Reading and Resting in Tuscany

We have had our 2nd full day in Tuscany, a day in which we took it slow. We had had 8 days of activity if you include the first day’s flight; flights can be a wrestling match. Kathy and Rosemary did laundry and grocery shopping. We ate lunch in a bar, which, in Italy, serves a fairly full range of good food. Fortunately, Rosemary has taken to the language and gets us in and out of places and gets us fed.

We met Susan, the proprietor of Montestigliano, the farm where we are staying. She is a charming Brit and gave us tips for getting along and not ticking off the country that is hosting us. Kathy, Rosemary and I are all deferential and polite people, so it isn’t as though we would have made enemies anyway, but being instructed in the niceties never hurts.

Susan has gone all out looking for a yoga class for me. She is thinking of a private lesson, one to be held here at Montestigliano. The rooms are perfect for yoga, with counters at many different levels and unused walls. There’s a yoga class tomorrow night in Sienna so I may just go to that, but it’s been 10 days since my last yoga class and it would be easier to simply have a private. There are Iyengar yoga teachers here.

Kathy got us up this morning to work out with our bands that she bought especially for the trip. We are walking a lot, but that certainly does not replace the workouts that Kathy and I have grown to love.

We have a library filled with bodice rippers but amongst the romances I found a book I’ve wanted to re-read: Who will run the frog hospital. It’s by Lorrie Moore. I read it years ago and remember saying when I put it down, “I wish I had written that.” It’s a rather dark story of two young women who are 15 years old in 1972. It is an observant book about being 15 and also about the times – 1972. The voice the book is written from is solid, never wavering and never falling into a false pit of cheerfulness. I have wrestled with the desire to fall into that pit as I’ve been writing and I’m glad to have an example of writing where the writer did not veer off on the cheap and easy path of hope based on nothing.

Tomorrow we’re visiting a gothic abbey and just generally tooling around. It’s fun to see Kathy’s reaction to Catholic settings. Rosemary and I are both recovering Catholic girls and “get” the message; Kathy has funny questions about the meaning. We’re all interested in walking around the farm, which is quite beautiful and quiet.

We have internet access and expect to blog every day. We’re in Tuscany for a few more days and then it’s on to Cinque Terre. See you tomorrow, everyone!