The woman with the plastic tube hair was definitely the highlight of the train to Florence...though I do love rolling past Lago Maggiore. The islands are like encrusted jewels rising up out of the lake covered with palazzos and surrounded by yachts, and the shore is filled with pink and yellow and blue hotels all trimmed in white gingerbread. Lots of movies made there.
*** From here on will be stories in categories because life was moving so fast I couldn’t find time to write!
People...the most important part!
***Suzanne and Giovanni and Isabella and Matteo! Peter and I just slid into the Lambardi household and melted into their family. We felt so at home because Suzanne chose to save us a bus or taxi ride and picked us up at Santa Maria Novella Station instead of fussing over dinner. We just opened the fridge and put what we found on the table...a feast!
The kids have grown since last summer and are absorbed in games and phones...Matteo taught Peter how to play some soccer game on the TV. Giovanni’s a teacher...Suzanne’s working on a global wedding planning team...so we are lucky to grab a little of their time. The elder Lambardi live upstairs, so Peter and I went up and chatted for a while. They are so lovely. They’ve shared their home on the Island of Elba with us several times...including for S&G’s wedding. The huge terraced garden and house there are just below Napoleon’s house of exile and look out onto the sparkling Mediterranean. We are so lucky to know them...for many reasons!
***Edgar Sasuman was our beloved sacristan during our stay at St James. Ed’s house behind the church was renovated over the winter so he took us on a tour. It’s, of course, filled with IKEA cabinetry because they really know how to fit out a small space. Ed’s a grandfather now and talking about retirement. He’s the only person who’s figured out how to gracefully weather all of the strong personalities that have come through those gates for the last 25 years.
***Betty and Cesare Nadalini...our travel buddies for so many Italian adventures, are embarking on the new adventure of caring for their 2 grandchildren...Betty Ann (5) and Jonah (7). School started for them on Friday out in the Tuscan countryside near B&C’s house, so we had a couple of days to play UNO and watch some movies and go for nature hikes. Peter also had some occasions to use his famous parenting skills…”the Vulcan death grip” and “monitored time out”.
***Susanna, Massimo, and Sarah of the Albion Hotel and Le Boscarecce have made us a part of their family for 25 years. They were the first Italians to welcome us to Florence when we moved to the church a block from their hotel. They have housed us, fed us, and taught us Italian, cooking and horticulture...and culture in general for that matter. Susanna and I even worked together running an adult craft program at their country in for a few summers. She’s always made wacky things but my favorite is her new self-portrait as a tea cozy! Staying out Le Boscarecce for 5 days this visit with our friends Mary and Rick and Deb was a real treat for all of us...even Susanna who loves to make fabulous food for us and tell stories and LAUGH. Massimo and Sarah helped us in Florence with whatever we couldn’t figure out on our own.
***Mary Howe, Rick Stein, Deborah Howe...you just can’t make old friends any more! These people are the impetus for this trip. They had planned to be with friends in a villa in Suveretto for a week and we tacked on another with them in Tuscany. Deb, unfortunately, got the grip and ended up staying with us instead of heading off to Venice as she’d planned. Too bad for her...good for us. Even through her painful ears she was a great traveler! Rick even left his bicycle in its case and went to hill towns with us, Mary and me babbling all the way.
***Jim and Priscilla Kaufman are part of our forever Florence family. Our children were friends and because we enjoy each other so much, we’ve kept in touch as Peter and I have moved around and they’ve stayed in Florence. Our brief visit was full of laughter and poignancy and tears as we remembered those good ole days.
***Caroline Ridomi was our wacky neighbor across the street from St James. I say “wacky” lovingly! She has a unique take on Florence life because when her husband died soon after we came to Florence to live, she inherited the fabulous palazzo and decided to stay in Tuscany for her 3 Italian/English daughters, and use her many rooms for a B&B. She’s pretty much given up on that now, but offered us a room when we decided that train connections would be easier from there. DInner at our favorite pizza place was great...catching up on her views of world politics and the Anglican Church.
***Christina Caughlin and David Massai are another couple that Peter married in Florence. But more importantly Christina was Peter’s “secretary” who kept him in line and translated and transcribed everything for him. She’s a jewel!! Peter and I took the bus out to Christina and David’s beautiful home in the country and shared lots of gelato with them and their boys, Luca and Elio…out in the yard overlooking the apple and olive trees. My heart was warmed.
***Alex Turpin is a new friend for me but has known Peter for a couple of years. I met him at Shoki and Sam Morgan’s this summer at one of their expansive suppers in Oyster Bay. Alex is a 3rd year seminarian at the American Seminary in the Vatican. He gave us a rare tour of the incredible campus way up on the hill from St Peter’s where you can see all of Rome stretched out 360 degrees. He’s also an art history student so tromping around Rome with him was extra fun!