Last week was warm – for February. We didn’t drop below zero once. And several days we were actually above freezing. I was tempted to start pruning the orchard, but the snow was still deep out there and I decided to hold out for better weather.
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| A sunrise last week. |
This weekend we went to the Thayn’s house for a triple celebration. Rachel’s birthday was on the 7th, mine was on the 11th, and this was our Italy Anniversary Celebration Weekend. We left home after work on Friday and arrived at the Thayn’s house at 8:00. It was too late to do much more than play a game and sit and visit before bedtime. Saturday was the fun day.
The birthdays were not really the focus of the weekend. I did get birthday wishes and they were great, but being together was a great gift.
The Italy Anniversary Celebration was the highlight of the weekend. In February 2019 a group of family and friends went to Italy. There were thirteen of us – our niece Elisabeth, my nephew Aaron and his wife Mandi, our friends Gina Leete and Nancy Jones, our friend Otilia Hererra and her sister, Rachel and Tabor, Stacey, Miriam, Hannah, Josiah, and me. We flew to Rome and spent two days there exploring. We went to the Colosseum. We toured the Vatican. We went to the open house for the Rome Temple. Rome was great, but then we went to Florence. Florence was an amazing experience. We walked its ancient streets and crossed the Arno on the Ponte Vecchio. We visited the Uffizi, the Duomo, the Medici Chapels, the Galleria dell’Accademia (where we saw Michelangelo’s David). We took a day trip over to Pisa where we visited the cathedral with it’s famous leaning bell tower. Everywhere we went we ate wonderful food – pizza, bread, pastries. We tried almost every gelateria we passed. It’s been three years since we had that adventure and I am still haunted by it. Stacey served her mission in Italy and spent most of her time there in Florence, so this was a nostalgic trip for her. For the rest of us, it was our first time and it was wonderful. We’ve longed to go back ever since. But with the world in the condition it is in, I wonder if that will ever happen. Every year since then, on a weekend in February, we celebrate our time in Italy. And we celebrate with food.
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| At the Colosseum. |
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| In the Vatican museum. |
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| Gelato on the streets of Rome. |
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| At the Rome Temple. |
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| On the rooftops of Florence. |
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| The Arno and the Ponte Vecchio. |
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| The Duomo. |
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| Gelato on the streets of Florence. |
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| At church in Florence. |
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| At Pisa. |
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| Gelato! |
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| Florence on our last morning there. |
A lot of time was spent in the kitchen over the weekend. Our family is blessed with an abudndance of great cooks. Saturday’s main meal was fabulous. We had a green salad, fettuccini with pesto, Caprese salad, focaccia with mozzarella and peppers and basil, and for dessert, sfogliatelle, canolis, neapolitan candies, coconut gelato with Ferrero Rocher candy crushed in it, and passion fruit sorbetto. It was all so delicious.
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| Preparing food. |
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| Our Italian lunch on Saturday. |
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| Dessert. |
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| Our delicious Italian feast. |
Besides cooking and eating, we played games and sat and talked and loved being together. This morning we went to church. When we got home we ate another delicious lunch of leftovers. And then it was time to come home. It was all over too quickly and all I can think is when will we be together again.
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| Playing Labyrinth with June. |
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| Playing Cover Your Kingdom. |
So now we face a new week, a little tired from so much time in the car (it’s a four hour drive). It was cold and icy when we arrived here an hour ago. The forecast says we’ll have a warm day this Thursday and I’m planning to start pruning the orchard if I can. Lots to look forward to.
