Oh...yeah. We're back from Italy, btw!!!

....minds BLOWN by the journey of a lifetime.  But we've been home awhile now.  Time slips by so quickly...and I have lots on my plate.  While I've been dying to sit down and blog about our trip...it just hasn't happened.  We've been busy wrapping up our summer that has brought some welcome changes!  FINALLY, I've found the healthy, respectful and growth oriented work environment that I had been trying to manifest for 2 years.  I've moved my massage practice to a wonderful clinic of talented therapists and a chiropractor(who is also a dad at Willa's school).   After being so stagnant in a place where I just didn't fit or have much respect for my profession, I am thrilled to be in a clinic that is so supportive and encouraging!   They are providing me with continuing education in Neuromuscular Therapy and other modalities that will greatly enhance and expand my skillset.    I've been pretty busy catching up on the classes and info that I missed and I'm loving it!  My brain is on fire!
 I'm painting again as well.  I hauled all my supplies out of the house and down to the garage and cleaned out a portion to house a wee "studio".  When it's been nice out, I've worked on some pieces in the driveway.  Still not sure what I'll do when the snow flies....but for now it feels good to have my muse poke her head in once and awhile.
I think another reason that I've not taken the time to sit down and blog our trip is that....I just haven't been able to find the words.  I over-use the word,"mindblowing".  Other words just don't do what I feel inside justice.  "Life changing" "paradigm shifting" "awe-inspiring" "staggering" "humbling"....close but not quite there.  New words need to be invented for what this trip gave me...for what my soul was saying in each moment, with each new experience...
 I have been enjoying writing Trip Advisor reviews of places we experienced in Italy.  If interested IMHO:  http://www.tripadvisor.com/members/785danap
Something to get my juices flowing.....our trip in a tiny nutshell....

Piemonte

We watched the morning mist rise on an etheric blue lake ...church bells heralding the day

I drove on impossibly narrow roads on hairpin turns in the Alps

We watched the sun set over bucolic hills of the Val de Funes as the cows were called home

We flew arms outstretched through trees and over San Vigglio... tethered to a wire

We stood in awe of the Forcella Pana....the stuff only dreams are made of 

We ate fresh fruit of the gods bought from an old man's stand on the side of the road on Lake Garda

We slept in an ancient farmhouse on the top of the  medieval town of Padenghe

We swam with  children and swans in the deliciously cold waters of Lake Como

We watched an astounding thunder and lightening storm from a deck high above the lake

We ran through the vineyards and visited hill-top castles in the Langhe valley

We experienced the quiet majesty of Milan's Duomo cathedral...and the melodious onslaught that is a Pearl Jam concert

Our bodies where pummeled and rolled by the powerful waves of the Mediterranean

We climbed in the terraced mountain vineyards high above that sapphire blue sea

We found treasures offered up on it's beaches

We touched walls built before Christ in Tuscany

We whispered in the halls of Saint Francis's monestary

We wound our way through the labyrinth of Venice and were rowed on its streets of water

We ate the most incredible food

Drank fabulous wine
We had great visits with Dylan

and we met wonderful people that make us want to live a better life...be better people...

The Forcella Pana

With the summer coming to a close, school starting for Willa tomorrow, and easing into a more solid routine...I know I will find the time to sit and write of our travels at more length.  Before those small details start to drift away...so that I can always remember.
BUT!!! Not until after the 29th.  Cuz Miles and I are headed to NEW ORLEANS first!!!!!!!!  The Big Easy, baby!  MO BETTA!!!!!!  Whoo-hoooooooo!

Shit's gettin' REAL!!!!!

How often does one get to say, "I just booked a flat owned by a jazz musician for 2 nights in Milan!"?!?!?!  In MILAN!!!!!!!!!!  I said it!!!  It's so surreal in my world right now!!!!!  Look how quaint this is!

It's a tiny 2 floor flat in an old converted 14th century convent facing a courtyard in the Porta Romana district down town Milan.  The owners live right next door, are multi-lingual, and they have a 10 year old daughter. (Willa is very excited!) Perfect for a 2 night stay while we're there for the Pearl Jam concert.

I have spent the last 2 weeks deeply engrossed in researching a handful of AMAZING road trips for us.  Starting in Venice, to Aviano, traveling through the Alps to Innusbruck, back down through Northwest Italy's lakes regions, and to the Langhe in Piemonte.  Then we hit Milan, meander to the Italian Riveria for a few days, and then head back to Aviano for a 2-3 day mellow-out before heading home to Alaska.  I literally could sit here all day looking into into the multitude of ideas available to us.  It's a struggle to make myself stop, fold up the maps, shut off the laptop, close the books and re-enter the real world in Casa Di Pruner.

We've decided we'd like to add 4 extra days onto our trip to really give us a solid chunk of time in the Riviera as well as some rest time in Aviano.  We're waiting till Monday or Tuesday to change our tickets so that we can get the lowest fee.  It will still hurt the wallets....but we think it's worth it!  Not etched in stone yet, but that's the plan.  I've decided to nix Tuscany in favor of Piemonte.  We like the bolder red wines of the region over the lighter reds and Chiantis of Tuscany anyway.  In Piemonte, the rich rolling hills with the Alps as a backdrop, quaint towns and way less tourism really appeals to us.

The Langhe

I've connected with another blogger who, with his wife and new baby, are in the process of renovating an old Langhe farmhouse al la Under The Tuscan Sun.  (The Langhe is hilly sub-region in Cuneo east of the Tanaro river and south of Alba).  A very gracious guy who has given me some great ideas on where to stay and where to mangiando.  I'm really enjoying his well written and humorous account of their adventure:  Living in the Langhe – a new life in Piemonte, Italy !!  I'm hoping we can stay for 4 nights here.  I'd like to split the time between staying in an Agriturismo-Agriturismos are "rural holidays" were you can stay on a working farm, sample the products grown and made there, take tours, horseback ride and  even help work in the vineyards!  And the other half will be spent staying in  a cluster of medieval buildings that have been restored into a B&B complete with it's own restaurant and wine shop...boasting fabulous Apertivi!  This place looks AMAZABALLS!!!!  Both accommodations are way pricier then what we are aiming for, but I think it's worth the splurge.  And I'll be saving tips for the next few months to put toward surprising the fam with an extra night at that Medevil B&B/cave!

I'm really digging this new Travel Research part time job of mine!

AND!  In other travel news.  This just in!  For this year's New York Life council meetings, Miles has already earned us the Executive Council trip!!!  So we'll be spending a week in hot steamy  New Orleans at the end of summer!  And since he's really killin' it so far, he has a slight chance of actually making President's Council and taking us to Puerto Rico!  He has a few more months to give it a shot.  Either way, we'll be ending a summer of travel in one of those two places.  Fuckin' pinch me NOW!  SERIOUSLY?!?!?

either

or

**None of the photos on this post are mine....All Via Google Images

This is happening

We're going to Italy.

In June for 3weeks. Italy....with Austria and Switzerland thrown in.

Lake Como- Photo via Pinterest

THANK YOU SWEET SPIRIT!!!!!
When I think of it, it's like blinding sparks of excitement rise from my pelvis, up into my belly, heart, throat, hands...
"How can I wait 6 months for this to happen?! I've dreamt of this all of my adult life....travel abroad...and it's in our hands!"
Tickets are BOUGHT!   I have to remove myself from the anticipation...kind of like forcing time to stop so that I can step aside and collect myself, come to a calmness. Let it all sink in. All while urging time to just speed up and get us THERE.  And I want to scream this from the ROOFTOPS!  But I've found I actually feel kind of ...guilty... when I tell people about our trip.  Like the guilt that kept me from using my car seat warmers for the longest time even though I knew I should be enjoying them.  What's up with THAT?  I guess I am feeling incredibly humbled and VERY blessed...

I'm surrounded by maps, travel books, a Rosetta Stone Italian Language program my Bro-in-law gave me (Thanks Mark!!!), my laptop where the Google Gods are always waiting and my "ITALY Trip" Pinterest board already stocked with so many ideas and informative sites.  I'm overwhelmed, but gleefully so!  There's a dazzling amount of possibilities for us over there...I don't want to miss a thing but I know we can't cram it all into 3 weeks!  I'm so glad we decided on adding the 3rd.  Leaves us with more options.... We felt this was do-able since our annual Russian River trip fell through.  We just could not book a site for this summer.

We have a basic idea of what we'd like to do.  See Dylan first and foremost!  We're hoping by then she will be able to get a chunk of time off to spend with us.  We want to explore the area she lives in, road trip and hike in the Alps...South Tyrol...to Innsbruck or Salzburg?,

South Tyrol -Photo via Pinterest

We've gotta get Switzerland in there somehow...., dip in Lake Como, visit Milan's Duomo Cathedral, stay at a hippy/spiritual healing/artist commune in Piemonte, drink wine in Tuscany, the Italian Riviera-hike the coastal trails and pick olives in Cinque de Terre, the HISTORY in ROME! ....oh, my GOD, I'm going to explode!!!

I have a LOT of work to do to set this up.  B and B's, car rental and driving in Italy, finding a house sitter, itineraries.....  The only things etched in stone so far?  A Condor flight for 3 to Venice via Frankfurt.

Photo via Condor Airline

And!................wait for it.....ready?......clench your Kegels, Ladies...... 4 tickets in possession to MUTHER FUCKING PEARL JAM in MILAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Happy scattin' Jeezus jumpin' on a spire, we're going to see one of my top 5 fave bands in fucking ITALY!!!  The nose-bleed seats cost an arm and a leg but We.Are.Going.  I've currently enrolled Willa in a crash course of Pearl Jam 101 to prep her for the show.

Look!  They're in Italian!!!!

This is epic.  This is fucking stone cold  EPIC.  I have waited so long to travel overseas....We are making it happen........mind BLOWN.

EYE-Taly!!!!  FUCK YEAH!!!!!!!

Southtown...and heading home

On my last day in San Antonio, I threw my luggage in the car, checked out of that sublime hotel and spent the next few hours before my flight home wandering.  I wanted to return to that cool "King William" area of town that I had accidentally landed in a few days before.  Noting the old and dignified homes from afar, I had made a mental note to return for a photo op.  Also, from my run along the river, I had noticed the Blue Star Arts Complex and figured it would fit it in to my King William tour.

 I found out that if San Antonio has an arts district, Southtown was it.   The Blue Star Arts complex boasts a brewery and eclectic food to match the many art galleries and shops.  It's also home to local artists and their studios.  A tiny but full oasis of creativity.  I took my time thoroughly exploring what the complex had to offer...striking up conversation with some very interesting people.  I wish I had had the time to explore more of Southtown's arts....

 

 Watching the time, I decided I had better head out to King William .  I parked the car and spent an hour in this culturally diverse neighborhood walking it's quiet streets and capturing some images. In the late 1800's there was an influx of prosperous multi-national yet predominantly German immigrant  merchants into the Southtown area of San Antonio.  Their traditions of brewing, sausage-making, and music fueled a fusion of American, Mexican, and German cultures unique to Central Texas.  Homes of varying cultural influences where erected within the heart of the King William community in the 1800's -it's owners desiring a quiet compound along the river with easy access to downtown.  Who wouldn't?!   One only needs to take a stroll around the neighborhood to take in all the varying architecture in a short amount of time. 

 It's been a LONG time since I've seen Morning Glories!  One of my favs.

 

I opted to skip eating out for lunch to nom jerky and dehydrated veggies in the car on my way over to zip up San Antonio's Tower of the America's.  I was curious  to see what the place looks like from on high.  While there was some interesting art and history to be found in Hemisfair Park, the view from the top of the tower was Blaaaaaaaahhhhh.  Adios, San Antonio!!!!!!!!!!

 The view?................................

WANDERLUST can be a curse as well as a gift.  It is SO hard to have it and not be able to travel extensively.....but I'm so grateful for the opportunities that have taken me to something new and different....and I look forward to wandering more.....
                                                                                      ...............Already missing Dylan but ready to be home.

 

 

Dylan's graduation from Air Force tech School

Ugh.....It's gonna be painful bringing up the words that paint the picture of the rest of this day.  Don't get me wrong, seeing Dylan walk up that stage and get her credentials pinned on was wonderful and a very proud moment.  It's how I got to that moment that makes me want to puke.  Here's the graduation in photos:

Look how wee!!!!

BLURRY!!!!  STUPID fancy camera........

Her favorite Sarg. doing the honor of pinning on her gear.

 

 Mommy needs a drink.  Proud, frizzy and VERY frazzled in my Diane Von Furstenberg which looks like it's  about to UNwrap.

 D and her grrrrrls.

 

Dylan and her BF and her buddy.

 

3:00-ish:  I'm approaching the Lackland visitor's gate and patting myself on the back for getting there with time to spare to get to the graduation hall and pick a seat up close to the stage.  Dylan had texted me a list of friends who weren't going to have family there and asked if I could get photos of them graduating.  Camera at the ready, ID in hand, and the Airman at the gate asks for my visitors pass.    ........DYYYYYLLLLLAAAAAAAAANNNN!!!!!  "You don't NEED a pass, mommy!"  She had said.  omG!  So I park and run-in heels-into the visitor center only to screech to a halt behind MANY other misinformed family members.  Graduation starts PROMPTLY, I'm SURE, at 3:30.

 

3:25:  Pale faced and hands wringing we parents are all just looking incredulously at each other, checking watches and iPhones, and craning necks to watch the folks behind the desk process our info and administer passes SLOWER THEN MOLASSES IN JANUARY.

 

3:35:  I get back to the car, pull out my phone to retrieve the directions I had put in my notes the day before.  Google Maps didn't want to work on base.  Anyhoo, look at this!  They are GONE.  The directions, of COURSE, have vanished into the cyber ether.

 

 

3:40: Fully disregarding Dylan's warning to drive SLOW on base, I am speeding towards her dorm...I remembered that much.  But once there, I realize I just can't figure out the rest of the way in this HORRID FUCKING LABARYNTH OF DUN COLORED HELL.

 

3:45:  Fuck it, I'm not a GUY, I'm pulling over for directions at the gas station.  Nice fella maps it all out for me and yay, I'm on my way!

 

3:50:  .......to the WRONG fucking graduation hall!!!!!  WTF?!?!??!  I am TEARING back towards the gas station imploring myself not to burst into hysterical tears because I am MISSING my daughter graduate.  I stop and run into some kind of military hotel and a kind Airmen draws the route on a map for me.  I'm actually close!!!

 

3:55  Still telling myself DO NOT CRY, DO NOT LOSE IT, I run into the building, head down a hallway when I hear voices and come blasting out into the back of a little auditorium.  I'm on the "graduate's" side and need to cross to the "family" side.  Instead of going all the way to the back for ease of crossing, in my frantic search for Dylan's head, I'm banging like an ox in a china shop across the row of seats.

 

4:00  I made it!!!!  Sweating, cute dress disheveled, now sporting an afro, and letting a couple of mascaraed tears slip out, I make eye contact with Dylan.  Half the Airmen have already done the graduation walk across the stage....but Dylan has yet to go.  FUCKIN' PHEW.   I am able to get photos of her and her list of friends onstage, see her hard work culminate in 4 seconds of pause, pin, shake hand, smile, DONE.  Aaaaaaand, I missed all the boring speeches of the first half hour!  Go ME!

 

She graciously did not kill me for being late.  I was doin' GOOD after all until the pass and the disappeared directions.....

 

Photos and friends outside the hall, and then it was back to the dorms for a meeting.  I sat in the parking lot waiting for Dylan to  have her meeting, change into civilian clothes and to head downtown for a fancy celebratory dinner.  After about 45 minutes she came out to the car still in uniform and not looking happy.  Confusing story short, due to some ridiculous shit she had to do, there would be no time for going to dinner...or ANYTHING.  I was so disappointed.  Families come from all over the country and they can't take their kids out to celebrate?!?!?  Oh, well, there was always tomorrow.  My flight didn't leave until 6pm.  Apparently that was a negative as well.  Red tape to wade through keeping her on base.  And nothing that I could do WITH her.  That's when I lost my shit and burst into tears.  "So right now is the last time I get to see you before you come home??!!"  Who knows when THAT was going to be?!?!  They had fucked up her orders, everyone else was leaving in a couple days, and Dylan's leave was still up in the air and not looking like she would be home anytime soon.  We were hoping she would be home at least for Christmas....  I stepped forward and gave her a big hug only to have her tense up and say,"3 second rule".
"What?!?"
"3 second rule.  I can't engage in a public display of affection for more then 3 seconds.", she explained glancing around the area for superior's eyes.

WHAT THE FUCK!!!!!!!   "I'm your MOM for chrissakes!!!!!  We can't celebrate your graduation AND I can't give you a DECENT loving hug?!?!?"  More tears.
The military is so harsh for parents....Fuck YOU.

We said our goodbyes.  FEH.  I drove back to the hotel and descended-glass of wine and Whataburger in hand-into the world of reality TV.....promising myself to make the best of the next and last day in San Antonio.



Missions San Juan and Espada

Last up on my Mission Trek were Missions San Juan and Espada.  San Juan was VASTLY different from the old photos I had seen depicting a raw, wood roofed, stone chapel.  Now, the mission is sans stone buttresses and cracks in it's character, smoothly finished and brightly whitewashed, set in a flat expanse of grass.    What was once a stately and weathered espadana is now a blank white canvas, robbing the mission of both time and character.  I was a bit disappointed by the blandness of it all and didn't spend much time there.

But this tree was cool.

 

Clean....and MEH.

 

Off I ventured to the delightfully intimate and inviting Mission Espada.  Embraced by lush trees and gardens, this, the very first Mission of Spanish Texas, very much appealed to the hippy in me!  As I approached the reconstructed cloisters, the peace, devotion and invisible presence of priests in residence was tangible.  Not a soul in sight,  but the place was very alive with flowers, potted vegetables, giant chimes hanging from the branches of tress, wrought iron sculptures, benches...like a tiny mellow commune missing only the tie dye and weed.
The chapel's splendid façade is about all that remains of the original structure.  Much of the mission has been rebuilt since 1885.  Originally the mission -fashioned after a typical Spanish village- housed a brickyard, an acequia system, and hundreds of Indians who where offered training in various vocations to build up the area's economy.

The only person I saw there....a woman in earnest prayer....I wonder what her thoughts were.....

A grand espadana with thick wooden door leading into the cool quiet chapel

 

The priest's quarters

 

I saw such beauty in the crumbling ruins of the mission's outer walls.

 

I loved the shading and subtle colors....I'd like to reproduce it with charcoal and acrylic!

 

 



Mission San Jose

I tore myself away from the morning marathon of reality TV watching(insert tongue in cheek) to continue on my Mission Trek-enjoying the convenience of my little rental car.  Today was the day of Dylan's graduation from tech school and  I had a few hours beforehand.  Yeah, there was NO way I would have been able to run to each mission the evening before! 
First stop was Mission San Jose, probably my favorite of all the missions.  Stepping through the entrance of the defensive  walls that boarder and enclose  the mission, I was fortunate to run into a very friendly and knowledgeable  volunteer who was interested in my photography.  He explained that the "Queen of the Missions", founded in 1720, had once housed more than 400 Coahuiltecan Indians, 300 children alone!  Hard to imagine such activity within the walls of this small plaza.  The population farmed, ran a grainary, as well as managed a ranch 25 miles away.  The mission's perimeter walls doubled as living quarters for the Indians.  It was a step back in time into the simple yet busy life of these residents as I entered one of the "apartments" to get a glimpse inside.  Thick walls providing shelter as well as protection from Comanche and Apache raids, white washed and bright, yet cool as the heat rose outside.
The Spanish-Baroque architecture and ornamentation of the church was gorgeous. 

 

The defensive walls/Indian's quarters with beehive shaped community stoves outside

Inside an apartment....beauty, bounty, and grace in simplicity.

 

St. Rose inside the sacristy

Onward to the church, it's courtyard garden and the unfinished monastery

 

The Gothic arches were FABULOUS!!!!

Underside of the stairs leading up into the church bell tower

One last remnant of the church's original  painted designs

Dig the Immaculate Heart above St. Joseph!

 

I was wishing Willa could be here.  It would have been easy to access the inner child and spend a day playing in this amazing place!