Chestnuts, an open fire, and the importance of finding joy in simple things. The fire didn’t heat better out of the fireplace. All it really did was create more smoke! Although no one would ever convince the dear, stubborn, old man of that! Yet we fondly remember those simple evenings of reading by the fire […]
Our Towns is really our Tale of Two Houses. Ah, the complex fascination of life overseas (challenging, frustrating, but so blessed)! In fact, new acquaintances often ask, “So where are you from?” Our response? “Um, do you have an easier question?” So, to cut a long story short… Having lived all over the USA and Italy, with a […]
Do you rush out to buy new things or have you learned the art of making do? My husband’s hometown is a village where thrift reigns. Where people have long been used to making do. The current trend toward simplicity and frugality is so normal to them, that they would ask “Is there any other way?” […]
One by one they filed in, sitting around the smoky fire in the dark, dingy room. The entire village, it seemed, wanted a look at us — the Americans. While I in turn, through teary, smoke-filled eyes, examined them. Our new town folk, for this was our new home. A village from another era Life in that isolated […]
My husband’s hometown, Sacco, and our summer home are right in the middle of a national park, is one of the most interesting places in Italy. Interesting because it’s rarely ever visited. Interesting because it’s a striking area of lonely, rugged mountains that stretches into the Tyrrhenian Sea, and forming the southern end of the Gulf […]
There is only one road leading to the isolated town, our summer village. A place little touched by time, technology, or by the frenetic pace of getting ahead. Thirteen years had passed since our last visit. And though fewer and older, the inhabitants somehow seem to have remained much the same. Many of the old and wrinkled […]