Allora, Aspetta!

One More Birthday (and blackberries too)...

Antonello and I are back from nine days of ferie--we got home on Friday--and we're trying to adjust to being home. In reality, we are resting up FROM the vacation, which seems to be the trend these days. Anyway, our trip up north was great, and I will definitely write more about it soon--most likely in sections, as it's hard to sum up nine days in one blog entry (or at least it would be too long for anyone to read). We took pictures galore, so we will post some of those too.

Today we discovered that resting up from our vacation had us both fast asleep on the couch, so we decided to escape for some fresh air. With no where in particular in mind, we left the house like zombies, ready to fall asleep as soon as we hit the car seats.

But Antonello had a (better) idea. "Let's go hiking in the mountains!" he suggested, as we stopped to get gas. I looked at how I was dressed: cute linen skirt, new tanktop, sandals.

"How would we go about doing that?"

"Easy," he said, as we climbed back into the car. "I've got your tennis shoes and a pair of socks in the trunk."

So I went hiking in my skirt and a pair of sneakers in the foothills outside of Sarnano today. It was a way to wake up, that's for sure, and I successfully avoided getting myself too dirty. After our hour or so of hiking, we headed back to the car and came across a huge blackberry bramble. Luckily I had prepared for such an occasion (I had grabbed a little paper postcard bag as we left the car, just in CASE we happened to come across wild fruit--I know, four years ago in America I'd have never thought to leave the house in a skirt and still be prepared to go blackberry hunting, but that's the way Italian life changes you, I guess), and we picked away at the sweet fruit until we had scratches from thorns up and down our legs and, most importantly, our paper bag was full.

What an afternoon.

Anyone have any good recipes for me? I was thinking either cobbler or shortcake (Antonello's been asking for shortcake...)

Cassie--happy birthday to you! Tanti auguri! I wish I could be with you to celebrate today, and I hope that you have a wonderful, perfect day. We miss you and love you! I can't wait to see you again, but your message machine says you won't be in town until after Thanksgiving?

-Jackie

posted by Corrie @ 10:54:00 PM