Summer Fever

Mi spiace! I know I've left the Pinon Tree with an empty nest lately. After returning to Italy I had an inbox filled to the brim and some commitments to fulfill. When we left so abruptly I had to cancel a trip we'd planned to visit la famiglia down south, so when I got back we rescheduled and went last week. I ended up coming home sick. At first I thought I was having heat stroke; the scirocco from Africa has been bringing major heat to Italy. I chalked up my scratchy throat to dust from said scirocco, or the all-too-present cigarette smoke from my cousin's family and friends, who all puff away a *lot*. But no, I woke up this morning with that distinct knowledge one has when one knows she has a full-blown sick-with-something symptomology. I hate summer colds; I especially hate them when accompanied by fever...I mean, who needs more heat right now?

We were in Basilicata, the Motherland, the remote locale that Carlo Levi wrote about in his famous book, Christ Stopped at Eboli. I don't know about the Lord, but modern communications seem to have stopped at Eboli. We were in deep woods, steep valleys, and mountain clefts wehre no cell signals dare to tread. My handy-dandy cell phone internet connection that I use when traveling was useless. Internet Point? Ha! Not in my ancestral village.


We stayed in an agriturismo up a squiggly road with such tight turns that the headlights had to race to keep up...and lost. We plunged into darkness around every bend, hoping there were no animals or precipitous drop-offs in our direct path. But up in our mountain hideaway we heard only sheep bells and wind. Another guest, from Rome, mentioned at breakfast, "si sente il silenzio." You hear the silence. I was able to relax, and while the days were scorching, the nights were cool and so we slept soundly. Being out of touch was just what I needed at that moment.

Because we were actually able to go off and play tourist this time around, over the next few days I will tell you more about some of the things we experienced laggiu`.

But now I'm taking my hot summer fever back to bed. A presto.