A Day in the Life – A million small moments

May 12, 2013

A Day in the Life – a million small moments

‘A million small moments happened today, each an explosion of wonder, a tiny minute of joy’

Lisa Chiodo

We spent the afternoon chatting with our elderly neighbour Antonio. He lives just up the road from us in the next Borgata. His nephew was busy planting potatoes one at a time in neat rows. I feel the sun warming my back as I watch him, now that the sun is here everyone is out and about.

Silvio helps Sam clear the trees for our orto {vegetable garden}, chopping the branches with his machete, and he laughs when I tell him he reminds me of Mel Gibson (yes he knows who that is). Marino takes the cuttings for the goats, and we put up the fence to keep the chickens from the veggie garden to be.

Anna wanders past with a machete hanging from her apron.

Antonio takes us on a tour of his Borgata, he gives me a stem of Lilly of the Valley and asks me the English name. His wife kept a beautiful garden but passed away last year, he talks of her as if she is about to appear at any moment.

He has tiny cactus planted in an old pair of shoes and at last I find a thriving wisteria, so I intend to plant one at our house next year.

Our children are minding the goats, two have tiny babies all wobbly legs and wagging tails pulling at their mothers for milk. Carina has a feather in her hair and Luca is carving away at a branch to make a walking stick, it’s already smooth.