This is Peanut Butter Brickle. The days are flying by…and seeing the persons soon is on my mind. Will they recognize me after their trip to Italy? Or will they not believe how much more handsome I have become? I prefer to assume the latter.
It’s not like I am suffering over here, and I am thinking that me and Digby’s plan to give Aunt Veronica the puppy dog eyes to get our eggies cooked just the right way is working.
Today is the last day that the persons have in that Italy place. Tuesday morning, they will begin their journey to Milan, Italy to catch another flying bird plane to London, England. They will stay the night there and then head back to that Florida place pretty late in the day. Stay tuned for that. But now…on with the dog blog.
When Girl Person told us about their many hikes over the past week which totaled over 40 miles, I was a little jealous at first. Until I heard about all of the stairs. The many stairs. In just one day’s totals, it was enough to make my corndog tail spin. But Girl Person said that I was not the only one complaining. There were many on the paths that connect the five villages in the Cinque Terre that did not expect so many stairs. But for the persons, they knew it was part of the journey to truly experience these trails the way they should be enjoyed.
Olive trees, vineyards, tiny towns and the smell of simmering soup thru the countryside.
It doesn’t take flat paths to reach most of these places. It takes climbing and stopping and catching your breath in between. Oh, but what rewards. I was having a hard time believing that most of these places existed in Girl Person’s pictures! I also had a hard time believing what she told me next.
One of the days that they hiked was an eventful one. You see, many of the houses and buildings that they wanted to look at in that Italy place were waiting. But after talking to persons there and realizing that things worked a bit differently in this country, they found out that if they wanted to see any of the places they had researched, they would have to find them by themselves. Without an address. Because most had no address.
They had nothing else to go by but pictures. And there were no streets to reach these places. No, just paths. But which paths? They had to look at pictures.
Which may explain why on this particular day, they ended up walking almost 14 miles and 300 flights of stairs. Those stairs.
Did they find the houses? Yes…they did. And they looked just as wonderful, molto bella in person. But it wasn’t just about finding them. Girl Person said they looked at the ways you had to get to these houses. Could Digby and I walk to these houses? Was the path easy enough for us. This was all weighing in. And at the end of the day, they were very tired, but very determined to figure all of this out. Until they remembered that they had to catch a train back to the place they were staying and walk up another 300 steps to the top…of the road. Then almost another two miles back to their room. Up a road. In the dark. Carrying wine. And bread. And tomatoes. And fruit.
Boy Person made the suggestion that instead of walking back in the dark with the wind howling and the cold making them cold which they do not like, that maybe, just maybe, they could walk back on the trail that connected all the towns instead. Obviously, there were no lights, just cell phone lights for their way. But no cars. And Girl Person wondered though, would bears or animals try to get their wine? Their bread? Their tomatoes? Their fruit? And Boy Person said no..no they would not. There were no bears out here, only stairs. NO bears. JUST stairs.
Girl Person had never heard of such a thing. There were no bears here. Isn’t it just amazing what we take for granted? I never thought there would be a place that didn’t have squirrels running up the trees everywhere to bark at. No, but Girl Person told me that there were animals here. Just different ones like the dormouse.
Then there is the weasel, mole, beech-marten, badger, fox and wild boar. In wooded areas you can see reptiles like frogs and coloured salamanders in the Cinque Terre. They share the space with the persons, the winemakers and as I may imagine, even take rides on the little trains that help the farmers get around.
I would say that if we decided to come to this Italy place, that I would miss the squirrels and the bears and maybe others things I am used to. But then maybe I would like the beech marten? Maybe. And maybe I could ride the train with one.
We can’t expect one place to have all we are looking for. But when we do our best to keep walking, to keep climbing, we will aim to make the earth a better place by learning what each area has to offer.
We will aim to make ourselves better too by learning from our past and leaving that down the hill.
Once you find those houses like the persons did, or what you are searching for, it’s up to you to decide if that’s truly what you want and need.
But even if it was just the climb that was accomplished in the end, know that every step you take may not lead you in the direction you thought. But it may be just what you were looking for.
And even if you end up the same place that you started, love it even more knowing your journey led you back. Every step we take helps us be better, love better, and look better. Or maybe that’s just me.
-Peanut Butter Brickle
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