| Our relaxing day included pot-painting. Mine is to the left, and Paola's is the professional edition on the right! |
| Erin's Lake Como Journals 6-23-02 Sunday in Como was cause for a nice lazy day. We slept in until after 9am, then slowly got up and read books until Dario & Paola came downstairs. Then we followed Dario as he went to get fresh eggs for breakfast, and joined Paola and him for cereal, toast, eggs, juice, and coffee. What a luxury! Home cooking, even before we get home! Upon debating what to do today before the 7pm BBQ at their friends' house, we all decided on having a relax day. For Paola, this meant painting one of her terra cotta pots (she is an artist by trade, and made a gorgeous cityscape of London on the first one!). I was interested in trying my amateur hand at it, and she kindly provided me with a pot and some paints. Mine looks like a child's painting compared to hers, but it was very relaxing and fun to get creative. Glenn and Dario, meanwhile, sat out on the lawn reading for the day. During the afternoon, Dario's parents had visitors of members of the rest of the family, and we were all invited up to the house (just up the hill) for gelato and fresh-picked raspberries. We sat around a long table under the eaves and had lemon & strawberry gelato (excellent!) and the best raspberries I've ever tasted, while sharing in some of the family's joking & storytelling. We even got into comparisons of which celebrities we all look like, and Dario's future sis-in-law said Glenn looks like Dr. Mark from ER (Anthony Edwards). I of course got the usual Nicole Kidman, and Dario looks like Hugh Grant. We also had a Sophia Loren, for one of the ladies had gone to school with her in a small southern Italian town. It was a fun time, and a great view of the closeness of families here. Afterward we went back to the house for a little more painting, reading, & journal writing for me (keeping up now!) before cleaning up for the BBQ at 7pm. It was a casual affair, so we dressed to be cool and put on lots of bug spray, since the property was right next to a stream. We arrived to meet Dario & Paola's friends. The occasion for the party was the hostess' graduation with her art history degree. Her portfolio, which we were happy to see, was an excellent collection of local artists with pieces in public areas around Italy. The rest of the group was just as friendly & welcoming as Dario & Paola had been, and we had a great time at the BBQ. The food was awesome - absolutely great! After the food, we all sat around the fire and sang snippets of songs, while the other members of the party identified the author. This turned into a comparison of American sitcoms that have made it to Italy, and some of the differences. For example, the family name of the characters of the Cosby show is Huxtible in the original version - in Italy, they are the Robinsons! It was a blast. We went home at the end of the party happy and tired. Since it was Sunday night, we all crashed early, as Dario & Paola had to wake up early for work the next day. |
 |