What The?!!!

How is that possible?............... Is that for real? ............................Yep! .........It's the human flag!
It was a really windy day at La Vigna and my son almost got blown away! Thank goodness he was able to save himself!
.........You can tell by the trees in the background and the towel hanging to the left that the wind was something fierce that day!
Oh to be young and capable!!!!!

The latest

So here we are, just a few more snapshots another year along. The stonework is incredible, done with such passion and care. Who needs landscaping? The buildings are beauty unto themselves! I didn't take many pics this time around, always seem to forget the camera. We spent time talking to the guy who is going to make the windows. We finally decided on the type of wood, the style everything and we told him we were ready to start. Then we spoke to the electrician and he said that normally he and the plumber would do their things first, before the windows. That way the walls could be stuccoed and finished, which I gather, is a very messy job first. Then once the walls are done, the windows go in. Who knew! Over here we close up the shell of the building before installing anything else! 

Just means we need to switch gears and do our interior designing now! The joy of renovating in a foreign country is incredible and uplifting! With each step backward the clouds part and the angels sing! Oh joy! Oh joy!

Little by little, we are creeping towards the finish line............ 

One day.

Just Wondering

Just wondering,

Does anyone listen to the sound of the wind through the trees? Do you listen for the call of Nature? The voices in the woods, the subtle sounds of leaves rustling at the passage of some small animal scurrying by on some mission of survival. Does anyone listen to the sound of the rain as it taps softly on the window and patters down through those leaves, soothing a parched earth. Does anyone lie in the grass and stare up at the puffy white clouds determining what latest species they have become. Does anyone take time to savor the air under a tall pine, cooling in its shade from the hot afternoon sun?

Life has become such a furious thing, a demanding thing with so many man made forces pulling at us, calling to us, that we cannot and do not slow down to take in life as it should be. It seems to me that technological advances were supposed to make our lives easier, more pleasurable, but with the introduction of smart technology and social networking, it would seem things have become more chaotic and more distracting. Unless I just don’t get the meaning of life.

What would be the harm if all that technology were disconnected? What would happen to all those children plugged in to their X-boxes and Facebook? If their phones would stop and they would have to communicate vocally, face to face, instead of texting. I think there would be bedlam for a period but I think the children for the most part would adapt. The adults on the other hand, I don’t think they could handle it, being forced to deal with their own children?! You mean no TV for a babysitter? God forbid! I am not even talking about the markets or businesses and what would happen to them, I mean just the everyday man, woman and child, remove the bells and bright lights and put them in the woods and what would happen? It is an interesting thought.

People are needy, in particular for things and concepts, it is the concept of having friends, the concept of being in touch through social media that we think makes us happy. If we have things and stuff that make noises at us we will be satisfied, take tv, does anyone really think that all that stuff on there is worthwhile? It is a noise, a distraction, a bell, a bright light, just another concept of happiness. The things that we own to “keep us in touch with the world” are just a distraction to keep our minds off what life is really like as we shuttle the kids from one activity to the other, ignoring each other as we pass, preoccupied by what’s on the smart phone.

We are moving at an incredible speed, hurtling into a future that looms dark and mysterious, frankly pretty scary. For all the good that comes from this new stuff we have, there is something to be said about taking some time to reflect upon not just the gains, but the losses as well. It is amazing how in my lifetime the night sky has become a bright sky, dimming the stars to near obscurity due to the lights not only from the sprawl of Boston and its suburbs but from Worcester as well. No longer can you turn off all the lights in your home and gaze at the stars, seeing them sparkle through the inky blackness of space and time. No longer can you listen to the sounds of the night in all their mysterious glory, for the noise of the continuous traffic on the roads. I keep trying to convince myself that technology is a wonderful thing and it may well be, but at what cost? The de-socialization of society? Do we become bubble wrapped mummies, lost in our own I-clouds? Ignorant of life and the humanity around us, but plugged in to that all-important network.

Some advances are incredible such as those in healthcare and the extension of life with the potential for cures and procedures through nano-technology, I wonder though, is it worth extending just to send one more text?

A moment of warmth

Sitting here in the living room listening to their laughter and just enjoying the change that life has brought me. Thinking how lucky I am. You can't argue with these faces! The road has twisted and turned in directions I couldn't have guessed, but for all the pain, the joy in these two angels is never ending.

Still waiting

It is most troublesome, not to mention tiresome which is not to forget irksome, when the thing that you want out of life always seems just out of reach. You can taste it, smell it, even feel it, its shape is recognizable in the mist of the horizon. You want it so bad your spit becomes sour with the bile of anger and depression at not being able to take hold and make that thing yours! It seems an affront to your very being knowing that which you long for remains in the distant future. It is why the lottery does so well and why Vegas reared it’s ugly head up out of a parched and desperate land, to feed off of the dreams and hard earned cash of desperate people. It is why the blues exist and why I enjoy playing them so much! It is the sorrow in the wind and the tears with the rain, it is the essence of striving, the urge to gain that promised land! It is that hour after eating Chinese food when you cry out for more!

I of course am referring to our return to Italy and how I would like to make it permanent this time but of course will not be able to due to the damned Euro and it’s refusal to crash! I think sometimes when you start to lose sight of your goals other things take on importance in the immediate and the original idea starts to move toward the back of the bus as it were. We started off this house project all gung ho with swords drawn and steeds mounted, armor all shiny and ready for battle, but the fight wasn’t what we thought and time has caught us up. So much red tape has been unraveled and many mountains moved in order to get us where we are that the horses have done died, the armor is rusty and I wouldn’t trust this sword to open a letter let alone take on the fierce battle of renovating a farmhouse in Tuscany.

I know I am starting to sound petulant and whiney but I can’t help it. I remember when I first went to Florence Italy, the exchange got to almost one dollar for 2 thousand lira. Now that was an exchange rate! Even an equal exchange would be ok, I just don’t understand how it is that this great nation is trailing behind a group of nations who are struggling to keep their heads above water! What the hell are they going to do when it comes time for these countries to pay back the debt and they can’t? They’ll drag all of us down with them!

Here I go, singing the blues again ‘though it’s less black and blue and more blue chip!

Ahhhhh it comes with age I guess.

Just some of the road getting there!

It has been a while........................

Haven't been here in a while, life is doing it's thing. Here is a poem I wrote a while ago, let me know if it holds up!

Wander in a desert

Bending in the wind

Got the moon above as my only friend

The sand is harsh

On burnt and cracking feet

Don’t know where I am

Ain’t nothing left to eat

A mind that’s become fragile

Torn by thoughts old and new

By the black of night

And a sky burning blue

Body that’s wilting

In pain of hungers might

Stretched to my limits

Eyes blinded almost white

A dream does come

While I shuffle through sand castles

Painted Indian red

And golden as the sun

A figure appears to me

Dressed in ancient splendor

These are the things she says

The things you must remember

A heart that’s big and a mind that’s strong

These two things

They will help you get along

I stumbled and was given

A gentle helping hand

But how can they

I moaned in a purple daze

When I don’t have the water

To help me cry out loud

And I lack the food

That will help my damaged feet

A chill wind does blow

And maddened creatures

They stalk me in the night

I swam in warming clouds

Speckled with colored life

And she was beside me

As gentle as can be

Just remember she whispered

In shades of yellow

It is not what you take

But what you can give

This will bring you happiness

This will make you live

With a cry of doves

And breath upon my face

My vision was gone

Leaving me in this place

Not of sorrow and filled with pain

A place of grandeur to be visited

Once again

My aching body that once dragged me down

Is filled with vigor

The moon shines bright

Smiling in the night

And this desert does sing

With all who have been this way

I know where I am

And who I must be

For those two gifts

Have set me

Set me free

©