The Adventure Continues and the Body Mechanics of Housework

So on Wednesday we (Mom, Wes and I) headed up to the Borgo. A pretty uneventful trip, train from Florenceto Arezzo and then the bus from Arezzo to Sansepolcro where we met up with the Sada Sats. (The only interesting point of the journey is that I am starting to notice an improvement in my Italian… which is nice). In Sansepolcro (which is the second town closest to the Borgo) we stopped for lunch and to look around a bit. Lunch was really good…they had these little carts that they wheeled up to your table and then did the final assembly steps of your dish right there in front of you. Pretty neat. Plus they had a good selection of vegetarian options, which is always nice for us. Most of the churches/stores/etc. were closed since we were there over the lunch break…so we piled into the little Panda with our stuff and headed up the mountain. The Borgo really is situated in a pretty amazing place…. you can’t turn around without wanting to take another set of pictures. And after all of the crazy-ness and art-overload of Florence we were ready for some down time. The next day, however, we decided to try for a day trip to Assisi. (This in hindsight was overkill…but at the time seemed like a good idea). We caught the 10am train in San Guistino (train station is still missing many of its letters…although Wes pointed out the sign on the opposite side of the building has them all). About an hour later we get off at Ponte San Giovanni. Wait for about 20 minutes and then get on another train to Assisi, luckily this train is only about 15 minutes. So we get off the train, excited to see what is supposed to be a beautiful town, walk out of the train station and see…nothing. A regular street, no churches, no quaint cobbled streets…. hmmm. We find out we must now take a bus up the mountain…Assisi is on the top of the hill. So 10 minutes later we’re on the 10-minute bus ride up the mountain. And then we get there. And it is beautiful and quaint…but also very hilly. We follow the signs to Saint Francis’s Basilica. Walk around, beautiful art, nice statues. We see Saint Francis’s tomb. I can tell this is a place that holds a lot of meaning and emotion for many people (they get a couple of 100,000’s of pilgrims to this town each year). But for me it does absolutely nothing. It is a mixture of being tired after 3 days in Florence and being on art-overload…. but I am starting to see all of these churches whether massive and with 100’s of years ofconstruction or tiny hole-in-the-wall beauties as a blend of the same. I think since I was not raised Catholic/Christian and I don’t know the stories behind many of the works I miss out on a lot of the meanings…so to me it is just a lot of pretty art work. And there are only so many times you can look at something and say, “Hmm, that’s pretty.” Before it gets a bit wearing. Wes also made a good point that is hard to look at the grandeur of these places and not wonder how they could justify spending thousands of dollars on marble and gold when most of the people alive at the time of construction were extremely poor and hardly could afford to feed their families. So there it is. I am churched-out for the moment. I am putting myself on a church-fast. Maybe in a couple of weeks I’ll be able to go back into churches and see things with a sense of wonder instead of cynicism…I hope so. So needless to say after we returned to the Borgo we decided that the next day was going to be a completely lazy day. Naps, reading, maybe some yoga, more naps…you get the idea. (Side note: we did have lunch in Assisi, and it was disappointing. I was put on guard by the fact that they were playing Norah Jones….but I thought it might be worth a try. No. When in Italy do not eat at places that have animals on the signs or are playing music in English…this is what I’ve learned so far.) But, relax is exactly what we did on Friday and it was great! (Wes helped me out in the garden a bit in the morning…. or I should say I helped him since I am still fumbling my way through that area.) It was really nice to have a completely “down” day and I think all three of us needed it. Saturday morning we were up early because I had to take them to catch their bus. Mom and Wes left and were headed to Venice. We finally figured out how toget Mom’s international phone to send text messages so from what I hear from them Venice is great, they’re having good food and enjoying the gondolas and glasswork which Venice is famous for. As for me, sincethey left (the Sada Sats are also gone this weekend) I have been having more solo time…and since I was gone for 4 days I have had a lot of cleaning to catch upon. So me and Agnes (the dog) have been dusting, vacuuming, mopping, changing sheets, running laundry, ironing, etc. for the past two days. (Well, Agnes really does more of the walking on the wet floors, and shedding on the dusted areas…but you get the idea. ) I have, however, discovered an important thing; in doing housework (as in doing massage) it is important to be conscious of your body mechanics. You can certainly push a mop with your back curled over and using the force of your arms. But your back will also be sore the next day. Or you can keep your back tall and your arms straight and push with your legs. Now, you will look absolutely ridiculous mopping in this way so it is best if you are completely alone of the top of a mountain…but your back won’t hurt the next day! It has been a stormy weekend here at the Borgo. It is pretty cool to see it raining and look out the windows to see that your are in the middle of the storm. I mean middle of the storm vertically not horizontally. I can see rain clouds below and above me!! Wow. And the wind gets to be something fierce up here. It’s actually quite fun, I really enjoy storms and this is a great vantage point from which to watch them! I think that is about it. The Sada Sats are on their way back form Rome now; we have a two people coming on Tuesday to stay for a few days…otherwise pretty quiet. I think if the weather lets up there is a lot of gardening in my near future as the weeds are starting to come up in full force in the garden. Again, I am hopeful that soon we will have a more steady flow of guests and I will be spending more time massaging and less time in other chores. But until then I’d really rather help out then sit around…. so that’s how it’ll be. I am going to be taking a 4-day trip around the 10th of June. (My first solo overnight trip since being here). I am open to suggestions about where to go, possibilities are the Amalfi Coast (although it can be pricey), Rome or maybe Belgium or somewhere unusual like Latvia… let me know if you’ve got other good ideas for me! Hugs to everyone!
Blessings,
KNL