ALTA VILLA, RUNNING, SOME COLOURS, AND MORSELS FROM MAURI - 25 October

25 Oct

ALTA VILLA, RUNNING, SOME COLOURS,  AND MORSELS FROM MAURI

Today is Friday and on Monday Babacino will be 4 MONTHS old.
I have some orange paint to make foot prints and hand prints. I think I’ll put orange paint onto me and Mauri’s feet too and make family prints!

I am still writing by hand, I suppose in an attempt to catch the little buzzing fireflies, which have to slow down when I use my hands to think, and also as I have so much to write down that if I don’t use my hands and paper, with edges, I could end up with a huge fuzzy  word lake on the Internet, without edges, and it would be impossible to properly see and read.

If the things I remember, I recall via paper and my hands, then maybe, hopefully , my hands will choose the most important things. And then of course, there are the colours, but in fact my hands choose those too, with making and with the camera!   

Let us Begin:

Starting with colour. A little while ago, Mauri found, what must have been a small child’s name badge, somewhere on one of our jaunts or morning runs. It was a sort of an animal shape cut out of coloured card , and a child’s name was written on it in crayon. A little piece of wool was tied to it, which must have been what was used for the child to wear the name badge. For about 2 weeks this was a decoration on Babacino’s buggy. I became quite fond of it, and wondered about the story of the little child whom it had belonged to. Along the way, it somehow disappeared from Babacino’s buggy and probably headed off again, on it’s own new little journey. And so I decided it would be a lovely idea to make a real one for Gabriel, with his name on it.
Of course, that left me unable to decide on one animal, one type of card, one colour, what crayon to use etc, as this would be Babacino’s first official buggy decoration (not counting the musical strawberry we got as a  Baptism present for Babacino - which sadly we’ve also lost!). Important stuff!!  Naturally, I now have about 5 big pieces of different coloured card (and that did involve me trying to curtail my version of a sugar rush, but  for colour, as I could quite easily have acquired ALL the colours in the shop! ). And naturally, again, we now have a multitude of Buggy decorations in various stages of making, also involving lots of cutting out and glue and story growing, with lives of their own!

So far Babacino loves the sound of scissors cutting card, and when I show him the things I am making, I think he might even like them, he follows the bright colours and shapes when I move them around.
And to confess, at this stage, I don’t know if I’m making them more for me or for him!, but at least one thing – I do believe that in the intention of making and creating something for someone, there is an energy flow and a spirit (destined for that person) which inevitably comes alive, somehow.
I believe and trust in that a lot when I make things, and same goes for such gifts received. On that note Babacino has been VERY blessed with a multitude of hand made gifts, all of which I believe are full of love and creativity and all the good stuff that a little person needs for life and living.
I hope that Babacino receives, in abundance whatever energy and spirit is finding it’s way into these little coloured story shape creations. I suspect, from the history of the little friends of Babcino’s buggy, that these story shapes may well also head off on other journeys at some stage, and who knows, they may even find their way onto other buggy’s somewhere in the world!! But also, they are just for fun, not actually serious serious serious...;)

That brings me onto the next topic, of ‘MORSELS’
I thought yesterday, or the day before, of a new little name for Mauri! He could be ‘The Morsel Man’ because he seems to have the most curious, inquisitive mind for finding things, books, ideas, experiences, and then, he is like a quiet, lithe and graceful cat. He loves to quietly and often 'sneek-ily' give and present these little (or big, depending on how you look at it!) morsels to people. For me and Babacino he has always known exactly what morsels we love, and he is for ever surprising us with these most wonderfull-est of morsels. The little cardboard name badge is just one little example. Each morsel would need a whole story for itself, so I shall have to write about the morsels in 'little morsels' over time…..

But just a little thing still on the topic of Morsels: Mauri’s house is full from top to bottom of books, and even though he has a rule of not reading books a 2nd time, (because there are SO many books in the world waiting to be read! And luckily for Mauri he has a brain that can drink up and remember 100’s and 100’s of books, so he doesn't actually need to read them again!) Anyway so even though he doesn't read the books again, he does like to potter around  and pick up books, look at a page, remember something, or suddenly have an inkling to find a particular book from a certain time, or person, or that reminds him of something or someone. And so, I have a growing pile of little morsels of books next to my pillow, from Mauri, chosen out of the book house, for me to nibble on, especially when it’s Babacino’s eating times!
And of course, Mauri also loves to acquire new shiny books, and he loves picture books too! And so we (me, Mauri and Babacino) have a growing collection of some of the most beautiful story books, which all kind of connect somehow and are becoming part of our family story and which I hope Babacino will love, when he understands stories.  To begin to explain this little book family would need it’s own blog page, so another time!  But here is one just to show you! : A story about a Tiger

This week, we went to Alta Villa gain, and I took some pictures of my run. Last week, Mauri showed me the route into the village, so I gave it a go, and this time, I didn't get lost!! – with help from certain landmarks, for example ‘turn left at the rubbish!’ – picture included for evidence!

On the way to Alta Villa , for one reason and another, we had a crying really hungry tired little boy, who, as soon as we got there, had his supper and fell asleep immediately, followed an hour or two later, by more supper and a nice bath courtesy of the best bather of little monkey’s  in the world – Mauri himself! and pleasantly followed by more supper and a nice long sleep, much needed after so much crying!

And so during this prolonged sleeping time, Mauri and I sat at the big table, making our different creations, Mauri with words  and photos and me with colours.  You can see a photo of our real live ‘work table’ as well as our subsequently decorated supper table, as evidence!

Babacino has a new gym! He loves it! He got it from a very kind lady who does some work for Tata. It is a combination of a little gym and Franci’s play mat from when he was little. Now Babacino has a play gym in London AND in Italy, lucky boy!

Franci came to visit us a few days ago, while Babacino was in full play mode, and you can see a photo of ‘Brothers Playing’, it is so cute!! AND we have a photo of the full Crispi Clan, you can never keep Mauri away from a good toy! or being with his boys!! J  - And that, the Babacino Gym story, is also part of our colour topic for this little blog story.

Even though there are a lot more things to say about MORSELS, in relation to Mauri.( I haven't even STARTED on the food morsels!! – another of Mauri’s specialties), I will save them for another time, … In fact, there are many many morsels and types of morsels, and I am sure even more to be discovered!

So that is that for now, for Alta Villa, Running, Colours, and Morsels, in the Crispi Family!

Oh, and to mention, the Alta Villa thread idea comes from this little story :

A visit to Alta Villa 22 October

And now for some pictures!!

Babacino in full play mode in his sparkly gym

Franci and Babacino

MORE Franci and Babacino, Babacino in his dungaree's from Kyle his cousin in South Africa!

And all three Crispi's!

Then, this is the 'work table' of me and Mauri, the words and the colours.

Here is where the colours began, next to a cute sleeping boy!

And the decorated yummy supper at Altavilla

The next day very early, Mauri is up, ready to work in the fields and just in time to see the sun rise!

And the Alta Villa house in the beautiful morning light.

It is the morning, and now it is time to run. Mauri, Babacino and Frida head down the road with me, to open the complicated gate.

First things first, an Olive Grove! There are lots and lots of Olive trees all over Sicily, and just up the road, there is even a place that makes olive oil! 

and here you can see the sun well and truly up in the sky, how beautiful for just a few days before the clock changes

some more lovely trees in the area

And a view of the little village and the harbour

Now I have reached the start of the village. I turned around at this point and headed back up the hill, but next time, I might do a little jaunt into the village itself just to see...!

Heading back, always remember to turn left, just after the rubbish!

Here, not very clearly, but it is a true story, there is a little farmyard of chickens and hens. This area is an agricultural area, so people are not allowed to build blocks of flats or houses next to each other. They have to leave the land open and grow things or have animals. So there is quite a collection of different types of growing going on, and no shortage of trees!

Here is a loquat tree! The only place, other than Johannesburg South Africa, where I have seen loquat trees. Once, we had a whole bowl of loquats for pudding at Alta Villa. Loquats are quite fragile fruit and can't really be transported as they bruise easily, but they are totally yummy just off the tree! I forget the Italian word for them, but this is what they are: About loquats

The very last of the Fichy d'India's for the season... The Fichi d'India

And now finally, I am almost home, here is the first gate, so I am definitely in the right place, and haven't got lost this time! Bravo!!

And the final gate, here is the drive way

And look who is waiting when I arrive!! Yayyyyy... my two lovely boys!! 

In the fields: Just to show you, these are some steps that Mauri made!!

This is us in the fields later in the day

And this is some of Mauri's work. There is always a fire to be made, for tidying!

Last but not least, I just had to add this picture, it's Mauri and Babacino in Villa Sperlinga, Babacino now holds on like mad when you carry him, and he especially loves his Papi's arm!!

And that's us for now... until the next time!!