Estate è arrivato a Seattle … Infine!!… Summer arrives in Seattle…Finally!
In Seattle, we always wonder when summer will really arrive or if we have had summer already! We are hoping that the last 29 days of sunshine in May/June will not be our actual summer but is has been warm and sunny and beautiful blue skies for a seemingly long time. The temperatures got up into the 90’s a couple of days which is very unusual for these parts but now we have settled into the nice 70’s again and enjoy having morning coffee in the backyard in our shorts.
As we plan for our upcoming return to Italia and Umbria, we are getting more excited for the new places we will travel and see. We will revisit some towns and cities we had wanted to see when we lived there but just never quite made it back - like Siena…I love Siena and am excited to be in Siena again. We will also go back to the Cinque Terre and relax - there will be a Rick Steve’s tour there while we are in Monterosso which will give us a change to connect with those fun travelers. So many places to go and see which will keep us coming back time and time again for visits with friends as well as seeing new sights…Bologna, Padova, Torino, Genova, Calabria, Puglia, back to Sicily, and so many more places to see and experience.
I have connected with the grandson of one of dear neighbors from Montefalco, a beautiful woman we call Zia Luciana, who lives in Washington state. He and his wife and John and I will be getting together for coffee and taking a photo of all of us together. John will make a reprint of the photo and we will frame it and give it to her when we see her when we go back to Montefalco. I know she will love it as she has many, many framed photos of her family and friends all over her home and this will be a nice connection for her to know that we have met. She is an incredible woman and we cannot wait to see her. Today, I am writing to everyone there to let them know we are coming and to know that we will be sure and come to see them “per caffe, certo”!
Every once in a while, I find myself dreaming of being back in Umbria, in our little apartment outside the walls of Montefalco, sitting outside at the table watching John work in Anna’s flower garden, with Baffo asleep at my feet. It was a wonderful and sweet life and being back in Seattle, with all the traffic and all of the noise, is such a jolt to your senses. I miss the church bells but I have the birds singing here so I guess there are always tradeoffs in life. It will be comfortable to return to that more simplified life of seeing friends, enjoying each day as it comes. I wonder why can we not live this way here? We have tried hard to retain that mental state but it gets increasingly more difficult the longer we are away but will keep trying as Umbria and the Italian way of life is still in our hearts.
So for now, we will go to our weekly farmer’s markets to buy fresh fruit and vegetables the way we did in Umbria, we will call friends and share meals and good wine together, and just remain vigilant about keeping our life as uncomplicated as we can. After all, it is summer in Seattle and there is a lot to do and see and when summer comes into Fall, we will be on our way back to Umbria and Italy for a return to some portion of life as Americani in Umbria. Ciao for now, amici.
Add comment June 23rd, 2009
