i’m sorry, i just don’t know

Mom is off saving the world… she fould a tiny LDS branch in a town about 15 miles from here.  She wanted me to get up at 6 so I could go with her on a train, a bus, and then a 2 mile walk over the river and through the woods to try to find the church building.  This being Sunday, a day of rest, I declined, slept in, and read scriptures for an hour or so when I got up.  I’m going to start working on the article I have due at the end of this month and to lay on the beach later.

Tonight mom and I have reservations at this restaurant built into the remains of a castle on a cliff.  That will be a perfect ending to our trip to Vernazza.  We’re back to Holland tomorrow, with a stop in Milan (of course) because Mom wants to see the opera house.  She’s been really good about moving at my pace for the last week, so I figure I can induldge her the run around Milan.  There is a place where you can pay to store bags in the train station there, so it’s not bad at all.

We found the Madonna di Reggio Drignana today. Yesterday I bought an inexpensive necklace made by a local artist with a picture of her on it, and the shop girl said that this particular Madonna is very precious to the people of Vernazza. So, Mom and I set off to find her. Our landlady, Patrizia told us that to find her, we should go to the Pirate bar, then go “up and up and up” so we did. We walked for two hours. Uphill… past the clock tower, past the cemetery, until the road turned into an ancient path made from large cobblestones. Switchbacks led us through olive trees, fig trees, passion fruit, raspberries, and flowers galore. It was beautiful. and steep. and steep. and steep. At every curve of the trail, there was a small shrine with a marble carving of different scenes from the life of Christ. The views were spectacular, of course… the amazing vineyards on the sides of the mountains that ran to the sheer cliffs into the ocean. Specatular views and sweat dripping down my back. I could even feel sweat on the backs of my knees. Remind me to start taking long walks before I take another one of these trips with my mom.

And then… we turned the corner and ta da… the large shrine. A smallish building about 15 x 15 ft with plaster peeling from the walls. On the alter was a statue of some religious guy. He looked like a pope that had been sainted or some other important person… but no Madonna. And then I looked more closely… there was a picture above him. The picture was a drawing of the tiny room, complete with the guy. In that picture, above the saintly man was a teeny tiny picture of Mary holding a little baby Jesus (to quote Ricky Bobby). It was probably 3 inches square. The gate into the shrine was locked, so we had a hard time seeing her, but there she was. Little teeny tiny Mary and baby. A bit of a let down at first, to be honest. But then Mom and I just laughed and laughed. Will post pics when I get home.

So if you ever want to walk straight uphill for hours to see a teeny tiny Mary, let me know. I’ll point the way. Probably won’t go with you… but I can tell you how to get there.

After that, we spent the afternoon by the beach, then hopped on a train to Monterosso where they have a black and white striped church, and an Oratorio of the Dead… In the Oratorio, there are choir seats with skeletons in shrouds carved on them. It’s a bit creepy, but cool. I was going to buy a pretty tablecloth at a shop nearby, but a German lady busted in in front of me and grabbed it before I could. I have got to learn to be more aggressive shopping around here

Today Mom and I took the boat three towns down and then hiked along the coast on the cliff. It was very cool… well, hot. And I don’t think I’ve ever climbed so many stairs in one day. These little towns are all built in ravines with no streets, just alleyways that all go up up up. One thing that surprised me is how BIG the fruit and flowers are here. There are lemon trees with lemons bigger than most grapefruit in the US. And the hydrangeas are bigger than my mom’s head. It’s been nice. Mom has been awesome. She even agreed to just hang out at the beach tomorrow… until the afternoon when we’ll go visit another little town.

Today I found a little shop with art from a local Vernazzan artist. I bought a necklace with charms that had scenes from Vernazza… which is very cool. One of the charms has the Madonna and Child on it. The girl at the shop told me that this was “their” Madonna. She’s apparently at the sanctuary which is about a kilomoter away. Mom and I are going to try to find it tomorrow. The shop girl said that they are “very devoted” to their Madonna, so I’m excited to go meet her myself.

It’s about 8:00 pm and I’m planning on going back to the room and just read until I fall asleep. I found a somewhat lame detective novel in our room, and I’m enjoying the lack of brains it’s taking to read it.

I miss my husband and our puppies. There are a lot of people with dogs here. The dogs don’t speak English, though, so the don’t come when I call them. I need to learn to say “come” in Italian so the dogs will be my friends.

As always, if you want to read the real story about what actually happened today, visit my mom’s blog at http://redumbrellatours.blogspot.com

Oh, and no pics right now… too much trouble at the Internet Cafe. When I get back I’ll put a bunch up on flickr and link to them.

Mom and I got to Vernazza in the Cinque Terra this evening.  It was a full day of travel that included a bus ride, plane ride, two trains, and a metro, but boy, is it worth it.  The town is tiny and built into a ravine.  Very colorful and quaint.  Our room overlooks the main street that is really more of an alleyway.  It’s clean and quaint in our room.  I had the most amazing pesto today as we watched the sun go down over the harbor.  I’ll have to learn to make it.

So yesterday I was sitting in a square in Amsterdam, eating french fries with mayo a la Pulp fiction, listening to a Mexican trio sing Guantanamera.  We went back to the hotel to find a rock concert playing outside our window and I learned that Kroketten are only served at lunch.  How silly of me to have even asked. 

So today it happened.  My engagement with Facebook apps turned from academic interest to obsessive futzing around (my term for what people do when they get caught up in the social presence features of an online community).  And the winner was…. Owned!  Buy and sell your friends.  As of right now, I own about 6 people, almost all of whom I actually know.  I am currently owned by some 49 year old man.  There was a bidding war between him and some guy from Sheffield, England which stopped abruptly when I filled out my profile and said I was married.  Funny how that happens, eh?  Before the fun stopped, the bidding went up to $15,316, so apparently that’s what I’m worth.

All the cool Facebook apps that Justin Ball wrote… it was this one that got me distracted from work and inviting friends to join up with me.  But hey, it looks like I can give Trey to Anne if I want.

[Personal post] So Rob and I have sold our house and are moving a couple of miles west of where we are now. We are currently in a subdivision and it has recently become a bit cramped. So here are the reasons why I’ll never be seduced by the “prettiness” of a subdivision again…

There are a number of retired couples in our subdivision. Most are kind and pleasant, but one or two just cause trouble. With the covenants in hand, our neighbor who my husband calls “Ebenezer” has called the police on us for having our truck bed 1 foot over the sidewalk. In his words “I like to use the sidewalk.” This same guy has complained to Animal Control that our dogs were in the park without a leash. The park is the reason we bought the place… open green space where we can let our dogs romp. And finally, the covenants explicitly state that I’m not allowed to have farm animals… no goats or chickens allowed. Brutal. Add that to the guilt I feel about the deagriculturalization that is happening in Cache Valley because of development and I’m done. When it was just the guilt, I could repress my feelings, but once you threaten to put down my dog because it’s off a leash, I’m outie.

So, although at one time in my life I saw myself living in urban areas for the rest of my living days, I’m going to become a farmgirl. We are moving to a place with over an acre of land surrounded on 2 sides by hay fields. We’re going to get goats (I think I want some Nigerian Dwarf Goats… they are sweet natured, good milkers, and good breeders. Leslie lady, if you want to make soap from my goat milk, call me) and chickens. Think about it… a chicken is one of the only pets/animals you can have that will give you something concrete and nourishing every day. I love fresh eggs. My border collie/australian shepherd mix who is going crazy in our teeny tiny back yard will finally get to herd- something she was bred to do. Our little rat dog mutt who thinks she is the boss of anything living will get a lesson or two from a head-butting billy goat. I may even get a horse in a year or two. Our new place has a 3 stall barn and shed where we can put all the animals I’ll ever need to keep myself from going crazy working from home

And the coup d’etat… The garage is extra wide and extra long so Rob’s work truck can fit. We’ll have storage galore, and will have plenty of room for dogs to romp and (eventually) kids to grow.

One way to look at online social activity, via our lovely Corrine Beaumont, the Mayor of Lemonland.  This model includes user profiles, tools used by each, the process of locating and sharing online resources, and the types of “flowers” online.  (You’ll have to actually look at the image to sort that last bit out :)  Read corrijo’s discussion of the image.

Matthew Buckley’s most recent book, The SuperTrio is up online.  Listen to each chapter with your little ones while you clean the house or just when you are supposed to be listening in a workshop (like I should be doing now…headphones are easy to hide with long hair).  Rock and roll Elder Jensen.