Hot Days, Quiet Nights

My life in Italy has slowed down in direct proportion to the heat recently. It's difficult to find motivation to sight see when temperatures reach 38-degrees (that's over 100-degrees for all you Westerners still using fahrenheit) and the ancient buildings in Italy don't support central air conditioning. As a result, I spend most of my time away from work sitting in front of the fan at home, reading or lying on the beach.

I did have a small, personal victory last week when I used a lawn mower for the very first time. Yes, it is an electric lawn mower. Yes, it kind of looks like a child's toy. And, yes, my lawn is so small it took me more time to figure out how to start the mower than to actually cut the grass. BUT, I mowed a lawn. For the first time in 27-years. Let me revel in that for a moment.

Since my grass was freshly cut, I decided that was as good an excuse as any to host a garden party this weekend. Friday night, I had friends from Darby over for homemade Sangria and general merriment in my backyard. I've always heard the cheaper the wine, the better the Sangria, and I proved that theory right this weekend. At 2-euro for an entire litre, I might have found the cheapest wine in all of Tuscany, but it made for the most amazing Sangria. I think I've said it before, but I'm so lucky to have found such a great network of friends at Darby. While I'm not ready to call Ponsacco home yet, I felt so comfortable hanging out in the yard, under the Italian starry night sky, surrounded by friends with Sangria in hand.

July also brought a wonderful visit from Heather and Jaidi -- my first official non-family visitors. They were all set to be my first visitors, period, but mom trumped them when she slid in the late June/early July visit. I feel like they still deserve a title though, so "First Official Non-family Visitors" it is! They were in Europe for a wedding in Amsterdam and made it down to Italy to visit me for a few days. While here, they had the chance see Florence and Cinque Terra (while I reported to work, jealous of their big adventures) and we all whiled away the evenings in Tuscany over red wine and great food in some of my favorite restaurants. Dinner the first night in Ponsacco gave us all strange dreams. Beware the raw, cured meat!






Somehow I only landed in one
photo the entire visit.




On the work front, we've stayed busy this summer with volunteer interviews and trainings (more than 30 new Overseas Committee Chairs trained!), compiling the summer mailing, a complete website overhaul and preparing for our Fall site visits. Now, it's like the calm before the storm -- I'll be in Italy until the middle of September (with a visit from Paige!) and then the non-stop travel hits. Starting September 18th, I'll be in Germany for a week and a half, Portugal for 2 weeks, the UK for 2 weeks and then back to Germany for another 2 weeks. That insane schedule will carry me through the middle of November when I'll then take off again for the States and what will most certainly be a much needed visit home.

My dad tells me that the travel will take its toll. He travelled all over the world for years with IBM so I'm pretty sure he knows what he's talking about. But for now, I'm looking forward to seeing the different bases/posts and meeting my volunteers that I've only talked to on the phone/emailed. Ask me again in October though, when I'm out of clean clothes, haven't had a home cooked meal in weeks and can't even remember what city I'm in and you might get a different answer...

Mama Mia

My mom’s visit was such a whirlwind of a week, I still can’t believe she’s already come and gone. Since pictures tell a thousand stories, let’s recap with a photo montage.

Friday:
Mom arrives and we swing through Pisa on our way to Carol and Larry’s house for a cook-out.



Saturday:
I navigate the Italian train system all by myself for the first time and get us to Florence without any problems. Sadly, I didn’t check on reservations for the Uffizi or the Academia in time, so we just ride the big, red tourist bus and marvel at the city’s history from afar. We’ll catch the museums and galleries in December!



Sunday:
Facing a few choices (San Gimiginano, Lucca, Sienna, Montepulciano) mom chooses San Gimiginano. Fine by me as I have only been through the city for about 5 minutes after the wine tasting adventure in April. The city is pretty touristy, but still a sight to see, and I pick up more of my favorite wine from Tollena.

Truth be told, I think the drive alone is worth it. Some of my favorite views are here in the backroads of Tuscany.


That's San Gimiginano in the distance.

Monday:
Venice! Enough said.



Tuesday and Wednesday:
I work while mom rests up for Cinque Terra. She is kind enough to do my dishes, scrub the lime (caused by the incredibly hard water in Italy) off every surface in my house and pack me lunches while I go in to the office.

Tuesday night, we go to Il Conventino, my favorite agriturismo in Calci, and enjoy the most amazing meal of cheese and honey, polenta, barley salad, bruschetta, cured meats, ravioli with figs, gnocchi, wild boar tagliatelle...



Thursday:
Happy Birthday, mom! We start the afternoon sweating our guts out in Cinque Terra, but it is all worth it for views like this…



That night, we celebrate mom’s birthday with drinks (beer for me, Long Island Ice Tea for mom) at Fast Bar in Monterroso – town #5 in Cinque Terra. The bar is decorated with American dollar bills. Not wanting to be left out, we add to the collection.



Friday:
Spend the morning exploring Monterroso before heading back to my house. I pay rent a few days early so mom can meet Bimbi. She gives us gelato and declares “Que disastre!” after 10 minutes of us speaking to her in English with crazy hand gestures and her speaking to us in Italian. We discover a great pizzeria in downtown Ponsacco that night and stumble across a large (for Ponsacco’s standards) festival and outdoor concert.

This is also the day mom discovers a lizard hanging out on the ceiling in my kitchen and consequently, the day I vow never to sleep with my screens open again. After a serious girl moment, complete with screeching and an oh-my-gosh-there-is-a-lizard-in-my-house dance, we manage to get the little guy to safety, i.e. my back yard.

Saturday:
Sadly, I deliver mom to the airport this morning. And, as a testament to just how exciting life can be when there are no visitors around, I spend my entire day doing one load of laundry after another… And, I’m still only halfway through the pile.