Right now my mind is like an L.A. freeway….not quite at a standstill…but close. There are so many thoughts stacked up that there is little movement. Every time a thought starts to move, another cuts it off. Every thought wants to go….but no “one” can…there is no path.

Is it because I’m sitting on the couch?…ah….my familiar chair…much better. It’s become a ritual to me…to sit in this chair to write. Hmm…will I have to ship it home with me? Oh no…we are moving in a week to a new pad around the corner (ok they are beginning to cut eachother off again)..where will I sit there?

Ok….wait….I need to make an outline and tackle all of these things one by one. This is why procrastination killed the cat….or was that curiosity? Anyway, I’m screwed because I haven’t written…I’ve been selfish and have absorbed all these amazing experiences and have not shared….and now the chickens have come home to roost. Good thing the cat is gone.

Now…let’s be mature….the outline please…….

1. DID WE EVER GET IN? How the kids and I got in the house on that perfect day….Judi is waiting anxiously!
2. HOT ITALIAN TRAINERS INCREASE GYM TRAFFIC. We joined a gym…girls have never been so anxious to workout.
3. HOW MANY ITALIANS DOES IT TAKE TO MAKE PANZANELLA? Perfect Panzanella after accumulating recipes from everyone from the glass sales person to the man who hooked up our internet.
4. LIVE TO TELL. OH…the gas leak….I’ve been sick in the morning….very lethargic….turns out we have had a gas leak in my bedroom since day one…thank God for the internet man who found it!
5. SOCIAL MEDIA INSANITY. With your encouragement, I’ve diven…or is it dove….deep into the world of social media. It’s the largest ocean I’ve ever been in and at times can’t see my way out…I’m still suffering from vertigo from the recent rapid ascent.
6. THE LAUNCH OF OUR NEW BATH CO AND BLOG, ETC…want your input on our blog before it goes to the masses…you will be directed to it in a second. Make sure you learn your Italian word and soak in the beauty for the day!
7. COOKING CLASS WENT UP IN FLAMES. I finally took a cooking class…www.garga.it….met Sharon through Elisabetta’s….cooked an eggplant for the first time in my life!
8. PLEASE RSS FEED…TWIT…FACEBOOK….ME or something so I don’t have to keep paying my email service…my savings equates to your savings…I was a hold out too but we can do this…change is good.

AH…we are finally moving…slowly but the thoughts are beginning to move and make way for clear passage. So stay tuned as I begin to unravel…..

I wanted to start with the room off the living room…where the preparation of prosciutto had begun….but I think we should start at the beginning…..which would be the confusion of the train station….a bit stale so  maybe we will just begin on the train where I sit across from two women….who happened to be from San Jose, CA….and our sharing of experiences…that all led to the exchange of the best food we had found….but we have talked enough about food…..so maybe the debarking from the train and the greeting from someone I had never met….who invited me to visit her home…and share in her experiences….as an American in Italy….but probably it’s best if we get right to it….

As we wound around the hillside with olive oil trees in every direction, my new friend began to tell me the story of her neighbors.  They were an older couple who had been married and lived in this home together for 53 years….the home had been in the family for 63 years….they are true farmers…living off the land.  They have olive trees for oil, grapes for wine, vin santo, grappa….cows for milk and probably cheese…chickens, roosters and turkeys….pigs..always pigs…..they are hunters…of rabbit…pigeon..boar to name a few…they visit the market in the neighboring town but for the most part….they are self sustained….not because they are joining the slow food movement….but because they have lived the slow food movement…and it’s what they know…and it’s who they are.  They are real people……they eat real food….and they live real life.

The road to their house is gravel…and winds gracefully through the hillside….  The sun is shining and you can see olive trees for miles…homes scattered throughout the countryside….animals grazing….and dogs…tormented by the cats…..soaking in the sun.  We wind around a few different homes before we pull into the cobblestone driveway of her neighbor’s house.  Outside is an elderly gentlemen sweeping the cobblestone…slowly and methodically…looking up only to see who had scattered dust onto his cobblestones.  As I get out of the car I am greeted by a very happy black lab of sorts….smiling and wagging his tail….I look over across the gravel road and see an old stone building…a small barn…with chickens and roosters headed both ways through the open door as if it was the local watering hole….I’m drawn to barns…have been ever since childhood…..I loved to hang out with my pony in her stall…..sometimes laying next to her when she slept….or hanging out in the bales of hay…chewing on alfalfa….and playing with the kittens….why is it that barns are always full of kittens?

As we were waiting on some other neighbors to show, I meandered over to the barn.  I wish I had the literary skills to describe this to you…..I have seen it many times back home…..it’s what everyone tries to recreate…the old tuscan barn….but this was different…it was real.  It had a little window above the door…and I noticed that it was cracked open about a half of foot….and it was rigged with string that came down and tied to the side of the stone barn….so you could adjust it from where you stood….I stared for while…thinking about how practical this was…and how we make things so complicated….with technology and money….and so many things can be so simple.

A sudden jolt from the dog awakens me from my thoughts.  I place his paws back on the ground and walk slowly into the barn….  Lowering my head as I pass through the door….the chickens and roosters gather around my legs…as if they were insisting on showing me their home…out of respect, I let them in first..in retrospect I do not even remember the purpose of the first room that I entered…for I was drawn immediately to the second….it was filled with hay…bales and bales…less in the front so I could take a seat…and breath in the smell of farm….and as I was breathing in I was soaking in the natural beauty of the hay against the stone walls….not a facade…but real stone….built by hand…stone by stone…none perfect…all perfect.  As I was envisioning curling up on the next level of hay with a good book I was awakened by the summoned by the sounds of Buongiornos….as I knew my time was up, I quickly glanced around…trying to memorize every stone and every bale of hay…took a deep breath and registered it with my senses and begged for retention….and then followed my feathered friends out the door.

Next blog…..the view of the countryside and the story of the countess.

We continue to have days filled with memorable experiences….too many to keep up with…but yesterday was a highlight…not only of our trip but I believe of my life.  I was invited to lunch in the countryside….long story…but the result was sitting in the home of a true Tuscan farming family…sharing a meal that was produced off of their land…from the pigeon…to the rabbit…to the cavolo nero…to the olio….vino….grappa and vin santo…..these people are truly living a life that is green…not because they want to be cool and groovy….but because it is their way of life…and it is not easy…as seen by the calloused hands and weathered skin…but they are joyful…and so loving….and SO well fed!

I will share the story of my day in my blog as I feel the inspiration to write….I think I may take it room by room….but where would I start….probably the room off of the living room where there was a table close to the size of the room…with heavy plastic covering the wood….and heaps of salt scattered throughout the surface…..you could barely make out the pink color of the tail ends of the pigs through the salt…the pigs had just been slaughtered…and the preparation had begun…..in a room just off of the living room…..