Italy, 2013

(disclaimer: no, i am not imitating ee cummings or protesting the hegemony of capital letters. my shift keys don't work so until i get a new keyboard.... no CAPS unless i lock them.)

greetings from....

snow, rain, COLD.... we had forgotten what winter is like!

this was our first sunday (feb 24) and the colors here are what you see above... about as dani describes them in his texts for the show (more on that another day). the temperature you can imagine from dani's dress below. (the alligator here at the museum entrance is a coincidence.... nothing to do with his show, but a nice photo. of course the first thing we did was go to the museum to check out the site and make sure it was real!

.... and we had also forgotten what spring can be like when it comes, as it did last sunday (march 3). this was sunday morning and it was a gorgeous early spring day. the first wild daffodils were starting to bloom in the olive orchards and along the edges of the road... you need to imagine the church bells ringing up from the valley as i took these two images (from the same spot looking down and up the road). this was about 15 minutes and half way up a dead end road that runs from just next to our house up the hill until it becomes a private drive. (we leave our house, walk about 100 yards and are out of the city and in the countryside)

we are staying in a town called pescia, about 50 minutes by train to the west of florence and not far from lucca and pisa (i won't even attempt what charlie does with such mastery... i will simply link to wikipedia.)

i will say that the town is famous for its flowers. from the mountain we are walking up the white patches you see in all directions are not snow and ice, but greenhouses. in the garden the tame daffodils are starting to bud along with the camelias, lilacs and i am not sure what else.

dani has been working non-stop with our fried rafaele, without whose help, knowledge, facility with all things technical (nuts and bolts to computer printers) we would be lost and this show would not be anywhere near what it looks like it will be. i will get some of the things they have been working on and share them here in a future post. at the moment, d. is too nervous to do much besides watch football and try to be nervous. tomorrow we get up at 7 to go to florence to hang the show.... will try to share more wednesday night and if not, thursday. friday is the opening.

Today we picked up all the art framed by a local framer, friend of our friends. we are experiencing huge culture shock to live in a small town, very good friends upstairs, other good friends across the road... a one minute walk from open countryside, with shops and artisans who do such beautiful work! no ocean, but a lovely river running through the center of town (d tells me it is the only female river in italy ; "la pescia" ... as opposed to 'el po' or 'el tiber." it feels like a different life as d. goes off to work on the show, comes home for lunch and dinner. i have been able to work well as well, after getting over jetlag.

this opening entry would not be complete without some mention of food..... for anyone who has experienced a full-on italian meal, you know that it is a way people can show affection and welcome---MANGIA!. since we have arrived, we have been guests of honor at least six times at veritable feasts abundant with special dishes, specially made, wine, limoncello, grappa... to name a few.

not the best photo, but these homemade ravioli (also the pasta) stuffed with pumpkin were divine!

and then there is the coffee... there is no better coffee anywhere! our friend had stocked our house with a some staples, including our favorite italian coffee. wonderful, wonderful people!

tomorrow.... alligators and toucans invade the specola!