walking Zacchi

We did take that long walk yesterday.

We were a little late leaving, and as we walked the 2kms to the older part of the village, walking through the little section where Thomas Aquinas was born, and passing below the castle ruins which enhance our skyline, the sun was a golden orb, saying it's evening farewell through the haze of fog and chimney smoke. In the time it took us to walk 500 metres it had changed into a large, glowing pink-gold two dimensional disc, balanced perfectly above the skyline, a teasing, evasive mistress sliding elegantly behind the mountain range. It was an exquisite performance, for performance it surely was.

At the village we stopped to buy more of that cherry yoghurt, and coconut yoghurt (yum) but no, I don't have the marinated cherries to add to it. The shopkeeper there will not serve me unless I speak English, because he wants to learn. His father, who was my grocer until the son took over, is the kindly man who gave me plums, always gave back too much change, and cut the salami exactly as I wanted it.

Next stop was to collect the lemons from Nonno, forgotten that lovely lunchtime. A friend stopped to invite me to a first Communion. That invitation is rather special, as it is the first communion of my friend with the new glasses. The painting will be my gift to him; I have one for each young rascal.

Back through the village we met the daughter of a friend, who always greets me warmly. Friend is a wonderful singer and concert pianist who wont leave this village for a promised career in America because she is afraid to take her daughters further into the world. Daughter, like mother, sings and plays. Their "standing invitation" to visit for lunch or dinner is one I must take up soon, as friend is almost house-bound caring for her parents now. In this part of Italy it is normal to give up a career to care for the aged.

Walking back home in the dark I realised that the place for my fluorescent orange safety vest is in my bag, not on the sideboard in the studio. We stayed right on the edge of the road and arrived home without incident. Here it is compulsory to carry a safety vest and triangle in the car; there is a large fine if you don't have them. They must be where you can reach them quickly, not in the boot. The one in my car is yellow. You really need to know that, right?

I had barely arrived home when I was "summoned" to eat with my adopted family. It was tripe as I have never seen it, a special more expensive cut. It was served in a tomato garlic and onion salsa, but not before we had all tasted it with just salt and lemon juice. Tripe here seems so much more edible than the tripe my grandfather used to eat. Nothing is served in "white sauce" here, obviously that has not come into the Italian cuisine yet. But in this part of Italy pavlovas, carrot cakes, chocolate cakes, banana cakes and pikelets are becoming standard fare... oops! Guilty! Another thing I have "started" is cooking bananas in the embers, with dark chocolate popped inside, the way we did it in cubs and scouts. Yes, the world is shrinking.

Today was a reasonably normal Saturday, with the addition of meeting my new neighbours. They are lovely, about my age, and speak Italian, not dialect, so we could have some conversation. And the bonus is... that they have a puppy and are happy for Zacchi and Queenie to play. A marriage made in heaven I think, a (yet to be) speyed female, and only the gate and a small fence between us. And 2 month old Queenie wore Zacchi out. Incredible but true!

The rascals came later for their English lesson, but not before I had hidden their portraits. Today there was no point in trying to teach them. They have school Saturday morning, then had come from two hours of catechism class. They had had enough of studying and had energy to burn. We picked oranges, then sat by the fire and cooked bananas instead. There was also a competition to see who could flick the most mandarine rind into my paint water. I turned down my pay.

The highlight of the day had to be a phonecall from Angela. It is her birthday, and tonight she received the portrait. She is absolutely thrilled with it, so I am pretty pleased too!