Girls Day Trip, an Italian Garden, and a Downed Tree
As I proofread and edit this very tardy blog post, I am comfortably tucked underneath my favorite plush white blanket, with a cup of hot Spanish Orange tea next to me. I also have a few spare tissues nearby since I have somehow picked up a little cold as of last night. I know there have been a lot of sicknesses whirling around in recent months, and while I am grateful that my invisible shield of protection has kept me safe for many months, I also humbly accept the fact that I am due for a "turn". I just hope it's a quick one, whatever it is.
A couple of weeks ago, I accompanied 6 other ladies to go visit the Madonna della Corona Church in nearby Spiazzi. Five of the six ladies had never been there before, and the one who had been there once before did not get to see everything the first time. This was my 4th time coming here. It's always a special place to me because it's so rare to see a church on this side of the world that is so decidedly pointed to Jesus Christ.
It was especially meaningful to contemplate the Crucifixion and Resurrection of our Savior during the Easter season . . .
I've mentioned this before, but there is a chapel behind the main chapel where you can ascend up a set of Holy Stairs. They have a list of requirements first, in order to be worthy to proceed. These include confessing your sins first to a member of the clergy, washing yourself by dipping your hand in their bowl of holy water and making the symbol of the cross, and praying for forgiveness as you go up the stairs slowly - and on your knees.
At the top of the staircase, there is a welcoming painting of Jesus waiting to greet you.
As a comparison: In The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we also have a few requirements that need to be met in order to qualify to enter the Lord's House (the temple).
These include (some are paraphrased or abbreviated):
~ Do you have faith in and a testimony of God the Eternal Father, His Son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost?
~ Do you have a testimony of the Atonement of Jesus Christ and of His role as your Savior and Redeemer?
~ Do you sustain (support and strive to follow) the leaders of the Church?
~ Do you strive for moral cleanliness in your thoughts and behavior?
~ Do you strive to keep the Sabbath Day holy?
~ Do you strive to be honest in all that you do?
~ Are there serious sins in your life that need to be resolved with priesthood authorities as part of your repentance?
~ And lastly, do you consider yourself worthy to enter the Lord's house and participate in temple ordinances?
We typically meet with our church leaders once every two years for an interview to renew our temple recommends (a small card that has a barcode to be scanned as we enter the temple). I never feel like I'm being interrogated or anything uncomfortable during these interviews. I always feel like my church leaders are very kind and loving, with a welcoming demeanor as they conduct the interview.
And I love the idea of declaring myself worthy to enter the Lord's house, as though I'm declaring it out loud to God Himself. He doesn't expect us to be perfect in order to be worthy. Worthy doesn't mean perfect, it means that you are earnestly trying (to do good and to become more like our Savior Jesus Christ). Attending the temple equips us in a powerful way to go out into the world and meet all of life's challenges, to do good, and to become more Christlike in our everyday interactions.
Because I am not a practicing Catholic, I do not attempt to go up the actual holy stairs in the Sanctuary at Madonna della Corona. Instead, there is a "visitors" staircase that runs parallel to the holy stairs, and it is perfectly acceptable to venture up those stairs.
The one other time that I went up the stairs, I did not enter the large room at the end of the little hallway. There was a lady playing some sort of harpsichord instrument that day, and I didn't want to pry or intrude.
But this time there was absolutely no one up there. So we all quietly entered the large room, using only whispers to communicate because it felt like a sacred space. Something I noticed right away were these stained glass panels with simple measures of music on each one . . . (sorry for the glare from the other windows).
The verse on the panel below is translated to say: "O holy womb, O Mother, who gave birth to the King, who rules heaven and earth for ever and ever. Hallelujah, Hallelujah." (I think it's from the Latin language.)
It might have been a relic of some kind, one of the ladies suggested. And it very well could have been. There are a lot of symbolic rites and ancient rituals in religious places of worship that have been in use for centuries. Some things have changed only slightly, and other things have changed dramatically, depending on the religion.
I loved this scene with Jesus Christ, clearly in the middle of suffering - with His hands tied together and wearing a painful crown of thorns, but He is also in the company of holy angels who would have been praying mightily on His behalf.
As we came back down the stairs, I got another look at the stained glass panels on the outside wall of that upstairs room. There was no glare this time, although the words and music were backwards from this angle.
We had seen everything we could at the Sanctuary, and it was time to start the trek up the steep path to Spiazzi again. I took a couple of puffs from my inhaler because I knew it was going to be taxing to get back up to the top. I had done this 3 other times . . .
We decided to stop for a quick lunch at the cafe at the top of the trail. They had good prices and delicious food that was delivered to our table pretty quickly. I ordered the minestrone soup and it was very good. The restaurant was called, "Albergo Belvedere".
Trish Lacy did all the driving that day, with all seven of us comfortably packed into her minivan. I sat up front and had a great time visiting with her and getting to know her. We chatted about England for a while, since they were stationed there for several years before coming to Italy last summer.
Every time I think about England, it calls out to my heart and beckons me to come back. I will need to figure out when I can go back over there again . . .
I went on a walk with Scott this past week and we passed by that same beautifully kept garden that I mentioned recently. Here are a couple of photos . . .
There is a young mother in our ward at church who has three small children between the ages of 6 and 2. When I found out that her husband was away on military business and that she was struggling to keep up, I offered to come over and be her youngest son's buddy for the afternoon. I encouraged her to think of something that she wanted to do while I played with Merrick (do a craft, take a nap, etc.). She was overjoyed that she could have a chunk of time to think and do something of her choosing without being interrupted or feel guilty because she's not paying 100% attention to her son.
Merrick and I played with cars and toy animals for a really long time on his cityscape floor rug.
After a nibble or two on his string cheese and a couple swigs of milk, he wanted to do some light cleaning. I encouraged him all the way up and down several sets of stairs in their interesting floor plan. He used the swiffer mop to clean every single step. I figured it was a good use of his energy and also a great way to practice being a helper. :)
We played a little while longer, and then Amber (his mother), joined us in the playroom. She was so grateful for the time to herself and thanked me many times. She chose to work on her laptop by putting together a photo book on Shutterfly while I entertained her little boy. We all had a great time and I was glad that I could help.
He remembers me at church now and comes over to visit me, too. :)
On another new walk with Scott, we tried out a trail near Iper Tosano, the huge grocery store where we shop every Saturday. The actual trail was shorter than we anticipated, but there was still much to enjoy.
We parked next to a place called Bass Bay, which turned out to be a restaurant with a large outdoor playground, plus a huge fishing pond and animal pens with goats and chickens to feed. Wow! We had no idea that it was even there. I feel like this keeps happening more and more lately . . . we just happen to stumble upon something totally unexpected and awesome that isn't massively advertised on billboards all over town. It's just quietly there and if you know, then you know.
I made sure to pin this on my Google Maps for future visits, especially when grandchildren come to see us . . .
As we made our way over to the trail, we passed by this heavily pruned tree. There was just one little teeny-tiny section that had a cluster of blooms on display . . . I had several analogies come to mind as I stood there staring at it. One of my thoughts was how some people struggle so hard in this life, and they don't think they have much of anything to offer to anyone. But they DO! It might be a little harder to identify, but it's still there - a quality or a subtle talent that maybe they don't even realize is there . . .
The trail was wide and foresty, quiet and beautiful . . .
Above and below: Italians are good about putting informational signs up on the trails to help you learn something as you explore. In this case, they had a large sign on display that teaches you all about the pollinators in the area. (Translation is below.)
Inside a gated area just past the pollinator sign was a group of beehives that you could observe from a safe distance.
Video of one of the beehives: (7 seconds)
We increased the overall loop of our walk by going through some neighborhoods, past a huge sports complex with soccer fields, and down some country roads before returning to Bass Bay and where we parked. After our 1-hour walk was complete, we drove to the grocery store and then home with our goods. The song, "To Market" comes to mind here, ha ha. (from my childhood)
To market, to market, to buy a fat pig.
Home again, home again, jiggety-jig.
To market, to market, to buy a fat hog.
Home again, home again, jiggety-jog.
One evening, Abby wanted to hang out for a while, so we had fun using filters and special effects (in WhatsApp) to spruce ourselves up and giggle about how each other looked . . .
She also volunteered to sing one of her favorite songs using the karaoke filter to make it look like she had a microphone to sing into . . . She did a really good job! She was a little shy at first, but then she warmed up by the second song.
In Europe, Father's Day is celebrated on March 19th instead of in June. Since I am serving in the Relief Society presidency now, I helped contribute to Addie Mae's idea of honoring the dads and future dads-to-be at church on that following Sunday. Her logic was that as soon as school lets out around June 10th, half of the ward disappears for the rest of the summer and the dads are never here to be celebrated in full force.
Several of our ward members are here as part of DODEA, which consists of civilian teachers and administrators who work with all the children (from kindergarten up to high school seniors) that belong to military families. DODEA employees get the whole summer off, so they usually spend most of that time in the U.S. visiting all their family and loved ones.
The rest of the ward members belong to the military community, with one or more parents serving in the armed forces or supporting them as a contractor (which is what Scott does now). They typically stockpile their "leave" time so that they can do some longer trips as a family once school is out. This means that the Sundays during June, July, and August are usually pretty bare in numbers at church.
It made good sense to honor the men in March, and how thoughtful it was of Addie Mae to take notice of this. Several of us made batches of cookies and then everything was set up in the Elders Quorum room as sort of a shmorgasbord. Scott told me afterwards, that the men were only mildly eating the cookies during class, but as soon as church was over and all the younger kids wandered in and saw the leftover cookies . . . well, let's just say Cookie Monster comes to mind . . .
Technology is pretty awesome, I gotta say. Last Sunday we were able to watch our niece, Penny Aston, give her missionary farewell talk at church before she heads off soon to Sao Paolo, Brazil. She is the granddaughter of Scott's oldest sister, Carol, and they live in the Boise, Idaho area. We used the provided Zoom link to listen to Penny share a very knowledgeable and robust testimony of Jesus Christ. She also shared her experiences of serving in the temple for the past 7 months and how this would help her love and serve the people of Brazil. How awesome is that?!?
The lady I go to here in Vicenza, Evelyn, is also gifted and intuitive as well. But she likes to use some unusual techniques and she never asks if something is okay first. She also never checks in while she's working on a specific area - with what I would call "too much localized effort".
Often, she uses her pointy elbows to bulldoze into the deep tissue of my back, my left hip, and even the very sensitive hamstring or quadricep areas . . . Sometimes I flinch in pain, or tighten up and squirm as I try to just mentally endure through her focused efforts. Often she will set up some suction-cup things on my back and then while they are fully engaged (with my flesh sucked up inside), she will move them around on my back. Last time, I had to ask her to stop because it was just too much. This time, I somehow endured the pain, telling myself over and over, "She's almost done. She's almost done. She's ALMOST done. She's almost DONE."
Why do I put myself through this? I don't know . . . except that I know that there is usually some significant improvement after the pain and suffering is done. I trust that she knows what she's doing, so I talk myself into going back the next time.
Sometimes she uses hot rocks along my spine, which is not painful and which I do like. But the one thing I appreciate the most about Evelyn is how she is always willing to teach me something after the session is done and before I leave. She will tell me something she noticed during the massage, something that is wrong, or something that I can work to correct. She even has a full-size medical skeleton in her office for any needed demonstrations.
One of the problems I've been having lately has been in my left hip. I didn't know enough to discern if it was a muscle issue or a joint issue or something else. So I mentioned it to her before she began this latest massage. I should have just shut my mouth when she asked if there was something she needed to "focus" on . . . (a.k.a. use her pointy elbow to bruise my deep tissue). But I knew that she has a lot of knowledge, so I figured why not just tell her.
She used that dagger elbow of hers to press into the deepest tissue of my left hip, one centimeter at a time until she hit "gold". As a yelp escaped my lips, a sound of satisfaction came from hers. She had found the source of my troubles and it was immensely satisfying to her from a medical standpoint. Six days later, I am still sore to the touch on that area, but things are also improved at the same time.
She said there was a big knot in there, showing me on the skeleton where it was. She asked if I cross my legs when I sit, and I realized that yes I do, especially when I sit in my favorite spot on the reclining couch next to the window in the living room. She suggested that I stop doing this, because it was pulling on my left hip too much, especially when I sit for longer periods of time (like when I work on this blog). She told me to get up more often and move around, and to be sure to keep my legs straight instead of crossed. She also told me to do some adductor exercises (for the inner thigh), as this would help strengthen my hips at the same time.
So even though I went through h*ll during that massage session, complete with giant hickey marks all over my back for several days, she helped me figure out something really important and I am grateful.
I had already started using some resistance bands as part of my exercise regimen lately, so I went home and looked up some ways to use the bands for adductor strengthening. I am happy to report that I have been more conscious and conscientious about how I sit, how long I sit, and even making sure to not cross my legs as I lie in bed reading or playing on my phone at night.
"Life is a thorough University; pain and hardship are its distinguished professors."
~ Matshona Dhliwayo
Evelyn probably holds a PhD in this University, lol. But seriously, she is a very sweet woman with a radiant smile. She's just very intense whenever you're on her table.
I have begun the process of building myself a little garden here in Italy. A friend pointed me to a really nice garden center that is close to home, so that's why I've been out to the town of Creazzo a few times lately.
So far, I've purchased a few strawberry plants . . .
I had to make an extra trip to the garden center because of a funny situation: I don't usually pack my coin purse when I run errands because it weighs a lot with all those euro coins clinking around inside. Consequently, whenever I need a larger grocery cart I can't get one . . . In Europe, you have to put a one euro coin into the slot to unlock your grocery cart. When you return it and push the chain lock back into the slot, it also pushes your coin back out and off you go on your merry way.
For those without a coin, you're out of luck. Or, you can just pull around a small basket on wheels for free, which is what I ended up doing at the garden center that first time. This meant I could only haul a small amount of stuff up to the register, plus a collection of larger items that I tucked under my arm and just carried. Also, you can't take the small wheelie baskets past the register - AT ALL. That's a 100% no go. So I had to make 2 trips out to my trunk to tuck my purchases in and then drive home. If you have "paid" for the bigger shopping cart, then you CAN take it outside with you, since that's where you would have picked it up to begin with.
We have been enjoying some spectacular sunsets lately. Pretty much every single night. The kind that literally blow your mind because they're so pretty . . .
I tried my sister Melanie's Butter Chicken recipe a few days ago, and it was really good!! I had to wait a couple of weeks before I could make it, though, because I didn't know where to find any Garam Masala spice mix here, so I just ordered some on Amazon. A little over 2 weeks later, with my spices in hand, I put it all together and it was a delicious dinner. Thanks, Melanie! :)
Recipe here: https://www.thekitchn.com/butter-chicken-22931807
Me - on the way to picking up our new soggiorno cards . . .
My newly planted flowers are very happy because they get to watch the sunset every evening . . .
Video of the sunset: (12 seconds)
Words to describe Project Hail Mary:
5 stars
Hopeful
Humorous
Emotional
Cinematography
Friendship
Science
Gosling
Uplifting
Miraculous
Humanity
Fun
Wow
Zero cussing
I HIGHLY recommend that you see this movie. I think it might change your life. If you're not sure what it's about, look up a trailer for it on YouTube. Ryan Gosling is pure genius. And he's also super well-dressed in every single scene, lol.
This was a new trail that we loved in Creazzo, where we could walk forever along the river on a nice, wide path . . .
Here are a few more photos from some of our most recent walks . . .
There were some HUGE fish in the river, which we later identified as European Chub fish.
Video here: (18 seconds)
And this might have been the absolute largest nutria we've ever seen. We thought it was an otter at first, but nope. Just a big, fat nutria.
Video here: (8 seconds) https://photos.app.goo.gl/psZUUNKQkq1uqznH8
On Pi Day (March 14th), just as we climbed into bed, we got a message from our backyard neighbor in Idaho Falls - Helma Blatter. She let us know that our biggest birch tree had fallen down during the night, crashing through our shared fence and onto her swingsest on the other side. She sent me several photos for perspective, and oh boy . . .
We immediately reached out to our neighbor Kim, who went over with a small crew of Fixers. Her husband Ben, their sons Jackson and William, along with their daughter Mady's boyfriend RJ and RJ's father came over to take care of the tree. RJ's father runs a tree-trimming business and RJ is an apprentice learning all the tools of the trade, so they quickly assessed the safest way to dissemble the tree without harming anyone or breaking the swingset, and they had the whole job done in a little over an hour.
Helma told us that the wind was blowing close to 60 mph for a few consecutive days before the tree gave up the ghost. Scott saw on the news for Eastern Idaho that a section of I-15 was shut down south of Idaho Falls due to the wind. I think it was causing not only limited visability, but it's also a popular corridor for semi-trucks which would be at risk of toppling over in that amount of aggressive wind.
Sadly, our birch trees have shown signs of beetle infestation in recent years, the kind that chew on and eat the core and the roots so there's no substance to act as an anchor in the ground. We are extremely lucky that the tree didn't fall onto our house or Helma's house, and that none of her grandchildren were outside playing on the swingset when the tree toppled over. She wasn't sure when it had actually happened because they had heard numerous loud noises outside through the night and into the next day, so she couldn't be sure.
Jack and Maisie just returned home from a week-long vacation in Florida, near Pensacola. Hannah's sister and their family live down there, so it's a great place to hop down to from Minneapolis, especially after all the snow they got up north in recent weeks.
Aunt Kaitlyn and Uncle Mark have a pool in their back yard, and Jack had a blast swimming in it every single day. I asked him if he did any cannonballs, and he paused briefly to think about whether he did or not, lol. But then he answered, "No...but I did this instead . . .", showing me a forward chest-thrust motion like a boat taking off from the shore.
Jack had a great time playing with his two older cousins, watering everything that he thought needed watering, and sleeping when necessary.
Maisie did not like the deep water in the pool, even though Jake tried really hard to convince her to like it. She also had what they described as a love/hate relationship with Kaitlyn and Mark's family dog. Hannah told me in a text: "Maisie both feared the dog and wanted to be best friends with him."
Both Jack and Maisie caught some yucky bug while they were down south, complete with the barking croupy coughs and plenty of congestion, basically all the cruds. Jake told me that Maisie would wake up 10x a night needing something - comfort, a drink, etc. Somehow they all made it through and still managed to have a good time.
Sweet Maisie with her piercing blue eyes . . .
She was super chatty several times during our video call. My favorite thing she did was after listening to something I said, she'd reply with, "Yeah!" while vigorously nodding her head. Or she'd say, "That's right!" ha ha. Once in a while she'd say, "No, no, no!" She also has some darling little strawberry-blonde curls at the base of her neck. I just wanted to reach through that phone and touch those adorable curly locks . . .
Up in the Pacific Northwest, Abby and Gwen are sure growing up. Abby knows how to fix Gwen's hair now, and I just loved seeing them get ready for school one morning when Amber shared this video.
Video here: (32 seconds) https://photos.app.goo.gl/1HeSWifafSbozcT3A
Gwen likes to take a selfie with a filter, like this one with sparkly accents, and then send it to me . . .
Gwen's video: (46 seconds) https://photos.app.goo.gl/4sTpwRghvtHNFhXJ9
Besides playing with all the Whitworth cousins in Rigby, Amber spent some time going through a giant box of things we had saved from her years of growing up. She laughed over some of the items that "made the cut" and she enjoyed going through the tote.
One of the things we had kept all these years was a beautiful red dress that Scott's mom, Coy, had made for her. I remember she wore it when she participated in a singing competition - she would have been around 10 or 11 years old I think. Imagine her joy now, when she decided to see if her daughter Abby (who turns 11 tomorrow on April 1st) might fit into the same dress . . .
See for yourself: (8 seconds) https://photos.app.goo.gl/HHZNU5gw8qNU3bpR6
Amber also sent me a message to say that she had "stolen" a sweatshirt out of my closet one day while they were staying in our house. I would have to say two things in response:
1. Mi casa es su casa. You are not stealing anything!
2. You are 100% adorable!!
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