december 2016
in the never ending effort to simplify our lives, we decided to cancel bim’s german credit card. the one that had lufthansa air miles attached to it. actually, enough air miles so that two people could fly business class to europe, from san francisco. since patti had never in her life flown business class, she was more than grateful to get the chance – thanks to bim! we arrived in rome (relaxed and refreshed) at the beginning of may, planning to spend six weeks in northern italy.
in small hill towns, or on farms in places that nobody has ever heard of!
our most enduring memory is of the people that we shared
time with and who shared a part of their lives with us. friendly, helpful,
generous, and passionate about growing olives, or making cheese, or making and
collecting art, or distilling grappa,
or growing grapes and making wine. not to mention the fabulous food that our hosts cooked for us; and i won’t mention it, otherwise this short letter would be pages long!
from the northwestern corner of italy, home of monte bianco, at over 15,000 feet the highest mountain in the alps,
to the lost wallet at the gas station in croatia
on the northeastern border, we drove around the scenic backroads of northern
italy, up and over every mountain pass in the dolomites that we could find. we
just couldn’t get enough of the intense beauty of vertical peaks and sheer
cliffs in pale colors with clouds forming and dispersing, and the dramatic
views down the long deep valleys.
this northern mountain region of italy was a part of austria until 1914 when italy ‘liberated’ the area. the history, culture and language is as dramatic as the landscape and could be a lifetime of study. alta badia was our favorite valley (at 4500 feet!) in the region,
and could lure us to return for another visit!
our six week visit was over far too soon, our last evening spent in the airport town of fiumicino, close to rome. we enjoyed our evening aperol spritz at a bar near the harbor, and walked along the tyrrhenian sea before getting some sleep for an early departure the next morning. an uneventful and comfortable flight to san francisco was followed by a couple of days of unpacking. until, on the third day, bim had had enough; and on his walk back from retrieving the morning paper, he collapsed in pain at the bottom of our driveway. with help from a couple of neighbors, we managed to get him up to the house and onto the bed. after a couple of hours of the pain getting worse, i decided it was time to call 9-1-1. within minutes, the ambulance and the local fire department arrived. some of the nicest, most helpful and comforting people i have ever met, they loaded bim into the ambulance and whisked him away to the hospital, dripping pain meds into him on the way. he was almost smiling again by the time i arrived at the ER. as we were attempting to leave the ER to return home, bim collapsed again. a diagnosis of a herniated disc at L4-L5, and some nerve damage, have initiated some life style changes. although, it is hard to slow a german scorpio boy down. bim was very fortunate to receive expert advice from a friend (a physical therapist) of ours, that completely alleviated his pain, which has never returned. he doesn’t have much feeling in his lower right leg. the hope is that the nerve will regenerate and the feeling will return. he is almost back to his normal self, other than using the old age, low back disc problem as an excuse not to lift heavy objects.
we have fallen into an annual pattern of spending a few weeks in hawaii during the months of november and december. it might be a familiar place, however, every visit has its own character and surprises… after the november chill that had descended on sonoma county, it took us a couple of days to adjust to 90 degree weather in maui. we managed to cope with the first few days of heat by rising at dawn for a long walk on the beach while watching the color of sky and water change as the god-maui dragged the sun up from behind haleakala, the 10,000 foot shield volcano of maui, otherwise known as the ‘house of the sun’.
snorkeling in the 80 degree tropical waters cooled us off mid-morning. we were overjoyed to see turtles every day,
either swimming in the turquoise water, eating seaweed from the reefs, or crawling out of the water and resting on the beach. we humans also found the habit of resting during the heat of the day to be quite relaxing, especially after consuming a beer for lunch! dramatic evening sky on fire,
with red and golden sunsets, slowly turning into warm tropical
evenings with millions of stars glowing behind the swaying palms –
the perfect
ending to another perfect day in paradise.
some days, we experienced all four seasons in one day. we watched big black clouds pouring rain into the ocean, and the storm disappearing, until the next one rolled through. we heard about flooding on the other side of the island, but we were staying on the dry, desert side of the island with only a few drops of rain here and there. two nights before our scheduled departure, the adventure began. after having dinner with friends, we were driving back to our apartment in the dark and pouring rain, and got caught and stranded in a flash flood! the rental car stalled, and we managed (with help from two strong local guys) to push the car out of the flood waters up a hill to a drier spot. by this time, we were soaking wet, and freezing cold, with no place to go, except walk back to our apartment… in the dark of night, and deluging rain, we slogged through two foot deep flood waters, filled with runoff dirt, and branches and sewage and who knows what else? hoping we didn’t fall into a pothole or get hit by a car out of control!!!! the ¾ mile walk felt like 5 miles, and the hot shower awaiting us felt heavenly. the next morning dawned sunny and warm, with a rainbow to greet us. all the flood waters drained into the ocean, which was no longer tropical blue, but muddy reddish brown. maui county recommended boiling tap water or using bottled water. the local grocery store had a huge section of bottled water on sale, the shelves empty by mid-morning.
we arrived home, and the very next day, sonoma county was inundated with water, from the same storm system!!! flash flood warnings, road closures, and advice not to drive. easy advice to follow – we stayed home, enjoying a warm fire, feeling blessed, lucky, and grateful to be alive and healthy.
