.
     So on Saturday afternoon a vet and vet tech from Peaceful Partings came to the house.  They were so sweet and wonderful, explaining every step and what was happening to Huck each time.  And soon his sweet spirit joined those of Rocky and Asha and all the other dogs I have lost over the years.  They took his body to have it cremated and Andy and I said a very tearful "goodbye" to our hunter extraordinaire!  Our brave and loyal and loving 100 pound husky/lab with the beautiful markings and the one mommy eye (blue) and the one daddy eye (brown).
     We had brought him home when he was only 5 weeks old so he truly was "my baby", even to the end.  And we will miss him terribly.
     And so, dear friends, I promise to write more next week, maybe I'll start telling you about our upcoming trip to Italy which we are so looking forward to.
     Until then, I bid you a fond "adieu" and "a bientot"!  Thank you for reading my blog and joining me on my journey.

Huck with CoCo

Huck the snow dog!

1940s France and Baby Lions

     I fell in love last week!  That lovely feeling of joy, amazement, newness, awareness; that desire to have the days and moments encapsulated in your blood; to feel your pulse race and your palms sweat and all of your senses come alive in a heartbeat.
    No, there's not a person in sight, just a beautiful novel and a trip to the zoo, and I was transported to that place that all lovers long for.  I know that may not make any sense to some of you.  But for those who cherish a well-written book and are lovers of animals, I think you might be able to relate to my enthusiastic response to these two wonderful events.
     On June 25th, after many months of hoping and waiting, our handsome Abuto and his lovely mate, Lomela, gave this world the most wonderful gift of three precious lion cubs - two males and one female.  Every week since their birth I have been at the zoo to watch them on the tv monitor set up near the indoor exhibit.  I could see them in the nursery area back behind the wall as they stumbled around each other and momma trying to find out about their new world.  Momma was always there to lick them and nurse them and carry them back into the den where she knew they would be safe from any dangers.
     This past week was the first time that the zoo keepers had arranged it so that Lomela could bring the babies out from the nursery and into the indoor exhibit area.  On Monday, she was not ready to show them to the world.  I waited awhile at the exhibit, which was blocked off at one end to prevent too many people from being close to the glass and scaring mom and the babies.  But no sign of Lomela and the cubs.

     When I went back on Friday my patience paid off.  I stopped by the lion area early in my visit and there was nothing going on.  A woman whom I often run into at the zoo had been there waiting all morning and said that Lomela had stuck her head out into the exhibit area, but then went back to where the babies were and had not come out again.  So, I decided to do my usual "rounds" of the other animals and then went back after lunch.  I waited and waited and waited . . . . 
     I felt important standing there as I could explain to all the other visitors why the area was blocked off.  Everyone was so excited that we had baby lions and were disappointed that they couldn't see them.  The lion keepers came and went and saw that I was planning to stay for awhile and they all wished me luck!

Mom is watchful!

     After an hour I saw Lomela peek her head out of the doorway into the nursery.  I guess she decided that I didn't look too threatening and so she came all the way out into the exhibit and trailing behind her were the five week old babies!!!  My throat closed up and my eyes teared and could not focus on anything except those precious babies.  I watched them for an hour - playing, wrestling, falling off the platforms as their little legs are still figuring out how to work, chewing on mom's tail, climbing onto her back, eventually nursing and falling asleep in a pile of fur.  I watched them long enough that I could tell them apart - with a little help from the keepers.

Babies are curious!

     Slowly, many of the keepers in other parts of the zoo came to see the babies.  Word got around (I'm sure the walkie talkies were very busy!).  And then lots of visitors got the word also - "The baby lions are out now!  Go and see them!".  While we were all busy watching the babies, Lomela was busy watching all of us.  When she first came out she stood on the platform and surveyed the area.  You can see that in my photo (and I apologize that I did not have my good camera with me, I used my phone).  She must have decided that she was ok with the situation, because she then went and laid down, but she never took her eyes off of the people!  The kids were oblivious, as kids often are, secure in the knowledge that Mom was there to take care of them.  They played for about 35-40 minutes and explored the area.  At one point Angie, who is their grandma, came up to a fenced area where they can "nose" each other.  None of the other lions has been in with the babies.  But Angie was very interested and you could tell she was "talking" to them.  One of the little ones spent a few minutes "nosing" grandma, or maybe he was just chewing on the bars!

Handsome Dad taken about a year ago

     When the keepers decided that Lomela seemed ok with all the people gathered around the blockade, they started letting a few visitors at a time come around the blockade to get a better view.  I was the first one they let in!!  What a treat!  They knew I'd been waiting for an hour and they wanted to reward me.  It truly was love!  What gorgeous creatures they are, even as babies.
     So now you're wondering about the 1940s France part of the title (or maybe you'd forgotten as I spent so much time talking about the baby lions!).  All the Light We Cannot See, by Anthony Doerr has been on the New York Times' Best Seller list for I don't even know how many weeks.  When I found out that the story takes place just before and then during the German occupation of France, I knew I had to read it.  What I did not realize is how much I would love it.
     It isn't just the plot that draws you in although that in itself is compelling.  Marie-Laure is a young girl at the beginning of the story who loses her eyesight and sees the world through the tiny miniature towns that her father builds for her - first, their neighborhood in Paris and then their neighborhood in Saint-Malo where they spend the German occupation.  At the same time as Marie-Laure is learning what it's like to be blind and to "see" the world through her other senses, a young orphaned German named Werner is finding out what it means to live in a world dominated by Nazi philosophy.  And as a radio technology genius he is much in demand as a servant of the Third Reich.
     But the reason I am so in love with this book is that it embraces the senses.  Doerr's writing is mesmerizing.  He helps you to see, feel, hear, taste, smell all that goes on in the lives of Marie-Laure and Werner during such a difficult time for both of them, their friends and families and their countries.
      As an old woman who has survived the war and is once again living in Paris:
          " Marie-Laure imagines the electromagnetic waves traveling . . .bending . . . a thousand times
     crisscross the air - maybe a million times more.  Torrents of text conversations, tides of cell
     conversations, of television programs . . . passing through buildings, arcing between transmitters
     in Metro tunnels, commercials for Carrefour and Evian and prebaked toaster pastries flashing
     into space and back to earth again. . . .and ten thousand I miss yous, fifty thousand I love yous,
     hate mail and appointment reminders . . . jewelry ads, coffee ads, furniture ads flying invisibly
     over the warrens of Paris, over the battlefields and tombs, over the Ardennes, over the Rhine,
     over Belgium and Denmark, over the scarred and ever-shifting landscapes we call nations.
     And is it so hard to believe that souls might also travel those paths?  That her father and Etienne
     and Madame Manec and the German boy named Werner Pfennig might harry the sky in flocks
     like egrets, like terns, like starlings?  That great shuttles of souls might fly about, faded but
     audible if you listen closely enough?  . . . . Every hour, she thinks, someone for whom the war
     was memory falls out of this world. . . . We rise again in the grass.  In the flowers.  In songs."

"Here H J Pilot, a law student, heroically gave his life at the age of 23 in the liberation of Paris August 20, 1944"

    And just as I had that lump in my throat and tears in my eyes for the new babies, I felt those same emotions reading this book.  Yes, I'm in love and it's a wonderful feeling!   So, come see the babies and find a copy of this book.  You may not fall in love with them as I did, but you will not be disappointed!
     Thank you for reading this post.  I took you on a different path this week, didn't I?  Who knows what next week will bring.  I think I will listen for the souls who might follow that path.

"So When is the Big Move?"

     Every few days someone will ask me when I am planning my move to France.  There are many things that have to fall into place before I can actually make that kind of a move.  So, for my benefit and yours, I will list those things here.  I'm sure more will need to be added to the list as I get closer, but here's what I know at this point in time.
     For those of you who are animal lovers, you will understand that I will not move while my old dog, Huck, the husky/lab, is still living.  He is thirteen and I have seen a steady decline in his health over the past year.  I don't know how much longer I will have him, but as long as he is living it will be in the house he has always known.  I would never even consider putting him through a move like that.  He is a big boy and never been kenneled.  It would be cruel to put him in a cage that would spend 10 hours in the cargo hold of a plane.  Nor would I ever consider leaving him behind.  So, as long as I have Huck, we will stay in our house.

Big Boy Huck and Little Girl CoCo

     CoCo is small enough that she will fit in an airline approved dog carry-on so she can come with me and be with me on the plane.  But something I will need to do is to contact the airline to find out all of their regulations regarding her coming with me.  So, that is on my to-do list when I get to that point.
    Here are the rest of the things to be done in no particular order.  And if you think of anything that I have omitted, please let me know.  Some of you have been through a similar move and I'm sure I could learn from your experience.
1)  Finish work on my house.  I still need to paint ceilings and walls in the newer addition and to refinish the wood floors, get the carpets professionally cleaned and replace the old linoleum.  I also need to work on the "curb appeal".
2)  Put the house on the market (which I will not do until Huck is gone)
3)  Rent a storage unit that's large enough for my car which I plan to leave.  That way I'll have a car when I return to the States for 2-3 months each year.  I will also store a few items of furniture and boxes which I don't want to get rid of, but neither do I want to take them with me.  I will have 2 suitcases and CoCo!
4)  Contact the French consulate in Denver and see about getting permission for an extended tourist passport.  I read that I can get the usual 90 day passport extended to a year if I meet certain criteria.  But I must go through the consulate and fill out a ton of paperwork and make sure to get the extension before I leave the US.
(There's an interesting thing about US passports and Europe.  Most of the countries on the continent allow for only 90 days for a US passport.  Once you enter and get your passport stamped you have 90 days before you must leave Europe.  However, the countries of Great Britain allow for 180 days, so if there is a problem with me getting the extended passport for France, I can always find house-sitting jobs for days 91-180 in Great Britain and then I can go back to France - or Italy - or Spain - or Switzerland . . . :-)
 5)  One I have the extended passport I can start setting up housesitting gigs.  I have seven websites to use for finding houses.  Most of them require a membership for both the people wanting to find housesitters and for those who want to be housesitters.  That's a good thing because the money is used for background checks to make sure that everyone is who they say they are.
6)  I still have a lot to get rid of!  So more trips to Good Will!    
7)  Look into car leasing in Europe.  I know it is much cheaper than going through a car rental agency.  I might go talk to leasing agents at the Toyota dealership.  I love my RAV and would really like to have one in France.  They are very popular over there and there's even a 2 door version that super cute!  I'm wondering if I can go through a dealership here and then pick the car up over there.  Anyone know anything about that?
8)   I forgot to mention that I'm still waiting to get my mom's ashes back.  So I can't leave until that happens and Andy and I can take the ashes and scatter them where we scattered my dad's ashes in 2003.  Mom's body was donated to medical research and when that happens it can take up to two years to get the ashes back.  It's been about a year and a half.
9)  Continue to do research on different towns and villages in SW France.  The Neste Valley is never far from my thoughts!

The Neste Valley in SW France

      I welcome your encouragement and suggestions!  And as always I thank you for reading my blog and following me on my journey as I get ever closer to France.  People have asked if I plan to continue my blog once I move and I definitely plan to do that.  I want to tell you all about my adventures over there - the bends and bumps and surprises that meet me on a daily basis as I live in another country!  To misquote Dr Seuss (!):  "Oh, the places I'll go!"