Last 2 Days - Sept 25 and 26

Where did the time go? I am now sitting in my parent's home on September 29 reflecting on how quickly the last few days have flown by and how I neglected to make or find the time to keep up this blog. It seems to be the standard case of life getting so busy that one has little time to reflect on the past or the future -- living fully in the present.

Anyway, I do have a few notes of the activities of our final days in Gordevio and I'll summarize these activities below and then add a separate posting for our return trip to California on September 27. During September 25 and 26, we enjoyed:

1. a visit with V&G's daughter Maria Teresa who lives in nearby Locarno. We feasted on a lasagna prepared by G and got to know Maria Teresa's boyfriend "Tino" who spent much of the day painting the eaves of V&G's house while we were able to enjoy a leisurely visit with Maria Teresa. Maria Teresa speaks English allowing me to be less dependent on Dad's translating -- though there were still plenty of fun opportunities to explore the nuiances of translating certain words. It was clear to me that it is far easier to translate activities (coming, going, working, driving, flying) than it is to translate "feelings" (attraction, caring, loving). Even in English it is hard to sometimes convey feelings to another English speaker. For example, when we use phrases like "body chemistry" to describe one's attraction to another person, we really aren't talking about body "chemistry" -- or the "odor" a person may have. Another example might be our use of the term "soul-mates."

2. a dinner at Fernando's that included his brother Pierangelo and wife Flavia and Michel, one of their two sons (the other was in military training for the weekend) and Michel's girlfriend. As with Maria Teresa and Rein and his family, there was a special comfort and fun for me in visiting with Fernando, Pierangelo and Flavia both because of the ability to communicate in English, because this was the third visit in as many years and all have had an opportunity to meet Deb, our daughters, our grandkids and our son-in-law.

3. the weather changing to rain -- and adding the first dustings of snow to the mountain tops. We had enjoyed 6 or 7 days of spectacular sunshine and warmth, so the change to rain and cloudy skies were a rather welcome change -- an opportunity to see Valle Maggia in yet another way. The rain reminded me of the sometimes frequent rain we get at home near Portland, OR, another place I love as well.

4. going on a hunts for a possible Tognazzini connection to the village of Cevio (about 10 miles up the valley from Gordevio). Dad has a religious booklet that contains what appears to be youthful scribblings of the Tognazzini patriarch to indicate receiving the booket in Cevio. Dad wanted to explore possible Cevio connection in both church and municipal records and we set out to do just that. Dad made some headway and has sufficient information to followup by mail/email -- but the short business hours for such records searching in the offices precluded any conclusions.

5. getting to watch Rein and Nathalie teach table tennis to some of Gordevio's youth. Because of Rein's own personal passion for the sport and his observations of the positive impact it had on his own children and children's friends when they were growing up, he has established a table tennis club in Gordevio. He and Nathalie give freely of their time and knowledge to expose the sport to Gordevio youth.

6. getting to meet and visit with more family that I had not met before including: (1) Giannetto Martinetti who is related to us in the same way that Claudio (which I've previously described). His mother was a sister to Claudio's mother; and, (2) Claudio and Teresita's daughter Paula, age 30, who is fluent in 5 languages and travels worldwide in her job as a nurse.

7. having many of the people we had visited with during the week come by G & V's to offer their best wishes in our return travel and ask us to pass on good wishes ("saluti") to mom and Deb. The love and warmth shown by all was incredible -- still bringing tears of happiness to my eyes as I write about it.

In these final days of the trip, it constantly felt as if time were running out for there is never enough time to do that which brings so much pleasure -- enjoy Gordevio, the surrounding area and, most importantly, all the family and friends there!