Edelwise: July 2012

Dylan on his freestyle trotinette

I noticed that I haven't posted for about two months. (actually more now that this post is already two months in the holding tank!) As usual, there will be a flurry of posting once I start, so hold on! During these past two months we have had two birthdays and mom and dad's visit. Dylan turned 10 and Hannes 12. They are growing like weeds in stature and wisdom (we hope). Mom and dad's visit was during mom and Hannes' birthdays. Mom celebrated her 65th so she is officially retired. No more meals to cook, no more dishes, no more laundry, no more ironing-what a life:) Would that it were true! We had crême brulée again (yawn) and something else that I no longer remember. The third week we took off to Sardinia, an italian island off of the west coast of the italian mainland. The people were friendy, the food beautiful and the weather as unpredictable as an italian motorcar. Of motorcars, we braved the whole week testing an Alpha Romeo Giulietta and a Fiat 500. Both were great fun and a good change from the four-wheels-on-the-ground german-engineered cars that we normally drive. We encountered a surprising amount of rough road, the worst one being the one leading to our abode among the pine trees. Our week was peppered with fierce showers, some strong wind, some sunshine and an ever-changing mix of cold and hot. The scenery is fantastic and the little we did see was a color washed dream, spring flowers just gathering courage to appear, sleepy vacation ghost towns and every little bay bringing a new exploration and discovery lesson. Kind of like waffles, the ocean means a lot to me. Growing up not too far from the ocean means that this land-locked country is missing a piece of the puzzle that is me. I LONG for the ocean, it's smells, sounds and sights. The mesmerising sound of the surf relentlessly pounding the coastline, be it a sandy beach or rocky cliffs or round rocks seems to drain thetension out of my very bones. A lake is nice, mountains (now I am going to hurt some local feelings I guess) are great, but the OCEAN is where it's at for me. So, since it was up to me again to organize our vacation destination, I again chose to seek out the ocean. It was a great experience. A small island on the west coast of Sardinia was our destination, Sant' Antioco. It took us maybe an hour to drive around the whole island and there was tons to check out. The neighboring island, San Pietro has no bridge and is accessible only by ferry. We didn't even have time to check it out. Next time I guess. Lisa VDB joined us for a few days as well as Ralf W. It was fun to have some company. We ate a lot of pasta and pizza as well as fresh cherry toms and asparagus. I guess that's it for now. Again I ramble:)