Bed, Taking A Dive, and Baring It

Joe managed to fix our bed; no more burrito-style sleeping! Maria Teresa and I told him we built it like that on purpose, so he’d have something to do and look like a hero in the process.

Joe fixed the bed!

Ettore and I played, along with Andrea’s darling daughter Sofia, spending time in the treehouse and the vineyard. We’re discussing such things as supply and demand, hiring someone on retainer, and having a good visual display for our pinecone selling business. We also found a small hole in the floorboard, which is fun to push sticks through. He is brilliant, and quite polite these days, and Sofia is a 10-year-old sweetheart. Respect, grooming, and manners are instilled early, and I love that about this culture.

Sofia found a broom caterpillar 

Ettore outside his pinecone shop

Another thing I love is their natural approach to natural things! Elena has no hesitation in pulling down her shirt to nurse Matteo in front of people, whether it be her grandpa, dad, brother, the priest, or Joe. None of the uptight puritan ethic in Sicily!

After Andrea and Sofia bid their goodbyes to us in the treehouse and drove off, I heard Elena saying, “Where is Ettore?” in her pretty sing-song voice. I didn’t see her at first through the tree cover, but then spotted her below, walking to us. Long linen pants waving in the slight breeze, her hair flowing, and her two magnificent nursing breasts, bared for all to see, pulled out of her neckline and resting on top of her shirt. “I like your look!” I said. “Yes; my doctor said the recent pain I’ve had breastfeeding will improve by exposing them to the sun,” she explained, as she did a heliotropic pivot. 

As Ettore ate lunch, I did something I haven’t done since I was a teenager: I dove off a diving board into a pool. I don’t mean cannonball style; I made a quasi legitimate dive! It’s been a while, for a variety of reasons, but this is a saltwater pool with a 10 ft depth; I could hardly resist. After my swim, I used a solar-heated outdoor shower, and had a nice shampoo and scrub. I felt refreshed.

We played a couple of rounds of Uno with Rachele before sitting down to a lunch of pasta with zucchine and tomatoes, with no second course other than a line up of the property’s fruit. Afterward, we bought into the riposa, having had little sleep the night before.

I dozed off for a little, but swore I heard one of the doors open. I dozed off again, but soon heard what sounded like aircraft being dragged across a concrete landing strip. I said to Joe, it sounds as if someone needs help. 

Below us were Mariella, Giovanna, and their friend Carmela, pushing tons of things out of the garage, and moving the enormous metal doors. I had spent part of yesterday wiping down the kitchen/pizza oven in the garage, and these women were suddenly a tackling force on getting the whole place to sparkle. I jumped in to help. We swept, scrubbed, swabbed, and mopped, moving from the garage to the outdoor kitchen in front of the garage, loading up and tossing out old broken toys and general trash. The hose was on for hours. As Giovanna and I worked on the outside kitchen, she said I should tell Nonno that gelsomino (jasmine) needs trimming. Indeed—it was a small tree. I put Joe on it, with Giovanna’s reinforcement.

Joe not only gardened, but had a sports day today, first demonstrating his hula-hooping skills (“Bravo, Giuseppe,” Mariella said, not without wryness), then several rounds of table tennis with Rachi (she won), and a set of ‘real’ tennis on the courts with her (she won). After that point, Agnese was his shadow.

Rachele and Joe in a tennis match, during which Ettore ran through with a large inflatable crocodile.

Giuseppe G’s mom, Cettina, and his sister, Piera and her two kids came to visit. Mariella already had caponata roasting in the oven; it’s perfume was like a drug. By the time they left and we sat down to dinner, Agnese had perfected the “I am Joseph” routine, by imitating absolutely everything he did. It should’ve been annoying, but she’s perfect at it; it was all too funny.

We dined on the caponata, a potato frittata, an insalatone, fresh bread from the panetteria, and cheeses and meats. The Zibbibo I brought was a nice accompaniment.

A political discussion percolated and, between rounds of Joe impersonations, 7-year-old Agnese held her own powerful opinionated front.

This family❤️