Author: Yvonne Wilson

April, 2021

We took a short break and went back to Carmel for a few days. I am posting a few random photos from around town and a video of the main beach at the end of Ocean Avenue.

We lived on the Monterey Peninsula for 30 years and raised our kids there. Carmel truly is a piece of paradise on earth. Carmel is joined by Monterey, Seaside and Del Rey Oaks. Carmel being the most beautiful but expensive of them all.

Now that we are retired I would love to return and live there but unfortunately the prices for homes has exploded. There are so many restaurants, boutique shops and art galleries you could spend days touring around and the beaches are magnificent

August 2020

We took a quick trip up to Bend, Oregon for a few days. As we were still all in the stay distant and sanitize due to Covid time, we pretty much just did it as a quick getaway and to visit our son.

We lived in Bend for six years right after we retired. It was just a beautiful area and we loved it. Our home was between Bend and Sisters which was a sweet small town with wooden sidewalks and small shops and restaurants.

The area of Bend and Sisters is filled with things to do and beautiful lakes and mountains. When we lived there they were small towns with wide open spaces. Over the years and especially post Covid there has been a major influx of people to the area. It is now a very upscale and trendy area. A lot of people that were allowed to work remotely moved from other states, especially California to the area. The mountains and lakes and beauty are still there, you just have to contend with a lot more people, traffic and congestion.

One of our favorite lakes is called Lost Lake. It is very quiet and serene most of the time. There is a cafe there but it is so beautiful to walk the trails, sit by the lake and picnic.

November, 2019

Right before Covid hit us all John and I decided to adopt a kitten. We had lost Turtle, our beautiful cat of 22 years at least 5 years before. We went in to the local pet store and found our new baby. She was in a glass enclosure looking out as if she knew we were coming.

We took her home and because of our absolute love of all things Italy we named her Olive. She is now 5 1/2 years old and the love of our lives. I present Olive Wilson to you:

I just read my last post from October 20,2019! I had posted that we were leaving Cortona and how I wondered if we would ever return! We arrived home and three months later Covid hit. We all suffered in one form or another and it was hard to get through but get through we did.

I haven’t made a single entry into this blog since then. Primarily I started the blog to keep in touch with family and friends and to use as a diary of our adventures. I must admit that Covid has actually stolen my sense of adventure for too many years. We have traveled some over the last 5, almost 6 years and I am going to jump in and try to log, briefly what has been going on. Mainly it will be just some of the trips we have made accompanied by a few photos.

This blog is for me but I hope you enjoy it too.

This morning, as I sit here eating breakfast in this little ancient apartment we rented in Cortona I must admit I am a bit overwhelmed with emotion.

Tomorrow we leave. Time to leave these kind, loving, gentle, hard working, noble people I have come to know as friends. Time to leave this tiny town perched on the top of a hill, this little piece of heaven on earth.

The part of me that enjoys the comforts of my home, the big fluffy couches, big screen television, two full bathrooms with jacuzzi tub, looks forward to the journey home. But my heart says otherwise.

How can I leave this place, these people, and not know if I will ever see them again?Will I ever walk through this town again and wave at those familiar faces? Ever again stroll down to take just one more look over the magnificent valley and wonder what the weather is like on the lake today? In one more day it won’t make any difference to me that the sky shows rain in the distance. It won’t affect me that the trains are on strike for the day or that there is another religious festival planned for Saturday. I will be thousands of miles away, living in “creature comforts” but I will be lonely. I will have left a big part of my heart here in Cortona.

For all of the years we have been coming to Cortona we had just passed by a small door, never bothering about what was inside. One of the locals told us we had been missing something really beautiful. We toured it a couple of days ago and it really is beautiful. Some of the most magnificent ancient works of art. The lower oratory frescoes are from 1554!

Arrived in Assisi for the day. Our friends had never been in Italy before so this was one town we figured they had to visit. I do feel a bit like I am visiting Disneyland as it seems a little fake. It is a beautiful city though and visiting the tomb of St. Francis of Assisi is magical and emotional. Our favorite restaurant had closed for lunch so we stopped in to a pizza bar. Then on for gelato and Johns meringue and we headed down the hill. A good tip when visiting is to take the bus to the very top and then walk down the town to the bottom, much easier.

We arrived in Cortona almost two weeks ago. It is always a special time for us to be able to be in this most beautiful town with the most lovely people. Whenever we arrive up at the top of the hill that Cortona sits on and start walking down Via Natzionale we feel like we are home.

As we walk along, dragging our suitcases, there are Massimo and Danniele from Cafe Tuscher smiling and giving us a warm hug. If he is not in there with them having something to drink, we are pretty sure we will soon run into Ivan. He is the owner of the tobacco shop and Il Pozzo, the beautiful gallery that carries unimaginably spectacular photography, leathers, gifts etc. As a “coming home” ritual we always share a drink. We see the Mollesinis who own the grocery store as we stop by for some groceries to take to the apartment. It seems like we are in there just about every day, but we always enjoy seeing them. We usually stop and say hello to Rob and Emma who own Bar 500. Other friendly, familiar faces gesture to us and we know we are home.

Lunch or coffee with Judy and Len, if they are in town is always fun. Judy and I met through our shared love of photography and Italy many years ago. Her blog page is blogginginitaly.com. She loves research and detail so her blog posts are educational as well as fun.

Visiting with our special friend Maria is like spending time with family. Within no time we have caught up on happenings, children, health etc. and we are settled in for the evening playing cards.

Soon to meet up again with Vanessa who we met as a teenager. Now grown and married with two children she is a busy young woman. We do manage to get together with her and her beautiful, loving parents and grandparents for visits when we are here each year. Then we get to see Francesco who is a lovely soul and amazingly talented pianist. We met him many years ago and have enjoyed keeping in touch with him through the years.

I think you can see why it takes a while to update on here what we have been doing. We have been settling in, back here, at home in Cortona.

The food over here in Italy is so healthy and delicious and varies with each region and in fact every little town. Everything is so fresh, with no preservatives, that many people who arrive from other countries with food allergies find they no longer experience those allergies while here.

Here are a few of the meals we have been experiencing while traveling around.

We headed to Venice on the “fast train” which turned out to be not so fast. But arrive in Venice we did.

No matter how many times you visit this beautiful city there is always something else to see. Another alleyway that you need to go down and then to realize that it stops at the canal, with nowhere else to go but back the way you came. I believe that part of the magic of this city is actually being able to make your way from place to place and not make too many wrong turns. I don’t like regular mazes, but the city of Venice is a maze I will gladly get lost in.

We wandered the city of the locals by day, and by night visited the tourist areas now devoid of all of the day trippers. We strolled around Burano again, ferried to Murano to realize all had closed for the day and then on to the Grand Canal. We visited the local grocery store we have come to know well and our favorite coffee bar.

We left after only three days, hoping we will return yet again only next time for a longer visit.