Day 2: Tuesday, September 24
With 33 hours of no sleep, Hannah slept in and at 10:57 I woke her up with Grandma scratches. Hannah went for a long run, I did yoga on our terrace. My warrior two was possibly the biggest and widest ever, so deep in fact it made me cry.
Somewhere in the middle of Hannah stretching before a run and my yoga, Vonna the owner of the complex of apartamentos came into our terrace with potential future renters. She sees the two of us and in the little English she can muster up says dramatically, “Ahhhh, I tired just looking at the two of you”. Now please, that must be read in the exquisite melodic accent of Italian. Words go up and down like beat of a great waltz. Vonna is in her 70’s, her pants look a lot like my elephant pants, flowing and patterned, her top is loose and angled, her light skin freckled with years of the sun imprinting its spots onto her. Her hair is a short, thin, blondish tone, askew from last nights sleep. She is animated and funny. Before they leave we practice her name. She says, “ Americans always say Vonna, it’s VON na. So in loud voices that cascade over rooftops and into the clouds and many hand gestures later, she and I go back and forth saying VON na, VON na, VON na. I’m not sure what the couple thought, didn’t really matter, we were having fun! The potential renters, a couple; the woman, American and the man, Mexican – had met five years ago, she was on vacation, he was her bartender. Now they travel the world together, she paints, and he supports, perhaps he is still her bartender.
After a fabulous homemade breakfast of sautéed onion and garlic combined with eggs and salt and pepper, arugula and avocado all drenched in olive oil and more pepper and a dash of salt snd more olive oil, we head out for the day.
We step out of our terrace and into a painting. I try not to walk around with my mouth agape, and yet it remains a very difficult task.
We hiked high up into the hills today. The landscape, the CLOUDS, the olive groves, berries and anise, baby’s breath and so many edible things growing wild all around us. I felt a like a cat myself, looking for a place to nest up here, we went up and down and around, until we found a spot with sun and shade, a view and thick grasses to lay ourselves down for a picnic of cheese, mushroom truffle tapenade and fruit. Hannah began her Italy drawings on this hill today, they are as luscious as this landscape!
Welcome to Wonder 