ten and a half months

piazza del campo

Originally uploaded by nonsonoitaliana

climbing up and down stairs.
trying so hard to stand and walk on her own.
walking behind her little cart, a chair, the table, anything pushable.
speaking: “bau” for dogs and other animals.
tasting ice cream.
eating with a fork (we put the food on the fork for her).
mimicking her mama writing with a pen and paper.
handing mama the wet laundry, peice by peice to hang up on the line to dry.
dancing.

yes, dancing.
if i were not already completely in love, i would be now, with this little tiny person who dances to any and all music, and sings along when i sing.

Siena

Siena

Originally uploaded by nonsonoitaliana

We walked.
We drank tuscan wines.
We ate salami with fennel, pici with cheese and pepper, cookies with vino santo and other little treats.
We walked some more.
We climbed to the top of the faciata and looked down on the city and the countryside.
We gazed at the medieval friezes “Good Government” and “Bad Government.”
We walked some more.
We had apperitivi sitting on the graciously curved Piazza del Campo We attracted local families with children who stopped to play with Amalia. Who was cleaning the pavement with her knees and hands.
We drove through “la Crete” and visited a monastary blessed with freizes of Saint Benedict’s life.
We walked some more.

We returned home suntanned, tired and very much in love with the city of Siena.

June and July

Amalia

Originally uploaded by nonsonoitaliana

We are here.

We are hot.
We are busy with friends,
at the pool,
at the park,
on picnics,
on the bike (oh, yes!!!),
eating barbeque,
eating cucumbers,
eating zucchini,
eating tomatoes (finally),
drinking iced tea,
drinking bubbly wine.
We are really very hot.

Some of us are grumpy with new teeth coming in.
Some of us are grumpy with long lists of things to do that never get done.
Some of us are grumpy with a day of work and a night of little sleep.
All of us are grumpy with the heat.
All of us are grumpy with the mosquitoes.

We are very, very good.
And tomorrow is August already!

The party rocked

the party

Originally uploaded by nonsonoitaliana

Baptism in Terno d’Isola is reminiscent of an assembly line factory on the brink of breakdown and chaos.

Thirteen babies, a rowdy and irreverent crowd of friends and family, one angry and frustrated priest, one disturbingly calm priest, a hot and humid day and the required decorum of clothing all combined to make a very stressful and uninspiring event for me.

Oh, and Amalia wanted to crawl up to the altar, grab the baby next to her and/or climb over the back of the pew where Manuel, the five-year-old son of her padrino and madrina was waiting with plastic figurines. . .

But the party afterward ROCKED.

The show of love for Amalia from her family and friends filled me with joy and gratitude.

And that joy and gratitude stayed with me up until the doctor at the public vaccination station slammed his hand on the table and yelled at me. That sort of dampened my rosy glow a bit. But it’s coming back now.

two days before her seventh month. . .

Amalia and broccolli leaf

Originally uploaded by nonsonoitaliana

this baby has a tooth!

the garden

my broccolli

Originally uploaded by nonsonoitaliana

Apparently broccoli is not spelled with two “l”s. Thank goodness for Flickr’s spell-check.

The garden is a mess.

The tomatoes suffered some kind of blight: either the manure, my father-in-law or rabbits. The bee-guy put forth the rabbit hypothesis and I’m going with that one, under great pressure. It reminds me of when I was teaching and everyone would tell me how great I was and I would try to tell them the truth (“No, really, it was a horrible day: I yelled at the kids, wasn’t organized for any lessons and let them use up my entire stash of colored paper and tape building “parks of horror.”"), but no one wanted to listen.

Weeds are everywhere, which isn’t so bad except that the farmer felt it was so out-of-control that he was motivated to spray herbicide in part of my field. Luckily not next to my plants. Trying to work with others is REALLY REALLY HARD. Plus he took my water away today (?) and I couldn’t water anything. Sigh.

But there are many bright spots: the remaining tomatoes are pretty, and now carefully weeded and tied-up. The eggplants and peppers, while small, are healthy. The potatoes are robust and flowering. And the broccoli, beets and cabbage look beautiful.

Now I have to clean the house.

But lest you think it’s all work and no play, check out the photos from our perfect picnic on Tuesday!

memorial day

woodstock memorial day parade

Originally uploaded by nonsonoitaliana

beautiful day, all sunshine and time with dad/grandaddy.
today amalia and i are both sick with colds.
going to do more printing out in the studio with mom.
but first, another cup of coffee!

quilting round table

quilting round table

Originally uploaded by nonsonoitaliana

she thought everyone
was there just for her
and she laughed and laughed
the whole hour.

Feet

feet

Originally uploaded by nonsonoitaliana

So long when new,
now just brief pudges
accenting the columnar legs,
with sharp, peeling nails
im afraid to cut,
push, push pushing
against the ground,
against me,
against anything,
against everything
in the struggle to stand,
in the struggle to move,
in the struggle to move forward.

Garden Update

Brennan’s garden

Originally uploaded by nonsonoitaliana

Worked in Brennan’s garden some yesterday (accompanied by a standing Amalia).

Lots of time to reflect on my own garden, on all the mistakes already made (new manure burning my seedlings), on all the plans already gone awry (melons and three kinds of beans and all kinds of flowers STILL waiting to be planted!). . . on my absolute inability to micromangae the growth and development of this dream of mine.

I never realized my need for control, my tendency towards perfection-ism, until Amalia’s birth. My journey since then, these past six months, has so much been about learning to let go a bit.

A good bit. But still just a bit. I mean, I am still ME.

So, my reflections are also on how in a few short months this funny garden of mine has changed my life, my relationship with my child, my community, my present and my future. How beautiful it is to me, not because of straight rows, lush growth or any such thing but rather because I am so completely in love with the process of it, the DOING of it.

And so there is no update, I’ve decided, because the list of what I have done is not nearly so important as the simple fact that I am often there doing what I can, being present and working, involving Amalia and making connections with the people and place that are mine, at least for now.