Pbenjay's Blog

One late morning, Joel and I were sitting outside at Orso’s enjoying the sunshine, some coffee and wi fi.  It was a beautiful day, the cherries had turned from green to red in the past few days, the roses were in full bloom; shades of pink and red.  The fig tree was laden with burgeoning little green globes which unfortunately would not ripen till the end of summer.

Pasquale came out and asked Joel if he would go with his father, Luigi, to pick up a heavy box.  Since I was working on my iPad and he was getting a little bored, he jumped at the chance of a change of scenery.  Luigi came out and gave me the two finger  sign indicating they’d be back in two minutes.

It was more like 30 minutes, before they returned in the truck and started to unload what looked like a few large coiled wreathes.  At least that’s what it looked from across the street.

Soon it was apparent what was happening;

Up A Tree

Hidden From View

Taking Direction

Luigi had enlisted Joel to help him string lights in the trees in Orso’s Garden. That’s the official name of this small oasis across the street from the B&B. I’ve spent hours there sitting in that glorious Southern Italy sunshine, drawing zentangles, talking to Peter, looking at the panorama and trying most of all to be present. 

That day watching Joel and Luigi up in the trees stringing the lights was so heartwarming.  Joel had told me that Luigi reminded him of his own great-grandfather, Luciano, a few days before.  Luigi only speaks Italian and dialect for sure, Joel knows grazie.  So how the directions were being given and followed must have been a lot of gestures and pointing!

The afternoon was getting warmer, so I ordered a Perroni, hey that’s what you do in Italy and especially in Guardia.  Are you ready for this? A bottle of beer costs 1€! Now if you want Heineken then it’s 1.50€.  Oh what a great place!

The guys had to take a break, Joel had a rash on his arms but was not going to complain because Luigi had cut his hand in a few places with the knife and shrugged it off when Joel pointed out the bleeding.  God, that reminded me of my own father! By the way, I didn’t take his picture but should have, because Luigi was also up in the trees securing lights, he is very spry.

A Well Deserved Break

Here are a few garden photos;

Corso Umberto Roadside

All in all this was a very pleasant day.  We went home and it wasn’t until a day or two later we found out the lights were turned on in the garden that night and everyone was eating chicken!