Turns out that yesterday’s walk up the hill above our apartment was just a warmup for an excursion with Ramesha’s family today.
We went to the quite amazingly beautiful Parco San Grato, located high above Lugano, to walk the grounds and have a picnic.
There are plenty of photos to share, but I’m too pooped to deal with them tonight.
We only walked/hiked for about two hours altogether, but there was plenty of up and down, plus dealing with uneven, rocky ground. All in all, it was the most physical activity I’ve had in a while and I am definitely feeling it this evening.
We had lunch with all the members of Ramesha’s family who currently live in Switzerland (father, brother, sister and brother-in-law, niece and boyfriend) at a pizzeria in Lugano Centro.
Silvio with Nicole, his granddaughter
We very much enjoyed our first “official” pizza of this year’s trip…and boy was it good!
Then in the evening we had dinner with the Lo Menzo family — Dudo, Karin, Samuele, and Lia. They’re some of my favorite people on the planet; unfortunately, we laugh so much when we’re together that I almost always forget to take any pictures. 😂
We don’t really go all in on the Valentine’s Day hoopla. When possible we make sure to eat dinner together, ending with some sort of heart-shaped dessert (usually cookies), and that’s about it.
Mainly it’s a day when I find myself thinking a lot about love; most especially how fortunate I am to love, and be loved by, so many wonderful people.
My husband; my family; his family; friends from school (junior high through conservatory); friends who were professional colleagues; spiritual family from around the world; and on and on it goes.
So, what Valentine’s Day means to me is simply LOVE.
We started the day enjoying cinnamon rolls and coffee while catching up with fellow singers, who recently returned from travels overseas. We talked and talked and talked…
That was followed by a family Zoom call to connect with my brother and his wife in Sunnyvale. More talking, talking, talking.
A quick bite of lunch, then one final meeting to discuss upcoming choir events and catch up with another friend. No surprise that I’m completely talked out.
Four out of us five siblings have our birthdays in June! Clockwise from top: Brian (the exception; his birthday is in MARCH!); Gilbert; Cathy; Jonathan; and me.
Yes, today is my birthday, but first thing on my mind this morning was the fact that I owe birthday greetings to a lot (and I do mean a lot) of family members.
I got so busy after returning from Europe that I fell behind on acknowledging the early June birthdays. So I want to catch up on those, but I’m also thinking to save myself some stress by going ahead and sending July birthday greetings as well.
So, happy birthday to my brother Gilbert and his wife Carolyn! And happy birthday to my niece, Janaya! Happy birthday to my sister, Cathy; to my brother, Jonathan, and to another niece, Lauren. And that does it for June.
Moving on to July…happy birthday to Lauren’s daughter, Malyah; to yet another niece, Nina; to Dad; and a happy heavenly birthday to my mother, Louise!
Then there’s Ramesha’s family, and friends who are like family: Happy birthday to Lia, Samuele, Nancy, Nicole, and Karin!
If ever we plan a June/July birthday party it will be huge. 🎂
We spent time with wonderful friends from both sides of the world today.
In the early evening we met with members of our Ananda Village music team. We’ve been in touch by text and email, but — with less than a week to go before we return home — it felt like time to begin the process of fully reengaging with our ministry there.
But more than that, it was an opportunity to hang out with dear friends that we haven’t seen now for almost two months.
Later in the evening we went to the home of our friends, Dudo and Karin, for tea. They’ve been my dear friends ever since Ramesha and I got together in 2003, though he’s known them for way longer than that.
While thoroughly enjoying the conversation and laughter I was also aware that we’ll once again be a continent away from them in less than a week.
Then there’s Ramesha’s family, who are equally friends.
I look forward to being back in California and seeing my father and siblings, but can’t help feeling sad that we’ll once again be apart from Silvio, Graziella, Fulvio, Manu, John-beni, Nicole, and Antonio.
Such precious friendships wherever we go, but — no — we don’t get to have them all in one place at one time.
It’s been quite a full week, with photos piling up from Thursday lunch at Graziella’s; Friday’s visit to the cemetery and church in Canobbio; Saturday dinner at Dudo and Karin’s; and finally, a super fun lunch/sing-along with extended family, during which we were treated to the traditional popular music of Ticino, performed by the duo Tacalà.
I’ll be sharing all about that, plus lots of photos, in the near future.
But the top priority right now is being ready to leave early in the morning for the next phase of our trip: Cinque Terre!
Today’s photo is of Ramesha and his brother, Fulvio, whose birthday was today.
For the first time in seventeen years we’re actually in Switzerland and able to celebrate Fulvio’s birthday in person. We all went out to dinner as a family, eating great food and having a whole lot of fun.
In fact, I haven’t laughed so much in a long time.
