Over a year after the previous blog
update and my sincere intentions to start updating more regularly, I’m finally
doing another update (and once again have intentions to resume posting more
often than annually).
Soon after my last post, when I
wrote about Hope for Life and Sarah, I intended to give an update about Sarah.
Within about 24 hours of writing about her, several people offered to
contribute to what was needed for her to acquire a new leg. It was amazing to
me – I had described her situation and what a beautiful woman she is, but I
hadn’t expected to raise money. So, about a month or two following the blog
update, thanks to donations received, she was at the rehab center getting her new leg. Since then, she’s been
getting around well. I had fully intended to do an update immediately to
express my appreciation – but I didn’t.
Since then, a lot has been
happening within SMA and among the lay people who are involved with the SMA.
There have been meetings (of course). Some were for the lay people who are
involved with the various units of SMA. Then, this past May, there was the big SMA meeting that takes place every 6 years to elect new leaders and set the goals for the next 6
years (a one-month long meeting!!). Following that was a meeting for just the
US SMA (only 2 weeks), and then the usual meetings here in Rome. I feel like
meetings have been a major part of my life for the past 6 years – meetings and
other administrative things, but I knew it would be like this when I agreed to take up the position (which is part of why I hesitated to agree immediately to come live in Rome for 6 years). There were a lot of preparations for some of these
meetings – and the meetings had, in my opinion, very mixed results (more on
that in the future), as meetings will do.
In Rome during August most people
flee to the beaches or the mountains to be with family and in cooler, fresher air. Rome can become a bit hot. The
people in the SMA house also leave – the priests who are here to study go for extra
classes, to help in parishes and for holidays. The bosses take their leave at
that time since the rest of Rome is also on holiday, so it makes it difficult
to get official business done. For the past 5 years, I’ve been the one to stay
at the SMA house in Rome during August. We can’t all abandon the house, and the
mass desertion leaves me happy to be the one to stay and take care of whatever
needs to happen. I spend the entire month sweating, but it’s also a solitary and peaceful
time, and mostly a time when I can focus on work I want to get done – I enjoy
the solitude, setting my own schedule and deciding what and when I want to eat,
focusing without interruption on things I want to get done, etc.
I then get to take my vacation at another time – a time when things are
busier in the house and in the city, and a time when there are fewer people
traveling…making traveling a bit more peaceful as well.
This September a couple of friends
had time off and came to visit. We spent a little over a week in Tuscany and then
another week in the southern part of Italy. Tuscany lives up to all the beautiful descriptions that are out there about it.
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| The Vie Cave - what feels like a maze that meanders through what feels like canyon outside of Sorano (but, it is neither a maze nor a canyon) |
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| a view of Sorano - after wandering through the canyon |
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| re-entering Sorano, after going back through the canyon |
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| lunch in Tuscany - with the view seen in the picture at the top of this post |
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| the remains of a castle at the top of Montemassi, a village we stayed in for a couple of nights |
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| view of village from the castle |
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| another view of the village |
One of the little
hill-towns we stayed in, Manciano, was having its annual wine festival (Festa delle Cantine) for the 3 nights we
were there. So, every night found us wandering the streets with a cup of wine,
that was regularly being refilled, around our necks .
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| souvenirs following 3 nights of a wine festival |
The parts of Southern Italy
that we visited were just as amazing and beautiful as Tuscany – and with just
as many delicious foods and wines.
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| with Jessie and Arthur - long-time friends who were visiting |
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| the town is Polignano a Mare - this rocky beach we swam at is also seen in the next photo, through the arches that we had to walk under |
In spite of a lot of movement, the time off
left me refreshed and relaxed…and a bit more hopeful than I had felt following the
meeting from May.
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| One of the Trulli houses of Alberobello (also called "Mushroom Houses") where we spent a night.....unfortunately, those HUGE beer steins were only filled with rain water from the previous day |
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| I can't call this graffiti (painted on a wall in Pisticci) |
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| Pisticci |
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| a couple of "yarn bombed" trees in Sorrento, where we were waiting for a ferry to Capri and the Blue Grotto pictured above |
